this is bbc news. the headlines: the families of the victims of one of the worst mass school shootings in the us state of florida have criticised the decision by a jury to spare the gunman the death penalty. the relatives said the jury's decision on nikolas cruz sets a bad precedent. the us congressional committee investigating the storming of the capitol in 2021 has ordered donald trump to give evidence. the chairman said there was no doubt that the former president led an effort to upend american democracy. mr trump has dismissed the hearing as a witch—hunt. the uk chancellor, kwasi kwarteng, has cut short his visit to the international monetary fund in washington — as pressure mounts on the government to reverse parts of its mini—budget.

there's been turmoil in the british markets since the government announced unfunded tax cuts three weeks. now on bbc news — sexsomnia: case closed? a warning this programme contains upsetting content. what's your name? jade. obviously this is very dramatic, can you tell us what happened? i was at a party... i happened? iwasata -a happened? iwasataa , i was at a party... i woke up, i was at a party... i woke up, i felt violated, _ i was at a party... i woke up, i felt violated, i _ i was at a party... i woke up, i felt violated, i felt - i was at a party... i woke up, i felt violated, i felt really . i felt violated, i felt really

violated. i felt violated, i felt really violated-— i felt violated, i felt really violated. , ., ~ . violated. do you feel like that potentially — violated. do you feel like that potentially somebody - violated. do you feel like that potentially somebody had - potentially somebody had intercourse with you? yes, ifelt like intercourse with you? yes, i felt like physically something... something has taken place? yes. jade, was it? yes. now we're going to have to report this is what we call rate. —— rape. it's quite weird looking back on these. isabel is my best friend. she has been through absolutely everything with me. she isjust absolutely right.

she is the super competent person. _ she is the super competent person, really competent, really _ person, really competent, really funny. we are basically sisters — sisters. there were some sisters. — there were some pictures that we had taken on the night. it feels really weird, actually, just looking back on thinking, my whole life was literally turned upside down after that moment. on that evening, i went to isabelle's house. we decided that she was going to come over to my house we would show up. we would show up. we went to the bar. we got ourselves a bottle of press ako to share. we were kind of mingling and chatting and groups. mingling and chatting and urou 5. ~ groups. we were there until the end of service, _ groups. we were there until the end of service, then _ groups. we were there until the end of service, then she - end of service, then she decided to go home she was quite tired. i was in the mood to party, if i'm honest. she

was tipsy. _ to party, if i'm honest. she was tipsy. we _ to party, if i'm honest. she was tipsy, we were - to party, if i'm honest. sue: was tipsy, we were both tipsy but she was totally in control, happy and bubbly, and, you know, just wanted to chat with friends. that's how we left. i left her with her friends. ijust remember walking i just remember walking back ijust remember walking back up here with them. the flat was literally just over here with them. the flat was literallyjust over here. just to the side of us. we got back to the house for the kind of after party. it was literally four or five people, it wasn't a huge thing. after a while i was quite tired. people were still listening to music, smoking, having a few drinks but a fell asleep. and in... i woke up. and ifelt... ..as if i'd been penetrated. i couldn't. .. ..tell you what it was. i had no idea. but i kind of looked down

and my trousers were off, my underwear, my bra was unpinged and my necklace was broken. i turned around and i could see, um... ..him on the other side of the sofa. i kind of got a bit aggressive and shouty and kind of confronted him, saying, like, "what the locks "happened?! he said, i thought you were awake. he does kind of bolted out, basically. and i got my phone and started calling isabelle. she was hysterical. and sobbing. um... and she said... .."i think i've been raped." when your best friend

and your sister... ..says that to you, it's just... ..earth—shattering. so ijumped out of bed... ..and tried to calm her down. and she wasjust... ..hysterical, sobbing, and she...threw up. i was on the phone the whole time with her, trying to tell her that... ..she was safe and she was ok. that it wasn't her fault. um... and how many minutes it was going to be until she got to my house. voice breaks. sorry. for me, itjust feels like an absolute blur coming

out of here. it was an absolute blur coming out until i got to your house and you literally just, like, held me. whispers i'm so proud of you. i'm so proud of you. i said, you i'm so proud of you. isaid, you know, "we i'm so proud of you. i said, you know, "we should call the police." she said, ok, go and make the call. i made the call. yes, it was super brave, super, super brave to make that decision. thank you for coming with me. you don't have to thank me, you don't have to thank me.

