hello, it's friday, it's ten o'clock, i'm victoria derbyshire. good morning! we bring you exclusive new revelations about the warwick univeristy online rape case. one of the women who complained has told us the university's director of press — whose job it is to positively promote the university — was put on the disciplinary panel which decided what should happen to the men involved, and she was questioned about her sexual history. the way we were questioned was very accusatory. we were given a list of male individuals involved, and we we re male individuals involved, and we were taken through it one by one and asked our sexual history with each of them, which obviously was really traumatic, not having anyone there to represent me, i didn't know if i was supposed to be answering these kind of questions, and it was really

upsetting. two of the men are being allowed to return to their studies later this year despite originally being banned from campus for ten years. more than a hundred people were forced to spend the night at a pub — many sleeping on the floor — after their cars got stuck in the snow in cornwall. flights have been cancelled, trains and roads are disrupted, and hundreds of schools are closed because of heavy snowfalls overnight. we'll bring you the latest from around the country. and meet the baby cuddlers. yes, i know, i know! my hand is all cold. iam yes, i know, i know! my hand is all cold. i am sorry! volunteers who come in to special care baby units, specifically to cuddle and comfort the babies, are already popular in the united states and now hospitals here doing it too. hello, welcome to the programme. we're live until i! this morning.

if you're a student at warwick university, are you going to boycott lectures? what are you going to do to protest to the university about the fact that two male students are being allowed to return to the university much earlier after being involved in online rape threats against some of their fellow students? we want to hear from you. we their fellow students? we want to hearfrom you. we have their fellow students? we want to hear from you. we have got more revelations in a few moments. do get in touch on all the stories we're talking about, use #victorialive. various tweets already. women's equality uk has tweeted about this. "warwick university has completely failed in its duty of care to its students, prioritising leniency towards abusive men over the right of women to feel safe from harassment and assault." jo tweeted, "how were these men not breaking the law?" "i am so utterly sickened by this."

jordan says, "my girlfriend and very close friends go to your uni, and i'm scared to death for them knowing you ll allow those monsters back." "do something about it." "simple, innit?" the university said they did consult police on the matter. the news first withjoanna. police on the matter. the news first with joanna. heavy snow has police on the matter. the news first withjoanna. heavy snow has swept across southern england and wales overnight, disrupting travel and leaving hundreds of people trapped in their cars. leaving hundreds of people trapped in theircars. in leaving hundreds of people trapped in their cars. in cornwall, where 12 centimetres of snow fell, more than a hundred people abandoned their vehicles and wilful is to spend a night ina vehicles and wilful is to spend a night in a pub on bodmin moor. hundreds of schools and colleges across wales and the south—west are closed, and all flights from bristol airport have been cancelled while the runways are cleared. really heavy rain, washing the roads, that suddenly froze and turned to snow, and within 20 minutes there must have been 2—3 inches of snow, and

within a further half hour it was six inches. and everything ground to halt almost immediately.” six inches. and everything ground to halt almost immediately. i consider myself one of the ones, to get home at1:30am in the myself one of the ones, to get home at 1:30am in the morning. the last five miles of the journey, i could see the carnage on the eastbound carriageway, and where all the blue light response was under all the craters were. forecasters are warning the bad weather is not over yet, there are yellow and amber warnings, yellow meaning the possibility of travel disruption in place for much of southern england. northern scotland and the wk as well. forecasts show further snowfall is expected in northern scotland, northern england and the south—west. a newborn baby girl has been found abandoned in a park on one of the coldest nights of winter. she was found in newham in east londonjust after ten she was found in newham in east london just after ten o'clock last night and was taken to hospital. officers have appealed for the

mother to get in touch as she may need urgent attention. comedian jeremy hardy has died of cancer at the age of 57. he will be best remembered for his regular appearances on radio four, the shows. in a statement, his publicist said his wife and daughter were with him when he died and that he will be enormously missed by so many who we re enormously missed by so many who were inspired by him and he laughed with him. the ministry of defence has been accused of a woeful response in dealing with a funding shortfall of between £7 and £15 billion. the committee said that the mod is continuing to fail to make difficult decisions about what equipment it can and cannot afford. universities will be required to publish information on what they are doing to tackle the attainment gap between stu d e nts to tackle the attainment gap between students from different ethnic backgrounds. the government has announced. official figures show that record numbers of ethnic minorities are attending university

by just 56% of minorities are attending university byjust 56% of black minorities are attending university by just 56% of black students achieve top grades, compared with 80% of their white peers. as part of a string of measures and on friday, universities will be required to publish data on admissions and attainment broken down by ethnicity, gender and socioeconomic background. the three main health screening programmes in england for powell, breast and cervical cancer have failed to meet government targets, according to a new report. the public spending watchdog, the national audit office, found the worst problems were with cervical screening, with a backlog of nearly 100,000 samples. that is the latest news, back to victoria. thank you very much, joanna. good morning, welcome to our programme. it is six minutes past ten. one of the two women — who complained to warwick university after sexual threats were made about her and her friends in a private group online chat of male students has told us that the investigation into her complaint made herfeel like she herself was on trial. we can reveal that

