allegations of sexual harassment at an elite men—only annual fundraiser. two children's hospitals have given back donations from the event while the bank of england denies any links following allegations from an undercover journalist. following allegations from an undercoverjournalist. multiple women told me that they had been touched inappropriately and that ranged from holding the hands, to touching their stomachs, two hands near the bottom of their back. an urgent question about the allegations is being asked this lunchtime in the house of commons. we'll have the latest. the other main stories: there's been a 70% rise in the number of prosecutions collapsing in england and wales because of mistakes with sharing evidence. the finsbury park mosque attack — the court hears from worshippers knocked down during the alleged attack last year. the new england women's football coach, phil neville, apologises for some of his tweets, as his suitability for thejob is questioned.

a deaf woman is suing the promoters of a little mix concert — because there wasn't a sign language interpreter for the support acts. and all these years of hard work is paying off — now aged 11, anna hursey is thought to be the youngest ever competitor in the commonwealth games. and coming up in the sport on bbc news: defending champion roger federer is through to his 14th australian open semifinal, beating tomas berdych in straight sets in melbourne. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. the organisers of a men—only charity dinner have said they're appalled by allegations of sexual harassment at the event, and have

launched an investigation. undercover journalists from the financial times say they were groped and propositioned at the presidents club annual charity fundraiser in london. in light of the allegations, the bank of england said anyone who'd bid in the event's auction won't be able to take up the prize of tea with mark carney, and great ormond street hospital and the evelina london children's hospital have both said they will return all previous donations from the dinner. an urgent question has just been heard in parliament about the issue. daniela relph has the latest. undercover at the 5—star dorchester hotel. madison marriage, and reporterfor hotel. madison marriage, and reporter for the financial times. he getting ready for a night's work as a hostess at the presidents club fundraising dinner. the guests, all men. the hostesses, all young women.

had around £200 for an evening's work. as the dinner began, guests we re work. as the dinner began, guests were told they were at the most on pc event of the year. there was a charity auction including an offer of plastic surgery at a harley street clinic. perhaps, they were told, for their wives. and during the evening, the undercover reporter says she and others were repeatedly groped and harassed by male guests. multiple women told me that they had been touched inappropriately, and that ranged from holding the hands, touching that stomachs, hands near the bottom of their back. things which maybe you might not find too offensive, but touching the bottom. kind of grabbing them, pulling them into their laps. yes, a complete range of sexual harassment,

basically. the event raised more than £2 million for several organisations including great ormond street hospital. it is now says it will return all donations due to the wholly unacceptable nature of the event. and in a statement, the presidents club said... what happened was that women were bought as bait. for men. rich man, not a mile from where we stand, as if that is an acceptable behaviour. it is totally unacceptable! businessmen david mele is a trustee of the presidents club and until today, he was also a nonexecutive board member at the department for education. he has now stepped down from that role. the future of the

presidents club dinner is also now in doubt. will the allegations of lewd behaviour and an event that has been held for 33 years? —— finish and events. as we were saying, there has been an urgent question in the house. our correspondent richard galpin is here. give us your sense of that exchange in the house of commons. there certainly has been a lot of anger and there was a question tabled by labourmp and there was a question tabled by labour mp jess phillips and and there was a question tabled by labour mpjess phillips and it has come quickly. and the education minister has responded, saying that david mellor, not the former conservative politician, a different man, the chairof conservative politician, a different man, the chair of the presidents clu b man, the chair of the presidents club dinner is now stepping down as a nonexecutive member of the department of education. the minister said this was absolutely the right thing to do and as we were hearing in that report, the response from jess phillips has been very, the response has been very strong, saying that women were brought as

bait for rich men and that she very much welcome the fact that david mellor was stepping down. apart from two children's hospitals which are sending back the donations, wpp, a huge global advertising agency, has said it will no longer support this dinner. richard, thank you very much. there's been a significant rise in the number of prosecutions collapsing in england and wales, because of a failure by police or prosecutors to disclose evidence. figures obtained by bbc news show that more than 900 people were formally cleared, or had cases against them dropped, in the year to last april, because of problems with disclosure. 588,000 cases were prosecuted. here's our home affairs correspondent, danny shaw. i was relieved, notjust for myself, for everyone that's been with it every step of the way. under investigation for rape for two years, liam allen's life was on hold.

