a former head of the metropolitan police calls on the government to get a grip on knife crime. lord hogan howe spoke out after two 17—year—olds became the latest victims of a series of fatal stabbings. what i don't get a sense is that every day somebody is leading this, somebody is managing this, pulling it all together, it's a very complex problem and they require a big solution. his comments came as the home secretary prepares to meet police chiefs on wednesday to look at ways to combat violence. also this lunchtime: the government announces £1.6 billion for deprived towns in england — but is it a brexit bribe? ray kelvin, chief executive of the fashion chain ted baker, resigns after claims of "forced hugging" at the company. at least 23 people are dead —

and there's "catastrophic damage" — after tornadoes hit alabama in the united states. and a memorial is unveiled in birmingham to the 31 people who died in terror attacks in tunisia in 2015. and coming up on bbc news, maro itoje is one of three england players set to return from injury into eddiejones‘ training squad for saturday's six nations clash italy. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. the former head of the metropolitan police, lord hogan—howe, has called for the appointment of a senior advisor or tsar to help "get a grip" on knife crime. he was speaking after two 17—year—olds were murdered in separate knife attacks in east london and greater manchester over the weekend.

lord hogan—howe described britain as being "in the dark ages" when it came to tackling the problem. the home secretary is due to meet police chiefs on wednesday to look at ways to combat the violence. our correspondent, charlotte gallagher, is in east london now. as you would imagine, there has been a lot of police activity at the park behind me wherejodie was murdered. offices have removed a table from inside the children's playground. we have heard from neighbouring sixth form college where dodi was a student, they said she was excellent and focused on her studies and very kind. ——jodie. and focused on her studies and very kind. —— jodie. they said and focused on her studies and very kind. ——jodie. they said there would be extra support for friends ofjody‘s who have been affected by her murder. —— ofjody's who have been affected by her murder. —— jodie. people here are in shock, horrified by what's happened

in this quiet residential area. jodie was 17, studying for her a—levels, enjoying life. she was killed in this children's playground, stabbed by a suspect described as a black male in his early teens. —— stabbed by a suspect described as a black male in his late teens. he attacked jodie without saying a word before running away. the flowers stack up against this tree just steps away from wherejodie was killed. a steady stream of people have been coming here in shock at the death of a young girl described as beautiful, kind and friendly, in a seemingly random attack. they were absolutely normal children, doing normal things, and this is a very unusual incident, i think it's totally unprovoked, and we need to get a grip of the situation. 2a hours afterjodie‘s death, anotherfatal stabbing, another young life lost. yousef makki was also 17 and studying for his a—levels. he was attacked here in hale barns in greater manchester.

two 17—year—olds have been attacked on suspicion of murder. recent figures from the office of national statistics show that the number of fatal stabbings last year was the highest since records began. 285 people lost to knife crime. figures obtained by channel 4's dispatches programme show the number of children under 16 being stabbed rose by 93% in just two years. people here in havering and across the uk are calling for the government and police to take action on knife crime, but what can be done? i think it needs a leader, it needs somebody who is going to, day after day, say, what are the police doing, what are the other agencies doing, how can you get the charities to work together? because if it is not treated as a crisis,

it will take another two years before we see action. the home secretary, sajid javid, says the senseless violence can't go on — a feeling shared by the traumatised community, friends and family ofjodie chesney. police are appealing for information, saying it could take a knife off the street or save a life. charlotte, thank you. the government has denied it's trying to bribe labour mps into supporting its brexit plans by announcing new funding for some of england's most deprived areas. more than £1.5 billion will be spent on helping to regenerate towns over six years, with over half going to the north of england and the midlands. labour say it's a ‘desperate‘ bid to get backing for theresa may's brexit agreement from mps representing leave—voting areas. our political correspondent ben wright reports. from coastal towns such as blackpool to the old industrial heartlands of northern england, and cities such as stoke—on—trent, the government is promising more money for new infrastructure and training in struggling english towns aware the vote in favour of brexit was high. struggling english towns aware the vote in favour of brexit was highlj

