mutt: it-‘u: keir starmer — the shadow brexit secretary — officially launches his bid to become the next labour leader, saying the country needs radical policies to fight inequality. the moralfight the moral fight against injustice and poverty and homelessness isjust and poverty and homelessness isjust a big and poverty and homelessness isjust abiga and poverty and homelessness isjust a big a moralfight now as it was in that general election. and now on bbc news, victoria derbyshire takes a look back at some of the highlights from her programme this week. hello, and welcome to our programme. for the next half an hour, we will bring you some of the originaljournalism we have broadcast over the last week. in an exclusive story, we reveal that a ministerial enquiry, which cleared the former welsh secretary, alun cairns, of misconduct over what he knew about the role of his former aide in the collapse of a rape trial, has been dismissed as a sham by the victim.

in an exclusive interview with us, the woman said she wasn't even contacted as part of the investigation, which was focused on whether mr cairns had been truthful. it is understood the cabinet office didn't feel it was necessary or appropriate to contact the woman as part of the enquiry. the victim worked for alun cairns at the time she was raped and says she feels he didn't take her concern seriously. this is ross england. he used to work for the conservative mp and former welsh secretary, alun cairns. in april 2018, ross england was thrown out of the court for derailing a rape case. whilst giving evidence, he made allegations about the victim's sexual history when he shouldn't have done. thejudge told him, "i have no doubt it was deliberate on your part to sabotage this trial." the anger that i felt having gone through everything in court and being so close to the end and hejust lied so brazenly,

i thought, this man feels like he is untouchable, and he was made to feel like that by the conservative party. alun cairns resigned as welsh secretary in november last year over claims he knew as far back as august 2018 what ross england had done when he endorsed him as conservative candidate for the welsh assembly. however, mr cairns always denied knowing what happened. now in an exclusive interview, the victim, who we are calling lucy, says she was subjected to a smear campaign before the trial by members of the welsh conservative party. the only way that i can describe it is a campaign of hatred towards me, that i had had the gall to tell the police what happened and why would i notjust let it go? it was as if i was making things very awkward for everybody else. lucy worked for alun cairns at the time she was attacked. i wonder if you could tell us, as much or as little as you want

to do, about what happened. i was at a house warming party for ross who had just moved in with his girlfriend, katheryn. she told us if we needed to stay there, then that wouldn't be an issue because it was quite a big house with a lot of bedrooms. and just to be clear, ross was your fellow conservative party worker? yes, he was. he worked for the same member of parliament. and kathryn was his girlfriend? yes, that is correct. we were all part of a friendship group. so, at the party, i went to bed, not thinking of anything of it. when i woke up, i was being attacked. i thought i could just let this happen but then something kicked in and i managed to fight him off. i ran downstairs and told a friend. lucy had been raped by a man called james hackett, who she met for the first time at the party that night. he also worked in politics. could you describe how some people in the conservative party treated you after it became clear that you were alleging that this man had raped you?

even on the night that it happened, kathryn yelled to the police, "she is making this up," before anybody had any facts and i think thatjust kind of set the tone for the next two years. between that and the trials, my life was made absolutely miserable. it felt like a complete smear campaign. like what? what kind of things were people saying? basically trying to spread it about that i had slept with certain people and therefore i must have deserved what had happened, i must have asked for it. they were trying to say i had lied about other things. let me ask you, did you tell your boss, your direct boss, alun cairns, for whom you worked, did you tell him what other people were saying about you that was wrong and inaccurate? yeah, i told him unequivocally what was happening, he was my employer. i got a phone call from the police one day when i was at work, telling me what kathryn had said to them and could i explain why she might have said this and ijust broke down. i went into the office and wept saying, "this is what i'm having deal with."

in a statement, kathryn kelloway, who is a conservative councillor, told this programme: what was alun cairns‘s response when you told him what was going on? word for word, "i think you are being a bit harsh." he said that to you? yes, one day, we were in the car and i was angry and i said, "do you realise how small i feel? i feel tiny because nobody believes what i am saying," and i remember that was the turning point where i just thought, ok, you don't get it. if that is your reaction, i can't help you any more. your boss, alun cairns, knew what was going on, you told him, he was aware of it. and yet he brought in ross england,

who had been smearing you, you say, to work alongside you in the office? yes. as mr cairns‘s campaign manager? yes, that is correct. what did you think about that? i knew there was a good chance he would want ross to work on his campaign as he was very good at hisjob and he had worked with him before, so when he brought him in, i walked out and said, "this isn't a case of me or him, but i can't work with him, therefore, if you do choose him, i am going to have to go." in a statement to this programme, mr cairns told us: before the first trial, you are contacted by someone from the conservative party and he asked you to meet him.

