tonight... the nurse accused of murdering babies who says her doctor colleagues conspired against her. lucy letby denies murdering seven newborns and attempting to murder ten others — our correspondent was one of the few journalists in the courtroom to hear her defence. we'll have that report from manchester crown court. also on the programme... harry and meghan�*s new york car chase allegations — the paparazzi agency disputing their account tells the bbc it's been in touch with the couple. they are conflicting accounts about what happened last night. i've spent the day here in new york trying to piece it together. the forest in kenya where men, women

and children were part of a cult — 200 bodies have been discovered. he can finish it here, can he? yes, he can! west ham, glory, glory. and celebrations for west ham, who make it through to their first major european final for 47 years. on bbc london and the row over ulez as more data suggests more car owners could be affected by the expansion, but the mayor of london rejects the figures. good evening. in testimony at manchester crown court a nurse accused of murdering seven babies — and attempting to murder ten others — accused four doctors of conspiring against her. lucy letby, who worked in a neonatal unit, said blame was put on her to cover up failings at the countess of chester hospital,

where she worked. in court today were some of the parents of babies she is accused of killing. she denies all charges against her. our north of england correspondent judith moritz was one of the few journalists in the courtroom. for the last seven months, prosecutor nickjohnson kc has been setting out the case against lucy letby. now he has his chance to question her directly about allegations that she murdered and harmed babies in her care. the nurse spent all day being interrogated by the barrister. she denies attacking 17 babies and said she'd been the target of a conspiracy. lucy letby told the jury that she believes four doctors, including this consultant, ravi jayaram, were jointly out to get her. nickjohnson asked her, "what's the conspiracy "between the gang of four?" she said, "that they've apportioned blame on to me." "what's the motive of apportioning blame onto you?" he asked. lucy letby answered, "i believe to cover up

"failings at the hospital." the court's previously seen evidence showing that lucy letby was the only staff member at the countess of chester neonatal unit who was on shift at the time every baby collapsed. nickjohnson asked her, "do you agree that unless more "than one person was attacking them, you have to be the attacker?" "i haven't attacked any children," lucy letby said. mrjohnson said, "if the jury conclude that a certain combination "of children were certainly attacked by someone and the shift patterns "give us the answer as to who." she said, "no, i don't agree." lucy letby accepted that two babies had been poisoned with insulin. about the first of them, nickjohnson asked her, "do you agree that somebody gave it to him unlawfully?" "yes," she replied. about the second, she said, "i don't believe that any staff "on the unit would make a mistake by giving insulin. "insulin�*s been added by somebody, but i can't say by who. "just that it wasn't me."

lucy letby sent a sympathy card to the parents of one of the babies. these photos of it were later found on her phone. she denied that photographing it near to where the baby had died had given her a bit of a thrill. the nurse will be back in the witness box tomorrow. her trial is forecast to last until the end ofjuly. judith moritz, bbc news, manchester. the paparazzi agency that's disputed parts of the duke and duchess of sussex's account of a car chase in new york on tuesday night — has said this evening that it's exchanged letters with them. after prince harry and his wife meghan said they were in a near catastrophic situation when pursued by photographers — the new york police said the encounter was short and there had been no collisions or arrests. our north america reporter neda tawfik spent time today trying to piece together their route. life in america hasn't kept them out of the spotlight. the night before

that you can duchess of sussex started on a pleasant note with meghan receiving an award for her advocacy on behalf of women and girls. how the evening and it is now a bad matter of dispute that has sparked global coverage. after the ceremony at the ballroom, the parent meghan�*s motherjumped into a black suv at about 10pm. they claimed a near catastrophic car chase ensued with highly aggressive paparazzi pursuing them for over two hours. we've tried to find out exactly what happened when the sussexes left here in midtown, piecing together the few glimpses of their journey that have emerged, but the differing accounts have painted a far more complicated picture. their black suv can just be made out in the security footage from a bike shop at approximately 10:02pm on 55th st. the owner, rick, wasn't at his door at the time it arrived the next day to find intense