think this really can make a difference and really help ensure that some communities that have not felt they have been touched in the same way by growth in the economy on prosperity feel this too, and we are ensuring that all of our country can be confident as we look to the future. a16p be confident as we look to the future. a1 6p pot will be available, and most of that has been allocated to areas already, the three largest recipients of funds will be the north east of england, followed by the midlands, and north—eastern humber. —— will be the north west of england, followed by the midlands, and yorkshire and humber. today, some of those labour mps said the money promised was pathetic. this isn't going to answer the questions and not deal with the domestic issues why people voted brexit in the first place, why people voted to

leave the eu. this doesn't help anybody. it is almost more insulted, it is as if she has realised a problem, here, have some scraps to fix things, it doesn't help. john mann met government officials and asked for more investment in leave the voting areas. we've never had oui’ the voting areas. we've never had ourfairshare, the the voting areas. we've never had ourfair share, the monies that the voting areas. we've never had our fair share, the monies that were supposed to come our way have gone into the big cities. it is important that they point in that direction. this week and next will be hugely important. the government is trying to negotiate changes to the withdrawal agreement that it hopes can overturn opposition in parliament. a vote on the deal is promised by next tuesday, and if that does not pass on these will have a chance to delay brexit. the task facing the government is daunting. 432 for the nos. january saw the biggest ever defeat for a government when its brexit deal was thrown out, more than 100 tories rebelled, and it'll require much

more than some cash for labour constituencies to turn those numbers around. ben wright, bbc news. our assistant political editor, norman smith, is at westminster. the accusation is this money is a bribe, is that fair? not in the sense that mrs may isn't saying here is some cash only if you vote for my deal, that said you would have to be pretty wide—eyed and naive to think this money has absolutely nothing to do with next week's big vote on brexit. of course it has. the hope is it'll make it easierfor it has. the hope is it'll make it easier for those labour mps perhaps already minded to vote for mrs may's deal in leave constituencies, to think life might be betterfor their constituencies once we have left the eu. it is designed to grease the wheels come if you like. privately it is interesting. in public those labour mps have been dismissive, but in private they have said that this

is money no longer going to the big cities for regeneration, it is coming to us, coastal towns, market towns, former industrial towns. secondly, it's money going to specific projects. this isn'tjust cash which will disappear into local council budgets, it'll go to things like new university campuses, new railways, and on top of that all of the signs are that later this week the signs are that later this week the government will unveil another move to woo labour mps with draft bills, setting out their plans for workers' rights once we leave the eu. there is a hope mrs may can begin to get maybe 20, may be up to 30 labour mps begin to get maybe 20, may be up to 30 labourmps on begin to get maybe 20, may be up to 30 labour mps on board to back her deal. but she is going to need that because all of the indications are that there are about the same number of tory brexiteer ultras, who will probably vote against mrs may's deal come what may. so she is going to

need labour support to get her deal through. norman, many thanks. the founder and chief executive of the fashion chain ted baker has resigned. ray kelvin was on a leave of absence since december — after claims that he enforced a ‘hugging' culture at the company, and engaged in other inappropriate behaviour. he denies all allegations of misconduct. our business correspondent, emma simpson, is with me. — is his departure a surprise and what does this now mean for the company? is his departure a surprise and what does it now mean for the company? it was fairly inevitable he had to 90, it was fairly inevitable he had to go, given the allegations about his behaviour as ceo. in december last year, there was this online petition which surfaced, accusing him of harassment. you had staff and former staff claiming there was a regime of hugging and other inappropriate conduct. they have been looking at the allegations and the company's

procedures, and that'll be reporting in april. the company said ray kelvin had decided that it was in the best interest of ted baker to resign so the business can move forward. but he started this business with a single store in glasgow nearly 30 years ago and built it into a global brand with more than 500 stores and concessions. without doubt he is one of the uk's most successful retailers, and in many ways ray kelvin was ted baker. latterly, i mean, he wasn't involved critically in the day—to—day running of the operations, but you cannot lose someone operations, but you cannot lose someone like that not for it to have an impact of some sort. that said, he has got a strong team and he still remains the biggest shareholder. thank you. the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse has begun hearing evidence about the way institutions responded to reports of abuse within westminster. the inquiry originally intended to investigate allegations of paedophile rings involving powerful men, but some of these claims have been found to be false. it'll now focus on the response of

