and seventeen others wounded in israeli airstrikes in gaza. israel says the military action is a response to over 200 rockets fired into southern israel by palestinian militants. three israelis were wounded by the barrage. india and bangladesh have been praised for saving many lives after evacuating a million people who were in the path of cyclone fani. according to aid agencies, up to 12 people were killed when it made landfall near the city of puri. the storm was the strongest to hit india in 20 years. british police say a leak of information from the uk national security council about chinese tech giant huawei didn't breach the official secrets act. the leak cost the defence minister gavin williamson his job. he's condemned the investigation as a "witch hunt", and has called for an impartial assessment.

its 330 in the morning —— 3:30 am in the morning. now on bbc news — lost girls: dark side of the island. bbc wales investigates a couple who abused teenage girls for decades in the seaside town of barry — but did they act alone? you may find some parts of wyre davies‘ film upsetting. barry island. beyond the facade of the fun fair, this is a place which for some holds dark memories. they're like us, calm on the top. flapping underneath. sally and joanne grew up in barry during the 1980s. these swans had been here since i was a child. this was where we would hang around.

yeah, this was our playground. yeah. their paths crossed as children. i remember being little girls and then i was gone, so. myself. i always thought about you. 0h, bless you. always. but, 30 years on, they discovered they shared a sickening secret. i thought that you all knew. i thought that we all knew. no. what was happening to each other. it's crazy how they made you probably feel like that. don't be sorry. they were sexually abused as teenagers by the same married couple — peter and avril griffiths. i'd describe them as the fred and rose west of barry.

how he used her to get us in for him to rape. you know? they were a team. they did it together. the women testified against them last autumn and saw them jailed for a total of 36 years. it is the scariest thing i've ever done, but i had to do it because it wasjust eating me alive. knowing the fact that they were wandering around not being done for the crimes. sally and joanne have given up their right to anonymity to tell their story. it started for me with peter, when i was about seven or eight, i think. it got worse as i got older.

avril griffiths is joanne‘s eldest half—sister. peter is her brother—in—law. as a child, they'd babysit joanne at their house. i feel so ashamed and sick. ifeel bad because i couldn't stop it sooner. joanne was their first victim and she could have been their last. butjoanne says that social workers failed her and police didn't follow leads, so the couple remained at large. why didn't they listen or help me? why didn't they do something that day? i was begging them. as a child, sally's future looked bright, full of promise.

i was a proper tomboy, mucking about at the park. it was a nice childhood we had. we weren't rich or anything, but we were happy. she grew up around the corner from peter and avril griffiths. and she trusted them. they were really nice. they made you feel very welcome. give you cigarettes. yeah, we liked going over there. we were kids. i didn't even know what a paedophile was at that age. she waited 25 years to tell south wales police that they had raped her as a child. she didn't think she would be believed. what sally didn't know then, was that they had already abused other girls. the beach became a backdrop

to their crimes. they used to take me out there, hang me over the side of the boat and threaten if i told anybody, they would drop me and leave me in the middle of the night. terrifying. that boat was owned by peter griffiths. he was a fisherman and joanne says he and avril would take her on board for sex parties. peter, avril, theirfriends. i don't know their names. but they weren't fishing, they were there to have sex with children. young girls. that's what they were there to do. it started at a young age,

but it went on till i was 15. at their trial, joanne described the last time she was abused on the boat. it was anchored in barry, and she remembered police officers getting aboard. i believe they were policemen. i don't believe they were working or on duty at the time because they would always be half—dressed, if you like. always have their shirts undone or their ties unclipped or their hats hanging up or jackets hanging up. that's how i knew they were police officers, apart from their bragging about it. they told me that nobody would listen to me, they were officers, they were the law.