then, three days into his trial, his legal team received crucial information and the prosecution was halted. the case highlighted problems with disclosure, the duty on police and prosecutors to pass on material which might assist the defence case or undermine the prosecution's. finally, liam allen achieved the justice that should have been his from two years earlier. he had been on bail for two years not knowing if he was going to be convicted, facing a sentence of perhaps 12 years or so and be on the sex offenders' register for life. just the toll upon a young man who is in the middle of a university degree cannot be imagined. bbc news has obtained figures on how many people have been cleared or had allegations dropped against them because of disclosure failings. in 2014—15, proceedings were halted against 537 people. by last year, that number had risen to 916. that's a 70% increase in two years in the number of defendants cleared after disclosure failings emerged. the implication is that it could

lead to miscarriages ofjustice. the criminaljustice system is based upon trusting the prosecution to disclose material which undermines their case or assists a defence case. and if they are not doing that, then clearly, there can't be a fair trial. the crown prosecution service says the number of trials which collapsed because evidence is not disclosed when it should be is a fraction of the total number of cases they deal with, about one in every 1,000 prosecutions. but the cps says that is still too many and, in the coming days, they will be publishing an action plan to tackle the issue, along with the police. senior police officers say there needs to be a change of mindset, so disclosure is put at the centre of an investigation, rather than something that is done at the end. danny shaw, bbc news, at the old bailey. the brexit secretary, david davis, has said he wants negotiations about britain's future relationship with the eu to be finished by the time the uk leaves the bloc. he told a parliamentary committee it

would be unwise to allow the discussions to continue past march 2019. 0ur assistant political editor, norman smith, is at westminster.. tell us more. david davis is an old bruiser, but he faced a tough time today over the so—called transition phase. this is the two—year grace period before we finally depart from the eu for ever and a day. mr davis today confirmed that really, not much is going to change during that two year period and he suggested the uk would, mimic existing eu rules around the single market, the customs union, and the european court ofjustice. in other words, we will continue to take their judgments and their rulings. that is prompting something of a backlash amongst the tommy robinson who say, how can we be an independent nation

if we are allowing a foreign court to lay down the law. —— the brexiteers. jacob rees—mogg said it sounded more like a two—year extension of our membership of the eu. listen to some of those exchanges. if, on the 30th of march 2019, the uk is subject to the european court ofjustice, takes new rules relating to the single market and is paying into the european budget, are we not a vassal state? davis laughs. no, we're not. er... not unless we are a vassal state today. mr davis may have been laughing, but jacob rees—mogg was certainly not and he said mr davis needed to stop behaving like we were still a member of the eu after march 2019 next year. mr davis said he was relaxed about the transition deal. what was important was the ends deal. he may

be relaxed but a lot of brexiteers most certainly not relaxed. norman, thank you. a number of people knocked to the ground during the alleged finsbury park mosque attack have been telling a court about the moment when a van mounted the kerb and crashed into a group of muslims. darren 0sborne is accused of deliberately driving a van into worshippers in north london lastjune, killing one person. he denies murder and attempted murder. daniel sandford is following the case at woolwich crown court. yes, i have to apologise for them very bad weather at the moment, but we have had a series of witnesses in statement form and giving live evidence describing the moment of the finsbury park attack. they describe how a 51—year—old man, makram ali, collapsed before the attack, but he was awake and responding, one witness told the court. they then heard the sound of

revving and at which point, a large white van ploughed into the crowd of people. three people ended up under the van, according to eyewitnesses. ina the van, according to eyewitnesses. in a statement, one eyewitness said, i could feel my bones breaking. and a man's who's got was broken during the attack said, i thought somebody was going to come out and attackers with a knife or a gun. the driver of the van, according to the witnesses, was detained. some people punched him, but some point, the iman of a local mosque said to stop attacking him and mrmohammed local mosque said to stop attacking him and mr mohammed said he remembered the driver of the van saying, i have done myjob, you can kill me now. the court heard a 999 call to call an ambulance for makram ali at the time the van hit and you can hear him coming back on the line saying, it is a big van, hejust ran

