hello and welcome to a special programme on young reporter news day, when the bbc works with young people from all over the uk, giving them the chance to get this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. involved in the newsroom, the headlines at eight: as well as telling their stories. the home secretary, sajid javid, in the next half hour, we'll be showcasing some of the fantastic says he'll do all he can to give police the resources they need work from youngsters across the uk and speak to some of the people involved in the day's events. to fight knife crime. earlier, a special awards ceremony was held we have to do everything we can, we here at broadcasting house for 12 finalists are committed to working with the police in doing this and we have to in the young reporter competition. listen to them when they talk about all of them had the unique chance to tell powerful, this. a muslim convert who'd sworn personal stories with help allegiance to the islamic state group is jailed for life from teams here at the bbc. for plotting a terror attack in central london. a father is jailed for 16 years well our reporter ashley john—baptise was one for planning an acid attack of the presenters at the bbc young reporter awards — on his own three—year—old son — he joins me to talk about the ceremony and the finalists. five other men are also jailed for their part in the plot. how did it all go? and a bbc investigation a brilliant day. i met the finalist, reveals the longest waits for ambulance help. and be celebrated between and the critically ill patients in the countryside have to wait on average 50% longer for an ambulance than those in urban areas andy murray now says he's ‘pain stories were amazing. delightful free" after hip surgery young people. brilliant day, and so but puts his chances of playing

singles at wimbledon are ‘less than 50%.' good to be talking about it.|j young people. brilliant day, and so good to be talking about it. i am so glad, and all the preparation as well. all thejudging, hot tub but and at 8.30 we'll have special programme — showcasing the bbc that choosing? really tough. this young reporter awards — as young people work billy goes back with the bbc to tell us about their personal stories. the home secretary, sajid javid, has said he'll do all he can to give police the resources they need to fight knife crime. he was speaking after holding an emergency meeting with chief constables from england and wales. later in the week police forces will outline the scale of the extra investment they think is necessary. mrjavid's pledge comes just days after theresa may seemed to question whether there was a link between police resourcing and the recent rise in violent crime.

here's our political editor laura kuennsberg. the personal is political. the police hunt for solutions and westminster looks for urgent answers as mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters lose young people to violence. my son had 1a stab wounds. that won't come fast enough for this lady, whose grandson marcel, was killed in 2015. some on his hands, some on his leg, one across his face and in his heart. i felt angry, i felt i wanted to go there and get the people that done it. you live it every day, especially when you hear the police sirens. it brings it all back especially when you hear somebody else has been taken. you ask, when is it going to stop? enough, is enough. those painful calls means

mounting political pressure. theresa may was home secretary when police numbers fell. those cuts blamed by labour. the problem is violent crime has doubled. the rise has been driven by austerity, something the prime minister told us a few months ago was over. you cannot keep communities safe on the cheap. we are putting more resources into the police. this year... it is no good members on the opposition benches standing up and saying, know you are not. it is a fact more money is put into the police this year, that more money is being put into the police next year. the prime minister will hold a special summit in the coming days. the police chiefs were in the home office this morning, asking in part for more cash and for more people. there are fewer officers

so there is less police so there is less policing going on and there is more crime. there is some sort of link. it is not the only thing that explains what is going on, but it is part of the equation. the home secretary appears to be on board. there were talks around how do you surge capacity at a time to build more confidence and bear down on this serious violence. where police are setting out a case for more resources, i am listening to that. there are new conversations in whitehall about finding extra cash for the police or at least moving more to the front line to try to make a difference. the chancellor is due to give government departments their budgets for next year, next week. but it is not so long ago that this department got an extra cash top up and it is not clear that money alone would magic this problem away. one of theresa may's old rivals who clashed over crime when she was home secretary

and he was london mayor, believes the changes she made to cut, stop and search, need to be reversed. what the police need is strong, political support that this is the right way forward. the person who has the most power to do that is the prime minister? obviously, the prime minister has said stop and search is an important part of the mix. but what the police want to hear is, this is something that is actively supported. but no politician can pretend to know it all. no one police force can make it stop and no family, whose lives have been torn can be sure they will be the last. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. well tonight a man, thought to be in his mid—twenties, has become the latest victim of a wave of knife crimes. emergency services were called to scene in leyton, in east london, just before 4:30 this afternoon. the man died at the scene and no arrests have been made. we are joined now from our