she had to wait 30 years to see the couple brought to court. what have you got to say to your victims, mr griffiths? they were jailed for a total of 36 years for abusing joanne, sally and another local girl. but this is a story that should have been told decades ago. we've discovered that allegations of abuse were made to the authorities in the 1980s, 90s and again in 2000. so, why were they not acted upon? because it left the couple free to carry on abusing others. and why were there only two paedophiles in the dock when the evidence pointed to a network of other predators, including police officers? when sally came forward in 2015, a detective in barry spent three years successfully piecing together the case against the couple. when i came to barry in 2000

as a pc, i was aware of the couple. when we used to go out on nights, you would see a white van parked up, but never saw or spoke to them. it was always just rumours, why was there a white van parked on the nap? oh, it's peter and avril. but did police offices know what was perhaps going on in that white van? i think they believed that it was just wife swapping with consensual adults. there was nothing to suggest or any knowledge that there was anything involving children. but 15 years before that investigation began, in 2000, joanne had contacted south wales police after hearing fresh allegations that peter griffiths was abusing young children. she says she told them everything, including the abuse she suffered, the policeman on the boat, and where to look for an album

of indecent photos of girls at the couple's house. they raided their house, got all the evidence that i had told them where it was, it was all still exactly where i told them. she says she gave police descriptions of some of the men on the boat as well. i begged them not to let this evidence get into the wrong hands because i knew there were police officers involved. they swore that they wouldn't, they swore that they would have it in a secure location. i named all the other girls that were in the album. including... one of them which was sally. but it wasn't until after the trial that the women discovered police hadn't visited sally in 2000. they told me they had spoken to all the girls i had named. when i went to the police in 2000, i was told that you had all made statements. but you weren't willing to go to court and that's why they could not take it further. that's a barefaced lie,

because nobody knocked on my door, ever, about the griffiths. i have to come forward and do it myself. i can't believe it. because if they had knocked on my door, i would've told them all. i had no idea there were photos of me in an album in that house. it makes me feel a bit ill. but there were indecent photos found at peter and avril‘s house, which led police to another teenager. and when we spoke to her, she said the major reason she didn't co—operate or say that the couple had raped her was because officers made inappropriate comments about her body when they showed her the photo. south wales police says it was unaware of this incident and will investigate if the victim contacts them. joanne says she also put police in touch with the girl who had been on the boat when she was raped. she was a crucial witness at the trial. she has asked us not to show herface.

there was police on the boat. they were men in police uniforms. police coats. and fishermen, because they had on the big woollyjumpers. they gave me a big massive cup and they said, they filled it with all miniature drinks, and they said drink that and i'll give you a tenner, so i drunk it. i remember going and looking after a while, and ifound men coming out of the room doing their trousers up, there were two of them. at that time, she did not tell anyone what had happened. who would you tell? you're supposed to trust the police, aren't you? but in 2000, when she knew that joanne had reported the abuse, she says she agreed to tell the police what she knew. i spoke to him and he said

he would come and see me and go through everything and do an interview and i never heard from him ever again. i gave him my address and never heard from him. i thought they were going to be prosecuted. i had the phone call off the officers, saying, sorry, joanne, we cannot press charges. we haven't got enough evidence. were opportunities missed in 2000? because last year, the jury convicted them on the bases on the women's evidence. nazir afzal was the chief prosecutor who brought grooming gangs to justice in rochdale. we asked him what he made of this case. what do you think of that fact

that the same evidence which achieved a strong conviction in 2018, for whatever reason was not preceded in 2000? it's scandalous. there's no other word for it. they could have brought these people to justice 15 years beforehand. they could have protected others, who knows what they had been doing in the 15 years since and how many others have been potentially abused? so abuse could have been stopped. this is exactly what happened in the cases that i prosecuted, which others failed to prosecute. but it was notjust police who failed to do enough. joanne had told her mother everything. she'd been injured in the rape and needed help. my mother said to me, "what have you been doing, you dirty, filthy bitch?" she didn't want me to wreck the family or pull her family apart. joanne ran away from home and says she spent a short time in the care of the former south glamorgan council. she says she told a social worker about the rape and the policeman.