you knew this person, we are not going to name him, because it doesn't really make any difference who it was. why did he want to meet you? he worked in conservative hq in wales and i had known him for years. he invited me for a coffee, which i assumed was to wish me well for the trial, but when i got there, he said, "there is a reason i have asked you here," and started listing the lies that i had supposedly told about him. apparently, i told kathryn that he had tried to rape me at a party before. i denied it because i never said it. i became very aware of how much he was looking at his phone. my gut instinct told me it was being recorded. and why do you think he was recording your conversation? to give to the defence. what other reason would he need a recording of our speaking? and the judge described it, this recorded conversation, as political machinations. is that right? yes, he did. in april 2018, the trial was derailed when ross england gave

evidence to the court. the prosecuting barrister asked him, "was she, lucy, a work colleague of yours at the time?" ross england replied, "yes, i was worried about her being there because we had had casual six on two..." and the prosecuting barrister said, "i am sorry?" to which mr england continued, "on two occasions, one of which was group sex." the trial was immediately halted and subsequently collapsed. ross england says: the anger that i felt having gone through everything in court and being so close to the end and hejust lied so brazenly, i thought, this man feels like he's untouchable, and he was made to feel like that by the conservative party. the trial was brought to an end and i thought, i will never see justice now, but there was another trial and james hackett was found guilty,

he was sentenced to five years in prison. in december 2018, eight months after the trial collapsed, alun cairns endorsed ross england as a candidate for the welsh assembly. the following year, mr cairns claimed he didn't know what mr england had done. but bbc wales obtained an e—mail address to mr cairns discussing the very case. that had been sent back in august 2018. as a result, mr cairns stepped down as welsh secretary. despite resigning from the cabinet, alun cairns went on to increase his majority in the vale of glamorgan in the general election. 0n the 20th of december, eight days after the election, a ministerial investigation concluded that alun cairns had not breached the ministerial code but did state it was unlikely that mr cairns would not have been told something about ross england's role in the collapse of the trial.

the whole thing feels like a sham. what kind of investigation doesn't contact the person who is most affected? it makes me question how seriously it was carried out. this was a deflection until after the general election, not a genuine investigation into alun‘s truthfulness. i would have hoped that alun would have used the enquiry as an opportunity to be honest and it is regretful that he did not. fortunately, nobody with an ounce of common—sense believes his ludicrous claim that he didn't know. meanwhile, ross england has been suspended from the conservative party pending an investigation. again, what investigation? we know what he did. i don't understand. is that not enough? what do you think of the conservative party now? the conservative party has a lot of work to do to make this a safe environment for young women to work in. i'm not saying it's an old boys‘ club, it isjust a boys‘ club. as long as you are male, you will be fine. the conservative party in wales have

said this in a statement, "we are deeply sorry for the circumstances surrounding the collapse of the trial and the deep distress this must have caused the victim, her family and friends." do you accept that apology? i don't expect them to apologise for what ross did in collapsing the trial because they didn't do it. what i am expecting them to apologise for is the fact that they didn't think it was a big enough problem before them selecting him as a candidate. how much regret do you feel about the fact that you felt forced to leave yourjob in politics, working for the conservative party in wales, when that was a really big part of your life? it definitely felt like members of the conservative party were putting me on trial. they tried their very best but they just didn't win. and our action line website is: if you need help, there are loads of organisations listed there who you can contact. next, we covered allegations