was put on the disciplinary panel overseeing the complaint. the woman who has spoken to us says that was a clear conflict of interest. warwick university launched an inquiry last year after suspending five students over a series of online messages, which made threats and jokes about rape. one student was handed a lifetime ban. but two male students, originally banned for ten years, have now had their punishments reduced after an appeal. this means they will now return later this year. our reporter poonam taneja has more. what have you found out? we've spoken to one of the two women named in the group chat who made the formal complaint. she didn't want to show her face, so we've disguised her identity. she told my colleague larissa kennelly that she first

found out about the existence of the group chat when one of the men showed her the contents of it. i warn you it contains material you might find shocking. a group chat was shown to me by one of the males that was involved. he showed it to me and made it an active threat. he seemed very... pleased about what was happening. he was showing me in an intimidating way. and then we were told later on that we should have been flattered by the contents of the messages. there was a lot of threats of gang rape. one of them, they spoke about wanting to gang rape me, and then after they'd discarded my body they wanted to ejaculate all over it. they talked about my friend, they wanted to genitally mutilate her. so she said that after they had done

that, they would discard her body and ejaculate over it, they said it the mic they wanted to genitally mutilated friends, which is unbelievable. it is unbelievable. she says she complained to the university but was passed around from person to person and it took weeks for the complaint to be launched, and during that time she had to be around the individuals in the chat group. we were called to an interview. we were told that we would have an interview with the investigating officer that was appointed. so we were just told that it would be an interview about the chat that we found. but when we got there it was very aggressive questioning. it was as if we were on trial, we were made to feel the entire time that we had to justify why we were upset by this. we were made the whole time to feel like we had to clarify our stories. she told us that the university's director of press

was put on the investigatory panel. the man whose job the man whosejob it the man whose job it is to the man whosejob it is to promote the university and protect its reputation, this was the man put on the investigator a panel. the women felt this was a clear conflict of interest, as the press officer, as you could imagine, she believes, would care more about the reputation of the university than their complaint. we have a statement from warwick university, but what else did she tell us? she felt that it was inappropriate, she had to relive the experience, she said there was a sense she was being put on trial and persecuted. the way we were questioned was very accusatory. we were given a list of male individuals involved, and we were taken through it one by one and asked other sexual history with each of them.

which, obviously, was really traumatic, not having anyone really there to represent me, i didn't know... if i was supposed to be answering these kind of questions, and it was really upsetting. dug up as you just heard there, she found it upsetting, but when she wa nted found it upsetting, but when she wanted to find support from the university, she found it difficult to get psychological support, and as we now know, two of the men who were originally banned for ten years have been allowed to go back after an appeals process, and she feels com pletely let appeals process, and she feels completely let down by that. it's made me feel devastated. all of the traumatic experiences, all of the decline that happened on my own mental health, all of the impact that this has had on my academic progress throughout the entire year has been for nothing, because every single meeting that i've been to, every single interview that i've been to, every single time that i've had to relive this process,

it's been for nothing because these people are still going to be back and they're still going to be dangerous and they are still going to be talking and threatening to sexually assault girls on campus, and warwick university are allowing that to happen. in the last few moments, we have a response from warwick university, and they said in a statement that the university stands by its investigation process, and given the potential for conflict during the length of the investigation, media relations were delegated to other members of the press team. they also say that those who were interviewed as part of the investigation were asked about whether they were prior or existing relationships with those who were involved. now, the detail of any relationship was neither question no explode. and due to the confidentiality, they can't comment on individual cases related to the

university's well—being and support services, but the university was conscious throughout of the need to provide appropriate support to all those involved. so interesting, that statement, just in from warwick university, effectively confirming that the director of press was and that the director of press was and that investigations panel into the threats made online by the men, and also confirming that the woman who complained were questioned about the, quote, prior or existing relationships with the men involved. thank you very much, poonam. we can speak to tina and millie, both stu d e nts speak to tina and millie, both students at warwick, and also elliot mulligan, who is editor of warwick university's student newspaper, part of the team who first reported the facebook group chat details between the men, thank you very much for talking to us. i want to ask you about the revelations we have brought to our audience first this morning, tina and millie, as female undergraduates

at warwick, how do you respond to the fact that the women who made a complaint to the fact that the women who made the complaint were questioned about their previous sexual relationships with the men who have made the online rape threats? well, ijust don't understand what possible behaviour could have justified that rhetoric. i think it isjust could have justified that rhetoric. i think it is just ridiculous that they had to be asked about the nature or if any sexual relationships with those involved, andi relationships with those involved, and i highly question that any sort of sexual relation would have given those individuals the right to speak about these women or any women, for that matter, in that way. yeah, i think it is completely disgusting, and it encourages that whole attitude of victim blaming, that is what it is getting out, and like i said, it is irrelevant, why on earth should these girls be having to