interest in any footage he had. it happened really fast, i wasn't really understanding what was happening and then when it was explained to me it was harry and meghan down the block i was going through my video, i was sure i had something false like the pair arrived at the nypd�*s 19th something false like the pair arrived at the nypd�*s19th precinct in manhattan at around 11pm after driving up and down busy streets to lose the paparazzi.— driving up and down busy streets to lose the paparazzi. from there their security detail _ lose the paparazzi. from there their security detail held _ lose the paparazzi. from there their security detail held down _ lose the paparazzi. from there their security detail held down this -- - security detail held down this —— hailed down this cab but were blocked by up garbage truck. paparazzi started taking pictures and didn't stop until the security got out and said, move, move, move, then the garbage truck got out of then the garbage truck got out of the way and the paparazzi were following the car and prince harry and his wife and another lady were nervous and looked scared. photographers involved have disputed the sussexes' characterisation of events. in a statement from the agency backgrid usa they said they

had no intention of causing any distress or harm but claimed that prince harry's escort was the one driving in a manner that could be perceived as reckless. so far, that you can't have remained silent today, as has the palace. in the last hour there have been more developments. the bbc has heard from backgrid, that the agency representing some of the photographers. they say they've been in touch with the duke and and they confirmed reports from the celebrity gossip site tmz that harry and meghan had demanded that they be provided with all copies of videos and photos from after the event last night. now, that request was rejected. we've also reached out to arch well, that you can do is's organisation, but we have yet to hear back. nada tawfik, i reporter in new york, thank you.

let's bring you back home now and to this map, where each red dot represents an area where raw sewage was discharged directly into rivers — or the sea — in england last year. on average such sewage flows happened more than 800 times a day. water uk, which represents nine water and sewage companies, said £10 billion would now be spent on improving pipes and tanks, and also revealed the cost will go on our bills. here's our environment correspondentjonah fisher. ash is a retired policeman and has for the last ten years dedicated himself to trying to hold water companies accountable. he's taken us to a small treatment plant in oxfordshire, where raw sewage regularly overflows into a ditch outside. you've got basically sewage sludge. when you say sewage sludge, do you mean poo? yeah, that's basically what i mean, that's the polite way of putting it. it's a common occurrence across england.

last year, there were, on average, more than 800 sewage spills every day. together with ash, professor peter hammond has been using the water companies' own data to try and establish exactly when the sewage spills are taking place and if they are legal or an abuse of the permit system. i have here 500 pages of evidence and we basically found thousands of examples of illegal spilling. that suggests that it's systematic, it's not the occasional mistake? it's completely systematic, yeah. for years, the water companies have insisted that things are getting better, not worse. welcome back to the today programme... j but this morning came an extraordinary and unprecedented admission of failure. i'm here today, on behalf of the water and sewerage industry in england, to say sorry, to say we are very sorry for the spills of untreated sewage that have gone into rivers and onto our beaches, that have spoiled the enjoyment that people can get

from their rivers and beaches. we've heard the strength of feeling. so what did the campaigners make of it? we'll give ourselves a pat on the back when the sewage stops wrecking our rivers and we start to see clean rivers again. so you're somewhat sceptical of this apology then? sceptical but enthused by the fact that this is starting to rattle, rattle government, it's rattling the water industry and it's rattling the regulators. along with the apology came a proposal by the water companies, to spend £10 billion by 2030, modernising our sewage infrastructure. so what we have here, these are the storm tanks... more of these huge tanks to stop overflows during heavy rain would be built, as would bigger pipes and increased capacity at treatment plants. the money to fund these improvements isn't going to come out of the pockets of the water companies, or the dividends of their shareholders. ultimately, the cost will fall on all of us, through higher bills paid most

likely over several decades. the system isn't good enough and we've apologised for that. you're a big part of the system? we are a part of the system and for many decades, many, many decades, we've got victorian systems in many cases... that you haven't invested in? they haven't been invested in. we are investing in them, we are improving them and it's going to take more time to do so. the water companies will hope this apology draws a line under their past failings. the likelihood of higher bills means that questions about their role will surely rumble on. jonah fisher, bbc news, in oxfordshire. you might know if this has happened in your area. if you aren't sure and would like to check then have a look at this map on the bbc website — you can zoom in on it and see not only where the overflows have