police siren wails phone rings i received a call yesterday from an officer stating i need to be at a police station for a meeting. i don't even know what they can possibly say so late on in the day. i really... i just don't know what to expect.

it's been dropped. my case has been dropped. and it's a matter of days before the trial is due to start and it's... nothing's happening. and for me, the reasonings behind it... ..i can't really make head nor tail of it, to be honest.

she sighs just mad. and it's heartbreaking. so i've just received my hand—delivered... ..letter, basically summarising the meeting i had with the cps, where they essentially dropped my case. hand—delivered by a police officer and it's a sleep specialist, concluded that the defence statement

is "consistent with an attack of sexsomnia". "he also confirmed that even if you had never "previously had an episode of sexsomnia, that this "could have been the first episode." forcefully exhales "what is sexsomnia ? " i've never had anything remotely similar to this kind of thing. like, this isjust bizarre. i can continue to fight this and challenge the cps' decision. i really feel as if they've missed the mark and not investigated this enough. as a victim, i have the right to demand that the cps review their decision. if i'm going to win this appeal, i need to work out for myself how this idea of sexsomnia all started.

so i've got the footage of my original police interview. the cps informed me when they dropped my case it was down to, like, a history of sleepwalking and sleep talking that i'd kind of touched upon in this video statement. so i kind of wanted to see exactly kind of where things went wrong. where has this kind of notion of sexsomnia and sleep issues come from? it basically traces back to my first formal interview with the police. this would have been a couple of weeks after the incident. i do kind of have some, like, haze cos it was such a long time ago now. it's quite weird to see myself... ..in that kind of really vulnerable, vulnerable place. so just to clarify,

from the point of falling asleep and to the point of waking up on that sofa, there's nothing that you can recall? no. you don't know how your clothing's come off... literally... ..and how your bra strap's unpinged. in regards to your sort of sleeping and stuff like that, what sort of a sleeper are you? a bloody deep sleeper. a deep sleeper? i went to france with my mother a few years ago and there was a fire alarm at, like, three in the morning. for the life of me, she was shaking me to wake me up. 0k. ihave, like... i don't know, i sleep talk and i sleep walk, and i'm very much a deep sleeper and i have no recollec... like, my partner, when i'm... i snore, like, a terrible snorer as well, but i sleep talk and i have no recollection. like, he will remember a conversation that he had with me while i was sleeping. i would have no recollection of it, he'd be like, "jade, you were talking absolute shit last night i'm like, "shut up, jade." like, "don't say anything else."

i don't know. it's just mad frustrating cos it could be the smallest, smallest thing that can completely crumble everything around you in this case, or in any case. if i'm going to prove they should have taken my case to court i need to get the ever since i can get so i can getting a specialist tonight is the night. i don't know what to say.. i am so not sleepy now. i have been

told that most people with sexsomnia amended that is not me. i need to speak with someone firsthand. i have heard of people speaking and honestly about it. do i have sexsomnia? my about it. do i have sexsomnia? my boyfriend has sexsomnia. how to deal with it in a relationship. hardly anyone is willing to speak publicly about having this but one guy has agreed to meet me. he says he has no idea he had three until a girlfriend told him.- a girlfriend told him. during an episode _ a girlfriend told him. during an episode i _ a girlfriend told him. during an episode i am _ a girlfriend told him. during an episode i am glassy - a girlfriend told him. during| an episode i am glassy eyed a girlfriend told him. during - an episode i am glassy eyed and i am not talkative and that is how we know it is not me. i am having sex in my sleep. if she does not want that she can push

