tv BBC News at Five BBC News December 15, 2017 5:00pm-5:46pm GMT
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today at 5:00... the man whose trial for rape collapsed because police failed to disclose vital evidence, speaks out for the first time. ajudge calls for an inquiry, as liam allan talks of his anguish and mental torture of spending two years under suspicion of rape. it kind of flips your whole life upside down, i suppose is the best way to put it. everything you build up way to put it. everything you build upfor way to put it. everything you build up for yourself, it can be torn away. we'll talk to mr allan's barrister about how such vital evidence could have been missed. the other main stories on bbc news at 5.00: brexit talks get the green light in brussels. they will now move onto the next phase. this is an important step on the road to deliver the smooth and orderly brexit that people voted for injune orderly brexit that people voted for in june last year. the second phase of the talks will
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be possible without the unity of the eu 27. the date is set for prince harry and meghan markle‘s wedding, next may. is this what a "youthquake" looks like? it's the official word of the year, according to the oxford english dictionary. i only know one truth... and, the highly anticipated star wars: the lastjedi is released in cinemas today and we'll hear mark kermode‘s thoughts about this, and the rest of the week's top cinema releases, in ‘the film review‘. good evening and welcome to the bbc
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news. in his first broadcast interview since he was cleared of rape, liam allen has spoken of his anguish at being wrongly accused. the 22—year—old university student says his entire world was turned upside down. a judge says his entire world was turned upside down. ajudge has called for an enquiry because police failed to disclose evidence which cast doubt on his case. liam allan spent two yea rs on his case. liam allan spent two years on bail before his trial at croydon crown court was halted when it was revealed his accuser had sent m essa 9 es it was revealed his accuser had sent messages suggested she wanted to continue to have sex with him. spending time today with his mum and solicitor, liam allan is trying to come to terms with the sudden colla pse come to terms with the sudden collapse of the case against him. come to terms with the sudden collapse of the case against himm kind of flips your whole life upside down, i suppose is the best way to put it. everything you build up for yourself, it can be torn away and it
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becomes aware, sort of things. you realise how much you have to lose but you do lose things as the process gets longer. it has made me realise things have got to change. things go on behind closed doors you cannot imagine and a lot of people are going through the same sort of thing. jerry haworth was the prosecution barrister. hisjob was to put liam allan behind bars. but police revealed they had a computer disk with 50,000 text messages from the woman making the allegations. she said she didn't like sex with him. text messages to say she loved sex him. text messages to say she loved sex with him. there were rape fantasies, rape in the open air. if the defence hadn't got that, the man would have been convicted, he would have got 12 years and batman would have got 12 years and batman would have had his life trashed and be on the sexual offences register for ever. after the case collapsed at
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croydon crown court yesterday, the judge said... the metropolitan police said they we re the metropolitan police said they were urgently reviewing their investigation, together with the crown prosecution service to understand exactly what had happened. the problem goes back for at least two decades in various forms, trying to manage how much of the background information the police gather in an investigation should be disclosed to the defence. everyone working in the profession is aware there are problems with filtering out the relevant material and sometimes it gets missed. liam allan is a criminology student. he said he felt betrayed by a system he wa nted said he felt betrayed by a system he wanted to work in. andy moore, bbc news. joining me in the studio is julia smart who was
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the barrister for liam allan. good evening. extraordinary what has gone on here. just explain for the viewer, because lots of people will be watching this saying, i don't understand how this can happen. at what point did you realise the significance of the messages? the defence were not aware the police had taken a download of the complainant's had taken a download of the complaina nt‘s telephone at had taken a download of the complainant's telephone at the time she made the complaint injanuary 2000 and 16. we became aware of this before the trial and asked for the download to be disclosed. if the prosecution has anything in its possession which would undermine its own case will assist the defence, they are under an obligation to provide us with the information. the trial began and i asked the judge to order the dispute handed to me. it