over everyone, they are dying, man. the case is expected to last another week and darren 0sborne denies charges of both murder and attempted murder. thank you. from woolwich. the new england women's football coach, phil neville, has apologised in the last hour for some of his tweets, saying they weren't a "true and genuine reflection" of his character, or beliefs. the former manchester united player was confirmed in the post yesterday, saying he was honoured to take up the role. but some are questioning his suitability for the job — as our sports correspondent, natalie pirks, reports. england's women have been reaching heights the men's team can only dream of. now ranked third in the world, with their ambitions set even higher, they've turned to a man with 59 caps for his country and coaching experience with manchester united, valencia and england's under—21s. just everything about this was the perfect opportunity for me. i've literally not slept because of the excitement.

i'm going to set the challenge and the bar really high. i want to win and i want there to be a culture of winning. but phil neville's first—ever foray into management has come with sharp scrutiny. first, the fa blundered by releasing the news on the men's social media account, rather than the women's. then, overnight, historical tweets surfaced that some perceive to be sexist and ill—judged. neville has since deleted his account. the tweets have been strongly criticised but, this lunchtime, neville responded, saying: they are not a true and genuine reflection of either my character or beliefs, and i would like to apologise. he added that he is fully aware of his responsibilities as the england women's head coach, and immensely proud and honoured to have been given the role. this job seems to have begun as the last one ended, in a storm of controversy. the women's former manager, mark sampson, was embroiled in a racism scandal and then sacked following evidence of inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour in a previous role.

since then, the women's under—19 manager, mo marley, has been in charge. but she didn't appear to want thejob, along with other big names in the women's game. last month, the head of women's football here at the fa acknowledged there had been a problem with a lack of female applicants for the job, which leaves us with neville. now, such a high—profile name could be great for the women's game, but there are those who believe he simply doesn't have the right experience. i find it a bit of a strange appointment, if i'm honest. 0bviously, phil has been a coach at certain levels. he's never really been the number one, never really worked in women's football. and whether people think that's me being sexist or not... 0bviously, working with women, working with men, it's completely different. he's going to have to learn very quickly. neville doesn't have much time to win over the doubters, though, with the top two sides in the world to face in march and world cup qualifiers beginning in april. for a man who didn't

even apply for the job, neville is fast learning that management is like stepping into the lionesses' den. natalie pirks, bbc news. a nun has expressed a "deep sense of regret" over any abuse at children's home in scotland in the 1950s. she broke down while giving evidence at the scottish child abuse inquiry. a number of people have already told the inquiry about the abuse they suffered at the smyllum park children's home in lanark. 0ur social affairs correspondent, michael buchanan, reports. a former resident has said a "culture of evil" existed at smyllum, a former care home and orphanage in lanarkshire run by catholic nuns. certainly, dozens of former residents have alleged they were abused at the home, which was run by the daughters of charity of st vincent de paul, and which closed in 1981. they say they were beaten repeatedly for any or no reason, some have also alleged they were sexually abused.

theresa mcgrane has described being sexually assaulted by a priest, then beaten by a nun who found out. she says the denials from sisters who worked at smyllum that any abuse took place is ridiculous. we seem to have been in two different places. the children have been in smyllum, and the nuns have been in utopia. i honestly think the lawyer has advised them to say it didn't happen, they're all liars, that's not the truth, because they're afraid of civil suits afterwards. if they admit one single thing, they're opening themselves up to a civil suit. so something tells me they've just been advised to deny everything. as well as the abuse, hundreds of children who died at smyllum are believed to be buried in an unmarked grave. a bbc investigation in september suggested at least 400 children who died at the care home between 1864 and 1981 are buried in st mary's cemetery in lanark. this has been a very difficult

morning for the leadership of the daughter of charity. their procedures were found to be inadequate by today's standards but also of the time. they admitted there were more than 100 allegations of abuse in the late 1990s, they we re of abuse in the late 1990s, they were advised by lawyers the allegations were historic and would be dismissed byjudges. as to the actual abuse, more than 60 former residents of smyllum have alleged, the sister who runs the daughters of charity in the uk broke down and said she had a deep sense of regret that any child may have been abused. as to whether the abuse took place, she said it wasn't up her to judge. there were no records to confirm it had taken place and such abuse was so against the daughters of charity‘s values and evidence will

