today at 5: a gang of 20 men — of mainly pakistani heritage are convicted of systematic child sex abuse in huddersfield. one victim was as young as 11. the men were found guilty after a series of trials, which heard how they groomed vulnerable girls, and plied them with drugs and alcohol, before raping them in remote countryside. the abuse took place between 2007 and 2011. the men who have been convicted of these appalling crimes deliberately targeted their victims, because of their vulnerability. they groomed them and exploited them for their own sexual gratification. we'll have the latest from leeds crown court — and we'll be asking whether west yorkshire police were too slow to investigate repeated allegations of abuse. the other main stories on bbc news at 5: radical islamist preacher anjem choudary is released from prison on licence and is now at a bail hostel. former deputy prime minister nick

clegg is tojoin facebook as head of its global affairs and communications team. barefoot in bondi, the duke and duchess of sussex visit iconic bondi beach in sydney, as part of their tour of australia. and director peterjackson brings new life to footage of world war one soldiers in "they shall not grow old". find out what mark kermode thinks of that and the other new releases in the film review. it's 5 o'clock. "vile and wicked" — that was how a judge has described

the systematic sexual abuse of vulnerable girls in huddersfield. in total, 20 men of mainly pakistani heritage have been convicted in a series of trials at leeds crown court. the teenage girls, most of them white, were groomed over a number of years, plied with drugs and alcohol, abused and often raped — sometimes on remote moorland. tonight there are questions about whether west yorkshire police were too slow to investigate repeated allegations of abuse. well this is the latest example of gang abuse of young girls in english towns such as rotherham, rochdale, telford and oxford. from leeds crown court, danny savage reports. what we can reveal today is that there have been a series of trials taking place here at leeds crown court. they haven't been able to be reported publicly because of reporting restrictions. a number of men were accused of child sexual exploitation, a gang of asian men from west

yorkshire, and south yorkshire, were accused of grooming underage girls between 2007 and 2011. before the trial started, three in all, reporting restrictions were put in place so that no details could be reported. in the last few minutes the judge has lifted the restrictions, and basically we can now say that 20 men have been convicted of very serious charges of child sexual exploitation, which the judge described as wicked and violent when he sentenced them. 16 have been jailed and four more will be sentenced next week. this was about the systematic abuse of a number of underage girls in this part of the country, vulnerable girls, who were threatened, plied with drugs and alcohol, befriended by the man, and then sexually exploited. one thing that came out

of the trials which have taken place is that the girls would sometimes be taken on the above huddersfield and bradford, and threatened to be left there late at night if they didn't give in to be left there late into what abusers wanted. if they didn't comply they were beaten up, kicked, and sometimes left on the moor. that was a theme throughout. the bbc found a farmer who lived on the moors and had experienced of girls knocking on his door in the middle of the night, roughed up, beaten up, and abandoned on the moor. 20 men have been caught up in this case, they've been found guilty. the total sentence amounts to something like 230 years. lots of them have been given life sentences for this horrific abuse over a seven—year period. it happened between 2004 and 2011. presumably, this case

may raise wider issues, because the suggestion here is that give these girls called out the behaviour, said there was a problem for a long time before anything was done. they have heard evidence of girls going forward to the authorities, one mother even wrote to the prime minister to raise her concerns. these allegations weren't taken seriously until 2013, they had ended in 2011, and had been going on for years. there was like a blind spot that the authorities, police and politicians had. a blind eye was being turned, it wasn't being taken seriously enough. these girls were abused over a number of years despite raising concerns, not enough was done about it. that's the thing that will come out of this. we expect enquiries to take place into what went wrong. like similar cases in rotherham and oxford, and other places around the uk, when similar gangs were abusing girls of a similar social profile across england, this is the latest

in a series of cases to come to court over this issue. the ongoing theme is that people raised concerns but were not taken seriously or listen to. they thought it was the girls misbehaving and leaving themselves open to what went on. detective chief inspector ian mottershaw, from west yorkshire police paid tribute to the victims‘ courage for speaking out against their abusers. firstly, i'd like to pay tribute to each and every victim who came forward, initially reporting these terrible crimes and then going through the difficult court process. it's taken nearly one year to conclude, having to bravely repeat their accounts and in some cases, several times over. i cannot praise them enough for their courage and tenacity in helping secure justice. the investigation into this case has been extremely complex and the investigation team have worked tirelessly for the past five years to ensure that no stone