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was, i took it home and looked at it overnight and with a few hours work, out of 40,000 messages, several hundred messages were so damaging to the prosecution case, i brought it to their attention at court. the jury to their attention at court. the jury was discharged, in fact the complainant was in the middle of giving her evidence and i hadn't ci’oss giving her evidence and i hadn't cross examined her. the prosecution went away to consider its position. we return to court this week and the crown confirmed they were not offering any evidence and there wasn't any real prospect of there being a conviction against liam allan. this young man had been on bailfor allan. this young man had been on bail for the best part of two years. you, your team could have had access to this right from the get go, both sides? my solicitor made enquiries about this material. we were told there wasn't any and then just before the trial, we were told it
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was not disclosable. how do you think it was missed, why was it missed? it is difficult to say, if somebody had put in the hours looking at the disk when it was received by the police injanuary, as thejudge made it received by the police injanuary, as the judge made it clear yesterday, liam allan would never have been charged. the charging decision is for the cps. at the police presented the evidence there was a complainant, but she was undermined by her own text messages, it would have been nipped in the blood and liam allan would not have been on bailfor two blood and liam allan would not have been on bail for two years, blighting his whole time at university. i don't want to put words in your mouth, but i sensed that fact alone makes this your emotional and it has been a difficult time for him and we will hear from difficult time for him and we will hearfrom him later. but your thoughts about how this could come to pass? the somebody like liam allan, an impeccable young man,
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thoroughly popular, the public gallery was groaning with his friends every day, somebody of good character, a university student. if it can happen to him, it can happen to anybody. if these sorts of disclosure exercises are not carried out properly. in theory, could this mean other people could go through a similar experience, or worse, mean other people could go through a similar experience, orworse, it could even get further down the line, an individual could potentially be convicted presumably? these are the dangers. but these cases unfortunately, are not uncommon. i am finding there is very late disclosure or lack of disclosure and it is a case of determination to get hold of the material we need to challenge the case. the metropolitan police has said it is urgently reviewing this investigation and is working with
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the cps to understand what happened in this case. is that sufficient for you, what would you want to see happen now as a result of this?” wa nt to happen now as a result of this?” want to ensure all police officers and the cps, regardless of how much money it may involve, the hours are put in so all material is properly reviewed so we have access to this material at an early stage and we can prepare for the trial. can it be about man powers and resources?” don't know why this was missed in this case, but it took me many hours to find the messages, but they were all there. julia smart, good of you tojoin us. all there. julia smart, good of you to join us. thank all there. julia smart, good of you tojoin us. thank you all there. julia smart, good of you to join us. thank you for coming into the bbc. and you can hear much more of that interview with liam allan atjust after 5.30. we will turn to the other major story today: the eu has formally agreed to move to the next phase
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of talks about brexit. theresa may welcomed the move as an important step on the road to ensuring a "smooth and orderly" departure from the eu, but the german chancellor, angela merkel, is among those who are warning that hard work lies ahead. christian fraser joins us from brussels. those of us who have followed the brexit negotiation closely, will know there have been plenty of ups and downs along the way. last monday we we re and downs along the way. last monday we were talking about the talks being off and then friday there was white smoke above the chimneys in brussels as they came to some sort of agreement. 0n brussels as they came to some sort of agreement. on wednesday, theresa may loses the important vote in the house on crucial brexit legislation. the speculation was she would come to brussels and be battered and undermined by that. but not a bit of it, the other 27 leaders have gathered around her these last few