me a break really easily and then i stop that i would have zero recollection of that happening whatsoever. i would not know if that happened unless she told me the next morning and i have asked her to tell me any time that there is an episode so that i can check in with her, make sure she is ok with it. it was confusing at first because i could not work out what my body was doing things i would not do in real life and it was... there were times where i was scared and a bit worried it is not my mind, it's not who i am as a person. it's my body. and my body is involuntarily doing something to someone else. ifi if i could take a pill that would get rid of sexsomnia i would get rid of sexsomnia i would do it straightaway. i really want to thank you for today. it has been so eye—opening to have your perspective on all of this. it shines a light to me that this

is something that is real and it should be taken seriously. hearing what he experiences on a regular basis is like a repeated pattern of these episodes, it really contradicts everything that i have read about myself. for me, i know deep down that i don't suffer from this. how can i prove that i don't? mostly protests have been analysed and i am on the way to get the results. to sleep experts have already said it is possible i had an attack of sexsomnia so i am feeling nervous about what i might hear. ~ . ., ., ~ ., hear. we are here to talk about our hear. we are here to talk about your results- — one thing we have found is that you've got mild sleep apnoea. but you also have a lot of snoring in your sleep. the fact that you've got sleep apnoea will point towards you having a trigger factor for sexsomnia. so, could it be one isolated episode in a quiet storm of events? yes. can we completely rule it out? the answer is no. there's no history of sexsomnia

and there's no clinical history of sexsomnia. can you give me, like, an idea of the probability that that happened ? that is the billion dollar question. we can't. so there is a shortage of proper scientific study in this, right? so we cannot give a definitive probability. that would be misleading. one thing, a definitive black and white answer, yes or no, was it or wasn't it, is not going to happen because no—one knows exactly what happened that night. i have been looking back at previous rape cases, and sexsomnia has become increasingly more common as a line of defence in the last ten years. there are lots of lawyers out there trying to get business out of it. that's why. .. indeed. ..i don't do many cases any longer. do you ever worry that... you get it wrong? we're not getting it right or wrong. what we're saying is, "this is the body of evidence for this. "this is the body of evidence against it." it's for the juries to get it right and wrong.

just a shame it never got that far cos of the cps! exactly. i have been researching as much as i can. ifound some cases where the defendant claimed to have sexsomnia. i haven't looking online and i have come across actual websites of solicitors with dedicated webpages to defend sexsomnia. so, on this website, there is, like, a dedicated web page, which is... the title is, "sexsomnia defence successful." client was found not guilty. ifind it, like, really, really troubling. i'm going to meet a barrister who's defended in two sexsomnia trials. i want to know if some lawyers are potentially manipulating this defence. essentially, i do have concerns for, um, people perhaps misusing sexsomnia. .. yes. ..as a line of defence. i mean, i have seen it,

kind of, almost glorified and advertised on some solicitors' websites as an almost get out ofjailfree card. do you think that that kind of line of defence is being kind of abused within the system? i think you're right. there are certain firms of solicitors that are advertising their... their expertise in this particular area. but i would like to think that most lawyers behave in a more reputable way and properly explore issues that they should be exploring as part of their duty to their...to their client. from my experience of sleep experts, i haven't really been given, like, a definitive diagnosis. it's always merely a possibility. yes. i don't think you will ever get a sleep expert, or indeed any other expert in this area, that will say, um, you know, "this is a clear—cut case of sexsomnia."

sometimes they will say it's—it's fairly neutral. you know, "it's very difficult. it's possible." all right, it's possible. from a defence point of view, possible is—is perhaps enough. and it's a very fundamental part of our system that if the prosecution bring a case, they really have to prove it and they have to prove it so a jury is sure, because that's the safeguard. you hope that criminal trial process will enable those genuine cases to be pulled out from those lesser genuine. but is there a _ from those lesser genuine. mt is there a guarantee that that will always happen? i am afraid that isn't. i am afraid there isn't. it seems like the sexsomnia defence could definitely be open to manipulation. but the barrister told me that the courtroom is where

