hello this is bbc news with shaun ley. the headlines: storm ciara hits the uk — 12,000 people are without power and there is severe travel disruption across the country. there is widespread flooding and a severe warning mean a danger to life, has been issued in north yorkshire. at times, the gusts are so strong you are almost blown off your feet and in the past few minutes we've also had lashing rain into the mix, too. a person's being treated at the royal free hospital in london after testing positive for coronavirus — bringing the total in the uk to four. a briton in majorca has also contracted the illness. counting is underway in the irish general election as an exit poll puts the three main political parties level pegging. now on bbc news, it's time for a look back at the week on the victoria

derbyshire programme. hello and welcome. for the next half an hour, we will show you some highlights of our award—winning journalism over the last week. on tuesday in our exclusive story, we revealed that at least 20 former jehovah's witnesses are suing the organisation over historical sexual abuse by senior figures in the religion. we spoke to two women who were abused, one from the age of eight. a former elder who served in the organisation for 50 years also revealed for the first time that he too were sexually abused as a boy. the survivors told us that a two—witness rule set by the main governing body of the religion means that there must be two witnesses to any sin in order for elders

in the convocation to take action. the head of parliament's all—party parliamentary group for adult survivors of sexual abuse has described it as a system that allows abuse to flourish. here's claire jones‘ exclusive film, which contains some strong language. the jehovah's witnesses, a religious group that asks believers for their devotion, their loyalty and to faithfully follow the teachings of the bible. jehovah's witnesses‘ beliefs can be used to easily manipulate vulnerable people. if witnesses ever leave the organisation, they are shunned. it sadly has led people to commit suicide. but now we've learned that at least 20 former members who were sexually abused are suing the organisation. i've never spoken publicly about this before, even to my family. i were sexually abused from the age of around eight, and my parents would be in the next room. i used the word "beggared",

because that is exactly what had happened. some believe the church has protected the perpetrators. there are parents who don't want to bring reproach onjehovah's name. the system allows the abuse to flourish. the jehovah's witnesses organisation uses the bible is the basis for its teachings. each group meet in what is called a kingdom hall, made up of elders, ministerial servants and then ordinary members of the congregation. john viney was an elder for 50 years. his daughter was sexually abused by another elder in the congregation. she reported the abuse and wanted to leave the group.

john disowned her, which he has regretted ever since. when i was an elder, and as a dad, i put being an elder absolutely first. and that was a mistake. i get very emotional about this, because i realise that my actions have affected others. i've affected others by dis—fellowshipping not only my family, but others. i will have had a terrible detrimental effect on the lives of other people. i was sexually abused while i was a jehovah's witness from the ages of around eight to around 12. the situation that i was put in was to help this man make tea for everybody after the bible study. so he would use that opportunity while every body else was in the next room to touch everywhere that he wasn't supposed to touch, and my parents

would be in the next room. emma, not her real name, eventually confided in her friend about the abuse. when her dad found out, he called the police. elders find out about the allegations and came to her house to find out more. they came round, all formal, sat in the living room, had a big, long discussion. they went through a lot of scripture about why we should maybe deal with it in—house and we don't need to be following the laws of the land, but they do ask you to go into a lot of detail. where you are touched, to what extent the abuse was, the location. and they ask you to thoroughly explain everything. all i can remember really is then sort of sat looking, just both glaring at me like, you just really need to repeat to us what happened,

you need to tell us who it was. they asked for quite gritty details, and i think my dad took over a lot because he didn't want me to have to go through it. emma's abuser eventually pleaded guilty and was imprisoned for two years, but later returned to the organisation. julie, also not her real name, was sexually abused by an elder as a child, and was forced to stay quiet. it started from about eight. and how long did that abuse go on for? for several years, until i kind of got old enough to think, that isn't right. so it wasn't until probably senior school, where i kind of got savvy enough to start giving this guy a wide berth.