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days. when the tweet came out from donald tusk they were moving onto the next phase of investigation, he paid special thanks to the prime minister and the role she played in it. but when we heard them in their press c0 nfe re nces , it. but when we heard them in their press conferences, they said the ha rd press conferences, they said the hard work starts now. particularly from the british side, what is it they want from the deep and special partnership. 0na big on a big day for the eu, a barrage of questions. last night, these leaders gave theresa may a round of applause. not very enthusiastically, but it was well—deserved. applause. not very enthusiastically, but it was well-deserved. angela merkel lead but gesture, appreciative of the theresa may told eu leaders she wants a smooth the brexit. it is what they want as well. the one leader who isn't here is theresa may herself, the one leaderfor whom this is theresa may herself, the one leader for whom this matters is theresa may herself, the one leaderfor whom this matters more than any other, getting the green light in the brexit process, to move to the next stage. so, looming
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question, exactly what does the uk wa nt future question, exactly what does the uk want future ties with the eu to look like? it is now for the united kingdom to say what it once in clear terms. i think if this happens in the next few weeks we can start in earnest and by march we will have a clear position. thank you. first, the eu 27 agreed, as expected, sufficient progress has been made. then discussions turned to the eu's terms of phase two of the negotiations. they say talks will only move on if all commitments the uk has made so far are respected in full. no backtracking on the financial and citizen deals. and the eu's terms are, the uk will continue to participate in the customs union and single market, so there is little change, but the uk will not have any part in any eu
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decision—making and will have to accept all the same rules as anyone else including any new eu regulations and be bound by the european court of justice. regulations and be bound by the european court ofjustice. as for the framework for future relations it is time for eu preparations and contact with the uk. to get more clarity on their vision. as for what the uk wants most of all, in—depth discussions about the future ties, they will have to wait until march, eu leaders said, indicating it is the eu who is firmly in control of the eu who is firmly in control of the brexit process. they have helped theresa may in the last few weeks and there have been concessions on both sides. another scrap the theresa may because they said alongside talks on the transition in january, they will stop the preparatory work across a road up
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the european commission and discussions of the framework for the future trade deal. so the work which has to go on within the corridors of power, that will go on so they will be in power, that will go on so they will beina power, that will go on so they will be in a good position so that when theresa may has met with her cabinet, they can move forward. theresa may gave her reaction. this is an important step on the road to deliver a smooth and orderly brexit that people voted for injune last year. the eu and the uk have shown what can be achieved by perseverance and commitment on both sides. i'm pleased it has been agreed that should make rapid progress on an implementation period which will give certainty to individuals and businesses. there is still more to do but we are well on the road to make a brexit that is prosperous, strong and secure. will it be brexit in 2019 if we have to accept free movement and ecj jurisdiction and paid during the transition? people voted for us to leave the european union and we will
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leave the european union and we will leave the european union and we will leave the eu on the 29th of march 2000 and 19. people also want us to do that in a smooth and orderly way that doesn't disrupt people lives and to businesses and that is what we will be dithering. we will be delivering the brexit the people voted for. are you worried there will be no proper trade talks until after march and a final trade deal can only be finalised after we have left the eu into 2019? no, we will beginning the trade talks about the future relationship and talking about the implementation period that will give certainty to businesses and individuals. we are leaving the european union on the 29th of march and we will set up and negotiate a new trade deal with the european union but we will be negotiating trade deals with other countries around the world. this is about building a briton fit for the future. with me is 0le ryborg, an eu correspondent for danish radioand television,
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and david herszenhorn, politico europe's chief brussels correspondent. the first time you came here, boris johnson was your neighbour? yes, thatis johnson was your neighbour? yes, that is correct, i have been around for a while. i understand you have had a briefing on what went on in the room, what was the mood like? when brexit happens, there was high—ranking british officials here who told other eu ambassadors, say we might be leaving but we will be able to rule and divide you. and thatis able to rule and divide you. and that is one of the biggest fears from the eu 27. the mood in the room today was confident, we can all go ahead as 27, start doing bilateral trading sessions with the brits, but we will let michel barnier do the
