the uk economy shrinks for the first time in more than six years it contracted by 2% between april and june, raising fears of a recession. the chancellor says the dip was expected. i'm not expecting a recession at all. in fact, don'tjust take my word for it, there's not a single, leading forecaster out there that is expecting a recession. we'll hear more about the reasons for the fall. also on the programme: a church warden is found guilty of the murder of university lecturer peter farquhar in the village of maids moreton. a man appears in court charged with the attempted murder of pc stuart outten in east london. heavy rain and strong winds cause disruption across the uk — many outdoor events and festivals

have been cancelled. the number of people dying from an asthma attack hits a ten year high in england and wales. the helter—skelter giving visitors a unique view of norwich cathedral. and coming up on bbc news... the new premier league season kicks off tonight as last season's runners up liverpool host newly promoted norwich city at anfield. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. the economy shrank for the first time in more than six years between april and june, according to the first official estimate.

the office for national statistics says gdp decreased by 0.2% in the second quarter, as manufacturing and construction reduced and the service sector stalled. the figures were worse than economists had expected, and follow a strong start to the year, when businesses were stockpiling in anticipation of brexit. here's our economics correspondent, andy verity. this food packaging company in leicester grew rapidly until this year and was looking to open a second site, stepping up its turnover from £25 million to 45 million. it piled up stock ahead of the march brexit deadline diverting funds from its new site. in the second quarter, orders dropped off and they had to refinance to keep its expansion plans on track. political uncertainty is not helping. it is all about the cloudy sky again. we went through this before march between march and

october, we have had a lot of un—stable, uncertainty and the cloudy sky is upon us again. we cannot move forward, we cannot move back. we are static, stuck in a rut. that is where we are. most economists were expecting a weak performance in the second quarter of the year, but not this week. you have to go all the way back to 2012 when the eurozone crisis was in full swing to find a weaker economic performance. we have record employment, we have unemployment at its lowest level for 44 years. wages are growing at their fastest rate for a decade. we've got national debt falling as a proportion of gdp. in fact the imf is forecasting we will grow faster this year than germany, than italy, thenjapan. as fa st germany, than italy, thenjapan. as fast as france. so the fundamentals of the uk economy remain resilient and strong. manufacturing activity shrank in the second quarter. it has

shrunk over the past year. output from industrial production, heavy industries such as oil and ask, also dropped as a global slowdown took hold. most people can see for themselves, the lack of business confidence, of investment taking place. people not knowing what will happen from one week until the next, will be be in europe, will be the outside of it? it is corrosive and undermining confidence in the economy and these figures reflect that. business investment is essential for the production so employers can beat inflation pay rises. we can see it in the weak manufacturing numbers and weak export numbers but there are political factors. exports falling particularly to the eu and that wea kness particularly to the eu and that weakness in the service sector as well all adds up to a sense that political uncertainty is weighing on the economy. the services sector, that makes up most of the economy just about grew by 0.1% because the

figures hark back tojune, we don't know what has been happening to the economy since then. the hope is the second quarter will be the only time the economy shrinks this year. the fear is, it won't be. andy verity, bbc news. and, andy is with me now. the point is, not a recession yet? the point is, not a recession yet? the normal definition of a recession is if you have two quarters of negative economic growth, negative growth meaning shrinking. the economy shrinks two quarters in a row. we only have one quarter on record so far this year. these figures can be revised. in the past it has been the case you have seen a quartet where it appears to have shrunk according to the first estimate. then it turns out flat or even growing. there are lots of vagueness is about these numbers. but, if there is, as predicted, a bit of a bounce back in growth in

the quarter we are in now, the third quarter of the year, that won't amount toa quarter of the year, that won't amount to a recession. there are lots of uncertainties. the predictions the bank of england has made, depend on there being a deal. they haven't made a forecast for what might happen in the event of a no—deal brexit. he had labour saying they fear if it happened, the fourth quarter of the year, even if we bounce back now, might also be a shrinking economy. no one knows, no one has a crystal ball and economists try to gaze in them but they don't always tell us what will happen. but we can see from these numbers, the uncertainty is weighing on business investment and that trade has been quite hard hit in the second quarter of the year. andy verity, thank you. in the last hour... a 28—year—old church warden has been found guilty of the murder of a retired lecturer in buckinghamshire. ben field lived at the home of 69—year—old peter farquar in the village of maids moreton.

