tonight at six — the bbc radio presenter sacked after his tweet about the royal baby led to accusations of racism. radio five live's danny baker tweeted a picture of a chimpanzee with a caption saying, "royal baby leaves hospital". for a picture like that to come out by somebody who has quite a lot of status is beyond me, i was genuinely upset. we have found this to be abhorrent. yes it was, that's why i took it down. we'll be looking at why so many people have found the tweet so offensive. also tonight: two years after grenfell the taxpayer will step in after many private landlords fail to remove

cladding from tower blocks. the man charged with serial rape — the chief magistrate sees joseph mccann in jail because he refuses to appear in court. the latest in our series on austerity britain — how hartlepool is seeing more drug—related deaths while treatment services are being cut. no wonder they're singing — another night, another remarkable come back — tottenham willjoin liverpool for an all—english champions league final. and coming up on bbc news... chelsea welcome eintracht frankfurt to stamford bridge later with a tough semi final second leg challenge to reach the europa league final.

good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. danny baker, one of the best known presenters on radio five live, has been sacked after posting a tweet about prince harry and meghan‘s baby which led to accusations of racism. the tweet, which we've decided not to broadcast in full, showed a couple holding hands with a chimpanzee and captioned "royal ba by leaves hospital". david sillito has the story. as the press arrived at danny baker's house this morning, he opened the door to reveal he'd just been sacked. the conversation had not been cordial. i said (bleep)(bleep). so by mutual agreement, it was terminated. the reason? this tweet. a vintage photograph of a couple and, we are not showing the full image, but between them was a chimpanzee dressed in a coat and a bowler hat and a reference to the royal baby. we take all those arguments on board... danny baker says it was a mistake,

he deleted the tweet and it wasn't a comment on the duchess of sussex‘s african—american heritage. but many feel it was unforgivable. among them, a fellow presenter on a five live podcast. when i saw it, i was shocked, genuinely shocked, disgusted. how someone thought that was acceptable is beyond me. we are going through a day and age at the minute in 2019 when unfortunately footballers are dealing with banana skins and bananas being thrown on the pitches. both my brothers played football and they had to deal with a lot of fans making monkey noises at them and that was not that long ago. but still it's happening in 2019. and then for a picture like that to come out from somebody who has quite a lot of status, it wasjust beyond me, i was genuinely upset and just let down by it. the bbc said this was a serious error of judgment and goes against their values and danny baker will no longer be presenting his weekly show. however, the presenter says this was a grotesque error and he claims

he had no idea which royal baby it was and who the parents were. i asked him again, did he really not know whose baby it was? no, i genuinely don't. a royal baby, archie. i put one joke up about underneath the arches... that's the thing, i know you have an incredulous look on your face you simply wouldn't do that, would give if somebody of colour had a baby, you wouldn't do that. you are the only person in the country who didn't know that she'd had a baby. apparently the proof is in the pudding, i would not. remember, he is an award—winning broadcaster on a national radio programme. his career at the bbc is over. david sillito, bbc news. two years after the grenfell tower fire, the government is to spend an estimated £200 million on the replacement of dangerous cladding on privately—owned high rise buildings. there had been growing concerns that individual leaseholders would have to pay for the work because some private landlords were not coming up with the money. as our home affairs correspondent tom symonds reports,

there are questions about whether the taxpayer should be bailing out the private sector. flats in this block in bromley can cost u p flats in this block in bromley can cost up to £300,000, but it's now a fire risk and that means having someone on fire risk and that means having someone on duty to raise the alarm if the worst happens. hugely expensive, so the flat owners do it themselves. we are on waking watch duty and we have been doing this for a yearand a duty and we have been doing this for a year and a half to keep everybody safe. it will take seven minutes to reach the top, the flames. seven minutes for everyone to get out. this is the escape route for the ninth floor of the building. the fire door. this is flammable cladding. it has got to go, the cost is £70,000 perflat. the building owner will not pay so they say the government has got to. the situation has come about because of a failure