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talking. we heard from angela merkel today that might start to happen. the divorce proceedings, they don't like to get involved in that, the blue sky thinking, the future relationship and the strategic relationship and the strategic relationship each of them have, that could divide them? of course, look at denmark, we have some communities who hugely dependent on catching fish in what you claim are british waters. the danish government will be fighting to keep those fishing rights in some way. you have got to have these things, but what you see at least today is an eu 27 with a lot more confidence than in the days and weeks after brexit happened. the danes will be a good friend in the room to the brits? we want free trade with britain as much as we can. good to talk to you. all eyes over the course of the next few days will be on what happens in london. they are acutely aware of the maths
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and the difficulty for theresa may at home but they are focused on the cabinet meeting on tuesday. will she agree a position with the remainders and the brexiteers within the cabinet? let's talk about reaction closer to home. 11 conservative mps rebelled against the government on wednesday evening. vicky ford was thought to be close tojoining them, before changing her mind, moments before the vote. shejoins me from our studios in chelmsford. good evening. good evening. your thoughts first of all, about what today means and your expectations now for next week in particular? first of all, that is really, really good news we've got the thumbs up and can move onto the next round of the negotiations. that will be the complicated part, making sure we can find a long—term relationship that works for the uk,
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but also the 27 other countries and making sure we can cooperate in areas of security, whilst also getting the trade relationship that is so important. i voted with the government on wednesday because the government on wednesday because the government showed it was listening andi government showed it was listening and i agreed with me after i put my arguments forward, that we needed to make sure we were aware of needing to have a full democratic process in the uk, because unless we have that proper process in the uk, it will make it more difficult to get the final agreement to the european parliament. they agreed and they made the change at the last moment. i think the government is listening now on the other technical issues we have got to get through over the next week. you say it is listening now, but we hear tonight it looks like the government will accept an amendment to the brexit bill next week to try to see off another possible defeat. all of that around the idea the actual date of brexit
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should be put into law, what do you make of that? i hope there is some flexibility and i know the government is listening. the exit date is set by the article 50 process , date is set by the article 50 process, the letter the prime minister set. the process sets a two year agreement but it gives flexibility, that if there was a last—minute issue that came up towards the end of that, that the uk and all 28 other countries could ta ke and all 28 other countries could take a little bit more time if they wa nt take a little bit more time if they want to. my experience of european negotiations, i spent eight years in the european parliament, negotiating on loss daily—macro lots of issues. it is best to keep that flexibility. it is best to keep that flexibility. it is best to keep that flexibility. it is that the government is listening and we should get this resolved over the next few days, so we can all go away for christmas and get down to the hard work of getting this trade deal agreed. yes, one can understand why you would hope for that, but you said the next phase of
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talks is going to be the difficult bit, but isn't matter back home going to bejust bit, but isn't matter back home going to be just as difficult? getting agreement within the cabinet and within theresa may's own party isa and within theresa may's own party is a huge problem still? first of all, we need to have a long—term working relationship, an amicable agreement with europe. i think it's very much within our interests, i am a chelmsford mp, i have many people working in financial services and i would like to see a trade deal that works for the financial services. i have a lot of science, research and high—tech companies. i want to see a trade deal that works for those. but it is in the other european countries to get the trade deal too. we need to focus on the long—term arrangement. it would help to have the transition and the status quo as much as possible so we don't need to spend too long arguing over the