answer questions like that? it has got nothing to do with it at all. and how do you respond to the fact that the director of press at your university was on the investigations panel into these men?|j university was on the investigations panel into these men? ijust think, to me personally, this whole situation was seen as, like, the administration was trying to from the beginning to avoid a media scandal. firstly, they seemingly appeased the victims by giving the boys a ten—year ban, then without notifying them of the appeals process at all, they then, you know, went and appeased the individuals who were involved in the chat as well, so trying to appease everyone, doing it a bit under the carpet, without anyone really knowing what is going on, even the students involved, that these individuals would be a threat in the future on campus, and the fact that the press

officer was in those meetings as well just confirms that for officer was in those meetings as welljust confirms that for me. yeah, i mean, it is completely inappropriate, and i alsojust think, again, it emphasises the fact that the priority for the university as their reputation, and i don't think it represents those involved in the appeals process and those who make these decisions, i can say for a fact, that does not represent the staff feeling or our feeling towards this issue. i know many girls, young women here, who have worked very ha rd women here, who have worked very hard for their degree, we now have to be awarded that degree by an institution which allows sexist, anti—semitic, racist behaviour to be received with completely insufficient punishment. i don't know why i would want to be associated with this university, towards me my degree, and that is at one end of the scale. higher up the

scale, i can't imagine a complete and these girls feel has been done to them. elliott, can i ask you for your reaction to our revelation today that the head of press was the investigating officer here? well, stu d e nts investigating officer here? well, students on campus, i can imagine, will be shocked and quite angry at this potential conflict of interest, but on a wider level, you will have seen on social media over the past 48 hours, students have been shocked by the whole story, really. there has been a hashtag, #shameonyouwarwick, people accusing the university of not caring about student welfare, only caring about the day £9,000 fees. we have had calls from concerned parents, one who was worried about a student at university, saying she would get a train up to warwick to march on

campus of the students are not back next year. i want to ask you, millie and tina, what you would consider doing in protest to stop these two men who were due back later this year coming back? i think that raises one of the main issues in this process, and what a lot of people feel is actually the way the union have reacted and the structures in place within the institution gave us a complete lack of agency, and student finances sent across our nine grand a year, we can't withhold fees, lectures and mandatory, and most are recorded anyway, so if we try to boycott them, you know, it has no impact on those at the top, you know, running the administration. would you consider asking lecturers not to teach these male students when they return? i mean, i think teach these male students when they return? i mean, ithink that teach these male students when they return? i mean, i think that they lecturers are in discussion amongst

themselves, in each department, and as we have seen, the issuing of public letters from the english department, i public letters from the english department, lam public letters from the english department, i am sure that many other departments are on their way as well, with formal complaints to the university. i think that further action will be very seriously considered, and each action that the administration takes in response will obviously have some sort of reaction from staff and students at this university, and as we have seen, it has had a wider reaction from the general public as well. seen, it has had a wider reaction from the general public as wellm is important to note that the staff will take action in solidarity with the students, and i am waiting until the students, and i am waiting until the end of today to see what they say, but i don't think it would need to ta ke say, but i don't think it would need to take us calling upon them, and i would like to mention that i know my cause, the support for me has gone above and beyond. it doesn't reflect those who make the decisions whatsoever, so i can only imagine

that, you know, they will come out and stand with these girls, all the other women and young men. and despite that, in a statement from the university saying that the university of warwick stance by the investigation process, all those who we re investigation process, all those who were interviewed as part of the investigation were asked about the prior relationships with those involved, details were not explored, given the potential for conflict during the length of the investigation, media relations were delegated to other members of the press and media relations team. to clarify, they head of press was the investigating officer, not on the disciplinary panel. they are defending everything they have done, despite what has happened in the last 204! was, so what are you going to do? well, as i have said, the administration has issued that, and i know it does not reflect the general sentiment of a lot of the staff. so if your vice chancellor is watching right now, what would you

say to them? this is an important decision, and it should have been much more transparent given the direct and implied threat that these individuals were posing to students on this campus, and everyone agrees that the process has been quite... i don't know, hidden, concealed, unfair, in my opinion, especially for the victims and everyone else, sol for the victims and everyone else, so i think that he should rethink and reopen the appeals process so that the complainants wouldn't be involved. i would plead to him as well to stop thinking, looking at this just from well to stop thinking, looking at thisjust from a well to stop thinking, looking at this just from a moneymaking perspective, that is what a lot of people feel, it is about our nine grand a year, bring some humanity to the situation, because these are young girls, young women, sorry, involved in this, and this will

affect them beyond their uni time, beyond their uni life, it is affecting so many people here. you will find a drop in applicants, it has been all over social media, people saying it has made them change their study choices to come here, and just again, you know, this whole thing about the press officer, the reputation of this institution, it being one of the top unis. quite frankly, no—one cares about that, bring some humanity to it, look at the serious repercussions for those involved, the victims in the situation. what would you: your vice chancellor to do? well, i would call on the vice chancellorjust want clarity, there has been a lack of clarity, there has been a lack of clarity, and students want to know why this has happened, especially the two students going from being expelled for a decade to one year.