has been left unturned. we welcome the convictions and sentences which have been passed down throughout this year to those individuals. they subjected vulnerable young children to unthinkable sexual and physical abuse. child sexual exploitation is one of the most important challenges facing the police. safeguarding the vulnerable and protecting victims is west yorkshire's police‘s priority. it's totally u na cce pta ble and it is the responsibility of all agencies, communities and individuals to identify those responsible and help bring them tojustice. michael quinn from the crown prosecution service said the men had continually plied their victims with drugs and alcohol. the men who have been convicted of these appalling crimes deliberately targeted their victims because of their vulnerability. they groomed them and

exploited them for their own sexual gratification. sometimes, they used threats and violence. typically, they plied them with alcohol and drugs. at the heart of this case is the victims, who have all shown immense courage in coming forward to assist the investigation and support the prosecution case. the director of children's services at leeds city council, steve walker, reassured the community that both the police and children's agencies are working to protect other vulnerable children. it's important to reassure the public that these crimes took place a number of years ago at a time when, as we know sadly from other cases, in other parts of the country, that the issue of child sexual exploitation was not well defined or understood. since then, lessons

have been learned. now, all agencies, particularly children's services and west yorkshire police, work closely together to ensure that victims and potential victims are protected and that those who seek to exploit and abuse children and young people are brought to justice. the mp for huddersfield, labour's barry sheerman says victims were let down by the lack of action by the authorities. we are talking about a minority of evil people, evil men, mainly from one community in this case. but remember, the attention will now be on kirklees, huddersfield and dewsbury and bradford. the first i heard of these cases was in oxford, up and down the country, in city after city, newcastle, rochdale. ..

this was going on and we didn't wake up to it fast enough or positively enough and early enough. that's true, we have to look back at these very carefully indeed. we did know it was happening and many of these girls were left to be exploited in the cruellest way for a long time and we should look, all of us, look to see why we took so long to give those girls the rescue and support and justice they deserved. joining us is a former chief prosecutor for the crown prosecution service, nazir afzal who prosecuted the gang of sex abusers in rochdale. thank you forjoining us. can we compare what has happened in huddersfield with what happened in rochdale and rotherham and oxford

and telford and so many other towns around england? of course we can. we have successful prosecutions in 20 towns and cities over the last seven yea rs. towns and cities over the last seven years. since we prosecuted the rochdale case. it is the same model and behaviour, the same mistakes we re and behaviour, the same mistakes were made by those who were engaging with those young people and ignoring those young people. it took a very brave group of young people to support the prosecution, it took an enormous amount of effort to ensure the individuals in rochdale where convicted and to ensure that others are brought to justice. convicted and to ensure that others are brought tojustice. this convicted and to ensure that others are brought to justice. this case convicted and to ensure that others are brought tojustice. this case in 2013 was quite telling, because we had prosecuted rochdale and we have begun to understand the extent of this problem throughout the country. this is so widespread and we now have more than 200 offenders who have more than 200 offenders who have been convicted or already sent to prison. we have hundreds and hundreds of the victims who have had

the opportunity to give their evidence or at least two are now in a safe place. it is the tip of the iceberg. there is a little bit of a silver lining, because we are bringing them tojustice silver lining, because we are bringing them to justice and so the fa ct bringing them to justice and so the fact that these individuals are now facing prison time and that others will do the same in due course, this suggests to me that we are in a better place than we were. the reality is that for many decades, certainly for the last two decades, we have been ignoring victims, because they have been chaotic and troubled, they have been vulnerable full stop those have been offending against them, the rapists, have known that and they have known that they can do whatever they wanted to these girls and the authorities wouldn't take it seriously. when you say it is the same model in all these towns and cases, what is that model? to what extent is race a part of that model? in huddersfield, they we re of that model? in huddersfield, they were mainly pakistani men abusing mainly white girls who were vulnerable as you said. it's in