birmingham studio by david jamieson, police and crime commissioner for the west midlands, which has seen the biggest increase in knife crime outside of london. thank you forjoining us. your chief counsel was at the meeting today at the home office and what was his impression? i think we came out of the meeting is the home secretary now is in agreement with people like myself and the chiefs of police is that this is a resource issue that the cuts to budget and therefore the cuts to budget and therefore the cuts to budget and therefore the cuts to police numbers in our case we have lost 2000 officers come a quarter of our budget, this is having an effect on the growth of violent crimes we have seen in recent days. i think the other thing is coming out that the home secretary now is very anxious to put some more money into the forces like the west midlands and some of the other big urban areas as well. so in the short—term, we have the resources to tackle what frankly is a crisis. were you given the impression that or what your chief

concert given the impression that the home office not accept there is some kind of relationship between the rise and in the following police numbers because that still seems to be an issue that the prime minister doesn't accept? —— chief concert before stop the prime minister to accept that because because she was the architect of the problem. by all of the cuts we had in the time that she was the home secretary. that is why she is in denial about it. the current home secretary does seem to be now listening and excepting our view that we need that resource but if we have just a short—term fix, we can doa if we have just a short—term fix, we can do a lot with that. and we need to put more officers on the streets and we need to tackle those particular areas like here in birmingham, and other parts of the west midlands is well, we can do that but we've got to do the long term work as well. we've got to look at how our budgets are framed and at the moment, a lot of the policing budgets tends to be focused more on the leafy areas of the country and less so in the areas here like in

birmingham. these are the places where the crime is the highest and thatis where the crime is the highest and that is what we need to put their resources . that is what we need to put their resources. are you saying in effect that if there was a reversal of the following police numbers, there would be a fall in the numbers of violent crimes? that is quite a challenging claim to make. violent crimes? that is quite a challenging claim to makelj violent crimes? that is quite a challenging claim to make. i think there would be. we have set already if we can have... you don't think other factors are connected to it? there are if we have six or seven 700 more officers we could do more in neighbourhoods in tackling some of the violence that we are seeing. i think that is one of the asset. however, you add to that local authorities now are hardly providing any youth facilities now, we see cuts to health service, mental health services, it is all part of an equation that has led to this particular problem and you put into that the reduction and the police numbers, you really have a very dangerous situation. there was a

report tonight was suggested that you are now actually asking the chiefs cost about to ensure that all cases were an offender involved in this case are flagged up if they are at school. if that is correct and if so at school. if that is correct and if so why? i am very much asking that because we know anecdotally from some of the cases we have looked at, we found generally the perpetrator of the crime has been excluded but many of the victims of crime, not all, but many victims are also children who have been excluded from their schools, i remember it is not just the violent crime or a death has occurred, there are a lot of other things going on that don't hit the headlines and we know that children who are excluded from school, some of those who are off—road and just taken off the role off—road and just taken off the role of the school because the school wa nts to of the school because the school wants to massage as exam results, that surely is a national disgrace and that is providing nationally

about 19,000 more young people not in school who should be some who are then falling prey to gangs and other people who draw them into county lines to sell drugs and eventually taken into violence and becoming perpetrators of the crime themselves. i think the exclusion issue as part of the problem, but that needs to be tackled head on, andi that needs to be tackled head on, and i think if now the secretary of state for education actually buy in a regime of thymic charting £40,000 for children that they exclude, that would have a major effect on the schools and stop them doing this. —— charting schools. when theresa may establishes a system by which you are one, elected individuals to hold polices to account in your police force area, pa rt polices to account in your police force area, part of the argument was that it would ensure that the police we re that it would ensure that the police were focused on the crimes that the community cared about. i wonder if