happened but how many times. the worst spot last year was in terms of number of spills was the warfleet creek pumping station in devon — it discharged sewage 364 times into the river dart. you'll find the map at bbc.co.uk/news. local elections have been taking place in northern ireland today — polls have just closed in voting that's all about representation on councils, but where the results may also tell us something about the continuing political impasse over post—brexit trading arrangements. our ireland correspondent emma vardy is at belfast city hall. what should we look out for when the results come in? well, look, local councillors don't generally deal with big international issues like brexit, they are more in the business of dealing with things like bin collections but these local elections in northern ireland off

people's first real chance to have their say on what they think about their say on what they think about the big political crisis up at stormont, whether dup has been refusing to re—enter power—sharing because of its opposition to the post—brexit trading arrangements. so we will be looking very carefully at these results to see what they tell us about people buzz my attitude to that political crisis. the dup think they've got strong support from their for their stance on this. we'll also be finding out whether the dup get overtaken or not by sinn fein in the number of local council seats that they hold. so there's a lot at stake here. the ballot boxes will be heading to local count centres like the one behind me but no super late night for everybody here tonight, because counting doesn't begin until tomorrow and the full picture of results isn't expected to be known until saturday. but something else happening here tonight, just after midnight tonight a 24—hour strike action will take place by members of the national union ofjournalists at bbc northern ireland in protest tojob

union ofjournalists at bbc northern ireland in protest to job cuts union ofjournalists at bbc northern ireland in protest tojob cuts in local bbc programmes, so coverage of those local election results tomorrow might look a little different from what some audiences are expecting. different from what some audiences are meeting-— are expecting. emma vardy, thank ou, in are expecting. emma vardy, thank you, in belfast. _ now to an extraordinary — and shocking — story from kenya, where, for the last month, more than 200 bodies have been discovered in this forest. they are of people — including children — thought to have starved to death while under the influence of a cult run by an evangelical pastor. he is now in custody, but hundreds more people are missing and the details revealed by the investigation so far are deeply disturbing. barbara plett usher has travelled to the area for this report. making a meal became an act of defiance for salema masha. just a few months ago cooking food for her family was considered a sin. salema rescued herfive children from a christian doomsday cult. she was told they must starve so they could seejesus.

if she hadn't escaped, they would be dead. translation: when the child cries or asked for food or water, - we were told to take a cane and beat them so they could go and eat in heaven. so i thought about it and i said, "i cannot go along with this, and i can't eat while my child starving." but how come so many parents could? salema asked many questions about the meaning of the deaths all around her. we would gather every saturday and the pastor would tell us the world was coming to an end. he said we should fast and die because if we delayed heaven would be full. but when i was fasting god spoke to me. he told me this wasn't his will. salema and hundreds of others had moved to the vast shakahola forest,

invited by their pastor. he sold them plots in what he called a new holy land. now it's a crime scene, digging up mass graves filled with his followers, unearthing grisly details. there was an order of death. children went first, but not the pastor's children. and he went last. those who resisted were beaten, even killed. some of the bodies were strangled or suffocated. but dozens have been found alive. victor kaudo is a human rights activist. in this video he is seen aiding two survivors. not all of them wanted help. this elderly woman believed her rescuers were blocking her path to heaven. calling to jesus? yes. "jesus, come and save me from these people. these people are murderers, these people are killers." "praisejesus," he says.

this is the man accused of ordering mass suicide, pastor paul mackenzie. he denies that, but he's been in court before on charges of radicalisation. that's when he decided to move to shakahola. pastor mackenzie was preaching here before he left for the forest, and after he was arrested locals came and attacked the property. you can see that they've destroyed the church walls. people here are very angry about what happened. they're angry at mackenzie and angry at the authorities for how they handled it. the search and rescue operation has intensified. there's a public inquiry, and a shake—up in the local security services. why was this allowed to go on for so long? he was known before he moved to shakahola. he was known and he was taken to court three times, and even now we have an active case in court. but in the meantime hundreds of people died. this is a matter that has come up now and a matter that we are handling and a matter

that is under investigation. thank you. hundreds of people are still missing. urbanis is searching for his brother's family. translation: and they are lively, lively kids. _ the boy loves me very much. he just runs after me, "oh, uncle, uncle!" you still have hope that they might come running to you? that's my prayer, that's my prayer. the horror, the sheer scale of it, has settled deeply into this community and travelled far beyond it. the agonising question still of how this could have happened. barbara plett usher, bbc news, southern kenya. the prime minister has agreed new defence and economic deals with japan while in tokyo ahead of the g7 summit in hiroshima. rishi sunak has also said a naval battle fleet will be deployed in the indo—pacific — a region considered important for the uk's future growth and also to counter china's reach. our political editor chris mason is travelling with the prime minister and sent this report. mount fuji, snow capped and on the horizon, as the prime minister descends into tokyo. rishi sunak reckons the uk