secret, if you are... most victims of child sexual abuse are abused by british white man. they tend to do it online or institutions like sports clubs, places of worship for example. but when it comes to this type of street grooming, u nfortu nately, type of street grooming, unfortunately, it's a matter of fa ct, unfortunately, it's a matter of fact, i said unfortunately, it's a matter of fact, isaid it unfortunately, it's a matter of fact, i said it for years now, the british pakistani men and south asian men, it has to be remembered that the ringleader of this gang in huddersfield was born in india and was of seek face —— sikh face. but the pakistanis are proportionally involved in this type of grooming on our streets and towns. we have been doing good work on that to ensure they are brought to justice. i despair that we are not doing enough and certainly within the communities, there is still an element of denial. why should it be that these young girls are the ones who have to give their evidence. why

doesn't somebody else within the communities and up and say, i know this is happening, i will give evidence and whistle—blower or grass up evidence and whistle—blower or grass up somebody else. that isn't happening enough. it is good news that these people are being blocked justice, but the bad news is that there will be many more brought to justice before we are in a position to say that we have dealt with this issue. do you think the police and local politicians have been too slow to react in these cases? we all have. in part, that stems from the culture, that means the landscape. in 2008, the home office sent a circular to every police station in the country saying that girls who we re the country saying that girls who were exported on the street had made an informed choice about their sexual behaviour. so leave them alone, don't do anything about it. so if you are getting that direction right from the top, rest assured that everyone else will say, we have other things to deal with, we won't deal with these young girls on what has happened to them. i know these young girls are extraordinarily brave, courageous, but they have

suffered enough and we need to do better to ensure that this isn't repeated. thank you forjoining us, former chief prosecutor for the crown prosecution service. the headlines on bbc news: a gang of 20 menof mainly pakistani heritage are convicted of systematic child sex abuse in huddersfield — the ringleader has been jailed for life. radical islamist preacher anjem choudary is released from prison on licence and is now at a bail hostel. former deputy prime minister nick clegg is tojoin facebook as head of its global affairs and communications team. in sport, chelsea and injured midfielder has described abuses she received on social media as a point. she has also thanked chelsea and the fa for reporting those responsible to instagram and the police. no more overtime at wimbledon, a changing the rules means the end of those

fifth set thrillers as the all club introduces final set tie—break. johanna konta has lost in straight sets by the russian 6ci will be back on more of those stories at 5:30pm. the extremist preacher anjem choudary has been released from prison. choudary was jailed two years ago for inviting support for the islamic state terror group, and has been blamed for inspiring a long line of islamist extremists. he's served just under half his sentence — and will now complete the rest of it out ofjail, but under a regime of strict supervision, as our home affairs correspondent june kelly reports. back in the limelight after two years away, anjem choudary, the most notorious terror convict posed for the cameras. he didn't say anything because he's banned from speaking to the media. he was outside the probation hostel where he has to stay. he was driven from belmarsh at dawn.

he'd been moved to london from frankland jail in county durham. it was in franklin where he served two years in prison. the whole world, one day, my dear brothers, will be under the sharia. including hackney, and walthamstow, and moscow, and new york. all of the country — inshallah — under the thumb of the muslims. for two decades, anjem choudary was clear about the world he wanted to see. the master manipulator, he was at the centre of a network of violent extremists in the uk and beyond. he was the leader of the banned organisation al—muhajiroun and his followers formed a terror roll call, with dozens of them convicted by the courts. michael adebolajo was one of the pair who carried out the savage street killing of fusilier lee rigby.

another choudary disciple, siddhartha dhar, fled the uk while on bail and is suspected of being part of an is killing squad. the former head of counterterrorism at scotland yard believes choudary‘s influence outstripped his character. i think we've got to be careful not to overstate him. he is a pathetic groomer of others, and should be seen as such. i think we all have to be very careful about not over inflating his status and giving him some sort of mythical evil genius type character, because that's not what he is. choudary is considered to have served half of his five and a half year sentence, and so is eligible for release. he has a long list of more than 20 restrictions. among them, he has to wear a tag and be under a curfew. he can only meet people who are approved. no—one with any terror link. he'll have to get permission to go on the internet. and he can only go to mosques which have been sanctioned.

