mike tyson, has lost his fight against the youtuber, jake paul. meanwhile, ireland's katie taylor successfully defended her light—welterweight title agaist puerto rico's amanda serrano. hello. as the uk government says it will "smash the gangs" that bring people across the english channel in small boats, the latest annual figures from the home office show that people from afghanistan are more likely than any other nationality to try to get to the uk by that route. theirjourney takes them through iran and turkey, then up through mainland europe into germany and france, before they head for the uk. our south asia correspondent yogita limaye reports on the factors pushing some to leave their homeland and head west. in afghanistan run by the

taliban, a third of the people are struggling to eat. women live under brutal restrictions and those who worked for the former military fear for their safety. it's why afghans are among the biggest groups fleeing their homes, going to the uk and other parts of the world. this former military officer is risking his life to speak to us. he's tried three times to make the perilous journey out of afghanistan. translation: |'u| keep trying to flee, even if i lose my life. our circumstances are such that we are dying every moment. we drove through kabul to get to where the officer started his journey. it's from this bus stop in kabul that many of the people we've spoken to have told us that they've taken buses to the western border with iran, where they've met up with people smugglers. and from there on, at each point they're passed from one people smuggler to another as they try to make their way from iran to turkey,

and eventually to europe. this is one of the main routes out of the country. afghans waiting to slip into iran on foot. a crossing that's become particularly dangerous. a month ago, iran was accused of indiscriminately shooting afghan migrants. this video of the injured and dead, verified by the bbc. if they make it through iran, migrants must cross this border wall into turkey. a smuggler puts a ladder against the iranian side, cuts the razor wire to make a path. many break their limbs, making thejump. and this is video from last winter. "run, run," the smuggler shouts. "don't be scared." that people are willing to endure this is testament to how desperate they are to flee. on the other side of the wall, these afghans are pleading

for help, allegedly beaten by turkish forces. turkey has not responded to the allegations. the video can't be independently verified by the bbc, sent to us by an afghan smuggler in iran — who we found after weeks of digging through their networks. you're endangering the lives of afghans, taking thousands of dollars from them, engaging in this criminal activity. how do you justify that? translation: we don't force people to take these risks. . we tell them they could be killed or imprisoned. what are we supposed to do when people tell us their family is going hungry in afghanistan? the uk is one of the main destinations that afghans want to reach, seen to offer more work opportunities than most countries in europe. and by the time afghan migrants get to this final leg, the risk of crossing the channel feels like nothing compared to what they've endured.

in liverpool, we met an asylum seeker who arrived in a small boat six months ago. a former government employee, she protested against the taliban. she could be eligible for one of the uk's resettlement schemes, but the safe legal routes have simply been too slow, which means she's had to undertake a traumatic journey. translation: | come - from a well-known family. i've never done anything illegal, but i was afraid i would be detained and tortured in afghanistan. a difficult decision to come a world away from everything she knows, because home can't provide the most basic of human needs — safety, food, freedom. it's six months since the former conservative

mp william wragg was duped into sharing colleagues' phone numbers with someone who used a fake profile on a gay dating site. now, in his first broadcast interview, mr wragg says he feels guilt and shame and that the whole experience has left him experiencing panic attacks and even considering ending his life. a warning, this report from our political investigations correspondentjoe pike contains references to suicide. we've got rishi at the top with that one. we've got theresa here and then we've got boris. william wragg is no longer a politician, but the scars of what happened in that career remain. i was having suicidal thoughts, essentially, because i felt so bad. he says it all started with loneliness, and a message he sent on the gay dating app grindr. he said he recognised me. isaid, "well, i hope that's not a problem. i realise that not everybody�*s

cup of tea is a conservative member of parliament." but he said "no, no, that's fine." and he seemed quite confident and cocky in a sense, all of which were quite attractive qualities. but the pictures were fake, and so was the name "charlie". you were a member of parliament, using grindr, sending naked pictures of yourself to somebody. was that wise? obviously it wasn't wise. but when you're... you know...in the moment it wasn't a consideration. they spoke on the phone, but when they planned a date, charlie never appeared. then he started asking william wragg to send him the phone numbers of colleagues. i think it's something like you've got a minute or two minutes or something to send me these numbers. do you think you were being blackmailed? i don't know, but i certainly felt an element of threat. he sent charlie a dozen phone numbers and also agreed to lie to colleagues, saying charlie had worked for him. you drew other people into all of this and potentially made them victims as well.