continue this afternoon. our top story this lunchtime. two children's hospitals have given back donations from the fundraiser, while the bank of england denies any links, following the allegations by an undercover journalist. a new inquest is about to open into the death of a soldier at deepcut barracks in 1995. coming up in sport, as phil neville lands the top job in english women's football, his lack of managerial experience comes under fire. for the last week, more than 100 young women have spoken in court about the abuse allegedly committed by larry nassar. he is expected to be sentenced later today,

after admitting multiple counts of sexual abuse. more than 100 young women have now spoken in court in michigan about the abuse they suffered — several of them members of the us olympic gymnastics team. 0ur correspondent rajini vaidya nathan reports. face—to—face with their abuser, in scenes you don't usually see in court. for decades, larry nassar was a doctor to young gymnasts. his patients included decorated 0lympians, including gold medal winner simone biles. but, under the guise of treatment, he molested them. you used your power to get close to me. you weren'tjust a doctor, you were a trusted friend. and i think that is why i have been in denialfor so long. i did not want to admit that you betrayed and deceived me. larry nassar has already pleaded guilty to ten counts of sex abuse. as part of his sentencing, the judge invited any other of his victims to come forward. more than 150 did. 18—year—old emily morales was one of them. i still believed in you and had sympathy for you. how could i have been so naive? how could a person that i thought to be so genuine and kind and caring be in fact the opposite?

i will never understand. but, now that i've said that, i want you to look at me. i believe in forgiveness, larry. larry nassar is due to be sentenced today. many of the women also want him to show remorse. the judge has described the women who shared their stories as sister survivors. their testimony has been harrowing, but also inspiring. it takes a lot for a survivor of sex abuse to relive their ordeal. it's even harder to do that in front of their attacker in court. rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news, lansing, michigan. the number of people in work in the uk has grown to a new record high. figures released this morning also show that pay has improved slightly. 0ur economics correspondent andy verity is with me. what do these figures tell us today?

it's quite surprising. for years we are used to the number of people in work gruelling to new records. almost every month we hear that. last time we had the figures that stopped and there was a drop in the total number of people in work. a lot of economists were expecting that to continue. instead we had a rise in the number of people in work of 100 and 2000. it got up to 32.2 million people altogether. that was a bit ofa million people altogether. that was a bit of a surprise. 0ne indication ofa a bit of a surprise. 0ne indication of a tightening labour market. another indication is the demand for labour. if you look at vacancies, the number of vacancies for that a 17 year high of 810,000 people looking for work. when you get that combination, a high demand for labour and combination, a high demand for labourand a combination, a high demand for labour and a lower supply, because since the brexit vote there are fewer people coming to work in this country than before, you would expect that would result in higher pgy- expect that would result in higher pay. any worker has higher

bargaining power, employers need to pay more to attract them. it has a bit. average pay rose by 2.4%, that's excluding bonuses. it's an improvement on last time when it was 2.3%, but still not enough to catch up 2.3%, but still not enough to catch up with price rises. even though we've got the tightest labour market in decades, we've still got wage is not rising as fast as prices and in real terms they are still falling. thank you. a new inquest is due to open this afternoon into the death of a soldier at deepcut barracks in 1995. private sean benton was the first of four young soldiers to be found dead at the barracks in surrey over a seven year period. a coroner has previously ruled that he took his own life. this fresh hearing was ordered after family lawyers got access to thousands of documents relating to his case. our home affairs correspondent june kelly reports. sean benton passed out from his basic army training in the autumn of 1994. he had fulfilled his boyhood dream. he was sent to deepcut barracks in surrey to finish his training.