i've worked with a lot of families. one of the families i've worked with, he's absolutely ruined their lives. one of their kids has been killed in syria, one of the nephews has been killed in syria. their daughter was about to abscond to syria. families have been turned upside down. he is responsible for that, so he shouldn't be released in such a short time. the hate preacher who loved the limelight has been silenced for four years since his arrest. now he's back on the outside, the authorities want to keep him quiet. and stop anjem choudary becoming once again a figure of influence. we can speak to our home affairs correspondent danny shaw. plenty of people are saying, why has he been released halfway through a sentence? it is standard for people who are on fixed sentences to be let out at the halfway point, that is automatic. what is happening with

awem automatic. what is happening with anjem choudary is that he has been let out before the halfway point, because the time he has spent on bail, typed and under a curfew, is counting off his present time. in fa ct, counting off his present time. in fact, —— of his prison term. so it is just over two years he has spent in custody. his time on release will be very heavily monitored and certainly untiljuly 2021, when his licence period will expire. as we heard in that report, he staying at a bail hospital and will be there for six months. he will be monitored by the authorities, will really me, where he goes, it will be controlled. what happens injuly 2021 will be up to the police and the security agencies to decide. that is more of a headache, because until then, he will be under such tight restrictions, it will be difficult him to move without being seen by the authorities. thank you very much. we can speak to the former

met police commander richard walton who was head of counter terrorism command at scotland yard between 2011 and 2016. he joins us now from chorleywood in hertfordshire. thank you forjoining us. as i say, this is quite controversial, a lot of people are saying he shouldn't have been released less than halfway through his sentence. what is your view? i cannot comment on the sentencing matters. that is something for the secretary of state from the ministry ofjustice to discuss. anjem choudary is a controversial character, he has been described as a shameless coward, a radical rumour, an extremist preacher. firstly, he is a criminal and secondly, he is a convicted terrorist. he presents lots of problems for the authorities. the main one, as you have identified, is why he has been released at all, why is hea why he has been released at all, why is he a free man. i would argue that the sentencing issues are first and

foremost something for the government to look at. the sentence was too light and i think this is a man who has betrayed his country, let's not forget, he was born here, he is british. he's not from some far place. of course, we now have an issue with the licensing conditions and the great cost of enforcing those conditions. it will cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. beyond that, when his licence is finished, there is obviously an issue about what happens to him then. i am calling very strongly for then. i am calling very strongly for the new counterterrorism security bill to be enforced in law. particularly clause one which deals with radicalisation. there are some members of parliament which are asking for amendments to that clause. my argument is that it needs to go ahead and it needs to be enacted if we are going to stop a new generation of muslims from being

radicalised from people like anjem choudary and others. he is not the only radicalising preacher we have in this country. so if you got your way on that clause, what exactly would change? the clause amends the actual section and act that he was convicted of, which is section 12 of the terrorism act. the new clause makes the threshold for that offence slightly lower. this means that individuals don't have two knowingly invite others to support a prescribed terrorist organisation, they just can prescribed terrorist organisation, theyjust can be reckless as to whether their words and comments could incite or encourage individuals to support terrorist organisations. that is a fundamental difference in law and i believe that it will close the gap and stop

radicalising individuals from abusing the right of free speech and busy grooming individuals to commit terrorist acts. it is a vital difference, it is a slightly nuanced difference, it is a slightly nuanced difference in law, but i believe it will address the fundamental issue we are facing. the police have to fight terrorists and potential terrorists who may be about to commit crimes. but they also have to fight deradicalises who are getting into people's minds, don't they? we have traditionally, in the last 20 yea rs, have traditionally, in the last 20 years, repeatedly underestimated the impact of these individuals. it is very well calling them shameless coward and rumours, but they are terrorists. they may not hold a weapon, a knife or gun, but by their actions and words, they are grooming young and vulnerable muslim men to commit acts of terrorism by using a

warped form of islam and ideology. there is andy of academic research to evidence this. —— there is plenty of academic research. we shouldn't underestimate the ability of these individuals. we have a dilemma about giving him airtime at the moment, but we need to close the gap and enforce new laws to stop these individuals from abusing their right of freedom of speech. i believe that if this act goes through, we will be able to do that with more convictions and those who are undertaking the activity will be much more guarded on what they are doing, both in the public space and through the media. also, in the private space, in the homes and backrooms of muslim families, where this grooming is going on. thank you for joining this grooming is going on. thank you forjoining us. two men have been arrested on suspicion of murdering a father who was killed outside his home. ian tomlin, who was a6, was beaten to death outside flats in battersea in south