of government regulation so it is right the government take responsibility. 166 private buildings need remedial work. some buildings need remedial work. some building owners have contributed. but the housing secretary said some others had been reckless. first and foremost, this fund is about public safety. it will allow remediation to happen quickly and it will restore peace of mind and it will allow residents living in these blocks to get on with their lives. but look at the numbers. the government is spending £200 million to make about 170 building say. but here they have been told the bill could be £3.2 million. and other buildings, i have been told the bill could be 5 million or even 10 million. today's money isjust to million or even 10 million. today's money is just to sort out aluminium cladding. the government is about to start new tests similar to this on other materials. if they fail, the bill could go up. which is why in

manchester, katie had this reaction to the news. on the one hand, it is a good start, but ultimately i felt gutted. she has been told how wooden cladding and the construction behind it all needs to be removed. it doesn't include us. this is essentially a cladding lottery in terms of what our building has been covered in and we are not one of them. it is going to take months and even them. it is going to take months and eve n years them. it is going to take months and even years to sort out which is why backin even years to sort out which is why back in bromley, flat owner luke will continue the unpaid waking watch. tom symonds, bbc news. the alleged serial rapist, joseph mccann, has refused to appear in court for a second day. in a highly unusual move, the chief magistrate has travelled to belmarsh prison in south east london after mr mccann declined to leave the cells. our home affairs correspondent june kelly is there now. a magistrate going to the prison?

has this happened before? george, this is believed to be an unprecedented first appearance by a defendant in a criminal case. all morning, joseph mccann had refused to come out of his cell here at belmarsh jail. to come out of his cell here at belmarshjail. he to come out of his cell here at belmarsh jail. he was supposed to be going to a video link and he was going to a video link and he was going to a video link and he was going to be hooked up to westminster magistrates‘ court to face charges. the hours went by. this afternoon it was decided that the chief magistrate, lawyers and journalists we re magistrate, lawyers and journalists were travel across london to the prison for the hearing. that hearing is now under way. wejournalists prison for the hearing. that hearing is now under way. we journalists are not being allowed in because of the security at this prison so we are in a centre outside the jail, but in the prison grounds. when the hearing is over, the chief magistrate has said she will come out and brief us on what has happened. joseph mccann is facing 12 charges involving three women in watford and london and they include rape, false imprisonment and kidnap. but more charges are

expected to be added to the indictment and we will know more once this hearing is over. june, thank you very much. police investigating the murder of the journalist lyra mckee in londonderry have arrested four people under anti—terrorism legislation. the 29 year—old was shot during rioting in the creggan area last month. those arrested are being questioned in custody at a police station in belfast. jeremy corbyn, says the prime minister has yet to make what he called "a big offer" in cross party brexit talks aimed at ending the brexit deadlock. the labour leader said negotiations were difficult because the government was in disarray. launching the party‘s european election campaign mr corbyn said labour was more interested in uniting people than labelling them remainers or leavers. 0ur political editor laura kuenssberg has more. brexit is a long and strange journey. labour, in kent to launch a

campaignfor journey. labour, in kent to launch a campaign for european elections, that were never meant to happen. trying to impress all others with a promise from jeremy corbyn, he‘d compromise to take us out of the eu. applause. applause. a vote for labour is about to bring our divided country back together. labour is the only party with a plan to unite our country and make it work for the many, not the few. calls for another referendum lurk here. jeremy corbyn‘s mention of the possibility raised a cheer. cheering and applause. and the chances of talks with the tories working out seem very faint. there has been no big offer and the red lines remain in place. it is actually quite difficult negotiating with a disintegrating government. can you tell voters if labour is now definitely a brexit party, or could you still be a remain party? we

triggered article 50 and that was respecting the referendum. 0ur ma nifesto respecting the referendum. 0ur manifesto includes an option of a public vote on the outcome. labour mps backed brexit in the commons but might still offer another say. they love him here but there are nervous about facing so many ways. love him here but there are nervous about facing so many wayslj love him here but there are nervous about facing so many ways. i am very disappointed in the kind of half and half attitude of the party. he is looking at what is important for the country, not what is important within the labour party. he is looking at a wider picture. romaine lost the vote and they need to vote to go and get us out of europe. jeremy corbyn says he can pull the whole country together. it shouldn‘t matter who was leave and he was remain. but that question is alive and kicking in his own party and in the country. labour‘s careful