our correspondentjo black has been following the trial at oxford crown court. during his time in the witness box at oxford crown court, ben field said he did some terrible things and said he did some terrible things and said he did some terrible things and said he targeted peter farquar and his neighbour to defraud them out of their savings and their wills. he also admitted secretly drugging peter farquar and also admitted secretly drugging peter fa rquar and psychologically manipulating him by removing things and moving things around his property and deleting contacts from his phone. he always denied his murder but today the jury found him guilty after 13 days of deliberations. in terms of 83—year—old and mo martin, benfield had a relationship with her. he denied plotting to murder her and thejury denied plotting to murder her and the jury cleared denied plotting to murder her and thejury cleared him of denied plotting to murder her and the jury cleared him of that count. peter farquar, vulnerable and confused.

he thought he was losing his mind and suffering from a mystery illness. he would often fall and injure himself, but all along he was secretly being drugged by his partner, ben field, who was targeting him to try and inherit his house. he got massive pleasure from other people's misery and pain. and it was all about financial gain or gain in some way, shape orform to ben field. a nasty, cruel man. field was one of peter farquar‘s students. they met at the university of buckingham and during their relationship, even pledged to marry at a betrothal ceremony. as peter farquar‘s health declined, field suggested dementia or alcoholism could be to blame. and when the lecturer‘s body was discovered next to a half

empty bottle of whiskey, even a coroner thought he had drunk himself to death. the police now believe field suffocated him. ben field did inherit peter farquar‘s house. his focus then switched a few doors down this road to the house of ann moore—martin — the 83—year—old became his next target. despite the 57—year age gap, they had a sexual relationship, but for field it was more pretence. his sketchbook shows one of his tactics, writing religious messages on her mirrors, some saying she should leave her house to him. she was deeply religious and believed they were communications from god. then, there was this... hello, i'm thinking of withdrawing all my accounts, money held in my accounts. ann moore—martin release £27,000 from her bank and gave it to field after he said his brother was ill and needed his own dialysis machine. it was another lie. it's actually quite urgent. in life, one must not be selfish. she died of natural causes, but before her death she confided

in her niece about her relationship with field and the mirrors. the court was told she said he had given her white powder to help her sleep. a police investigation revealed field's links with both neighbours and 18 months after his death, peter farquar‘s body was exhumed. new forensics showed he had drugs in his system. in terms of the death of peter farquar, there is a very good chance that benjamin field would have gotten away with that death had it not been for the suspicions that were raised once ann moore—martin was removed from benjamin's control. in fact, at that stage he had already gotten away with it. in ben field, they thought they had found someone they could love, but motivated by greed, he preyed on their loneliness and vulnerability. jo black, bbc news. ben field stood trial alongside a co—defendant, 32—year—old martin

smith who this afternoon has been cleared of the murder of peter farquar and of conspiracy to murder ann moore—martin. when the verdict was delivered, not much reaction from ben field. we were told by the judge ben field will be sentenced sometime in the nearfuture. a man has appeared in court charged with the attempted murder of a policeman in east london. the officer, pc stuart outten, is in a serious but stable condition in hospital, after being stabbed in the head and body with a machete. our correspondent, richard lister, is at thames magistrates‘ court in east london. 56—year—old from luton was in court for less than five minutes. he confirmed his date of birth, his

name and that his british and of no fixed address but was otherwise silent. he is facing attempted murder, and one of an offensive weapon namely a machete. these charges relate to this incident in east london in the small hours of thursday morning, just after midnight when the car in which he was travelling in was pulled over by traffic officers which alleged he attacked one of them with a machete injuring him in the head and the hand and it's alleged that the injured officer was able to fight him off with a taser and subdue him. that officer, pc stuart outing, 28 ina that officer, pc stuart outing, 28 in a serious but stable condition in the royal london hospital where he is recovering from surgery. he has been with the force for ten years and now the defendant will face trial at the old bailey and will appear there next on september the 6th. thank you, richard lister. some very unsummery weather