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short—term issues but spend our energy on finding the right, long—term relationship. energy on finding the right, long-term relationship. vicky ford, we must leave it there. thank you for joining we must leave it there. thank you forjoining us. kensington palace has announced the date of prince harry and meghan markle's wedding — the 19th of may next year. the couple confirmed their engagement last month, and the ceremony will take place at windsor castle. let's assess what more we know with nicholas witchell. it is going to be a saturday wedding? that is the interesting thing, it is a saturday, it is unusual but not unprecedented. the wessex's got married on saturday. it is unusual and i would
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imagine part of the thinking is, given there is no bank holiday, a saturday wedding would permit those, who are so minded, to go to windsor and take part in the celebrations. i imagine there would be a carriage procession through the town or an opportunity for members of the public to feel part of the ceremony. the other interesting thing of estate, saturday the 19th of may is fa cup final day. now, prince william is president of the football association and he would normally attend the fa cup final. but it may be possible for him to do both, be at windsor in the morning because in recent yea rs at windsor in the morning because in recent years the cup final has had a late kick—off at around five p:m.. possibly he can be best man or supported to his brother in the morning and then get to wembley in the afternoon. would they make him
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miss the party, that is unfair? he could always take harry and meghan markle to the cup final. bat is a thought. thank you very much. thank you very much for being with us. this is bbc news at 5.00 — the headlines: there was a catastrophic failure woman said she had been abused by a bishop. the bishop, who died in 1958 was allegedly to abused a young girl. the woman made a formal complaint in 1995 and ten years later won an apology and compensation from the church of england. scholar, priest and champion of the oppressed. george bell served as bishop of chichester the 30 years
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until his death in 1958. but his reputation was challenged two years ago, when it emerged this woman had made allegations he had abused her when she was a child.” made allegations he had abused her when she was a child. i want people to know he might have been a hero, but he rose don't always do good things. the church apologised and paid her more than £16,000, for what it called a devastating betrayal of trust. but the supporters for the bishop found the claims impossible to believe and demanded a review of the church's handling of the allegations. the report is the result of an 18 month audit conducted by the barrister, lord carlile. the way in which the george bell case was investigated was poor. the wrong questions were asked, there was over steer in the investigation, by which i mean there where preconceptions which were not
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in favour of george bell. the report contains a catalogue the criticisms. it says the investigation was very weak. almost no effort was made to contact the bishops family and concludes that for the bishops reputation to be catastrophically affected in the way it occurred, was wrong. as a church we acknowledge that and didn't want to hide from that and didn't want to hide from that but we wanted to put in place, policies and guidelines that are more rigorous, more better resourced, undertaking training on a wider basis. it is for those reasons ican wider basis. it is for those reasons i can see the church taking safeguarding extremely seriously. lord carlile's review is the third occasion this year alone the church of england has had to acknowledge serious failings in its handling of child abuse allegations. although in this case it's not the alleged victim that suffered additional harm, but the reputation of a bishop who died 60 years ago. three people charged with the murder
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of four children in a house fire in greater manchester have appeared in court. zak bolland, who's 23, 20—year—old courtney brierley, and 25—year—old david worrell were remanded in custody, following the fire on monday. let's speak to our correspondent chi chi izundu, and we've been getting some reaction from the victims' family. let's remind ourselves this fire took hold on monday morning around five a:m.. sadly, four children were killed. 15—year—old demi pearson, eight—year—old brandon pearson and seven—year—old lacey pearson all died, as well as their three—year—old sister lia, who died in the arms of her aunt in hospital. 35—year—old michelle pearson is in a coma in critical condition, because