you and your colleagues have to accept some share of the blame that that focused doesn't seem to have been as forensic on violent crime, like nice crimes as they might otherwise have been and perhaps there has been low potential and other things. —— knife crime. there has been low potential and other things. -- knife crime. that is everything reasonable point to make. i recognised her in four years ago that we had a particular hotspot problems with gangs and violence birmingham. i put togethera commission that looked at that work and we have been now implementing many of the think they came from that commission, we have got people who work in emergency departments to see children coming in with quite serious injuries very often not reported to the police, we are doing intervention work between gangs, we are helping families, cupping with different teenagers, diversionary work within people, but the problem here is that that work is all very good, but it really is not enough, we need more resource to be able to do more of that work. and to take

the point of theresa may was making today in the prime minster questions, to say that we have had more money, frankly, totally and utterly wrong. more money compared to last year. it is more pounds, yes but how we got more spending power? the answer is no. because partly the treasury put on us a huge extra burden of paying pensions for the employers, then we have the cost of living, so even with the 24 extra pounds on the council tax, that still leaves us in the west midlands ona still leaves us in the west midlands on a flat line budget. by putting the preceptor to stop us losing more officers, so to say we've had more money as a deception i'm afraid. we have not had more money. then we can spend on offices. thank you for joining us. —— then we can spend on officers. and we'll find out how this story —

and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:40 and 11:30 this evening in the papers — our guestsjoining me tonight are dia chakravarty, brexit editor at the telegraph and jack blanchard, the editor of politico london playbook. a 27—year—old convert to islam has been sentenced to life for planning to kill up to a hundred people in central london. lewis ludlow admitted working with an islamic state group commander in the philippines to prepare for a possible attack, such as driving a truck bomb into pedestrians on oxford street. he will serve a minimum of 15 years. daniel sandford has more. i am the eagle and i pledge allegiance to islam. the moment when white convert lewis ludlow swore loyalty to the islamic state group. we love death as much as you love life. i have nothing for this country.

together with his islamic state accomplice in the philippines, this man, eyadzhemar abdusalam, he was planning to kill up to 100 people in central london. it was the end of a ten—year journey of radicalisation for the awkward young man. he is seen here with anjem choudary, who played a big role in drawing him into extremism. i admired hitlerfor his extermination of thejews because i thought he did something good. in this video he made, aged 19, he described his path from neo—nazism to radical islamism. counterterrorism detectives had watched him for years. he had been through the government's deradicalisation programme but nothing worked. last february, police stopped him from going to the philippines, where his is contact was based. then he was spotted by an undercover team taking pictures in central london. he is a man that has gone from spending the vast majority of his time in his bedroom at home online to somebody who is travelling

into london, taking photographs of iconic locations. that started to get the hairs on the back on our necks standing up. counterterrorism detectives found the pictures he had taken on his reconnaissance trip on a phone he had dumped in a storm drain, including this picture — taken outside the flagship disney store. police also recovered a chilling handwritten note ludlow had made. in it, he proposed using a truck, perhaps with a home—made bomb on board, to ram into pedestrians here on oxford street. he said that way, nearly 100 people could be killed. he listed other potential attack sites, too, including madame tussauds and st paul's cathedral, but his is contact was using encrypted messaging to team him up with someone, who turned out to be an undercover police officer and ludlow was arrested. at first, he denied everything but then police showed him the video they had recovered of his oath

of allegiance to the islamic state group. we love death as much as you love life. he is now starting a life sentence, of which he will serve a minimum of 15 years in prison. daniel sandford, bbc news, central london. the headlines on bbc news... the home secretary, sajid javid, says he'll do all he can to give police the resources they need to fight knife crime. a muslim convert who'd sworn allegiance to the islamic state group is jailed for life for plotting a terror attack in central london. a father is jailed for 16 years for planning an acid attack on his own three—year—old son — five other men are also jailed for their part in the plot. sport now and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's will.