julie finally reported what happened to her to the police, concerned he may reoffend. this man that had sexually abused us as children now had access to his granddaughter, who was sleeping in his house on a weekly basis. the police responded very quickly and put in safeguarding measures. the way i understood it was that he wasn't allowed to be on his own with her while the investigation went forward. fast forward a year, he went to trial, he was convicted and sent to prison. now, years later, emma and julie are one of at least 20 people suing the church. thomas beale is the solicitor representing both women. a lot of my clients first go to the organisation looking for an apology, and it's their attitude in denying what's happened, or refusing to engage, that ultimately leads to the clients wanting to bring a civil claim. if the claims are ultimately successful, then the individuals would receive compensation to assist them with trying to get

on with their life. but some believe the abuse is still present in the organisation. there are jehovah's witnesses, active jehovah's witnesses, that abuse children. and i know for a fact and now that there are parents that haven't done anything about the abuse of their children by others because they don't want to bring reproach on jehovah's name. they put being a jehovah's witness before doing the right thing and reporting child abuse. sarah champion, mp and chair of the parliamentary committee looking at adult survivors of sexual abuse, has met with senior leaders from thejehovah‘s witnesses, but is not convinced they are safeguarding children. i mean, this is child abuse. i am deafened by the alarm bells that are ringing if that is the safeguarding that is in place, and that is

exactly why the charity commission needs to be getting involved, because these establishments, these congregations, have a duty of care to vulnerable children. the charity commission has been investigating the jehovah's witnesses organisation since 2013. a spokeswoman said the inquiry remains ongoing, but would not comment further. i'd like the organisation to acknowledge, if they won't go so far as to acknowledge the abuse that went on, to acknowledge that their systems allow abusers to flourish. and that they would do everything in their power to protect vulnerable children, vulnerable adults, and stamp out any corner where an abuser could be lurking. a spokesman for the jehovah's witnesses said parents had victims are informed they have the right to report the matter to the authorities. the spokesman said, if a congregate has been guilty of child sexual abuse, elders inform parents with minor

so they can take measures to protect their children. i left about 12 years ago because the situation that was involving my family, my daughter, who was sexually abused by an elder. during the interview, john unexpectedly revealed to me a secret he has been hiding for decades. i have never spoken publicly about this before. only recently even to my family, to my wife and kids. when i was a youngster, between the ages of about nine and 13, a distant family member, who was an active jehovah's witness, abused me. i use the word "beggared" because that is exactly what happened.

john finally went to the police over 50 years later to report what had happened to him. and you know how sad i am to find out that that person went on to abuse other children, and went to prison and died in prison as an abuser. now, what would have happened if i had had the courage and the common sense to have come forward? i didn't, and that is the biggest regret i carry with me. and if you need advice or support, you can contact the action line: the british rapper fredo this week apologised to the chinese people for a video he posted on snapchat. he said he is not racist, but he got calls from his manager and people in the chinese community after posting the video which we can show you now.

i am nervous now, all my neighbours are chinese, and i hear there is some chinese sickness going around, maybe i will stay the bleep away from them. we heard from one woman saying she has been treated very badly since the coronavirus outbreak. even without the swear words, it is vile. we spoke to her, and she told us about the abuse. a lot of my inbox isjust quite hateful messages,

and they weren't the worst ones, because the worst ones, i had to blockjust to protect my own mental health. and what is the explanation for this kind of racism, do you believe? i feel like a lot of it has to do with the media and the hysteria that the media is doing. i was on the tube and the evening standard said, "china virus taking over," so the media is overplaying it quite a lot. they are demonising chinese people, they are trying to shift blame. so i don't have the answers completely, but a lot of it does have to do with the media and the mass hysteria that the media has produced, and a lot of fake news going around as well, there is that one video where the woman eating a bat isn't even in china, and that has apparently been the reason for the coronavirus, which is absurd because it is false i'iews. but you could see why people would share that? it is clickbait, people want to share it.