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she suffered a number of burns. her father has spoken for the first time and says he is dreading the day he has to to reveal the truth about what has happened to her children. the first question out of her mouth will be, where's my children? how cani will be, where's my children? how can i turn round and say, they've gone? i can't even turn round and say one has gone. all her babies have gone. i don't know... i am dreading the day that comes. i am absolutely dreading the day that comes. as you can imagine the family are devastated. three people have been charged with murder and their trial is expected to continue next year. thank you very much. much more coming up but now we will
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pause and catch up with the weather. colder weather on the way. a widespread frost is expected. a few showers around in the northerly wind. around western fringes of wales, the south—west and running down these zero seacoast. the winds easing down and temperatures will be dropping, frost in one or two places across the north. in raw aural areas in northern england, scotland, minus six celsius. we start the weekend cold but bright and sunny. more cloud coming off the atlantic into northern ireland, showers running over the heresy into northern england and wales and western parts. it takes a while for the mild air to arrive. it comes in the shape of some stronger south—westerly winds, much more cloud and outbreaks of
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rain pushing south eastwards across the uk. lifting temperatures to nine or10 the uk. lifting temperatures to nine or 10 celsius and turning brighter later in scotland and northern ireland. this is bbc news — the headlines... ajudge has called for an inquiry into the collapse of a rape trial, after it emerged police did not reveal crucial evidence to the defence. it kind of flips your whole life upside down, i suppose, everything that you sort of build up for yourself, it can be torn away. eu leaders meeting in brussels have agreed to move on to the second stage of brexit talks with the uk. this is an important step on the road to delivering the smooth and orderly brexit that people voted for injune of last orderly brexit that people voted for in june of last year. kensington palace says prince harry and megan markle will marry on 19th may next year. time for the sport,
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with lizzie greenwood—hughes. interned at 200 runs ahead in the crucial 3rd ashes test after centuries from bairstow and dawid malan. day three will be a battle of the bulge is a, as steve smith, the australian captain, is 92 not out and his wicked will be seen as crucial when play resumes at the wa ca. crucial when play resumes at the waca. this is traditionally where australian heroes are made, but would this be another day foreign dish ones? it seemed so at first a, as dyfed mallan and jonny bairstow picked up their american partnership where they had left off if bairstow completed a superb century and after his now infamous incident in a perth bar, he celebrated by head—butting
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his helmet. england were enjoying themselves. 0ut his helmet. england were enjoying themselves. out of nowhere, guess what? dawid malan went to a brilliant catch by peter handscomb, and the rest grumbled in all—too—familiar fashion, and the rest grumbled in all—too—familiarfashion, losing their last six wickets in 48 mind—boggling minutes. they just made it to the 400 mark but it should have been so much better. to be all out by lunchtime was not exactly pa rt be all out by lunchtime was not exactly part of england's plan. that was some batting collapse delayed by their standards. and australia are suddenly right back in this. so, could england's bowlers repair the damage? they made a decent start, craig 0verton removing both openers. but further chances slipped through their fingers. but further chances slipped through theirfingers. there but further chances slipped through their fingers. there were difficult ones but they proved damaging. usman khawaja made a half—century by the time he was eventually trapped lbw, but there was no budging his skipper. steve smith is still there on 92. if only some of england's
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earlier batting had shown such stability drift you can look at it and go, yeah, we've let the position slip. but when we come back in the morning, it's a case of, we've got the capability of taking five or six wickets in a session, we've shown that previously channel 4 is no reason why we can't do it. a day which belonged to australia, then, but one which england cannot afford to lose, is still tantalisingly poised. in tennis, aljaz bedene is switching back to his country of birth, slovenia. the world number 49 has lived in london for the last nine years and he switched to becoming british several years ago. since then he has been looked after by the lta. under new rules, who was not allowed to represent great britain atan not allowed to represent great britain at an olympic games or in the davis cup, so he has been tempted back by slovenia to play for them in time for the tokyo games in 2020. the former head of cycling's