london, on wednesday. lauren moss reports. a father of two, murdered outside his home. 46—year—old ian tomlin suffered fatal injuries after an argument with a group of people on this housing estate on wednesday. he was on the floor, there were two police officers around. i came back from waitrose, and they said, get some towels. they were flashing lights on the car. theyjustjumped out of the car, they gave him resuscitation. yesterday, the latest crime figures revealed a surge in knife crime in london, with almost 15,000 recorded incidents in the last 12 months. there have been more than 100 homicides in the capital this year. the leader of wandsworth council has today said what has happened here is truly shocking, and caused deep upset in the community. he is calling on the london mayor

to do more to tackle what he has called the scourge of knife crime affecting so many parts of the city. this forms, firmly, at the prime minister's door. she was home secretary at the time when she implemented these cuts which are having a devastating impact. these cuts do not fall at the door of sadiq khan who has been the mayor of london. the motive for murder is still unknown, the police investigation is continuing. this community is concerned as it grieves. the wikilea ks founder, julian assange, is launching legal action against ecuador. he's been living in the country's london embassy for the past six years, after seeking sanctuary to avoid being extradited to sweden on rape charges. he's now accusing the ecuadoran government of violating his rights, after conditions were imposed on his communications with the outside world. ecuador‘s president, lenin moreno, has called mr assange

"a stone in our shoe". facebook has appointed the former deputy prime minister, nick clegg, as its new head of global affairs and communications. mr clegg will begin thejob on monday. our technology correspondent, rory cellan—jones, is with me. fairto fair to assume he is on a decent salary. but why do facebook want nick clegg in particular? you can certainly see why nick clegg might find a seven figure salary in california quite attractive. facebook lost its head of global communications in the summer, he announced he was stepping down. it made it clear pretty quickly that it would look outside the company. it would look outside the company. it would look outside the company. it would look at somebody with political savvy. it is in the middle of this political firestorm over recent months and years. it has been in front of congress and has had

questions asked in the house of commons about various scandals involving the cambridge analytic data breach. it needed somebody political and it is a surprise that is has gone to the uk, who went been heard of by most of americans. he has experience in europe, he worked in the eu and there is a lot of regulatory problems in the eu. they think he has the little savvy they need. they have said that they are looking for him to challenge their thinking and bring outside perspective outside of the company, outside of silicon valley and outside of silicon valley and outside of silicon valley and outside of the usa. that is why they have chosen him. his job is to sell the facebook message? absolutely. he has put a video up on facebook saying there will be a lot of challenges about data, political interference, free speech, the ethics of artificial intelligence. he says he knows it is a challenging job, but eu is looking forward to

it. thank you very much indeed. most of us have seen sunshine and some cloud in north—west england and northern ireland and scotland. that is how we end the day, some drivel across central and southern scotland. some eight hours of sunshine has helped to produce up to 17 celsius. this evening, some cloud across northern ireland, northern england and southern scotland, will push the threads. we are replacing earlier clear skies and so more cloud. we have some clear skies and summitand cloud. we have some clear skies and summit and fault. another chilly night across england and wales, to produce close to freezing and similar in eastern parts of scotland. we'll have more cloud across northern ireland, scotland and some outbreaks of rain for the norris and western isles. it will be windy once we have lost the mist and fog. there will be some sunshine across dental and southern england and wales, where we will have much lighter winds. in the sunshine

tomorrow, temperatures up to 70 or 18 celsius. you don't rear and south—eastern england, a respectable 16 or 17 for eastern scotland. this is bbc news. the headlines... a gang of 20 men of mainly pakistani heritage are convicted of systematic child sex abuse in huddersfield. a series of trials heard how they groomed vulnerable girls, and often plied them with drugs and alcohol, before raping them in remote countryside. the men who have been convicted of these appalling crimes deliberately targeted their victims because of their vulnerability. they groomed them and exploited them for their own sexual gratification. radical islamist preacher anjem choudary is released from prison on licence and is now at a bail hostel at least 50 people are feared dead

after a train hit people gathered for a religious festival in northern india. sport with xxxxx (1730 nc bulletin) time to catch up on the sport now. the rape and death threats sent to chelsea women's captain karen carney have been reported to police by the football association and her club. the threats followed chelsea's victory over fiorentina in the champions league on wednesday. the fa say they're "appalled" and "dismayed" and carney has recently released this statement in which she confirmed the matter was in the hands of the police. carney posted this on social media this afternoon... jose mourinho takes his manchester united side to face his old club chelsea