that is a lengthy reduction, so students want to know why, i think, and students want to know that they are safe at the end of the day. millie, tina, do you feel safe? i'm not confident that if i had to make a complaint is that anything would be done. i feel disrespected as a woman that i would have to walk on this campus past people who have this campus past people who have this mentality and to feel that they have the right to speak about my gender or ethnic background or race or disabilities, i don't think anyone should have the right to do that and be allowed to walk amongst young people who are open—minded and educating themselves in order to provide a better future for everyone. thank you all very much, thank you for coming on the programme. we will keep following the story. rachel texts, this is

utterly disgusting, they should be named and shamed. as usual, the women involved are ignored, their mental health not even a concern, and the men have not been punished, iam and the men have not been punished, i am furious. audrey says, as a previous student at warwick, i am appalled at the treatment of these young women, another e—mail, the police are the only body that should be dealing with this, the university is not equipped to do so, so they should put this towards the police. warwick university is a place of learning, an inquiry should look into malpractice, it is an atrocious situation. if you are a student there, tell us what you are considering doing if you believe that the reduction of this ten—year ban to one year, which means two of the male students will be returning later this year, is not appropriate, do let me know. still to come, police are appealing for the mother of this baby girl to come forward — she was abandoned in a park in east london last night. and a suicide prevention charity aimed at young people says calls to its helpline have increased

40% since publicity surrounding the death of 14—year—old molly russell, who took her own life after apparently viewing material about suicide on instagram. heavy snow has swept across south wales and southern england, leaving motorists stranded and causing some travel disruption. more than a hundred motorists — who were stranded on the a30 in cornwall last night — had to spend the night in a pub, many of them on the floor. they included families with children and even an eight—month—old baby with a heart condition. flights have been cancelled, trains and roads are disrupted and hundreds of schools are closed. sian lloyd is in merthyr tydfil, helena lee is in heathrow. how is it

there? i'm in bedlinog, very close to merthyr tydfil, and we have had a few centimetres of snow overnight, but it certainly isn't white out. we are 1000 feet up here, and yesterday we came to the village because of that really heavy snow that had been predicted, we were talking to people here, they were looking to the skies and saying, when the snow comes down here, it really does fall, and we we re here, it really does fall, and we were expecting more snow than we have had here. the village isn't cut off this morning, people have been getting on their cars aren't going to work, plenty of great is out, so they were preparing for it, and the buses are running, even though we are very high up. —— gritters. the look ahead teachers said that he decided around midnight to shut the school today because a lot of children come from outlying areas on a school bus. —— the look ahead teacher said. there are some 500

schools which have closed today, and the airport has reopened, good news for the fans heading to france for the match in paris. generally across the match in paris. generally across the country, driving conditions are much more hazardous in the snow, we know that many side roads are treacherous, and also some of the more remote mountain roads have been closed, but generally the main arterial routes are open, they are passable, gritters have been out in places, but the advice is, if you do go out, take care. what about the situation at heathrow? well, the good news is that the airport here is open, it is operational. the airport has invested a huge amount of money in recent years in preparing for snowfall like this, but the airport is open. there are, though, some cancellations to some

flights. british airways in particular, they can't tell us the exact number of flights that have been cancelled, but they say they have had to cancel a number of short—haul flights and also merge a numberof short—haul flights and also merge a number of short—haul flights. that is going to cause disruption for those passengers. they are also saying they recognise it will be difficult for some people to get to this airport, and so they are offering passengers, if they want to, to post pound their flights if they are on a short—haul flight today. —— they are on a short—haul flight today. — — post they are on a short—haul flight today. —— post bone. we just checked the weather forecast, there is some potential for more snowfall later on, at around midday at the airport, so they are very much watching the situation and will adapt as to how bad the weather gets later today. let's now talk to alexandra bradshaw, she was one of the motorists stuck on the a30 in cornwall — her usual hour—long commute took eight hours. and ellie mitchell, who is a headteacher at st merryn school in padstow, cornwall. 26 of her pupils were stuck on the a39 last night on their

way back from a swimming lesson. it was very late, coming up to midnight. how did you get home? i walked from there. i had about a seven mile drive. a seven—hour drive, and then about another hour of walking at the end. it took me seven hours to get home from truro to weybridge. you are saying that in a very matter—of—fact, calm way. it

