the details of how he was blackmailing these teenage girls and the sheer angst, that they were crying and begging in some of the videos that they sent to him, that he should now stop and not make them do anything more. it has been incredibly distressing, and there have been family members present in court this week. many family members present in court today, including three of the girls that he had abused. what pc lewis edwards did was essentially pretend to be a teenage boy on snapchat, befriend teenage girls, be nice to them, persuade them to send him explicit images, and then once he had an explicit image of a girl, he would use that to blackmail them into sending him really, really, really explicit sexual content, by threatening to put the images that they had already sent him out online in public view. as i say, this caused really, really extreme distress

among some of the girls. thejudge described him as cruel and sadistic, and she had an option to sentence him to a fixed—term prison or a life sentence, and she chose the life—sentence route. so, essentially, he will belong to the state for life. when calculating the minimum term, she said that if he had not pleaded guilty, and she had gone for a fixed term, she would have sentenced him to 27 years in prison, but taking into account the guilty plea and that he would have only served two thirds of a fixed prison sentence, she decided the minimum time he will spend in prison will be 12 years, so it will be 12 years before he is considered for parole. there are many, many offences for which he has been sentenced, but all the sentences will run concurrently. but to give you an idea, many of the other offences for which he was sentenced, he would have gone to jail for nine years and four months. so he has got an absolute stack of concurrent sentences, but ultimately, it is a life

imprisonment sentence with the minimum term of 12 years. after edwards�* sentencing snapchat issued this statement. two metropolitan police officers have been found guilty of gross misconduct after a stop

and search on two professional athletes in west london. british sprinter bianca williams and her partner ricardo dos santos were pulled over in 2020. their three—month—old baby was in the back of the car while the couple were handcuffed and detained. no weapons or drugs were found. video of the stop—and—search went viral on social media. an independent panel concluded that the actions of two officers, pcjonathan clapham and pc sam franks did breach some professional standards of police behaviour in relation to honesty and integrity. if you've tried to catch a bus in a rural area recently, particularly since the pandemic, you may not be surprised to know that services in the countryside are at an historic low. that's the damning verdict of the county councils network, which represents rural authorities in england. they say that more than one in every

four bus services has vanished over the past decade. what is on the increase is bookable services, typically a minibus, which only operate when and where users have requested them. our transport correspondent katy austin spent the day on a so—called �*demand response service�* in wiltshire. mid—morning in pewsey in wiltshire. driver andy is on the move. but this isn�*t a bus or a taxi, it�*s something in between. there�*s no fixed timetable, and passengers have to pre—book their journey. morning. all right? yeah. likejulie, who�*s been using it every day for three weeks to visit her husband in hospital. i don't drive, so it's the only way i've got of getting to the hospital each day and each evening. i really don't know what i'd do without it, yeah. on this journey, stops

included the hospital, a railway station and a supermarket. thank you very much. bye for now, see you again. all our bookings are done either on an app or phone bookings. so the route literally is dictated by how many people have booked on that day? exactly right. we do not know from the moment you get on the bus to the moment you get off how your whole day is going to run. every day is different and every passenger is different. we have from schoolchildren right the way through. this morning, we had a gentleman who was in his 90s. for most people on board, this is the only option for getting around. this service started in the summer, funded by a pot of money from central government. a change of driver and we�*re on to the afternoon shift. rosie got on in devizes town centre. i've been doing some shopping. yes, i mean, i've started my christmas shopping, you see. a beautiful sunny day, but, yes, everywhere tells you start now, get ahead. it keeps everybody in the villages sort of in touch with what's going on. because i can be quite flexible

about going out for fun, then it works very well. you just have to check on the times that the buses are running and fit yourself around then. i think if you were going out for an appointment, you would probably have to plan ahead a bit more. philip, who has kept a close eye on transport options round here for years, says this is better than nothing. but some issues need ironing out. for example, with the availability of time slots and the booking technology. i think it�*s good. you know, i�*ve got no problem with it, but it�*s got to be more accessible for people that perhaps are a little bit unsure. in many more rural parts of the country, it�*s become increasingly difficult for traditional commercial bus routes to make enough money to keep going. a group that speaks for county and rural councils across england says three quarters are now rolling out so—called demand—responsive transport like this, often to fill gaps left by bus services disappearing. it says these are useful but aren�*t a substitute, and they�*re mostly loss—making.

most councils will only be able to operate these long—term if there is continuing subsidy from government. the government have provided some money over the last couple of years and for the next couple of years. but we need kind of a long—term, sustainable funding solution. the department for transport says more than 5.5 billion has gone in to supporting and improving buses since the start of the pandemic and it�*s making millions more available for councils to bring in bookable services like this. here, there have been some bumps in the road, but people are getting used to a different way of getting from a to b. katy austin, bbc news, in wiltshire. a coroner has concluded that a schoolboy who was stabbed to death by a friend was unlawfully killed. yousef makki was killed four years ago in manchester and died of a single stab would to his chest.