in the premier league tomorrow. you might remember there was some bad blood between mourinho and the former chelsea boss antonio conte last season when united lost 4—0 and jose described conte's celebrations as "humiliating". mourinho didn't reference that today but did say he wouldn't gloat if united are successful at stamford bridge. would i celebrate like crazy if my teen girl at stamford bridge or my tea m teen girl at stamford bridge or my team victory at stamford bridge? i don't think so, i think i would try a lwa ys don't think so, i think i would try always to control myself, to respect always to control myself, to respect a stadium and to respect the supporters that were my supporters and my stadium for many years. it is and my stadium for many years. it is a match that i want to do well for my players, for my team, for my supporters. that's what i want. 100% manchester united tomorrow. tie—breaks will be played

at 12—12 in the final set at wimbledon from next year. it comes after the final set of kevin anderson's semi—final withjohn isner this year lasted almost three hours. that's prompted bosses at the all england club to act. so next year, if the final set is deadlocked at 12 games all, the winner will be the first player or team to reach seven points with an advantage of two or more points. the decision has predictably brought a big response on social media including from three—time wimbledon champion boris becker... former british number one greg rusedski. .. staying with tennis britain'sjohanna konta has lost

in the semi—finals of the kremlin cup. but her run came to an end as she was beaten in straight sets 6—4, 6—3 by the sixth seed and local favourite daria kasatkina. it was only the second time this year she'd reached the last four of a competition. lewis hamilton can secure his fifth formula 1 world title this weekend at the us grand prix, and his weekend is off to a good start. hamilton was quickest in first practice 1.3 seconds ahead of his mercedes teammate valteri bottas. ferrari's sebastian vettel down in fifth. hamilton will become world champion again if he wins sunday's grand prix and vettel is lower than second. wigan warriors full—back

zak hardaker will undergo rehabilitation for alcohol abuse after being found guilty of drink—driving. hardaker was banned for 20 months after admitting being more than twice the drink—drive limit in september. he previously missed the whole 2018 season after a positive test for cocaine. hardaker has apologised and says his sole focus will be to confront the issues that have stopped him becoming the player and person he'd like to be. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. that's bbc.co.uk/sport. more on sportsday at 6.30. let's return to our top story, 20 men have been found guilty of being part of a grooming gang that raped and abused girls in huddersfield. the men were convicted in a series of trials, which until now had been subject to reporting restrictions. most of the men of mainly pakistani heritage were born and raised in huddersfield. the pakistani community in the town is small and many people know each other well, so how are they reacting to the news? bbc look north's communities reporter, sabbiyah pervez, has been finding out.

where are we going? party! where? this is a scene from a bbc drama based on true events that took place in rochdale. these young girls were sexually exploited by a gang of predominantly pakistani men who groomed them by buying expensive gifts, taking them to parties and offering them drugs and alcohol. the chief prosecutor on that case helped in making the drama. he has come to huddersfield to talk to me about the pattern that seems to be emerging around this particular model of child sexual exploitation. when it comes to street grooming of the type in this case and in rotherham and rochdale and 15 or 17 other places, sadly disproportionately have pakistani men engaged in this type of behaviour. what we are talking about is, they target very vulnerable young girls, very often they are looked after or they are in

chaotic and troubled relationships orfamilies. they chaotic and troubled relationships or families. they offer them the earth and then deliver them to hell. he acknowledges that there are a number of fact is which play a role in the psyche of those who operate in grooming but he believes that sexism is at the heart of it. there is misogyny and sexism at the heart of it and when you have got misogyny and sexism and the attachment to power and the desire to control young girls, then you have this type of abuse. where is that coming from, the misogyny? it is coming from within their backgrounds, very often they are led to believe or told to believe that women are lesser beings and so they don't treat women in the way they should treat women. we are talking about how we might feel... across town at the local pakistani community centre the manager, who knows some of the families of the men involved, describes his reaction to the news that the young men he once knew are no guilty of child