was either a real inconvenience or reasonably stressful? it was a bit stressful. at one point, i'd like to say about the emergency services, think they did a greatjob, people we re think they did a greatjob, people were criticising the fact there were not gritters, but when you have traffic backing up for miles and miles, you are stuck there, listening to the local radio, and you have options at points in time where you could turn left and crashed through the fence, my dear friend was prepared to offer a bottle of wine, a bed and some shelter, and my boss as well, with his lovely family, but i chose to stay on track, because i thought that would be a good idea to do. if i had known that there was an accident, all of the accident ahead was going to take so long to clear, imight was going to take so long to clear, i might have taken them up their kind offers. you don't expect them to be able to say, this accident

will be clear in an hour, because they don't know. but what they ought to be broadcasting at the pinch points, the ten worst pinch points, they ought to be communicating with they ought to be communicating with the radio and saying, this accident where we're at, it is going to take at least two hours or however many hours to clear. it will not be cleared within the next so many hours. that way, they are covered and people can make an informed decision in tailbacks about where they are going to go from there. let me bring in ali mitchell, head teacher, tell us what your pupils had to do tonight question of we had 20 67—year—olds and three teachers ona 20 67—year—olds and three teachers on a coach, on the way back from their weekly on a coach, on the way back from theirweekly swimming on a coach, on the way back from their weekly swimming lesson. that was their weekly swimming lesson. that was between weybridge and padstow. they were on the coach for five hours. they were getting home at nine o'clock. we had an amazing

community effort to get to the children. the bus company said there was no way children. the bus company said there was no way it would get back to the village, fire crew and police could not get to them for several hours. it was down to members of the village to go out with tractors, 4x4!, anything they could to get the children back home safe and sound. thanks to those that helped, the farmers giving the kids pizza? yes, children that could get there, the fire crews were giving their pizza and drinks, trying to keep them safe. the staff on the bus were amazing and handled the situation brilliantly, trying to keep their spirits up. after the swimming lesson, they were hungry and tired, the drivers had six bottles of water that they shared out, amazing community effort to get them safe and sound back home. thanked were talking to us.

—— thank you for talking to us. a baby girl has been found abandoned in an east london park. she was discovered at around quarter past ten last night in newham, when temperatures in the capital were just above freezing, with wintery showers. lets talk more about this. well, our correspondent lisa hampele's here. do we know exactly how old the baby is? it is a newborn baby girl. hours or days? we just know newborn. found ina or days? we just know newborn. found in a shopping bag, wrapped in a white towel, on the floor by a park bench, by a woman that had been with her children in the park at quarter past ten, very cold, just before freezing, wintry showers. she had been walking her dog and she heard crying. she went and found this little baby. she called the ambulance crew, who came straightaway. this was in east london, the london borough of newham. as you can see, she is being

kept safe and warm, on an intravenous drip, she is being monitored. in the picture, she is sleeping. she has been unofficially named as roman, because that is the named as roman, because that is the name of the road where the park is where she was found. she is in a sta ble where she was found. she is in a stable condition. that is good news. do we know any details? was it a particular shopping bag, are there any particular shopping bag, are there a ny clu es particular shopping bag, are there any clues about who may have left her and why? we know not of that yet. police are asking the mother to come forward because she is in need of immediate medical attention. a newborn baby, the mother needs to go to hospital, they say, can she please go and contact the hospital, hergp or please go and contact the hospital, her gp or police, and they are asking for anybody who knows

anything about this to try to come forward , anything about this to try to come forward, to try to reunite a mother with the baby. of course, the police make it clear this mother is not in trouble in anyway. absolutely not. there are all sorts of reasons why people abandon their babies. they just want to look after the baby in the mother. thank you very much. thanks for your comments on the new revelations about the investigation into the male students at warwick university, posting online rape threats. two of them have had their ten year ban from the university reduced to one year, a lot of people angry, undergraduates, people that used to go there, lecturers. all says it is a disgrace, they should be banned for life from all universities. surely a criminal offence has been committed here? a former university councillor has e—mailed to say those men should have been kept out of the university until the women involved had left, at least two years. charlie says,

why is this not a police matter? am i missing something? a suicide prevention charity aimed at young people says calls to its helpline have increased 40% since publicity surrounding the death of molly russell. the 14—year—old's family discovered distressing material about suicide on her instagram account after she took her own life. iin a moment, we ll hear from the nspcc that self—regulation by the social media giants has failed, as theyjoin calls for government regulation of the social media companies, but first have a look this report from the bbc s angus crawford. he's been talking to another teenager — and her dad — who says instagram in particular is failing to protect young people. a warning though — some viewers might find it very distressing, especially if you've been affected by these issues —

and it might not be suitable for any children in the room. it lasts just over 5 minutes. when you actually start becoming a part of it, you get almost stuck to it. it draws you in. i honestly don't know how we did get through it. it's... it's unbelievable. you'll never understand he stress and pressure, and your whole life just stops. and what sort of pictures were you posting? all different pictures. healing, fresh, everything. and pictures of hospitals. it was all... pretty much everything, i was very hooked on it. it was almost like you have to keep up with it, otherwise people would just turn away and stop caring.