what do you think about the snapchat video from fredo? ignorant, for sure. if he has chinese neighbours, they can't give you the virus, you need to be in contact with someone from wuhan, and they are in the uk. i saw it and i'm quite offended, because i got the same treatment when i was a child when the sars outbreak happened, other parents said that their children were not allowed to hang out with me any more in case they got sars. i was nine and i hadn't been china for two years. i grew up in australia. it's not only chinese people, east asian people i know as well, they suffer the same thing, people are moving away from us on public transport, which is why i have been anxious to leave the house,

because when i first saw the virus, my first thought was the people in wuhan and what they are going through, because it is horrible, and my second thought, i'm going to have to deal with more racism because of this. fredo has apologised, do you accept that? i do, because at the end of the day if people do realise what they have said is wrong and they've educated themselves and they admit that, then it helps other people realise that they might have had the wrong thought as well. i did get a few messages like that on instagram too where people say, thank you for saying this because originally i had these racist thoughts and i didn't realise it was racist, so you have helped me realise that my thoughts aren't correct. so i'm all for people learning and growing from this experience, but it is still, like, the initial racism is quite offensive. what do you want to say, finally, about the anti—chinese racism that is being directed at some people because of what started in wuhan? it'sjust like, i would like people to educate themselves

on the virus and say, where it is actually coming from, what it is actually doing, how they can help the chinese people as well so it doesn't spread further. and seeing all this hate going out, i would much prefer it if people shared around ways to prevent the virus from spreading, that's a lot more helpful, because all this racism and xenophobia, it does nothing to prevent the virus from spreading. the race to succeed jeremy corbyn as leader of the labour party continues, with ballots going out to labour members later this month. one of those hoping to become the next leader of the opposition and ultimately possibly at your next prime minister is shadow foreign minister, emily thornberry. we spoke to her on wednesday. as right honourable emily thornberry, you tweeted an image of a bloke‘s house in rochester with three england flags outside. this was in 2014. with the caption, "image from #rochester". the reason i want to ask about this

now is because it speaks to your character potentially, and our audience want to know about your character. yes, that's fine. the then—leader of your party, ed miliband, was furious. he said it conveyed a deep sense of disrespect. the man himself, dan ware, said that it confirmed labour was run by the upper classes, out of touch with everyone apart from the "croissa nt—munching islington elite", and one of your colleagues said that labour had been hijacked by the islington elite. are you a snob? i was taking a series of photographs during a by—election. the idea is that people who are following me on twitter would get an insight into what a by—election is like. so i had photos of dogs with rosettes and the monster raving loony party, and people who had made their own posters and so on, and this was one of the images, and it was very striking. it was over the windows and it was many months after the world cup, and so i put it up, i didn't make any comment, and i put it up, and then everything just kind of exploded. the question is, are you a snob? i just took a photograph.

it looks like my house, the house i was brought up in. people said, "she must be a snob." my brother is a builder, my brother has a red van. this is ridiculous. the prime minister says that blue—collar workers are drunk layabouts with low self—esteem because they are unemployed most of the time. he is not accused of being a snob. are you a snob? of course i'm not a snob. it took three goes for you to answer, that's all. the thing that really upset me about it more than anything else, i was asked to resign, so i did, and i was asked not to say anything, and so i didn't. so everybody put their own interpretations and what it was. and it's so far away from who i am, it really upsets me, the idea that i was kind of sneering. my sister is a bus driver, my brother worked as a builder, i come from a council estate, of course i'm not a snob. i'm sorry not to answer it immediately, but it is so hundred miles away from who i am.

it is interesting that it is 100 miles away from who you are. the reason it is significant now is because you want to be leader, you need to be able to convince your party and supporters that you can reach out to all people including those labour supporters who voted leave, who voted conservative in the last election, in sedgefield etc, who want immigration controls. why are you the person with the right character to reach out to those people now? i suppose i have many experiences in my life, and i think that is what makes me a good politician. so we were living on top of the hill in guildford, and everything was kind of cool, and then my parents split up and we were suddenly left with no money. you were seven when your father walked out? i was, we had no money and the bailiffs used to turn up, we had to hide from the bailiffs. i remember they had bowler hats in the ‘60s, which was odd. eventually we got chucked out, and a labour councillor saved us, got us a council house, sorted my mum's benefits