nine months after he arrived there, he was dead. he was found with a rifle at his side and five bullet wounds to his chest. sean's sister, tracey, remembers how he changed in the army. and that's you and him...? yeah. at pirbright? she's clear what she wants from this new inquest. the truth, what happened, what were his last moments, and the bullying and the culture in that camp, why they let it go on. sean benton, he was found shot. sean's parents, harry and linda, didn't live to see this new inquest. i promised my mum i would carry on for her, but i feel sad that they are not here, because it should be them fighting to get some sort ofjustice for sean. sean benton was the first of four young soldiers who died at deepcut over a seven—year period. all had suffered gunshot wounds.

a fresh inquest two years ago on one of the four, private cherleames, concluded that she'd ta ken her own life. at that inquest, deepcut was described as a morally chaotic environment, and the army acknowledged that some instructors had abused their power. sean benton had struggled with military life and, on the day before he died, he'd been told he was being discharged from the army. the inquest is set to hear from around 150 witnesses. it has to look at in what circumstances he came by his death, so that's not only going to be looking at what happened to him, whether he himself was the subject of bullying or harassment or poor support, poor welfare. it's going to be looking at the wider circumstances, what systems and policies were in place to protect young people in that camp. it's 23 years since sean benton's short life ended. now, for the first time, his days at deepcut will be examined

in detail in public. june kelly, bbc news. a deaf woman is suing the promoter of a concert by the pop group little mix for failing to provide a sign language interpreter for two support acts. sally reynolds and two deaf friends took their daughters to the concert, organised by lhg live, last september. our legal affairs correspondent, clive coleman, has the story. i like that one there... cate merry and herfriend megan are massive little mix fans. # i got the, i got the, i got the power...# last year, cate's mum sally bought tickets to see the band in concert. sally is deaf, and booked for her and two deaf friends to go with their daughters. she asked the organisers lhg live to provide a british sign language interpreter. we asked two or three times initially, please can you provide an interpreterfor us, and the explanation we got back was just a no, we didn't have any reason behind it. eventually we became so frustrated.

i wanted to share the same experience that my daughter had, and that my friends were there too, essentially i just wanted access to the songs. under the equality act, any organisation supplying a service to the public is under a duty to make reasonable adjustments to ensure disabled people's experience is as close as possible to those without a disability. with just days to go before the concert and no interpreter in place, sally took an unprecedented legal step. she instructed lawyers to apply for a court injunction to force lhg live to provide a british sign language interpreter, and it worked. music: "black magic" by little mix. the girls and their mums got to go to the concert, and when little mix took to the stage their lyrics were interpreted for sally and her friends. but earlier on there were two supporting acts,

and the interpreter hadn't been booked to cover them. ifelt that, you know, we were really part of the little mix experience. but because it was so good, i realised that we'd missed out on the first two acts, so it was very much a disparity of experience to everybody else. in a statement, lhg live told the bbc: for cate merry, there's only one thing that matters. because i really love my mum and i really want her to come to the concerts with me. clive coleman, bbc news. a schoolgirl from cardiff could be breaking a commonwealth games record — before the event has even begun. 11—year—old anna hursey is believed to be the youngest competitor ever selected.

she's preparing to travel to australia's gold coast in april, to represent team wales — as sian lloyd reports. anna hursey has earned her place in the wales commonwealth team. practising three hours a day after school, the 11—year—old has already proven her skills. she won her first senior international a year ago. anna is no stranger to competition, but this will be her biggest challenge yet. i feel really special, really proud. i just don't really want to go there and be like, yeah, i'm small and i can't compete. so hopefully i'll try my hardest and help my team try and win a medal. anna's talent was spotted early. she first picked up a bat aged five and was taken to china to learn from the best when she could barely see over the table. since then, she's been coached

closer to home in cardiff. probably the best 11—year—old i've ever seen, boys and girls. she's up there with... i remember seeing paul drinkhall, who's number one in the uk right now, and she's up there. when saw him at 11, she's at that level. amazing. oh my gosh, she can do two at the same time, that's amazing. anna is celebrating her exciting news at school today, teaching her friends how to play table tennis. she'll have to miss lessons to go to the games in australia, but already thought to be one of the youngest competitors ever at this level, she will make history if she does win a medal there. sian lloyd, bbc news, cardiff. fantastic! good luck to her. time for a look at the weather. it's not much fun for a lot of people.