we will start with the big news. let's start by bringing you right up to date with the live champions league action. manchester united are in the french capital looking to overtun a two goal defceit against paris saint germain. it kicked off at eight o'clock. united made the dream start at the parc de princes. they went 1—0 up thanks to a romelu lukaku goal in the second minute. ole gunnar solskjaer‘s side are without ten first team players, nine injured and paul pogba suspended. they have equalised. they named youngster tahith chong, james garner, angel gomes and mason greenwood on the bench. psg leading 3—1 on aggregate. in the other game tonight. it's goalless between porto and roma in portugal. the italians have a 2—1 aggregate lead. former england international peter beardsley has left his role as under 23's coach at newcastle united. beardsley had been on leave since an investigation into racism and bullying allegations

was launched last year. the former newcastle and liverpool player "categorically denies the allegations", and says the "time was right to seek a new challenge". newcastle say they‘ re grateful for the contribution beardsley had given over the years as a player, coach and ambassador and have wished him well for the future. scotland's women have finished fifth in the algarve cup after beating denmark 1—0 in this afternoon. the only goal of the game was from jane ross in the first half — her 58th for her country — enough for victory over a team three places higher in the world rankings. it was scotland's second win in two games after beating iceland on monday. rugby‘s world governing body has laid out its plans for a radical new international league. world rugby‘s proposed shake—up will pit the top six teams in both the northern and southern hemisphere against each other in a global tournament called the nations championship. the expanded league, which will work in conjunction with the six nations and rugby championship, will feature promotion and relegation from a second—tier international circuit. here's our rugby union

correspondent chris jones. the players are concerned about this a block potentially five matches in a block potentially five matches in a row that will take place come the end of the year, and for this lead to recommend it has to have promotion and it would need promotion and it would need promotion and it would need promotion and relegation from both the rugby championship or the southern hemisphere competition and the six nations. the six nations up to now have been that against the idea of promotion or i have spoken to sources in the past 24 hours and they are staying tight—lipped but they are staying tight—lipped but they have promised to promised to go to dublin with an open mind with the good of the game at large. so i think next thursday is the meeting and we will find out a lot more about whether this is a dead duck or whether it will be the start of a revolution in international rugby union. the proposed merger between welsh rugby union clubs scarlets and ospreys is now "off the table". they met yesterday to discuss the plans.

but in a statement, scarlets say that ospreys have changed their minds. the plans had been criticised, with players from both teams fearing for their futures. and britain's former world number one andy murray says he's "pain free" after having hip surgery injanuary but that his chances of playing singles at wimbledon this year are "less than 50%". he's been speaking to our sports editor dan roan. it's a pretty big operation. not many 30—year—olds are having that. but i feel good. i am walking around pain—free, which hasn't been the case for pretty much 18 months, two years. that was the main reason for having it done. i'm really happy with how that is going. just day—to—day things that i am doing are a lot more enjoyable now. i wasn't enjoying tennis, going out for walks and doing basic things. it was painful to tie my laces. ijust wanted to get rid of that. now that that is gone,

i want to try and get my hip as best as i can to see if i can continue to do something that i love doing, which is playing tennis. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in sportsday at 10.30. thank you. a father has been found guilty and sentenced to 16 years in prison for organising an acid attack on his three—year—old son. the boy suffered burns to his face and arms in the attack which took place in worcester last year. five other men were also convicted of involvement in the plot. sima kotecha has more. this is the moment a three—year—old boy was splashed with acid in a home bargain store in worcester. it happened in a matter of seconds while the boy was looking at toy footballs. today, his father was found guilty of plotting the attack and then enlisting others to carry it out.

these five men were also found guilty of being involved in the plan and were jailed for between 12 and 14 years. it was july last year. the boy, who can't be named for legal reasons, was shopping at the store behind me with his mother and siblings when he was attacked. during the trial, the jury was told he screamed repeatedly, "i hurt, i hurt!" he suffered serious burns to his face and arm. the father also can't be named over concerns it would give the child's identity away. the 40—year—old, originally from afghanistan, planned to hurt his son after his wife left him and took the children with her. during the trial, the prosecution said he hoped the injuries would discredit her as a parent, so that he could have custody. when sentencing, the judge, robertjuckes qc, told the court, "even battle—hardened crown court judges are sickened when they heard the news that someone had attacked a three—year—old