is causing huge disruption to people's holiday plans. heavy rain and strong winds are affecting many parts of the country, with the met office forecasting winds of up to 60mph for parts of the channel coast, south west england and west wales. rail and ferry services are affected, and a number of festivals and outdoor events have been cancelled. lisa hampele has the details: it's the height of summer, but you wouldn't know it. what the met office is calling unseasonal weather is expected to hit nearly all the uk. west lothian in scotland has already got problems, with localised flooding from heavy rain. and overnight, cctv pictures from a village car park in wrexham in wales show lightning striking a car. weather warnings for wind, then rain will cover most of the uk over the weekend. heavy rain along with strong winds are forecast for almost everywhere on saturday. a strong jet stream blowing across the atlantic has spun up

an area of low pressure. it's the sort of low pressure system we would expect to see on our weather chart in autumn or winter, not in august, but it's because of the depth of that low that we're going to see some very strong, destructive winds and some heavy downpours as well. the duke and duchess of cambridge took part in the yachting regatta on the isle of wight yesterday. it was held a day earlier than planned because of the weather. now it's predicted sailing on the first day of cowes week has been abandoned because gusts of 52 miles an hour are forecast. it's not unusual for us to have to make changes to the schedule. usually in august because there's not enough wind. but sometimes there is too much, and this year, very clearly forecast the on sailing conditions so we have abandoned everything on saturday. very good morning to you all... this morning, the bbc‘s forecaster matt taylor had good news for some festival goers. at the fairport cropredy convention festival. it's one festival which has not fallen foul of the deteriorating weather conditions over

the next few days. but the forecast has caused the cancellation of the boardmasters festival in newquay. police and organisers felt a summer storm was too big a risk for the 50,000 people to there. most would have been camping. a hot—air balloon festivals also hit. and this is the site of horton dance music festival in norfolk. it might look good in these pictures, but heavy rain and high winds are forecast and it's been cancelled. drivers are being urged to check conditions before travelling. train services between edinburgh and glasgow have reopened after a week of torrential rain. the flooding trapped passengers for several hours yesterday. but travellers are being warned that summer storms over the next few days could cause problems in the railways. lisa hampele, bbc news. a full weather forecast at the end of the programme.

the british economy shrinks for the first time in six years, as manufacturing and construction both struggle. still to come, the helter—skelter giving visitors a unique view of norwich cathedral. coming up on bbc news, eddiejones says he is developing a team capable of winning injapan. police in malaysia say they are using thermal imaging equipment in their search for the irish teenager who went missing from a holiday resort on sunday. 250 people are involved in the operation to find 15—year—old nora quoirin, who has special needs. howard johnson reports from dusan. they break over the forest reserve. —— daybreak over the forest reserve.

more than 250 rescue workers have been scouring the jungle for nearly a week for no. nora went missing from the dusan resort last sunday at the monday after after she got there for a holiday. her father discovered the window open in her room. today louder tailors channelled a message from nora's mother, meabh. nora, darling, i love you, i'm here. today police were handing out these leaflets in the local town five minutes away from where nora went missing. this is the sixth day of the search and rescue operation and police are well aware that time is running out to raise awareness to find out more details of what happened to nora. in the town's main mosque, a special prayer service was held to offer the community support

to the parents of nora. police say they continue to scan the jungle using thermal recognition jones. they also scotched rumours that nora's footprint had been found. there is no footprint of the come of the missing person. and so the search and rescue operation continues. tomorrow it will be exactly a week since nora was last seen. jeremy corbyn has written to britain's most senior civil servant, to ask him to intervene to prevent a no—deal brexit happening during a general election campaign. the labour leader is concerned that an election might be called this autumn, just as britain is due to leave the eu, and take place after brexit has happened. that could leave mps powerless to intervene, because parliament wouldn't be sitting. jeremy corbyn says that brexit in those circumstances would be an "abuse of power". more details from our political