that should bejudged. it still feels unjust that my case never made it that far. i have one final chance to question the cps lawyers who decided to drop my case before i submit my appeal. they didn't want to go on camera, but they've agreed to speak to me. hey, good morning. i'll start with, like, some sleep specialist—related questions. it's not a clear diagnosis. how can that mere suggestion be enough to close an entire rape case that you guys have invested a lot of time and money in? shouldn't have this been put to a jury to decide, rather than being ultimately decided by the people in this meeting? and ifelt like, if you guys did everything you guys could do, i would have felt at least, "ok, these guys have done theirjob. "i'm happy with that. "i feel proud that our criminal justice system has done as much as they can." but i don't feel like that has happened in this case. i don't think it was challenged enough. take care. bye— bye. they kind of really stuck to their guns when it came to,

"this was our case theory. "this undermined our case theory, end of." my mood now is that i'm completely fired up and ready to take everything on, so i'm going to be putting forward my victim's right to review. kind of show to them that i'm not going down quietly about this. after all the people i've spoken to and everything i've learnt, i'm ready to submit my appeal. the cps will now look over everything in my case again. it's been a difficult few months, waiting for the result. so i've just got back from work. i've, um... i've had my decision from the victim's right to review and the chief crown prosecutor that has reviewed... ..my case has, um, pretty outrightly said that he doesn't

agree with the decision of it being closed and marked as "no evidence", and that it should have been seen in front of a jury. i just can't believe that... ..they. .. ..they�*ve acknowledged it.

it is hard to accept that i've been told there is no way forward for my case. because it was closed completely the law says it will never be open and i know i will never have my day in court. there is no sense of justice for me. it is a really difficult thing to go through. ifeel a change is needed.

hello there. as we head towards the weekend, it continues to be quite a messy, eclectic weather story at the moment. this is the situation for friday — this weather front bringing some intense outbreaks of rain through scotland

and northern ireland. the same time, we've got this weather front moving through channel coasts. that will just cling onto the south and produce some outbreaks of light drizzle, particularly towards the southeast as we go through the day. the best of the dry weather, wales and northern england, before this weather front starts to spill out of scotland by the middle of the afternoon. behind it, for scotland and northern ireland, brightening up, a breezy afternoon, sunny spells and noticeably fresher here — 10—13 degrees the high. but in the south—east once again, we'll see those temperatures peaking into the high teens. now, as we move out of friday, we've got more showers starting to push in from the south and west as an area of low pressure moves in. so, cloudier skies here, a milder start to saturday, but where we get some clear slots, those temperatures may well fall away. the jet stream is going to be quite a powerful one over the next few days and it's centred across the uk, and we all know it's the jet stream that drives in areas of low pressure across us. so, as you can see,

for the start of the weekend, that low pressure is going to be sitting into the far north—west. it could bring outbreaks of heavy rain to the north and west in particular, so not all of us will see rain through the weekend. one spell of heavy rain moving through northern scotland, sharper showers tucking in behind, but sheltered eastern areas may stay relatively dry and bright throughout the day. and if you dodge those showers, well, you'll still continue to see some warmth — 17—18 degrees once again. moving out of saturday into sunday, the low is still anchored to the north of scotland. that's where the heaviest of the rain is likely to be, with another front pushing in from the south—west. so, as we go through the day, a relatively dry start, the heavy rain pushing in through south—west england, wales and up along western fringes. so, once again, sheltered eastern areas may stay dry throughout the day, and in the sunshine, still relatively warm for this time of year. i did say it was quite a messy story, but as we go into monday and tuesday, things hopefully will

quieten down just a touch. that's it. take care. welcome to bbc news. i'm rich preston. our top stories: families of the victims criticise a us jury for recommending that the gunman who murdered 17 people in the parkland school shooting in florida in 2018 should be spared the death penalty. that you can allow 17 dead and 17 others shot and wounded, and not get the death penalty, what do we have the death penalty for? the us congressional committee investigating the storming of the capitol in 2021 votes to subpoena donald trump. the clerk will report the vote.