i thought it would be stopped, i thought i'd get help. i thought they'd go and arrest them, but nothing happened. i think it was all covered up at that time. it took sally ambridge to come forward in 2015 for the full story to emerge. the couple were questioned again. they weren't shocked, they were very calm. iremember petersaid something along the lines of, "0h, we've had these allegations made to us previously." obviously i was completely unaware of that, because i had no information at that time to suggest that there had been any other complaint made. especially nothing along these lines. joanne said she told a social worker what happened to her. could you find evidence of that complaint? we spent many, many hours down with social services, but we could not find any information even though what she was telling us about going missing and the care home she would have gone into, all those things, it made sense that that was where she would've gone, but there was no, we couldn't find any documents relating to joanne.

but it was a fact that peter griffiths was already a known sex offender. at 19, he was prosecuted for having underage sex with a school girl who became pregnant. what beggars belief is that people didn't not know or act upon what they knew. but then that was the culture that existed pre—2011—2012, people turning a blind eye to the abuse of young girls. and rapists think they can get away with it. they think authorities are not interested, and they are quite right — the authorities weren't interested. and there was yet another opportunity for social services to step in. this time, in the late 90s. we've spoken to a woman who worked with social services in barry, she said she became so worried

about a girl she met at the griffiths‘ home, that she warned child protection workers the couple posed a serious risk. she's asked us not to identify her. i first met peter and avril griffiths when i worked for the vale of glamorgan council social service department. we went to the house and i was concerned with the welfare of the young girl who was there. she looked about 1a or 15 years old. she wasn't one of their children. peter was out at that time and when avril left the room, the girl told me she was staying with them. she also told me the couple had been taking naked photographs of her. i left the house and immediately reported my concerns to the council children services team and made it clear i thought they may be sexually exploiting the girl, and she may be at risk. i know that i rang the team about this and i definitely documented my concerns. i presumed they would have investigated what i told them if they thought it was necessary they could have involved south wales

police. i don't know what happened to the girl after that day. never mind one flag, you've got the united nations of flags waving here, and clearly something should have been done about this but evidently nothing was. in response to the concerns, the council says it's impossible to identify any records relating to the case as it doesn't have enough information about the girl. south wales police say they searched social service records and found no allegations about the couple from the 90s. so, what about claims that the couple didn't act alone? that there was a paedophile network? the force says it found no evidence in this case. but two victims as well as the key witnesses in the trial made it clear that peter and avril griffiths didn't act alone in their abuse. they'd be taken to various locations

across south wales to meet a number of other predators. it was in a car park and there was a mattress in the back of the van and they used to just take it in turns. it would be him and a couple other people, sometimes loads of people, sometimes only a couple. i didn't like it, but i thought, "they're looking after me, i've got to, it's the only way i can pay them back really." joanne remembers in the late 1980s being taking to car parks, too. they would park up, there would be others here. they used to take us, well, me certainly. and pass us around.

i think there was a big paedophile ring around and i think that people brushed it under the carpet. sally was also driven around by the couple at night. avril would dress the girls up. i do remember going out in a van dressed up in a miniskirt and make—up. but i never remember coming back. ever. it was just blank. i think they drugged me more than once. so, other things could have happened to me that i don't even know about. the couple made pornographic videos. in one, they filmed the witness having sex with them and a friend

of theirs who peter griffiths named during the trial. i've never even seen it. they said that it would never be put out and nobody would ever see it, but i've heard rumours that people have seen it. because people used to come up to me in the street and say that they'd seen it. police have had the name of the man in the sex tape since the couple were convicted six months ago. they still haven't questioned the witness orjoanne about him. that forced told us inquiries were made, but he was never located. but we've been given a photograph of someone believed to be him. it's understood he's associated with the couple, and has the same name as the man in the video. and he is still living here in south wales. we had made our own inquiries and come across a photograph at this man, would you recognise him? yeah, he's the one in the film, the service station one. he had sex with you on film...

yeah. in the services. no doubt it was him? no it was definitely him. so i don't understand why he has not been brought in either. just none of it makes sense. at the trial, peter griffiths also said the man in the video had had sex with joanne. that's him. that's that guy they said in court. that's the same guy, i'm telling you, he's just older. just on the basis of what you know right now, you seem to have a network, these victims, if we believe these victims obviously the jury did, they were abused by this couple. why not believe them when they say others were involved as well?