out, i was brought up on free school dinners. i failed my 11 plus and went to a school where my career teacher said, when asked him i should do with my life, he said you can always visit people in prison. i have a certain experience of life. i never do things the easy way. i am now a successful woman, but i don't think the labour party is ashamed of that. i think labour is the vehicle for making positive social change, forgiving people real chance, for people fairly. that's why i'm labour through and through, and at a time like this i have to step up, because we need a new leader. not enough people agreed with you at the last election. where did jeremy corbyn go wrong in the last election? and please be honest. i am honest. i think of all the candidates, and the one who has criticised what happened in the last election, i don't think the others really have. i have been completely honest about the fact that i think we had far too much of the manifesto. i don't disagree with anything that was in the manifesto, and i don't want to go back to the 1990s, but i want to go back

in terms of winning elections, one of the things we did was have pledge cards, we had priorities. the manifesto was overwhelming, we were making many announcements a day and people couldn't keep up and they didn't believe us. we have to have our priorities right, and we have to be clear about what it is that we stand for, so that is number one. number two is there is another way, it really doesn't have to be like this. a different government can lead us in a different direction. i believe britain can be better than this, but people don't believe in us and they didn't believe we could do it, and i think one of the reasons, there were many, but one of them was, people felt if you can't even deal with anti—semitism in your own party, how on earth would you be transforming the economy, how on earth can you change britain? some people might have thought that. a lot of others thought, why were you for a second referendum? you were going to campaign to remain if there was one. how is that in touch with those labour supporters that you need to bring back? i will tell you why,

because i think that when people voted to leave, there were an awful lot of hopes and dreams and aspirations all wound up in that, and frankly there were a lot of things that people would say one thing and then it would be completely opposite, they would make opposing promises, if we leave we will get less, or that. you can't get them all. and once people had seen the reality of what leaving looked like, i just felt that the best thing, because it is the decision we have had to make 50 years, just to get it confirmed. is this really what you want present let's get this sorted. and that is what was so unpopular with a lot of people. borisjohnson had got a deal and what we thought we should do is put that deal back to the people and say, just to be sure, is this what you want or not? understand the arguments of what you backed it. you are asking me why, i'm telling you why. no, i'm asking you how you are the right person when that principle of yours, that view of yours, that argument of yours, so roundly rejected by labour supporters. actually, i think what happened

was that we ended up allowing borisjohnson to have a general election which was really a referendum. what would be your number one priority if you got the job? you talked about the pledge card, what would be top of it? social care. what would you do with social care? the population divide in half. those who have had something to do a social care and understand that it is so badly funded, they understand there are old women being put to bed at 5pm because there isn't anybody to look after them. there are young women being put to bed at five o'clock because there are no carers. absolutely, or people disabilities who aren't being washed every day. you know this, i know this, but half the population doesn't because they've never had anything to do with it. so what would you do? i don't think fundamentally the british want this. i don't think this is our way. what would you do? i'm going to tell you. what we have to do is we have to have a conversation with people. we have to expose how bad it is and then say to them,

if the national health service is the closest thing we have got to a religion, actually social care is like its little sister that is completely underfunded and undermined, and it is undermining the health service. we can get people going into the health service in crisis because they've not been looked after at home, and then they can't get out again because there is no one to look after them at home. what is the problem? what would you do? i am getting there. that goes hand—in—hand with the national health service we have to fund it properly. i can't think of any politician that wouldn't say it needs more money. but that's not a plan, is it? it is a plan. the point is you make it a priority and you say, this has got to be funded properly, and it's not being funded at the moment. and what levels of care do you give and to who? housing is a big issue for our audience. you have long campaigned for affordable housing. how many affordable homes, i'm not trying to catch you out with a number, but how many should be being built each year, how many council houses should be being built each year? i know what was built in england last year, i know what labour have promised,