compromise and ifs and buts are brexit, might not find many friends ata time brexit, might not find many friends at a time when so many voters are aching for something crystal clear. they have no strategy, they have no way forward and i think they are making mischief. go on, get on with it and work with what we have got really. the labour party is sitting back, feeling we are glad we are not in the tory's position. what do you think about what is going on? in the tory's position. what do you think about what is going 0mm in the tory's position. what do you think about what is going on? it is a fiasco. but whose fiasco? yours to judge at the ballot box in two weeks‘ time. laura kuenssberg, bbc news. the partner of the first victim of the london bridge attack in 2017 has told an inquest she had "premonitions about terror attacks" the day he died. the body of xavier thomas was found in the river thames after he was struck by a van driven by one of the three attackers. christine delcros wept as she gave

evidence at the old bailey inquest. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford was in court. 0n the night of the attack, christine delcros and her boyfriend xavier thomas, was seen on cctv walking hand in hand on london bridge, heading for a drink in the shard. they had gone out despite her premonition that something bad might happen. two minutes behind them, this white van, driving at speed. today, christine delcros, still injured herself, gave tearful evidence at xavier‘s inquest. even the interpreter wet. she described seeing the van just before it hit them and then coming around on the pavement with a stranger caring for her. she told the coroner... 0nce pavement with a stranger caring for her. she told the coroner... once i regained consciousness, high asked, where is xavier? they looked around but could not find him and i said, he could be in the thames. her family have questioned whether the subsequent search of the river was

adequate. bbc producer hollyjones was on the bridge when she heard the van revving up and swerving into a group of people. in the witness box, she said... hollyjones told the coroner she got a good look at the driver of the van as it hurtled towards her. his eyes we re as it hurtled towards her. his eyes were wide open and he looked angry and demented. he was struggling to control the vehicle as it swerved on and off the pavement. the court also heard from the coastguard who led the search for xavier thomas on the night, but called it off after almost two hours. daniel sandford, bbc news at the old baby. —— bailey. our top story this evening: danny baker — the bbc radio presenter sacked

after his tweet about the royal baby led to accusations of racism. coming up... if they‘re excited, imagine how tottenham fans feel — jubilation after spurs join liverpool in the first all—english champions league final in over a decade. coming up on sportsday on bbc news... arsenal take a two—goal lead to valencia, hoping to avoid another dramatic comeback to seal a place in the europa league semi final. life expectancy in the uk has been rising for decades but in hartlepool it‘s actually falling, and that‘s being blamed on high levels of poverty, along with alcohol and drug abuse. drug—related deaths in the town have risen sharply, while treatment services have seen big cuts. in his third report on how austerity is affecting hartlepool, our social affairs correspondent michael buchanan looks at the impact of drug deaths on the town.

i look forward to seeing him. i hope it‘s the last time he‘s in here. parents can show love in many different ways. tom and ros are off to collect their son from prison — again. this is the road leading up to the jail. this time he got 16 weeks for shoplifting. all of terry‘s many offences are linked to his two—decade use of drugs. i love you. i don‘t want to go through this any more, terry. i've been on them since i was 13. like, started off as solvents and stuff, then tippex and all that, then expelled from school and it just led up to class as. heroin, crack. i've got bad legs at the minute through injecting in my legs. i need to stop, really. terry‘s brother sean died in october. several drugs were found in his body — an insight into his own long—term problems.