of fraud, exploitation and abuse at a controversial london church, spac nation. in the studio, we put together the labour mp steve reed, who says the church is a cult which is exploiting young people and has defrauded them out of thousands of pounds, and reverend dapo adegboyega from the church who chose its board. he is also the brother of the church's leader. he denies mr reed's allegations. they run events where they offer free food or free bowling to young people. they have their organisation's leaders about them, they identify the most susceptible ones, then they befriend them, some of them are moved into properties run by leaders from the organisation where they are brainwashed, then they are coerced into making fraudulent applications for loans, setting up fake businesses that apply for fraudulent business loans. all of that money is given to the organisation. the young people are separated from theirfamilies,

separated from their friends, left massively in debt. we have had young people coerced into selling blood with pastors from this organisation claiming to be their parents. young people who have given their entire student loans to these organisation. young people that have been made to work for fake companies set up by the organisation that are merely extorting money from customers by providing those services. and it looks like it is operating at scale, potentially involving thousands of young people right across london. reverend dapo, how do you respond? he has spoken to people who he does not even know whether they were part of this organisation in the first place. i asked him earlier on before we came on board. i said, "are you sure that people that came to you? are you sure they were former members of the church? he said there is no way they could have checked that. gracie was 21, she joined spac nation back in 2017. she told panorama she was encouraged to apply for universal credit after her pastor, who is a trustee

of the charity, noticed she stopped giving money to the church. she handed over her details, someone filled out an online application form on her behalf and when she left the appointment, someone had changed her details to show she had two children. this made her eligible for a 1,200 quid payment. there is the young woman who had kidney cancer. she discovered a £5,000 fraudulent loan had been taken out in her name without her knowledge. the money never reached her and so it goes on. now, the challenge here is this. i do not discount the stories of anyone that has come on here. numberone, we take allegations seriously. we have a complaints' procedure which is very robust and very open. sorry, would you just like to deal with those specific examples that i have given you? those specific examples, that is where i am coming to. for instance, you said someone came over and said this. we have not been contacted as an organisation to respond. because what bbc panorama did was to arrive at individual persons, link their businesses to the church and these people... these people are making it

up about spac nation? i am not saying they are making it up. what are you saying? i am only saying they have only listened to one side and concluded and judged the matter by listening to one side. the people that you are talking about, what was their relationship before they came into church, the individuals? they could have made, had dealings together initially but are now making a frantic attempt to link individual persons' businesses to the church and because it is a member of the church, his business is doing this, it is out of order. the people that came to steve reed, till now he's not even sure whether they are the same people that went to bbc panorama, whether they are even former members of the church. he hasjust said he would not discount any allegations made by vulnerable young people and now you have just discounted them all. one of the pastors running, they call the trap houses, these are properties that they rent into which they move vulnerable young people.

one of the pastors running a house for vulnerable young women has 27 serious cases of fraud against her and yet she was allowed to run a property with dozens of vulnerable young women. i've met pastors from this organisation that have told me they fill out the loan application forms, put it in front of the vulnerable young person, who you have brainwashed, then make them sign it. the money comes in, that is given straight over to the organisation, presumably to benefit its leaders. i have seen accounts where there are dozens of fake companies set up, quickly closed down, all with links associated with spac nation and i have seen shell companies allegedly trading companies but with none of the costs you would associate with trading, like a website that lies dormant into which hundreds of thousands of pounds quickly float in and quickly flow out again. the trustees and directors of these organisations are all closely associated with the leadership of spac nation. it is a massive fraud organisation. the problem here is the honourable gentleman has made all these allegations, he has not contacted

the organisation to say, "wait a minute, what is happening with you guys?" are you a massive fraud organisation? of course not. we can't be because number one, every of our subjects is transmitted live on virtually all... why are the metropolitan police and the charity commission investigating you? we are not under any investigation at the moment. the charity commission is... this is the problem. the honourable gentleman has sent tweets around the time of election. this is what the charity commission tell us: "the issues raised relating to spac nation, in recent weeks are highly concerning. the allegations are entirely at odds with the expectations that charities operate. the opening of this enquiry from the charities commission is an important step that will allow us to examine these concerns further and establish the facts." the metropolitan police say: "we are aware of allegations to potentialfraud and other offences relating to the activities of individuals associated with spac nation. officers are reviewing the allegations to identify if any criminal offences have been committed. once the review is completed, a decision will be made as to whether a criminal investigation is launched." they need to do their bit, just