police, prosecutors and politicians to allegations of abuse. our home affairs correspondent, tom symonds reports. the task of the chair a panel of the enquiry... after nearly four years this enquiry begins its most sensitive phase amid bitter criticism it'll be a witch hunt. but its most senior barristers said there was a legitimate question. whether there was a culture, whereby people of public prominence were shielded from investigation and their wrongdoing tolerated at the expense of their victims. these are extremely serious issues. the possibility of powerful paedophiles in westminster was one of the reasons this enquiry was set up. in 2012 a senior labour figures stood in the house of commons and highlighted one past case he said raised serious questions. the

evidence file used to convict paedophile peter wright and, if it still exists, contains clear intelligence of a widespread paedophile ring. but it turned out that evidence wasn't clear and after making claims about abuse and murder in westminster, one accuser has been charged with perverting the course of justice. this charged with perverting the course ofjustice. this enquiry will not cover that case. the enquiry did here today a string of allegations against politicians and police cover—ups, of gagging orders, of knowledge at high levels in government of paedophile activity. what the enquiry did not hear is whether those allegations are true 01’ whether those allegations are true orfalse. the enquiry whether those allegations are true or false. the enquiry says deciding thatis or false. the enquiry says deciding that is not its job. the function of this investigation is to enquire into the way in which westminster‘s institutions responded or failed into the way in which westminster‘s institutions responded orfailed to respond. the fact these claims are

being aired at all has caused fury among the enquiry‘s critics. lord janner died after being charged with sexual offences. dead politicians cannot answer back. how can it be fair that their names are besmirched? it fair that their names are besmirched ? it is fair that their names are besmirched? it is extremely upsetting for their families, such as my family, and this should never have happened. however, the former rochdale mp cyril smith was arrested in the 1980s and not charged, it is alleged, because of a cover—up. in a key case for the enquiry, senior figures from his party, the liberal democrats, will be asked what they knew and when. in other evidence, there will be evidence that the security services warned in the mid—80s that a conservative mp, peter morrison, had a punch on for small boys and separately that party whips covered up for members of parliament with problems. —— had a penchant for small boys.

thanks very much. the health regulator, nhs improvement, says it's scrapping a panel it had set up to oversee a review into maternity failures at an nhs trust. our social affairs correspondent, michael buchanan, is with me. tell us more about this. this refers to the maternity problems which have emerged at the shrewsbury telford nhs trust. to put this in context, this enquiry which has been taking place for over a year has been contacted by more than 200 families, many of whom have alleged they were let down by maternity services here, including a great number saying their babies died or suffered long time harm because of failings. this enquiry has been going for more than a year and had the confidence of families in the shrewsbury area. just a few days ago the regulator said it was going to appoint a panel to oversee the work of that enquiry team and that infuriated a number of people because of some of the composition of the panel. including people who

they felt were compromised because of their dealing with this trust. the regulator says they are following feedback from the families and have decided to scrap the panel and have decided to scrap the panel and this enquiry will now be com pletely and this enquiry will now be completely independent. thank you. our top story this lunchtime. the former head of the metropolitan police lord hogan—howe has called on the government to step up its action to tackle knife crime, after the murders of another two teenagers at the weekend. and still to come: a call for signposts on top of mountains, as hikers find their smartphones are getting them lost. coming up on bbc news, fit again flanker hamish watson is among eight players added to the scotland training squad ahead of saturday's six nations clash against wales at murrayfield. devastating tornadoes have ripped through alabama

in the united states, killing at least 23 people. officals say they are dealing with a catastrophic situation and that more victims could be found as teams search through the debris. thousands of people have spent the night without heating, with temperatures dropping near freezing. a state of emergency has been declared, and there is a warning that more storms could be on the way. mark lobel has the latest. lives and livelihoods swept away on a sunday afternoon in alabama. the local sheriff described the tornadoes as if someone had taken a blade and just scraped the ground. you can see why. is that your baby? one family fled their neighbourhood once the tornadoes struck. i was making a left up there around 38th, and this whole area right here was... it's pretty much just gone, you know? gone too, the roof from this bar.

in the trash swirling in the air, andi in the trash swirling in the air, and i said, oh, no, thatain‘t good. these sudden nature of the twisters frightened many. it is now down to search—and—rescue teams to sift through what is left, a grim task with the death toll expected to rise. medics are treating more than 40 people, and of the nearly two dozen killed, one is an eight—year—old. the damage is significant. i would put it into the category of catastrophic based on the destruction of the homes we have seen. we still have some people that are reported missing, we have not identified all of the fatalities at this point. commuters cautiously squeezed past this mobile—phone mast on a popular highway, and thousands have been left without power.