zopiclone, diazepam, morphine, pregabalin and alcohol. ijust wish i could see him walk through that door. sean was introduced to drugs by terry when they were both teenagers. initially unaware, their parents were powerless to stop the developing addiction that‘s cost them one son and may cost them another. aren't we, just numb? yeah. numb. it‘s the worst thing any parent can go through. it's horrible. broke my heart. he was my baby. 33 is no age. hartlepool has had an entrenched drug problem for decades — a product of poverty, unemployment and low aspirations. an abundance of abandoned properties

allow users to inject discreetly. a blood—splattered ceiling here suggests a main vein was hit. this is it, the paraphernalia of an active drug den. in recent years, drug—related deaths have increased far faster in hartlepool than they have in england as a whole. i‘ve never experienced such a high density of people dying. sincejust november, i‘ve lost eight people that i know. window cleaning helps thea wright pay for a shrinking drug habit. the 29—year—old is cutting her use of heroin ahead of going to rehab in a few months. she knows she‘s lucky. spending on drug treatment services has almost halved here since 2015. i think there should be more support out there. these people need not to bejudged. there is your minor few that do take advantage of the system, who aren‘t interested in getting clean, but i also know a really

good majority who just need someone to say, "i‘m here, there‘s something here for you, there‘s something to live for." in some areas of hartlepool, drug dealing is rife. the use of skunk, a potent form of cannabis, is rising rapidly among teenagers. the local council say they‘ve increased spending on early health and preventing drug misuse, but acknowledge much more can be done. this street is known for...basically your hard end, so heroin, crack... the decline has infuriated sue, who has worked tirelessly for decades to improve her neighbourhood. they die. young people are dying every day. and we are standing around and watching because there‘s nothing we can do. so we‘re just waiting to help. the police are cut, services are cut, there‘s nothing there. so we thought this generation has lost out, what about the next generation? if there‘s anyone left.

back in town, we met a familiar face — terry, enjoying his freedom. how are you doing? i'm doing fine, yeah. it's a week later since we met you. yeah, and i‘ll tell the truth, i‘ve had one go at crack but i went in and i told my mam straightaway. what did she say? she wasn‘t happy. wasn‘t happy at all. i promised her, iswore on my brother‘s ashes i‘m not going to take no more. he later admitted he did more drugs, so many he‘d ended up in hospital the night before. addiction is an illness and it‘s killing a generation in the prime of their lives. michael buchanan, bbc news, hartlepool. the church of england has been accused of secrecy and of putting its own reputation above the needs of victims in a damning report on sexual abuse. the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse examined how the church dealt with the former paedophile bishop peter ball. and it said prince charles had been misguided in offering support to ball. 0ur religion editor

martin bashir is here. martin, it looks as if they haven‘t been pulling any punches. they haven‘t, and as you say it is a damning report. the most incriminating part concerns peter ball. when his offending became public in 1992, the then archbishop of canterbury george carey didn‘t rush to support the victims of abuse but instead wrote letters of support to his predatory priest and even encouraged his return to the ministry. the report also criticises the prince of wales who spoke to the archbishop of canterbury about peter ball. the duchy of cornwall then purchased a property specifically for peter ball to live in once he was removed from church accommodation. the report says, the actions of the prince of wales were misguided. the prince of wales said ina misguided. the prince of wales said in a written statement to the

inquiry, he had been deceived. martin, thank you very much. the former england football captain, david beckham, has been banned from driving for six months for using his mobile phone at the wheel. he pleaded guilty to using the device while driving his bentley in central london on the 21st of november last year and was given six points on his licence, leading to his disqualification, as he already had six points. the scottish national party also launched their european election campaign today with a straight forward appeal to vote for them in order to stop brexit. leader nicola sturgeon accused the tories of treating the scottish parliament with contempt. she said the elections were scotland‘s chance to make its voice heard, as lorna gordon reports. nicola sturgeon‘s call message on the european union has never wavered. scotland is a country which she says lies geographically on the edge of the eu but wants to remain at its heart. this is by far the

most important european election in scotland‘s history. most important european election in scotland's history. the party she leads, the snp, would like to see two referendums. another vote on europe and if the country leaves another on scottish independence. if people do vote for the snp in the european elections, do you see that the strengthening your case for independence for scotland ? the strengthening your case for independence for scotland? people who support independence will want to vote snp to express that view, but my message to the other people is if you don‘t want to see scottish continually ignored and our interests disregarded and cast aside, and if you want to see scotla nd aside, and if you want to see scotland and the whole of the uk stay within the european union, vote snp. her argument that westminster politicians have ignored scotland‘s interests for too long is not new, but she says this vote is a golden opportunity to send a strong and unequivocal message that scotland is not in favour of brexit. is this likely to whet the appetite of