with sulphuric acid". sima kotecha, bbc news, worcester crown court. critically ill patients in the countryside have to wait on average 50% longer for an ambulance than those in urban areas. that's the finding of a bbc investigation across england, scotland and wales. for the most—life threatening call—outs — such as for a heart attack — it could mean the difference between life and death. the average ambulance service response time in urban areas was seven minutes 14 seconds. but for rural areas it was 11 minutes 13 seconds. the slowest was in a part of north norfolk — at just over 21 minutes. the nhs target for all critically ill patients is under eight minutes — wherever they are. this report is from our health editor, hugh pym. during the day, we've done five jobs, covered about 160 miles. rural lincolnshire. ambulance teams have to navigate hundreds of miles of country roads to get to patients.

after they've assessed what is needed... have you got any allergies that you know of? getting people to hospitals can mean more long journeys. we're going to see a 63—year—old gentleman who an ambulance has been called out to this morning for shortness of breath. aj is a specialist paramedic who knows all about the challenges of covering such a wide area. rural areas, a phenomenal amount of pressure. there's not enough ambulances for the demand that we actually have. we aim to have somebody with you within the next 60 minutes or as soon as there is an ambulance available in the area. it's a familiar issue in most rural parts of the country, and ambulance service chiefs are trying to get to grips with it. there are some patients that will be taken unwell in rural, remote areas that, despite our best efforts, we'll take longer to arrive than we would prefer. but, in those cases, our control room staff are highly trained and very competent to be able to stay on the line with the caller to provide pre—arrival advice, until the ambulance

and paramedics arrived. hello, mr rushby? aj is part of a scheme trying to treat people at home who would otherwise need an ambulance. here, he sees gordon, who is 90. how are you feeling now then? i'm not too bad. you've got a little bit of a problem with the rhythm of your heart. yeah. ijust need to put these on your arms and legs, gordon, so if you just stay still, please, and i'll pop them where i need to. aj's experience means he can reassure gordon that he doesn't need to go to hospital. if you are in your own home, in my opinion, it's better if you are in your own home. it's very, very good to see that somebody‘s thinking about it... and trying to help. he's called for assistance due to his medical history of suffering with a heart attack.

aj says his main aim is to free up ambulance teams to go on to other more urgent cases. if i can actually release the ambulance crew by saying that the patient doesn't need to go to hospital, they are then free to leave the scene so they are then available for any other case... satnav: you have arrived at your destination. which will be stacked up. it's one answer to the challenge of getting ambulances more rapidly to every corner of countryside communities. hugh pym, bbc news, lincolnshire. now it's time for a look at the weather with nick. good evening. the weather threw a bit of everything at us today. the sort of day when one minute you might be enjoying blue skies overhead and the next big downpour comes along and drenches you. all because of the low pressure, the swirl of cloud on the satellite picture. we have seen outbreaks of rain moving northwards. plenty of showers further south. for the next 24 hours,

the area of low pressure slides subtly eastwards. that opens the gates to some cold air digging its way down from the north. tomorrow will feel chilly. early tomorrow we will still see outbreaks of rain. it stays windy so temperatures won't drop too far. we get into tomorrow there will be a lot of outbreaks of rain for scotland and moving out of northern ireland into northern england, wales, the midlands and east anglia. we are likely to see some wintry weather, perhaps winteriness in the lower levels across scotland. some of the wintry showers continue in the afternoon. wind gusts of 40 to 50 miles an hour, maybe a touch more in more exposed spots. a lot of cloud for northern england, north wales, the midlands into east anglia. some outbreaks of patchy rain. on the south coast a better chance

of staying predominantly dry with not too many showers. it will be windy. thursday night into early friday the wind will ease and the cloud will clear away eastwards. temperatures will drop. perhaps lower in sheltered spots. a bright start. this is your chance to draw breath. cloud will increase from the west with outbreaks of rain as we head through friday afternoon. temperatures of seven to 11 degrees. this is the first of a number of weather systems affecting us into the weekend. thejet stream blowing powerfully across the atlantic. feeding more weather systems in our direction. snow will be likely over the high ground. there will be gales in the forecast. it will feel cold but amongst all of that there will be some sunshine.