how much do you think the instagram community led you to start hurting yourself? um, i don't think it made me do it, but i think it definitely accelerated the severity of it, because i'd see people, and then it would almost go in my brain, "that's ok, then, it doesn't matter how bad it gets because they're not dead, it hasn't killed them doing that." so then it kind of made it feel more safe to go... to do it worse. there's a lot of cutting and some burning. that was probably the major one. there's also a lot of overdosing. that's the three main things you'd see on there. it ranged from scratching, you know, just a superficial scratch, right through to stanley knife, sharp blade, scalpel—style medical cuts.

i'm an ex—military man and i didn't see stuff like that when i was in the army. the pictures were so graphic. its shocking when you see some of the responses and stuff. because we were, like i said, checking and seeing it. "you shouldn't have done that, you should have done it this way." that would have done this." "don't do it there, do it here, because it creates more blood." that's not someone that's trying to help you. that is someone that's getting off on it. we contacted and did the report buttons on the instagram pages. our eldest was doing it because she is far more aware of how it all works. and theyjust sent back the same message, "this does not breach our community standards. " so that says a lot about that bloke's standards, who runs

instagram, don't it? they don't like to be contacted. they make it very difficult, or they did back then, to have any kind of... "if you've got an issue and you want to speak to someone, here's a telephone number." there 5 nothing. there is no access points apart from, "this is how you do a report. this is how you do, you know, you ask to get an account removed." and theyjust come back with the same statement, "it does not breach our standards." and there's no going back. you go back to them and theyjust send the same e—mail. "it doesn't." it does breach your standards. but they won't do anything about it. you sit down and you go, "right, i'll try and get rid of this account. there must be a way to stop it." and there's nothing. and they're not interested. and until one of their close family members falls down that rabbit hole, they won't do anything about it. until it effects them or their wallet, they are not interested. i think they should try

and get away from it. and i think if anyone's thinking of joining the community, they shouldn't, because i definitely feel that people try... they get worse faster than people whojust do it, like, completely in secret. instagram needs to put its hand up and say, "we've created a monster we cannot control." and until they are prepared to say that we've done this, then there's going to be more libbys and more mollys out there, and parents can do everything they want to try and prevent kids going on instagram, but where there's a will, there's a way. the internet is everywhere. it's in our lives, we cannot

live without it now. and instagram and all the social medias have got to take a long, hard look at themselves and say, "what are we doing?" with us is andy burrows, associate head of child safety online for the nspcc. what do you think about the fact that common repeatedly, the family was ignored? it is shocking, isn't it? any parent would be horrified to see what they have just seen. off the back of such disturbing coverage about molly russell in the last few days, what we see is that, time and

again, these platforms make really clear they get to set their own rules and they are explicit that any material that promotes or glorifies self—harm or suicide should not be on the site. but time and again they failed to enforce their own rules. material is reported to them and they missed the opportunity to pick this up themselves. it is reported to them and still it remains on the site. when they say they have a deep responsibility to assure the safety of young people, how do you interpret that statement? well, what we have seen for the last decade of social networks being given opportunity after opportunity to protect children using their sites. it's abundantly clear. we've seen 13 different exa m ples it's abundantly clear. we've seen 13 different examples where industries have signed up to self—regulation codes and nothing changes. children continue to be put at risk. whether thatis continue to be put at risk. whether that is because of the really inappropriate and damaging content in that film, the risk of children being groomed online, there were more than 3000 offences in england and wales. unfortunately, we have the same pattern where we see horrendous stories like this, we see

children whose lives have been hugely damaged because they are on social networks on the platforms don't take steps to make their site safe. u nfortu nately, don't take steps to make their site safe. unfortunately, the platforms choose to ride out the news coverage and then we just see history repeating itself again. we have to break that cycle and the government has the opportunity to do that by introducing a regulator that can hold platforms like instagram to account. the government has had that opportunity for a long time and has talked on a number of occasions about it being the last chance saloon for the wild west of the internet, a former culture secretary described some of the companies. they have done nothing? de government has an opportunity to act. we are expecting a white paper, the home secretary sajid javid has the home secretary sajid javid has the opportunity to step in and once

and for all make sure that platforms face consequences if they expose children to risks. are you expecting them to do that? we are hopeful we will see action. we would like to see that every platform has a legally enforceable duty of care imposed upon them. that means that much in the physical world, as every employer has to do, platforms have a responsibility to identify the type of risks children might face on their platform and take steps to make sure that platforms are safe, that the risks are designed out, and there are consequences if a platform like instagram continues to expose children to completely unnecessary risks. thank you very much. as well as the samaritans number, you can also go to the bbc action line website for more information on organisations that can help. the popular stand—up comedian jeremy hardy has