it's been reported two tornadoes hit lee county back—to—back within the span of an hour. this was the first. a path of destruction half a mile wide with winds of up to 165 mph tore apart areas close to the state's capital. at least a dozen tornadoes touched down notjust in alabama, but in neighbouring georgia, on sunday afternoon, according to the national weather service. although twisters are common here, this occurred ahead of the traditional peak season for them and is the same system expected to bring winter weather to much of the eastern united states this week. residents have been warned of more extreme weather to come as the search for survivors continues. mark lobel, bbc news. a political activist who found out her partner was an undercover police officer has told the bbc that she is the victim of a "conspiracy to rape". for decades, policemen spied on political groups and activists,

and some of the women who were deceived say they were, in effect, sexually abused. wyre davies reports. for six years, lisa — not her real name — shared every detail of her life with a man she thought she knew and could trust. i would never have consented to have a sexual relationship with a police officer, and certainly never somebody who was being paid to pass on information about myself and my friends. lisa thought her partner, a fellow activist called mark stone, was equally committed to her environmental and life goals. a chance discovery of a passport while on holiday showed that stone was in fact an undercover policeman called mark kennedy. the really difficult thing for me was seeing that it mentioned on that passport that he had two dependents, you know, that made the ground absolutely open up beneath my feet, to find out that my partner had children that i didn't know about, you know, and that's huge. kennedy's exposure completely blew

the lid on the met‘s decades—old policy of sending in police officers to infiltrate groups the state regarded as a threat. the public inquiry into undercover policing in england and wales began here more than three years ago, but it's yet to hear any evidence, and it's not expected to report for another four years. there are also fears amongst many of those involved that the whole thing could amount to nothing more than a whitewash. there's me. rosa says that she was also duped after beginning an intense relationship with a man she believed to be a committed political activist, just like her. there was no loving relationship. my partner was played by an actor. through every sexual act that occurred was a paid police officer on duty, specifically deceiving me. an apology and compensation from the met feels like a hollow gesture to victims like rosa,

which isn't her real name. she says senior officers should face serious charges after it emerged in at least one case the met knew about and sanctioned one undercover officer's sexual relationship. if you put all those things together, you've got a team of officers conspiring to rape, you know, there is no two other ways about it, they know that there was no informed consent. in both cases, the undercover officers involved deny specifically targeting the women and say relationships were consensual. but both lisa and rosa are adamant someone more senior should be held to account for what they went through. wyre davies, bbc news. and viewers in wales can see more on this story in undercover cops: abuse of duty tonight at 8:30 on bbc one, and it will also be on the iplayer. the nhs is launching a new strategy to encourage bereaved parents to consider donating their child's organs. donations from adults have risen by a fifth over the past 15 years,

but numbers from children are largely unchanged. sean fletcher reports. oscar from bournemouth isjust 14 months old... yeah, that's your heart. ..and is on the urgent heart transplant list at great ormond street hospital. if you go in and look at him right now, you wouldn't even know anything is wrong with him — he'sjust so happy and cute and smiley and just so lovely. it'sjust waiting, and it's very likely he will slowly deteriorate eventually, it'sjust not knowing when. for 13—year—old grace from portsmouth, her own wait finally came to an end when she received a healthy heart of her own. i honestly have so much thanks to the family of the donor that donated my heart to me. it's kind of surreal, like, that was someone who did that for me, like even if they don't know who i am, it felt amazing that someone gave me a heart

and now i get to live again. but while donations from adults have been increasing in recent years, the number of child donors hasn't changed in a decade. right now, we've got a third of children waiting for a new heart, and we know unfortunately that 25% of them will die before they receive that. there remains an inherent imbalance between donor scarcity and then demand in terms of recipients. in response, the nhs‘s blood and transplant service is launching its first—ever paediatric strategy aimed at ensuring more bereaved parents are offered the choice to donate and are properly supported through the process. i remain humbled every time i get an offer, because it means ultimately that a family in a desperately emotionally fraught time has thought to be so generous as to give an organ away. for grace and her family, their ordeal is far from over. shortly before her own transplant, her younger brother, freddie, who shares the same rare genetic