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international governing body pat mcquaid has told the bbc that chris froome's adverse drugs test is a disaster for the sport which could lose tea m disaster for the sport which could lose team sky all its credibility. chris froome was found to have had double the permitted level of a legal asthma drug in his system during his win at these welter spaniard is year. he says he was following doctor's advice. but mcquaid said it will be very hard for the briton to avoid a ban. that is the sport for now. you can find out more on all of those stories and more on the bbc sport website. we will have a full round—up of the sport in sportsday at half past six. now back to our main story... in his first broadcast interview since he was cleared of rape, liam allan has spoken of his anguish at being wrongly accused. the 22—year—old university student, who was studying criminology, says his entire world was turned upside down. liam allan spent two years
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on bail, before his trial at croydon crown court was halted, when it was revealed his accuser had sent messages suggesting she wanted to continue to have sex with him. he has been talking to the bbc this afternoon. everybody keep telling me that i am the one that's going through it, but everybody knows that yourfamily go through it, but everybody knows that your family go through it 100% hand—in—hand. your family go through it 100% hand-in-hand. and your mum has supported you all the way? was arrested in front of mum, taken out of the house, kept there for about six and a half hours before i was released and interviewed and everything like that. that was when i had to tell my mum, this is what has happened, this is what i was accused of. from then on my mum went into overdrive, 0k come what can we do? when you find out there is nothing you can do come you have to
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leave it to other people to investigate, you can't really give anything, that was it public was a waiting game. talk about that moment, then, the police came to your door, you had no idea they were coming? i had three different theories, because i had just started my course. it might be a routine exercise, they might be doing this for everyone to write it might be because i had been somewhere, they might want to ask me questions. no way would i ever have guessed that it could have been even slightly related to this. then it was, we just want to run through a few questions. then they started panicking about weather or not i was going to run out of my house. the way that i had to show that i wasn't going to run out of the house, i was not quite stressed to go anywhere, soi not quite stressed to go anywhere, so i said to them can i go and get changed and they try to come in and my mum said no. all i heard was, can hejump out of a my mum said no. all i heard was, can he jump out of a window? my mum said no. all i heard was, can hejump out of a window? i my mum said no. all i heard was, can he jump out of a window? i shouted out does it help if i constantly talk to you while i get dressed? so idid talk to you while i get dressed? so i did that to show that i wasn't trying to go anywhere. i didn't know what they thought i was going to run
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away from, and that was when it became clear that it wasn'tjust questioning, i was under arrest and i got put in a car and that was it. what was your reaction when you heard the allegations against you?” couldn't speak, couldn't move, you can't do anything, you just freeze, because it's not like you have any preparation for it, you have never imagined how you would feel. it is not just betrayal that you imagined how you would feel. it is notjust betrayal that you feel, it's notjust betrayal that you feel, its pure fear. the whole process. which i suppose it is supposed to be intimidating, if you are arrested, but when it is false it's more intimidating, because you're insta ntly intimidating, because you're instantly into, how can i prove i'm innocent? out of all the things you can be accused, it doesn't get much worse, does it? no, we've learned all about it in my course, about miscarriages of justice all about it in my course, about miscarriages ofjustice and the worst—case scenarios, because those are the worst ones. and that creates more fear. but it also gives you a better support network i suppose. i've spoken to people at uni and said, what is the process for, that,
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how do i do certain things? and so it was good that i was studying what i was studying, but it was also really bad because we learnt how many false accusations do get made and how common it actually is and you learn a whole load of stuff that you learn a whole load of stuff that you didn't really want to know. 22—year—old liam allan speaking to the bbc there. let's turn to entirely different matter is here tonight, because let's take a few minutes to talk about what the 0xford minutes to talk about what the oxford english dictionary has decided is word of the year. it is "youthquake" and apparently its usage is up 400%. but how many of the people we spoke to were familiar with it? i don't know what that means, no.