died of cancer aged 57. mr hardy was a regular on bbc radio 4 panel shows like the news quiz and i'm sorry i haven't a clue. paper cuts are the worst thing. nothing worse than a paper cut. not a sword, not a chainsaw, nothing. nothing worse than a summer cold. syphilis, a grenade up your bum. kaymer our entertainment correspondent lizo mzimba has more. it was announced that he had died of cancer at the age of 57, a huge loss to the comedy and broadcasting world, he won that prestigious award in 1988 world, he won that prestigious award in1988 and world, he won that prestigious award in 1988 and became a regular face

world, he won that prestigious award in 1988 and became a regularface on televisions. a regular voice on radio he appeared on panel shows, particularly on radio four, the news quiz i'm sorry, i haven't a clue, his wonderfully comic singing and joking. he had strong political beliefs, he was a socialist for many yea rs. beliefs, he was a socialist for many years. he didn't always use that in his, comedy, but he often did. but he didn't have to ascribe to his politics to find him very funny. people right across the comedy world and beyond, listeners and viewers across the uk are very sad that he has died at such a young age, a real comedy talent and a really distinctive entertainment voice. has given us so much information over the past 20 and 30 years. jeremy hardy, who has died of cancer, aged 57. the charity for babies born premature or sick, bliss,

has exclusively told this programme it's not promoting the increasing practice of "baby cuddling" in hospitals. it's where volunteers comfort newborn babies if and when their parents can't be there or need a break. research shows human contact helps calm babies, particularly those that have serious health issues. but bluss says more help and support should be provided to make sure parents can always stay with their sick babies. baby cuddling is a practice that is already popular in america — and now some hospitals in england are doing it. george is a volunteer at alder hey hospital in liverpool. oh, there we are. hello, anthony. how are we? yes, i know. i know. i know, my hands are cold, aren't they? i am sorry. there, there. oh, there, there. eh? hey, what's going on? what's going on? are you telling your mummy? you tell your mummy. you're getting better, aren't you, george?

that's what's happening. earlier, i spoke to ann doyle — she is part of the volunteer and patient experience team for alder hey hospital in liverpool kate pinney — a midwife for tommy s, a charity which funds medical research into prematurity, miscarriage and stillbirth. and louis mapp — who does baby cuddling in america. i started by asking louis what made him want to be a baby cuddler. well, i saw a programme on tv about two years ago, local tv, about the children and women's hospital in mobile, about baby cuddlers. and since we have three children and eight grandchildren and two great—grandchildren, i'm used to cuddling babies. and i told my wife, i said, "that's on my bucket list, i'm going to do that." so i went to... you know, had all the medical checks, background checks, the training and so forth, and aside from our church and my marriage, this has been one of the most inspirational things i've ever done. the babies are priceless and it makes my day when i'm able to cuddle one.

and when are you called on to cuddle someone else's baby? well, i go over on a designated day, and when i get there, usually about quarter to seven, the babies are just waking up. and i help the nurses with feeding, changing diapers if necessary. i feed them, burp them and cuddle them. they have, you know, other babies to work with, so it helps them not having to do that, and it's a job for me to do. they smile at you and they make sounds at you and you get to know them. i've known some of them... i've known their grandparents and known their parents, and you get to know them and it's a job.

it's the best day of the week for me, when i cuddle those babies. and sometimes i only cuddle one for 30 minutes, and sometimes i cuddle one for three hours. itjust depends on the circumstances. ann doyle, it's a big thing in america, less so in this country. do we need them here? oh, yes, definitely. our baby cuddlers definitely bridge that gap between our clinical nursing staff and our families as well. as well as providing exceptional care for our babies, and cuddling them and soothing them and rocking them and talking to them, they also support the families. you know, a lot of families come to alder hey from outside of the area, they mightn't have an extended family with them. so our volunteers are there as well, you know, to support the families, have a chat, even to allow them to have ten minutes to go and have a cup of coffee or a shower if they need to. and they know that while they're doing that, that their baby has

someone there staying with them. so as a parent or a family member, it's so reassuring. so absolutely we definitely need our baby cuddlers. is it reassuring to have a... basically a complete stranger cuddling your baby while you have a little bit of respite, if you've had a traumatic birth or the baby is premature, for example? well, our baby cuddlers on the ward, the regulars to the ward, they know the staff, they get to know the families as well. and also, you know, the families are told about our baby cuddling service and they are asked if it is something they would like to be involved in. so there's no big surprises of, you know, someone who they weren't aware of nursing or cuddling their babies. we are very, very stringent on that as well. kate pinney, a midwife for tommy's, thank you for talking to us. what are your concerns about baby cuddlers? i think there are certainly things to think about. like you were referring to then, for families it's quite a new scheme and, for example, if parents have been through quite a traumatic birth experience, that bonding and that initial bonding and attachment with the baby isn't always immediately there, and sometimes it can take some time for that can happen.