correspondent tom barton. since he became prime ministerjust over two weeks ago, borisjohnson has been consistently clear about one thing. we have to leave the eu one thing. we have to leave the eu on october 31. but with the suggestion the prime minister could make that happen by ensuring brexit day falls during an election campaign, jeremy corbyn has asked the country's top civil servant to intervene. writing to say that forcing through no deal against a decision of parliament and denying the choice to voters in general election already under way it would be an unprecedented, unconstitutional and anti—democratic abuse of power. if we can't have a prime minister who will do the decent thing, who will behave honourably, we have to go around him and say to the head of the civil service, you have also got duties here that you must adhere to. and my goodness me, we might end up in a

situation where her majesty the queen becomes involved in this. the reason this matters is because some mps, determined to try to stop deal brexit, could try to pass a vote of no confidence —— stop no—deal brexit, could try and pass a vote of no confidence in borisjohnson's government. if boris johnson no confidence in borisjohnson's government. if borisjohnson lost that and a new government was not formed in a couple of weeks, a general election would follow. if that happened, the date of the election would be in the hands of borisjohnson, election would be in the hands of boris johnson, and election would be in the hands of borisjohnson, and his advisers are said to believe he could choose to set a date in november. forcing a no—deal brexit by default. set a date in november. forcing a no-deal brexit by default. if boris johnson can't hold the confidence of parliament, i'm absolutely convinced there is nobody else who could and we would go for a general election and it's up to the prime minister borisjohnson to set and it's up to the prime minister boris johnson to set the and it's up to the prime minister borisjohnson to set the date. and i think setting the 1st of november is a political masterstroke. with just 83 days to go until the end of october, and brexit talks are still

stuck in a stalemate, politicians are gearing up for a stormy autumn. the number of people dying from an asthma attack is at its highest for more than a decade, in england and wales. analysis of official data suggests 1400 people died from an attack last year, an increase of a third since 2008. the charity asthma uk says too many lives are being cut short by a lack of basic care, such as inhaler checks. here's our health correspondent, dominic hughes. nearly five million people in england and wales suffer from asthma, which can cause coughing, wheezing, a tight chest and breathlessness. treated properly, it should be easy to manage, but the number of asthma—related deaths is now at a ten year high. it may be a result of people not getting really good very basic care which we know is a problem. i think there is an issue of complacency. people with asthma don't themselves take it terribly seriously so i think that's an issue and then

maybe things like weather and different weather patterns and pollution that could be also causing and led to those deaths. so i think it's really difficult to pin it down to one thing. mre than 1,400 people died from an asthma attack last year. that's equal to two and a half people out of every 100,000 dying from asthma. the number of deaths is up by 8% when compared with the previous year. overall more than 12,700 people have died from asthma in england and wales over the last decade. there is particular concern over the impact of air pollution on the health of children. nhs england says a third of childhood asthma cases are linked to poor air quality. ella kissi—debrah died in 2013 after suffering a series of asthma attacks. her family believe air pollution contributed to her death. a lot of people still do not know about the impact of air pollution. i think all the urban cities across the uk have issues with asthma.

manchester, birmingham, all over. so there needs to be a whole program of education in school and out of school about the impact of air pollution on young people's health. asthma uk acknowledges there are signs that care is getting better. nhs england says it's worked with asthma uk to improve standards, but it warns the link between air pollution and asthma shows the challenge is not one the nhs can meet on its own. dominic hughes, bbc news. could virtual reality help women in the early stages of labour? midwives in cardiff are encouraging expectant mothers to take part in tests to see whether the technology could help them relax, or even provide pain relief. if the trial is successful, the programme could be rolled out across wales. i'm sort of submerged within a herd of buffaloes.

hannah is soon to be a first—time mum. there is one right there. and when she heads in to give birth at cardiff university hospital in wales, she'll be offered a virtual reality headset. it's not aimed as an alternative to medicine, but to provide a moment of calm and distraction. even if it was useful in the very early stages, and then you decided, oh, no, i want to be more present or i want to try something else, i think that's fine. even if it helps for that 20 minutes, one hour, it's going to be a good thing. pop on the headset for us. so what is it actually like? wow! take in the tropical wonderland. i just want to touch them. it's so immersive that you find yourself getting kind of lost in the moment. i'm not sure if i was in a lot of pain, if it would still be quite enough. i'm not sure that it's appropriate for those sorts of situations. i think this virtual reality tool has opportunity for women who may be in early labour. place your hand on your tummy,