scottish voters? i want to vote for something like remain i can vote for green, kind of labour may be, i don‘t know. green, kind of labour may be, i don't know. i would like the snp need to win the day on that and for scotland to stay within europe.|j always wanted to be part of europe but i'm split now. they will be hoping to change his mind with a campaign theme clear to all. lorna gordon, bbc news, edinburgh. football now, and it‘s going to be an all—english champions league final for the first time in over a decade. that‘s after a dramatic win last night for tottenham against dutch side ajax. their victory came just 2a hours after liverpool staged a remarkable comeback against barcelona. natalie pirks has been talking to tottenham fans. exhausted but jubilant, spurs players and fans united in the same thought we all had last night ——

football, what have you done? totte n ha m football, what have you done? tottenham were 3—0 down by half—time but second—half sorcery was afoot. moura got one back and moments later he got his second. third goal came in the 96th minute. in the tv studio, two spurs legends rejoiced, meanwhile ajax‘s players were slumped on the turf. mauricio pochettino was floored by heaving sobs of joy. pochettino was floored by heaving sobs ofjoy. i think they are super heroes. now to the final of the champions league, i think it‘s very close to a miracle. in the dressing room, it was wonderwall. forfans,

just wonderful. we weren't going to beat city, we weren't going to beat ajax but we have done it and now we will beat liverpool. the club has thus far never won the premier league but could win the big prize in football. lawrence and his son scott were at the game last night. flights and hotels are already sky—high. flights and hotels are already sky-high. to see my team in the champions league final is priceless andi champions league final is priceless and i would go at any cost really. remarkably tonight two more english teams, arsenal and chelsea, could reach the europa league final. all bets are surely off now for a few defining weeks of english football. natalie pirks, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. here‘s ben rich. 0ne one thing is for sure, we will see some more showers over the next few days but then it turns drier as we

get towards the weekend. some pretty dark skies overhead in places today. one of those days where the weather looks innocuous enough one minute, then a downpour comes along and drenches you which is what happened close to hastings for one of our weather watchers earlier. for many people it was a story of sunshine and showers but across the central portions of the uk down into northern england and wales, we had more persistently cloudy weather with showery rain on and off. through tonight many of the showers will fade, in central areas the cloud will remain. underneath that cloud not especially chilly, but particularly for northern england and eastern scotland it will turn cold where we have clear skies. going into tomorrow we start with the band of cloud and showers in central areas but the cloud will break up and we should see more in the way of sunshine by the afternoon, all of us essentially joining in with a day of sunshine and showers. again, the showers will

be thundery. during friday night it looks like we will see some rain scraping close to the south of england, but then through the weekend high pressure building which settled things down and there is some warmer air lying in wait which will move into western areas. the further east you are, perhaps still feeling chilly through the weekend. 0n feeling chilly through the weekend. on saturday a mixture of sunshine and showers again, some of those showers heavy and thundery, but being focused and eastern parts of the uk as high pressure builds in from the west. by sunday, that high looks set to sit across the british isles. the vast majority will be dry and particularly for these western areas it will start to turn warmer, 16 in glasgow and 18 in cardiff. summing things up for the weekend, it will gradually turn drier and warmer and as we get into next week, particularly for the western parts of the uk, temperatures could reach

the low 20s celsius. hopefully not as many downpours to dodge. something to look forward to, thank you very much. a reminder of our top story... danny baker, the bbc radio presenter, sacked after his tweet about the royal baby led to accusations of racism. that‘s all from the bbc news at six so it‘s goodbye from me and on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are.

this is bbc news. the headlines: ministers identified more than 150 buildings which still need to be made safe following the fire at g re nfell tower made safe following the fire at grenfell tower in west london two yea rs grenfell tower in west london two years ago. what‘s been driving me is