and a baby cuddler might sort of get in the way inadvertently? well, it's just parents‘ perception of seeing that, seeing someone that they don't know confidently handling their baby, talking with their baby. it's a little bit tricky to be able to sort of look at that, really. but i would assume that, you know, all these baby cuddlers would need to go through checks on their backgrounds, but it's just making sure that the parents are still that main carer, they are still there for their baby and the baby cuddler is just an extra service. the charity for babies born prematurely or very ill, bliss, says it doesn't promote this practice and actually asks volunteers not to ask anyone... sorry, asks volunteers not to ask to hold anyone's baby. they've given is a statement which says, "evidence shows babies born prematurely or sick do best when their parents and families are involved at the heart of their care on the neonatal unit,

and we believe efforts should be focused on encouraging and supporting the hands—on involvement of parents and, where appropriate, wider family members, in their baby's care." what would you say to that, first of all, kate, and then i will put that to ann and louis. i completely agree, the evidence is there. and all neonatal units are always encouraging the involvement of parents, involving them in their care. anything that's done should be done with parents‘ consent. so really it's that parent's decision as to whether they be involved in that scheme, really. but it is an extra, and for some parents it's not practical to be there all the time. it might be that the parents are very ill, they're in a hospital that's miles away, they can't practically be there 24 hours a day. they might have other children that they need to care for. so, actually, having the reassurance that someone is there whilst they practically might not be able to, for some parents may bring comfort and be reassuring. ann, why do babies need that contact, even if it's not from their own mum or dad?

it's very soothing, it's very comforting. i know that there is, obviously, medical research that proves it's beneficial for the young babies for this to happen, you know? on some occasions our volunteers aren't lifting the babies, they're actuallyjust talking to them and singing to them and soothing them and everything is always done, obviously, with parental permission at all times that, you know, our volunteers would not handle a baby unless the parents and the staff were happy with that. yeah. and louis, what is your relationship, your association with the parents of the babies that you cuddle? well, some of them, i don't see, because as one of your guests said, they may be working, they may have other children at home that are sick, or they may be sick. a lot of them i have got to know, and when they walk in, sometimes i'm holding their baby and i'll immediately hand them over to the parents. the cuddlers are no substitutes for parents.

we are just there to help and it's all done with everyone's permission, and we just... we just help the nurses while they have other things to do, maybe soothe a baby that's crying. again, we are no substitute for parents but we try to help in any way we can, and we do whatever the nurses and the parents want us to do. baby cuddling, coming to a hospital and you are you, it would seem. we brought you revelations about the warwick university online rape case. one of the women who complained about the men that had this private group chat, which was threatening to rape various group chat, which was threatening to rape various women group chat, which was threatening to rape various women at the university exclusively told us about one of the messages, which was really pretty gross. iam messages, which was really pretty gross. i am going to tell you what the message is, so cover your years

akos elek markos, if you can't cope with this, they said after they raped me they would discard my body and ejaculatory over it. she also said she was asked aggressive questions about her sexual history with the men being questioned. and she also said warwick university's press department officer was the investigating officer. another comment, this shows a lack of commitment to call out, punish and help prevent the normalisation of abusive behaviour towards women. i will not be donating to fundraising appeals until the outcome of the case. michelle says, by trying to protect their reputation, warwick university have completely trashed it. gary says it is unbelievable that anybody, let alone a young

woman should be treated this way. an investigation should be implemented, the staff, police and students should be removed from their studies and work while a thorough investigation is made. a text says i have a child looking at universities, i will not be sending her to warwick university. thank you for your messages. bbc newsroom live is coming up next. have a good day. good morning. no doubt you will be seeing in the news that we have had significant disruption across southern areas through this morning because of the snow. this is the current snowfall radar. you can see it is still snowing quite heavily across parts of wiltshire, gloucestershire, into parts of

oxfordshire. we will continue with that area of snow gradually moving its way a little bit further south and east. still a good covering of snow here full stop a mix of rain, sleet and snow in the far south—east of england and some snow showers moving in across the north and east. elsewhere, some sunshine, a pretty cold day, maximum temperatures up to this is bbc newsroom live, i'm ben brown live in wiltshire.

the snow is continuing to fall here. the headlines at 11am. heavy snow has swept across south wales and southern england, leaving motorists stranded and causing travel disruption. more than 100 people sought refuge for the night at a pub on bodmin moor in cornwall after their cars got stuck on the a30. around 400 students were also stranded at callywith college in bodmin where they were forced to spend the night. we slid into the back of someone on the way back and we deemed it too dangerous to travel home so we pulled in