condition, was added to the waiting list for a heart. it's certainly brought them all closer together, the three of them, because jane's had to live with the fear of losing her brother and sister. he has seen her go through it, which in some ways is a positive thing, because he's seen that she got as sick as she did but she came out the other side. but at the end of the day, he's not stupid either, he knows that it got touch and go, really touch and go. and we just don't know how it will play out with him. it's torture, really, because every night i sometimes imagine my mum coming in and saying, "freddie, they've found a heart." and ijust wish it would be over and done with. since filming, oscar received a new heart. he's now back home with family. meanwhile, freddie — and 170 other children — are still waiting. sean fletcher, bbc news. mountain rescue teams

in the lake district say they are being repeatedly called out unnecessarily because of people relying on their smartphones to navigate. one team is also calling for signposts on england's highest mountain to prevent walkers from heading down a dangerous gully. danny savage sent this report from cumbria. off we go. a mountain rescue team on england's highest peak, but they say they are getting called out too often. we have so many avoidable rescues that we really want to get the message across to try to reduce them. what do you mean by avoidable, though? people who haven't prepared, they haven't got the right kit, they get the night in, no torch. you know, if they'd thought just that little bit, they would have prevented the team having to deal with the incident. it's not a case of a few sprained ankles or getting lost in the mist. people are dying up here — or thinking they might do, when it all goes wrong. i thought i was goner and that. you thought you were going to die? yeah, i really did, it was so scary, like...yeah. when we were walking down,

mountain rescue, one of them was talking to me, he said, "google where you were." all it was was a steep cliff face, and there was nothing, no trees, no vegetation, no moss, just rocks. if they'd not got a signal and got hold of the mountain rescue, they could have been stuck there for the night, got colder and colder, you know, hypothermia could have set in. who knows what could have happened after that, really? mountain rescue have two main concerns. number one is people relying on mobile phones. this mountain isn't like many others, it's quite dangerous. we had mobile phones with maps, but of course it uses mobile signal to communicate, and that doesn't work very well when you're in storms and on the mountain. shortly after this picture was taken, the compass on his phone stopped working, so they contacted mountain rescue for help. and obviously that's something we have to live with on our conscience, is that we called them out when, in theory, we really shouldn't have.

the other main concern is a lack of signposts. so many problems happen here, particularly in bad weather. they want to go to wasdale to the left, but they look at the junction, they're not sure, they go right. it's a big problem. scafell pike — thousands of people come up here ill—prepared, they get lost, they get into difficulty. too many rescues, too many fatalities, too many tragedies. we just have to do something. but the national trust, who own the land, says lots of people don't want to see signs on the fells. all that these mountain rescue teams want to see is for people to enjoy these beautiful dramatic landscape safely. but they also want to see people use these a lot better — rather than one of these. danny savage, bbc news, on scafell pike. and there's more on those stories on inside out on bbc one in the north west, north east and cumbria and london at 7:30pm tonight,

and everywhere else on the bbc iplayer. prince harry has opened a memorial in birmingham to the 31 british victims of islamist terror attacks in tunisia in 2015. 30 holiday—makers died after a gunman ran amok in the popular holiday resort of sousse, and another was killed in an attack at the bardo museum in tunis earlier the same year. sima kotecha reports. nestled among trees in one of birmingham's busiest parks, it's to remember those who died in the bardo museum attack and the sousse terror attack. both happened in tunisia in 2015. the sculpture is titled infinite wave. it's made up of 31 individual streams, each representing a british national who died in the attacks. the families of those killed were involved in its design. suzanne richards lost her son, father and brother in the attack in sousse.

it's beautiful, it's a permanent fixture that's going to be here even when we've gone. and it makes everyone come to canon hill park and look and read and understand what happened that day and how horrific it was, and it'sjust a lovely dedication for them. owen, her other son, survived the shooting. it's not something which i'm going to forget about tomorrow, it's something which is going to be with me for the rest of my life, it's going to be with everyone. but more importantly, it's the three people who should be in my life every day aren't here right now, and that's obviously what makes a bigger effect on your life. the duke of sussex came here today to unveil the memorial and to take part in what's being called a dedication ceremony. the attacks took place almost four years ago. the sculpture has the names of the victims inscribed into each stream.