the same as our politician is doing. he started his tweet around election time, started contacting criminal gangs, faceless individuals on the internet. what is the significance around election time? what points are you making about steve reed ? it's because it is obvious thathe did this because of the election. we had someone who is a member of the organisation, so he frantically connected the organisation to the other party. to the conservative party? to the conservative party. he did that and many of his tweets that he said at that time alleging child rape, he removed some of them, many of them. you removed some of these tweets. no. i heard serious allegations of sexual exploitation and trap houses as well, including one case alleging the rape of a child aged three. now all of these cases are reported to the police and the safeguarding authorities. i think there is so much evidence against this organisation now that the police

and the safeguarding authorities across london need to act right now to protect potentially hundreds of young people that are at risk today. what does that mean in practical terms? i mean getting into these trap houses and making sure no young people are being abused or exploited. despite all the allegations coming out, this organisation is still standing outside school gates and youth centres, trying to recruit vulnerable young people. can you give us evidence of that? people say spac nation have been outside recruiting more young people. i've spoken to dozens of young people who are massively in debt, lost their student loans to this organisation. they tell me that there's coercion, brainwashing, there is sexual abuse. we need to stop this organisation going anywhere near vulnerable young people today. if this was affluent white kids and the authorities wouldn't have already intervened... because it is poor black kids from very vulnerable backgrounds, i don't think anything

like the attention has been given to it that it deserves. that is absolutely incorrect because for years and decades... the last 2019 was the bloodiest year. we have never heard your voice on knife crime. would you open up your trap houses to the police, to social services, to children's services? number one, i must make this clear, the organisation does not run any trap house. that is the problem. you used them on their website before you took them off when the allegations came out. would you open any of your properties and accommodation to children's services, social services and the police? no, we don't as an organisation, we don't run any houses or safe houses. for instance, the bbc has come to the church, they have been given unfettered access, speak to anybody. we have thousands of people in the church, mr steve reed has spoken to four people, he has not bothered to speak to thousands of people in the church. that is what the police are going to do and they are going to close you down because it is a criminal enterprise and a serious threat to young people. the organisation is not involved in anything. if individuals have been found to be involved in anything,

we don't take it lightly. we will take strict measures. meaning what? we give the police the free hand to do whatever they need to do but as an organisation, i must tell you what we stand for is quite clear. in 2019 in london, we have seen 64 knives voluntary surrendered and dropped at the altar. can mr reed here tell us how many lives he has impacted in his croydon borough? a 16—year—old girl in this organisation told me she was coached to tell visitors and investors that she had been in a gang and had been got out by this organisation. she also told me she is speaking to the police right now, i hope. she also told me that in these trap houses, everyone was having sex with everyone else. it was disgusting, she said to me. she complained to her pastor, she was taken to see one of the senior leaders of the organisation who told her, "if you put this to the police, it will rebound on you because i have friends in high places." he has friends in high places. who is this girl? i said to her, "did

you go to the police?" you are exploiting young people mercilessly and you need to be stopped. it is unfortunate that a politician of your recruit will play politics with people's lives. why did your voice come out on the election? that's when you started contacting criminal gangs. as far as we know, they have moved to birmingham, leicester as well. that is the problem. mr reed is relying on rumours from criminal drug gangs. you are giving them a voice and probably they are giving you a voice because we have not heard your voice on knife crime. that is an epidemic in croydon. that is reputed to be a very terrible area on knife crime. people are dying. the blood of these people. you talked about 12 people. we have taken knives from 64 people whose blood would have been shed

on the streets of london. if there are issues in the organisation, we have invited you to come. you are welcome to come on the board. if there are issues, we will sort it out. do you accept that invitation? i am not going to go while there are serious allegations with the police. i had a letterfrom this gentleman a few days ago, asking me to send him the names and addresses of the young victims that have spoken to me. sending the names and contact details or victims to the organisation that is alleged to have seriously abused them is morally wrong. i'm not going to do that, but i handed them to the police and i want the police to fully investigate and stop your activities. steve reed, thank you. and, reverend dapo, thank you very much for coming on the programme. thank you. we will follow this story and see what the outcome of the metropolitan police review is and the charity commission enquiry as well. finally, the parents of a toddler who is believed to be the only person in the world known to suffer from her particular genetic condition told us they are considering suing the hospital which has treated her.