is more aligned with japan than it has ever been. for the first time since he took the top job his wife has accompanied him on an international visit. prime ministers on foreign trips like numbers to bandy about. mr sunak is claiming there are £18 billion worth of prospective deals in the offing from japanese firms in the uk, but there is more than one issue putting its head above the parapet here. this region is going to be increasingly important to our economic prospects at home. if you look at where global growth is going to come from over the coming decades, the indo—pacific region is going to be increasingly important, and we're also strengthening our security and our alliances in the region, particularly with japan. and, yes, there is a reason the prime minister is on an aircraft carrier. a guard of honour from the japanese navy, but it is china shaping the diplomatic mood music. beijing worries many the world over, few more so than here, as it flexes its muscles over nearby

taiwan, an island it claims as its own. and the benefits of the trade pacts known as the cptpp, which the uk hasjoined with countries around the pacific like japan, are likely to be minimal in the short term, while the government's own economic forecaster suggests brexit will have a long—term negative impact. the sunaks' day trip done, bowing out from tokyo. next stop hiroshima and tea with the japanese prime minister, complete with the socks of his host's baseball team. and hello from a rather soggy hiroshima where it has just gone six o'clock on friday morning. these gatherings are a curious mix of a formative gesture, months of diplomatic activity in the build—up to them, and then come in a city

like this, a moment for profound reflection. the leaders will gather here at the hiroshima peace memorial. the dom there is the only surviving structure in the city after the nuclear attack towards the end of the second world war —— the dome. discussion will turn to ukraine and sanctions on russia. yes, there will be discussions about china, too, plus an opportunity for the leaders to begin a conversation about their approach to artificial intelligence. the gathering here running until sunday. studio: chris, thank you very much, our political editor chris mason in hiroshima. here, a man has admitted abducting a child — while he was dressed as a woman — and sexually assaulting her at his home in the scottish borders. the child's ordeal began when 53—year—old andrew miller offered to give her a lift home. he held her for more than 2a hours. our scotland correspondent lorna gordon reports. andrew miller, a 53—year—old whose

actions thejudge said andrew miller, a 53—year—old whose actions the judge said where every parent's worst nightmare. miller was dressed as a woman when he approached the school girl as she was walking home. she describes seeing a lady in a car whose name was amy george and who didn't appear threatening. this poor quality cctv footage the moment he abducted the young child from a car park under the guise of offering her a lift. miller, instead, though, took her to his house where he sexually assaulted her over the course of the next 27 hours. at one point he said he wasn't going to let her go because she was his new family. the prosecution lawyer also told the court that the child had complied with miller's demands because she didn't want to make him mad, but managed to phone 999 after escaping from the bedroom where miller had fallen asleep beside her.

it's understood miller identifies as transgender and is transitioning to become a female, but confirmed he wished to be addressed as andrew miller. he's being held in the male wing of a prison and will be sentenced in august, for what the judge described as abhorrent crimes of the utmost depravity. lorna gordon, bbc news, at the high court in edinburgh. the cost of the funeral of queen elizabeth ii and the events leading up to it have been revealed by the treasury. the state funeral in september followed a period of national mourning, which included hundreds of thousands of people seeing the queen lying in state. the total cost has been estimated at £162 million — and political correspondent damian grammaticus can take us through the figures. damien? michelle, this was the biggest state event in this country since the second world war. it lasted just over a week, more than that, from the death of the queen in scotland to the funeral here in london. as you say, hundreds of thousands turned out to pay their respects, leaders came from around

the world, individual government departments are doing their accounts but we know the cost now, £161 million in total, and the biggest single item of that was from the home office, £73 million for policing and security. the government said the event had to be smooth, it had to be dignified, people had to be safe and secure. the next biggest item, well, that was from the department for culture, media and sport, £57 millionjust for staging everything. the crowd control, the marshals and infrastructure. then there were events around the country, too, notably in scotland where there the queen lying in rest, £18 million spent by the scottish government, mostly on policing. that has been reimbursed from the treasury, as have costs for the welsh government and the northern ireland office. remember, king charles went on a tour of the nation. downing street said today it was important to remember that this was a moment not just for the nation, but it was a