just below your belly button. and there is potentialfor this technology to be developed for other treatment in the future. we've talked a little bit about post—traumatic stress, with experiencing anxiety, coming back in after traumatic birth, early labour. for some very sensitive procedures maybe where that distraction is needed. so far the limited feedback using the headsets has been mixed from patients. but for hannah and the other new mothers to be, any helpful distractions would no doubt be a welcome sight. tomos morgan, bbc news, cardiff. the electoral commission says it needs new powers to regulate political advertising online. it says the current rules need updating because its focus is on traditional campaign financing at a time when spending on political adverts on social media is rising sharply. our media editor, amol rajan, has more. there is a lot of talk around

a possible snap election. well, who knows? but while there is such chatter, you are going to see a lot more political ads such as these recent ones from facebook and other social media. facebook, twitter and all the rest arose out of the 20th century advertising industry. they are advertising companies, giant persuasion machines which use thousands of data points to let advertisers micro target all of us in a very cheap way. that could be for commercial campaigns or for political ones. here is a recent facebook ad from the conservatives that targets younger people. and here is a similar one that was aimed at older women. many of the uk's election rules were designed when mark zuckerberg was still at school. now there are calls for election rules which are fit for the digital age. we've been calling for changes to the law to make political campaigning online more transparent and to make the funding of it known much quicker than it currently is. we think that absolutely needs to happen so the voter can know

where the money is coming from. the electoral commission wants to make sure that digital campaigns follow the current electoral rules in the uk. it wants an imprint on the screen to make it clear who's behind the campaign. it wants spending returns broken down to show how money is being spent. it wants a ban on foreign individuals or organisations spending money here on the uk and it wants more powers and biggerfines. facebook have made more information about who is advertising publicly available through their ads library. but there is plenty we still don't know. i think it's an absolute real concern, the technology companies are really setting the debate here. they've done some things on transparency but it's almost enough to appear that they've done something. they've not done what you would ideally want and i think there needs to be more push for regulation from government in terms of actually setting the agenda about what does good transparency look like? what is it necessary for citizens to know and what is it necessary for researchers and journalists to be able to access in order to be

able to scrutinise and hold these companies to account? regulators regulate the law, but changes to the law require primary legislation. today, the gulf between technology and the law is growing. amol rajan, bbc news. a full—size helter—skelter has been built inside a cathedral, to allow visitors to get a unique view of the building and its medieval roof sculptures. the 50 foot high fairground ride took four people two days to build, in norwich cathedral. mike liggins has been to see it. # the lord is my shepherd, i shall not want... this is the norwich cathedral we have come to know and love, historic, beautiful and traditional. but now, the cathedral is letting its hair down a bit and having some fun. whooooo!

yeah! the cathedral is hoping the helter—skelter will help people see the building in a new light. a gimmick, perhaps. according to the dean, first down today, the answer is firmly no. it's certainly not a gimmick. it really is a very serious, it's fun but it is about serious, really serious matters, in trying to get people to think about the meaning of life, think about their place in the world, the way they relate to other people. the helter—skelter took two days to assemble, 55 feet high, 36 steps to the top, about six seconds to get down. there are a lot of people that won't come into a cathedral because they think it's too big, or this is too posh, it's not for me. we hope that people will see that actually, the cathedral is here for everyone. it was really good fun, faster than i thought it was going to be. yeah, it was really fun, i enjoyed it.

it was quite tricky, but i tucked it all in and held on tight so it was really fun. the hope is that people take care to look up and see the cathedral‘s 1000 medieval roof bosses, and when it comes to seeing things differently, how about this? the helter—skelter lit up at night. quite a sight. mike liggins, bbc news, norwich. time for a look at the weather. here's ben rich. very difficult for a lot of people? absolutely, indoor activities might be the way to go this weekend, much of what i'm about to show you would not look out of place in the autumn or winter. it is still august and the weekend weather menu looks like this. we are going to see some heavy downpours which could cause some localised travel problems, and some

very strong winds,