a friend of his admitted he�*d stabbed him, but had been found not guilty of both murder and manslaughter at a crown court trial. for more on this, we can cross live now to nick garnett, who is our north of england reporter. yousef makki was 17 years old. four and a half years ago, he was stabbed through the heart with a single stab wound from one of his friends. it happened in a very well—to—do cheshire village called hale barns. josh was arrested and charged with manslaughter and murder. josh was arrested and charged with manslaughterand murder. in josh was arrested and charged with manslaughter and murder. in his trial, he told the jury he had been acting in self defence. he was found not guilty of those charges. another inquest took place four years ago, but that was set aside after the high court was involved in legal matters. this fresh inquest was held today, and has been going on for about a week. it has heard how yousef makki and a man were at school together and a third boy

josh. they had been riding about on their bikes and smoking cannabis. they tried to buy more drugs, but when the drug deal went wrong, josh was beaten up. the coroner has heard from both young men who gave evidence and from a number of witnesses. today, the coroner said that after that fight mr mona had been beaten up in, he was angry and furious at what had happened. he continued throughout the evening to get more angry. a short time later yousef makki came together withjosh —— yousef makki came together with josh and he was stabbed. he pulled out a knife and extended his arm. coupled with other evidence, the coroner said it pointed to conclusive evidence that yousef makki had been killed. it wasn�*t self defence or an accident. he said thatjosh and vic admitted to holding a knife act and that it

wasn�*t an inadvertent act. when he read the verdict out, there was an applause —— the report out there was an applause. she says the car we are delighted the coroner has recognised that yousef makki was unlawfully killed. it was an angry young man. we can now move on with our lives. justice is what we received today. now it is a matter for the police to decide if they do anything more. hello there. wednesday started fairly murky through some parts of central england and across southern parts of england. it was very wet with some flooding through hampshire and the isle of wight in particular, several locations here on the island, seeing around three weeks worth of rain. but through the afternoon, it�*s generally a quieter story with much of the overnight rain clearing away.

still fairly cloudy through the parts of the north of england into much of scotland, with showery rain moving in off the north sea. not too bad in northern ireland with some brighter skies and certainly through parts of wales too, those earlier mist and fog areas could well return though as we head overnight tonight. you can see as we head towards midnight and through the early hours of tomorrow, another band of rain working its way eastwards through wales in towards the midlands and southern counties of england. showers following behind. those could be quite sharp. further north, it�*s cloudy, not quite as cool as last night. temperatures here in towns and cities around about 7 to 12 celsius north to south. looking to thursday now. and once again, we have low pressure situated to our west, sending weatherfronts and rain our way and some brisk winds at times, too. so to start the day on thursday, we�*ve got the overnight band of rain working its way further north and eastwards becoming confined to some northeastern coast and across parts of eastern scotland as well. elsewhere, it�*s a case of some sunshine, some bright skies, but also some sharp showers.

same too in towards parts of northern ireland and across scotland. and certainly the wet weather starting to really tot up through parts of the eastern north east of scotland over the next few days. you can see the rainfall accumulation chart there. also some heavy rain likely through parts of wales and across parts of southern england as well. so with that rain falling on flooded areas, we could well see some further impacts during the next few days. friday, low pressure with us once again. so it�*s a similar story with weather fronts, showers and rain. there will be some windows of opportunity in between them with something a little bit drier and brighter, but no real respite from that unsettled pattern. temperature wise, once again on friday, we�*re looking at around about 12 degrees in stornoway, down to 1a or 15 celsius further south. and as we head into the weekend, it remains unsettled. temperatures near average, but showers or longer spells of rain at times. that�*s the latest forecast for now.

live from london. this is bbc news. pressure grows on israel for a humanitarian ceasefire, so desperately needed aid can get in. the un warns it may have to end its work in gaza tonight, if it runs out of fuel. a senior israeli official disputes claims of a shortage. if it does not come today then we are going to be put in a very difficult situation where we�*re going to have to make the decision over a reduction of our humanitarian operation. there are hundreds of thousands of litres of petrol, of fuel inside the gaza strip as we speak. hamas has it, surely hamas can release some of that for gaza's hospitals.

israel has intensified its air strikes on gaza, killing more than 700 people on each of the last two days. here in the uk — a police officer who blackmailed underage girls on snapchat is jailed for life. hello, i�*m samantha symonds. welcome to bbc news now, three hours of fast—moving news, interviews and reaction. a third of gaza�*s hospitals have already shut down due to damage or lack of fuel. those still operating have been forced to stop all but emergency services, as they too run out of fuel. now the united nations agency that looks after palestinian refugees is warning it will have to stop its work in gaza tonight — if it doesn�*t receive more fuel. 0vernight , eight

trucks carrying food, water and medicine crossed the rafah border from egypt into gaza —