piece of history. michelle. damian, thank you very much. the rmt union has announced fresh strike action by rail workers at 1a train companies on fridayjune the 2nd. with train drivers in the aslef union due to walk out on the 31st of may and the 3rd ofjune — the day of the fa cup final — it means there will be three strikes in four days on the railways, in a week that for many is school half term. british telecom is to cut 55,000 jobs by 2030 - amounting to more than 40% of its current workforce. many of the jobs that will go are of workers who've been upgrading the telephone and communications networks to fibre optic cables as that project comes to an end. but bt says it also expects to shed 10,000 of thosejobs due to advances in technology and artificial intelligence. the world's biggest human imaging project is set to rescan the brains

and bodies of 60,000 uk volunteers — in the hope of finding new ways to treat and prevent disease. uk biobank�*s aim is to research how we age, and try and predict who might be more likely to develop dementia or cancer. when it began more than a decade ago our medical editor fergus walsh was one of the first to be scanned — and he has kept across how it's going. this vast freezer is a treasure trove of human health. it contains 10 million dna samples from the 500,000 volunteers who make up uk biobank, delivering vital insights into disease. more than 30,000 scientists from over 90 countries are exploring the genetic information stored anonymously in these drawers. so far, more than 7,000 research papers have been published using uk biobank data.

nearly a third of those in the last year alone. this resource is getting more valuable with every year that passes because the volunteers are getting older. so try to open your eye. in 2010, when i signed up to biobank, i did a battery of health tests. just squeeze that as hard as you can. 13 years later, i've repeated many of them. blimey. .. now i'm the first volunteer to undergo a second round of brain and body scans, along with bone density measurements. it will reveal even more detail of how we age. it enables researchers for the first time to be able to look at changes

in our organs as we get older and develop disease — that will help to develop biomarkers of disease perhaps many years before a clinical diagnosis of symptoms, therefore helping to come up with ways to prevent disease happening in the first place or come up with new treatments. the volunteers, like mary and marian, have also done reams of cognitive tests. they don't get the results of these or the scans unless a potentially serious health problem is found. so what's in it for them? well, it's going to help the future generations and it's going to help the health service, we hope. maybe there's a measure of altruism in there, and it's a bit like being a blood donor. you do it for your fellow man. big breath in... time will eventually catch up with all the volunteers. nearly one in ten have already died. but that all adds to the wealth of information contained in uk biobank, which may help others to live longer, healthier lives. fergus walsh, bbc news. west ham made it through to

the europa conference league final tonight, their first major european final in nearly half a century. they won 1—0 in the netherlands against az alkmaar to go through 3—1 on aggregate. andy swiss watched the action. some 47 years after their last major european final, could west ham finally reach another? they began 2—1 after the last leg against az alkmaar. a lead they were soon threatening to extend. off the outside of the post and away! lucas paqueta agonisingly close — a case of the hammers denied by the woodwork. as things stood though they were going through. alkmaar had to score and after the break the dutch side ramped up the pressure. but west ham held their nerve and deep into stoppage time they struck. he can finish it all here, can he? yes, he can! pablo fornals sending the hammers into dreamland and into

the final, and if you ever wondered what that meant to them, well, this should give you the answer. delight for manager david moyes and for west ham a first european final since 1976 — after years of waiting nowjust one match from glory. andy swiss, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. here's darren bett. hello, michelle. there will be some warm sunshine tomorrow but we could see a few showers developing to. a lovely sunset here in great yarmouth in norfolk helped by the cloud we have had today, and there has been quite a bit of cloud coming our way, mostly quite high. we also have this very weak weather front and that is producing a line of rain, and we can see that they are, moving away from scotland and northern ireland, heading in towards england and wales but patchy rain arriving in the east as well. all keeping temperatures up here, but it could turn chilly in scotland with those clear skies. more sunshine on the way tomorrow for scotland and northern ireland,

bit of cloud for england and wales. this rain in eastern areas will slowly tend to