what makes you think that they are lying about one when they are telling the truth about another? take their story as a whole and say yes, there was a network of abusers and therefore understand how it is that who else may be involved investigated. it costs money, so what? everything bears a cost and you know just delayed is better than justice denied. the force says it expects the highest standards of its officers and takes allegations about conduct extremely seriously. but this case has been overshadowed by allegations that in the late 1980s, police were among the abusers and that the couple had friends who were police officers. and there was always police going back and forth in the house. it wasjust normal. i was in the house and a policeman pulled up in a car and i wanted to go and pick up some weed, so he gave me a lift to go pick my weed up. a policeman took you to go get drugs? yeah. and they would come and get tapes and hand—to—hand tapes and he would go in the cupboard

and give them new tapes and give them new tapes and take the old ones off them. do you know what was on the videos? no. i don't know. when ds rich began his 2015 investigation, he discovered that all ofjoanne‘s evidence about the couple and the other predators was missing. i absolutely think there was a cover—up, yes. yes. because i was promised that it would be kept in a secure location. clearly, it wasn't. the file was lost in a flood and a copy destroyed. thankfully now we've brought in systems so this wouldn't happen, but unfortunately back in 2000, that system was not in place. we have brought in the way we deal with police information has changed since 2004 or 2005. so that is in place now where documents will not get destroyed after i think 99 years. back in 2000, that was not there, that wasn't in place. joanne is worried that without her original evidence, other abusers may never be traced. she and sally have complained to the police about its handling

of the 2000 investigation. she wants police to reinvestigate the man in the video and other predators. south wales police says it will do, if new evidence comes to light. my mission now is to bring all the other criminals to justice. the other people who were with avril and peter when they abused us kids. since the trial, a man and woman had said that they, too, were abused as children by the griffiths. police have investigated but say there will be no new charges. the force says fighting that child sexual abuse is an absolute priority. and it's also continuing to investigate alleged contact between its officers and the couple. but that doesn't go far enough for nazir afzal.

whether it's conspiracy or some kind of incompetence, i don't know. but there ought to be a review of it. there is a process for that called a serious case review independent of authority to enable all agencies to look at what they did and what they did not do, and when it takes place a needs to be warts and all, and then address what needs to change now to ensure that it isn't repeated. sally and joanne are waiting to hear the outcome of their police complaint. but with the couple behind bars, they finally feel safe in their home town. for the girls whose childhoods were lost, there is now some hope for the future. plenty of times i didn't think i'd survive. but here i am, i'm still here, i'm surviving. and i'm free to look at the sun.

i've got to find pleasure in theirsuffering. and i'm free now. and they're not taking 110 more away from me. no more.

good morning. sunshine or not this bank holiday weekend has certainly been characterised by a noticeable chilly edge to it. we start sunday on a cold start. temperatures a few degrees above freezing. widespread frost in the countryside. widespread for many. northern scotland with some showers, particularly 0rkney and shetland. it will spread south and shetland. it will spread south and it was through the day. still some sunshine coming through. the odd isolated gel. nowhere near as many as we saw yesterday. the winds much lighter in eastern districts. still around 9—13 for most of you. not as cold as yesterday afternoon felt. looking into bank holiday monday, a zone of the cloud across southern scotland, northern england, some showers. a cold front will work

its way into northern ireland, northern england during the day. heavy showers into the pennines and peak district and lincolnshire. most lisa seeing sunshine. sunny but cold further north.

welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is reged ahmad. our top stories: palestinian militants and israeli forces exchange rocket and air strikes as officals say four people have been killed in gaza in two days of violence. as cyclone fani leaves devastation and floods, india and bangladesh are praised for saving many lives after evacuating millions of people in its path. this is the seen live in bangkok. -- scene. thailand's king grants new titles to members of the royalfamily on the second day of elaborate ceremonies marking his coronation. dust off your leg—warmers as the kids from fame reunite