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youthquake? i'm sorry i don't know. lam youthquake? i'm sorry i don't know. i am guessing it is a combination of something young and an earthquake. you tell me what it is! i haven't heard of it. i have heard of itjust because i heard a broadcast like that but i have no idea what it is. it's not one i've heard but i will look out for it. think it's a good one. when you're texting your mate, you're not going to say, yeah, the youthquake which is going on now! you're not going to say that, are you? the young people, it is more that they need to fight to get somewhere but it's not that clear that they are actually succeeding. we are part of the youthquake! i am pa rt of we are part of the youthquake! i am part of the youthquake!” we are part of the youthquake! i am part of the youthquake! i think messy should be the word of the year. onomatopoeia is a good word for every year! do you know what that means and brilliant! angus stevenson is from 0xford dictionaries, and is part of the team that chose that word of the year. good evening. well, you were
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slightly chuckling along to that, but are you slightly disappointed that that many people on the streets did not know what it was? no. we recognise that it is a fairly left—field choice, but as you said at the beginning, there is a scientific basis to this, our language research programme found that its use has increased by something like 400% since this time last year. that is in this country? no, it is worldwide, it is an international word of the year. what we wa nted international word of the year. what we wanted was a word that was a real representation of 2017. a lot of the big words this year, such as fake news, they really came from the end of last year. maybe associated with things like trump and brexit, that some people say relate to older people, they were started by older people. and this year and a lot of young people came out to vote in our elections, voted for the opposition,
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youngish people elected in france and new zealand, for example. and people started using the term youthquake to refer to this phenomenon. and in terms of how you distil it and how you sit down as a tea m distil it and how you sit down as a team and decide what is the word of the year, it is notjust a amount about the amount of use — what are you discussing when you sit down and talk about it? yes, we do have a lot of meetings, a lot of e—mails. and obviously, there is a lot of personal favourites. obviously, there is a lot of personalfavourites. usage obviously, there is a lot of personal favourites. usage stats are important, but we want a word which represents the year but also which is interesting as a word. youthquake is interesting as a word. youthquake isa is interesting as a word. youthquake is a nice word because actually it was coined in 1965 in the vogue magazine. the editor coined it to refer to the swinging happenings in london, and it was a great word for a year or so london, and it was a great word for a yearorso and london, and it was a great word for a year or so and then it went very quiet and it has just been revived this year, really. what were some of
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your other favourites which did not make the cut? i very much liked brofla ke, make the cut? i very much liked broflake, which make the cut? i very much liked brofla ke, which is make the cut? i very much liked broflake, which is a bit of a response to snowflake, an insult thrown around by grumpy old people against liberal youth. and overly sensitive precious young person. a brofla ke is sensitive precious young person. a broflake is a blend of snowflake and broflake is a blend of snowflake and bro as in brother, it is a conservative man who gets het up about anything a bit progressive or modern, even something like the reaction about the female doctor who, but was all the broflake's getting in a twist about that! as a doctor who fan, i am with you there! so many more words i would love to discuss with you. lovely to have you with us, angus stevenson, from 0xford dictionaries. the us space agency, nasa, says it has discovered an eighth planet circling a distant sun, making it the first solar system to have the same number
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of planets as our own. the eight orbit a star known as kepler—90, and the discovery reveals an order like earth and its neighbours — with small planets nearest the sun, and bigger ones further away. paul rincon reports. astronomers have discovered more than 3000 planets circling other stars, but very few of these distant planetary systems resemble our own. now, a team using the kepler space telescope has confirm the existence of eight planets around a single star. seven of these were already known but experts trained a software programme to recognise known planets. the programme then searched through raw data and identified a previously unknown world. the new planet we found, kepler—90, is the smallest of the bunch and orbits just outside the inner two planets. we think it is probably rocky and does not have a thick atmosphere. the surface is likely scorching hot. we calculate it that it would probably have an average to project
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of about 800 fahrenheit. to be able to task computers to look through the data and find things which people perhaps didn't spot, providing good candidates for worlds hidden in the data, the machines can pick up the slack and actually go and discover these world's. the distant planetary and discover these world's. the d ista nt pla neta ry system and discover these world's. the distant planetary system is ordered like our own, with the small worlds nearest star and the bigger ones further away. but all of them are pushed much furthering towards their pa rent pushed much furthering towards their parent star, which is known as kepler—90. this means they are probably far too hot for life as we know it. but machine learning could be used to find the signatures of earth sized worlds elsewhere in the cosmos. that could lead to ground breaking discoveries in the search for life in the universe. this is bbc news at five — the headlines... ajudge has called a judge has called for an ajudge has called for an inquiry into the collapse of a rape trial after it was revealed that police did not reveal crucial evidence to the defence. eu leaders meeting in brussels have agreed to move onto
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