two—year—old isla kilpatrick—screaton has a unique condition which causes accelerated ageing of her cells. so little is known about her disorder that even specialists have no idea what her future holds and what support she might need. we were told that it will affect, they assume, premature ageing of her major organs, which alongside with that can make her prone to heart attacks at a young age, heart disease, alongside diabetes. but they can't tell us when, if, and there is just no kind of guideline or booklet or support network for us. because she is the only person in the world, you think, the medical experts think, who has this particular genetic mutation. yeah, that is right. that is what we were told and when we try to ask them for some more information, it was at that point where

we were told to just start googling. you were told to do a bit of googling? we were told to just google. what does that mean for us? you just need to start googling. oh, my goodness. and how did you react to that? gobsmacked, overwhelmed. it is probably one of the worst things to do really because the amount of information that is just thrown at you, long words, medical papers, they are alljust... yeah. hey, isla. did santa come? did he? what did he get you? he got you a pig? isla uses macaton sign language, is that right? that is right, yes. what is the daily routine like when it comes to looking after her? you have given up yourjob, haven't you, stacey? yeah, it was kind of... i had to. if she is ill, i have to be there for her. she is 21w. just explain that routine then, during the day and through the night as well because she cannot cry,

is that correct? if she gets distressed or upset, she doesn't concentrate on making those vocal sounds. so she has to be attached to a heart monitor throughout the night and you just have to visually, she has to be in sight at all times because if she falls and gets upset, again you will not hear her. with regard to keeping her airways clear, that is just the tracheostomy side of it. if that blocks, you have to make sure you are there to change that within a rapid time before her saturation starts dropping and u nfortu nately you saturation starts dropping and unfortunately you can't breathe. that is it for this week. you can contact us at any time. see you live at turn one my day. thank you for watching.

todayis today is a taster of what we can expect through the coming week. it is wet and windy. we have seen strong winds and rain through northern ireland but here it will be an improving story through the rest of the day. not only is it wet and windy but temperatures are above average for the time of year and thatis average for the time of year and that is because we are drawing up this mild airon that is because we are drawing up this mild air on strong south—westerly winds. the strongest of the winds in the warm sector, particularly over the hills. the winds for northern ireland and far north of scotland will start to ease as this band of rain continues to clear south eastwards. still some heavy bass over the hills of cumbria and snowdonia. ahead of the rain, a lot of cloud but dry. behind it, fresher conditions of move in. some showers could be wintry. for much of the wii k are looking much double digit temperatures. the rain continued south and east woods. behind it the win start to ease. if you showwas will feed in and because temperatures will drop to freezing, the chance of icy stretches first

thing on sunday. where we keep the wind, the cloud and outbreaks of rain, temperatures not dropping away out far. through sunday, a clearing update. the strong winds and rain cleared out with the south and east. we then have another band of rain stretching through wales, the midlands and lincolnshire as a day goes on. if you showers across scotla nd goes on. if you showers across scotland which could be wintry. there will be a good deal of sunshine around. starting to feel fresher from the north as we had through the day and here temperatures will be pegged back into mid single figures. still mild was the far south and east. the new week, all eyes on this area of low pressure. it does look as though it will bring some disruption. 0ne pressure. it does look as though it will bring some disruption. one day start off on a fine, dry note. good spells of sunshine. particularly the further east you are but then this rain starts to edge its way in. heavy birth, something wintry over the hills of scotland and it will be accompanied by strong winds. girls perhaps severe gales for some western spots. the evening commute

fairly tricky. temperature wise, they are still above average, particularly dealt with the south and east where we are still in double digits. the week ahead doesn't look unsettled at times it will be stormy with strong winds. spells of rain which could be heavy leading to some travel disruption on the roads ferries.

this is bbc news. the headlines at 5: after days of denial, iran admits shooting down a ukrainian passenger plane over tehran on wednesday, killing 176 people, including four britons. in ukraine, questions over why the plane was allowed to take off from tehran. anger over iran's initial denials. the northern ireland assembly resumes for the first time since the collapse of power—sharing three years ago. sir keir starmer, the shadow brexit secretary, officially launches his bid to become the next labour leader, saying the country needs radical policies to fight inequality.