what is the right number. i know what shalt i say should be done, what is right? i think that the problem is that we are going from almost a standing start, that is our problem. having the skills to be able to build that amount, for local authorities to have the skill to be able to build at the rate that we need, so we need to kind of ramp it up over time. we also have problems with land, so there is a lot of land banking going on. if people go past an empty bit of land and they wonder what is going on, unfortunately nothing is going on, people arejust owning the land and banking it. there are empty flats around. what i have also said is that people should either use it or lose it. local authorities should have the power to zone an area where there is an empty bit of land that isn't being used, a bit of brownfield site, zone it for housing and say to the developers, you've got five years. build some affordable housing or any kind of housing, otherwise you will lose it. and empty flats, what would you do?

the same thing. if you leave a flat empty and you not losing using it, then you will lose it. you would just take it off somebody? yes! they would need to justify why it has been empty for the time it has. if you are living a flat empty for years. if you go down the thames, there are all of these developments, big blocks of flats, you go down there at night, none of them have the lights on. they are all empty. so you would take that private property off those people? yes, because they are not being used, and because we have a housing crisis, we have people sleeping on the street. we have homeless families in bed—and—brea kfast. it is not right. that is true. people will also think, what else are you going to take of mine that i've paid for legitimately? no, it's the housing crisis that causes this. it is people taking the mickey. it is because housing prices are so high that it is worth your while just sitting on a bit of empty land are looking to see how high the prices can go before you build. how many properties do you and your husband own? i own my mother's flat

because i bought her a flat when she retired so that she could give back the council house. how many in total? so i own that one, and we own a house together, and we own a house that my brother lives in. so you've got three properties. are any empty? no. that's it for this week. you can contact the programme any time on twitter, and you can e—mail your story as well. we are back live on monday morning at 10am on bbc two and the bbc news channel. goodbye. hello. storm ciara continues to batter the uk with the potential for a final peak in winds as we head into the early evening. the met 0ffice into the early evening. the met office has an amber warning for severe gales across england and wales but you can see from the extent of the area of low pressure that all parts of the uk are being

significantly affected. we are talking about gusts of wind across the southern half of the uk, 60 to 80 mph. we could touch 85 plus across central scotland through the early evening. a little squeeze in the winds and some channelling through the central belt and then as we see a couple of lines of showers go marching south across england and wales, not only the potential for some heavy thundery rain but for the winds to peak, really strong gusts for a time. into the evening and overnight, the showers do eventually start to thin out. the wind eases a bit but it never really let's go. notice what happens to the showers across the northern half of the uk, colder air is flooding in behind storm ciara. for the start of the week, it is often to scandinavia but week, it is often to scandinavia but we are left with very strong westerly or northwesterly winds and a flow of air from the poll. it's a much colder air to start the week

and snow showers will continue across the northern half of the uk for both monday and tuesday. further south, there is rain but a much colder feel for monday, six to eight celsius the high, four orfive further north but again with the wind feeling much colder and quite raw. more showers in the forecast for the same areas on tuesday, by the end of tuesday some spots across the end of tuesday some spots across the highest ground to get up to 20 centimetres of snow and with the wind, that will mean blizzard conditions. not all areas will see them because of the showers but the impact could be significant for some. a ridge of high pressure showing itself on wednesday, which means finally some lighter winds. still a chance of wintry showers in the north. for many, a quieter day with spells of sunshine but you can see the low pressure trying to peep m, see the low pressure trying to peep in, across the uk for thursday so there will be another spell of wet and windy weather. take care for the remainder of today with the severe gales.

this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at apm: storm ciara hits the uk. 12,000 people are without power and there is severe travel disruption across the country. there is widespread flooding and a severe warning, meaning a danger to life, has been issued in north yorkshire. at times, the gusts are so strong, you're almost blown off your feet. and in the past few minutes, we've also had lashing rain to throw into the mix too. a person's being treated at the royal free hospital in london after testing positive for coronavirus — bringing the total in the uk to four. a briton in majorca has also contracted the illness. in hong kong, thousands of people who have been stuck on a cruise ship for four days have been allowed to disembark,