sexual expectation. these individuals, they were living a dual life, most of them, like people i know, wonderful lads, if you were to meet them with their families etc but they were absolutely wonderful... but as it transpires, they led a dual life. this isn't the first time that men from pakistani backed run driver have been found guilty of child sexual expectation on this scale and now there is a loud and urgent call for more research and education on this topic so it can be prevented in the future. i think there is a desperate need for a further study and research into this area because we do need answers and the whole community has been tarnished. there isa very community has been tarnished. there is a very liberal relationship education and sex wrote education in the british pakistani community. i never had any. and so they get their skills, if that is the right word,

from talking to other men. that is one issue, they think they can do what they want because this is how you build a relationship... our home editor, mark easton, is with me. mark, it seems on the surface very similarto mark, it seems on the surface very similar to what happened in rochdale, rotherham, oxford, telford, so many english towns, is it the same pattern? largely, yes, this is a scandal which appears to have infected dozens of provincial towns up and down england and yes, it isa towns up and down england and yes, it is a crime which perhaps only a decade ago was rarely discussed in public, child sexual abuse was often ignored or covered up. the protection of institutions, or the protection of institutions, or the protection of institutions, or the protection of community cohesion was put before the protection of children. the grooming gangs of provincial england have tended to operate where the disinfectant of

public scrutiny fails to reach, poorer neighbourhoods on the edge of town, more often immigrant immunities where they are struggling to get a toehold, around the fast food joints, the mini cab ranks, the twilight zone of urban life, and child abuse thrives in those kind of dark corners, where people look the other way and don't ask difficult questions. but when we look, we find and we find it with grooming gangs in towns but we have seen it throughout our society, schoolmasters, care workers, priests, taxi drivers and shopkeepers and perhaps the only crumb of comfort from all of this is that very belatedly, we are now taking action which may make our childrenjust a taking action which may make our children just a little taking action which may make our childrenjust a little bit taking action which may make our children just a little bit safer. and we heard in that report, it was touched on, to what extent is it a question of race and these were mainly pakistani men in huddersfield and the victims were mainly white girls? the victims are likely to be mainly white girls because most girls are white, there have been

exa m ples of girls are white, there have been examples of asian victims, too. but you're right, the theme of pakistani men in these grooming gangs is very common, but one needs to be a bit careful, there are grooming gangs which have involved men from eastern europe as well, other parts of south asia, they are poor communities, they are aware the immigrants go, where there is cheap housing, where people are much more vulnerable, where perhaps the forces of law and order don't work in quite the same way. where, as i say, the disinfectant of public scrutiny doesn't work quite so well. and another common factor in these towns seems to be at the police did not react very quickly? and that is i think the story of the previous decades, where this whole topic has been largely ignored, itjust felt a bit too many people, just a bit yucky, we didn't really want to go there. thank goodness, at last, we are going there. . thank you very

much. in australia, prince harry has raised the flag to launch the invictus games for wounded service personnel which starts this weekend in sydney. he climbed sydney's harbour bridge, to hoist the invictus flag. that all came after a barefoot stroll along bondi beach with his wife, meghan. this report now from our correspondentjonny dymond. the police in sydney don't normally dress like this. but on the city's legendary bondi beach today, things were far from normal. welcome to fluro friday, where surfing and yoga meet mindfulness — and harry and meghan. harry opened up to the group about his experiences. it is part of his big push to promote mental health. this is called an anti—bad vibe circle. at the end, a group hug.

the house of windsor brought the house down. yoga is for body and soul. the duchess, a big fan, chatted with the yogis and told them just how keen she is. she did say she does it every day and she even got up 4.30 this morning, completely jet—lagged, and she is pregnant, she did yoga this morning at 11.30. the duke went from beach to bridge. it is one of the great landmarks of sydney. so up went harry, and up, and as he reached the top, a new flag rose, from sydney harbour bridge. this is the moment that the duke and duchess's trip to australia pivots, away from the walkabouts and the beaches and towards the biggest project of harry's life. this is the start of the countdown to the invictus games, the sporting celebration of wounded warriors. invictus is at the heart of harry's

journey, an 18 nation competition, for those physically and mentally scarred by conflict. he has walked with the men and women of the armed forces. now, he will lead the games he created, to celebrate their survival. now on bbc news a look ahead to sportsday at 630 tonight... and coming up, remember that epic semifinal during wimbledon this summer? well, that is set to be a thing of the past. kevin anderson and john isner battled it out in the final set for nearly three hours, the second longest match in wimbledon history. that