yeah, and that's why i felt guilt. and i think when i found out that that had happened, that's why i felt so, so sorry and, you know, shameful. william wragg, who already struggled with his mental health, stopped taking his antidepressants and started considering how to kill himself. his mum took him to hospital. six months on, he's looking for work and coming to terms with his mistakes. i'm much better than, you know, than i was at the time. you know, it'sjust about trying to see life ahead and looking at that wider horizon. this honey trap is still being investigated. police have arrested and bailed a former member of the labour party. but with authorities claiming catfishing — the use of fake dating profiles — is on the rise, politicians and voters are still very much at risk. joe pike, bbc news, greater manchester.

and if you've been affected by any of the issues raised injoe pike's report, you can get advice on the bbc website. more people than ever before are claiming help with their water bills. last year, 1.6 million households in england and wales had the amount they pay reduced by social tariffs. all water companies offer the tariffs, which cut customers' bills. 250,000 more families received the support last year than the year before — and analysis from radio 4's moneybox and bbc verify shows that the amount people get varies widely depending on where they live. dan whitworth reports. for morgan and ellie and their two small children, money got very tight when they were forced to find somewhere new to live last year. we got evicted from our old house — a section 21. so, obviously, for us to move,

we had to take loans out to afford a moving van and obviously finding a new place — like the place we're in now, that's about £1200 rent. so, obviously, that on top of all of the rest of the financial stress that i've endured was really, really tough. they ended up in several thousand pounds worth of debt, nearly £400 of which was to their water company. but after applying online, they were put on a social tariff by their water supplier, which saw their monthly bill cut from around £40 a month to £25. it's made a massive difference. like lexy said, like, people think that £15 a month is, like, no money at all but to us, it's like a tub of baby milk. it can go a long way. like, every penny counts. it's about £150 a year that we are saving, so it's really helped us because it can go towards, you know, the baby milk, clothes, food, even just putting some money on the gas and electric. the average bill reduction

for people on social tariffs offered by one water company is as high as £287 off an annual bill. at the other end of the table, it's less than half that — £110. eligibility for this help varies, too. depending on your supplier, it can include things like if you're on benefits, your overall income and if you have any savings. the consumer council for water says this wide variation in the help on offer is why it wants to see social tariffs standardised across england and wales — something ellie thinks would be a good idea, too. it doesn't matter where you live, everyone is struggling. doesn't matter what part of the country you're from, what water company you're with, everyone's pretty much in the same situation, so it should be the same, i think. water uk, which represents the industry, says the government sets guidance on social tariffs and water companies offer significantly higher reductions than other utility providers. dan whitworth, bbc news.

now, it's rare asjournalists that we write stories. casey manning has done just that. he has detailed her two year battle since she received a sexually explicit dangle from an unknown caller to getting him convicted. hat an unknown caller to getting him convicted.— an unknown caller to getting him convicted. not only did you have to experience _ him convicted. not only did you have to experience the - him convicted. not only did you have to experience the awful i have to experience the awful eventin have to experience the awful event in the first place but then this nightmare. just to start by saying _ then this nightmare. just to start by saying that - then this nightmare. just to start by saying that some . then this nightmare. just to | start by saying that some of this involves some sexually explicit details. it has been an absolute ordeal over the last two years dealing with the police on this and dealing with the court system. i have never written a story about myself, thatis written a story about myself, that is not the type of journalism i do. i broke that

rule because i thought it was really important to highlight although we have warm words from the police and the justice system about taking sexually motivated crimes against women seriously, actually, in practice, that isn't happening. in my case i wanted to show how difficult it was to getjustice and that the police were quite prepared to drop the case until i had to take control of it and appeal it and fight back. it all started in october 2022, more than two years ago. my phone went in the evening, my mobile phone. it was a withheld number. it was clear somebody was mask debating down the phone, a man. he knew my first name and was making sexually explicit comments. i immediately shut down the call. he kept calling back. i went into journalist mode

he kept calling back. i went intojournalist mode and into journalist mode and realised this man would need to be reported, i would need evidence. i have another phone for work and i grabbed it. i accepted the next call he made, put it on speaker phone, recorded for more than five minutes to get the evidence and then turned up the phone. he called back a few more times. i was worried, did he know who i was? he knew my first name, he was? he knew my first name, he was there? i didn't recognise the voice. it was all quite concerning. i called 999 and reported it to the police. i thought it would be pretty simple they would trace the withheld number, they would have the evidence of the call and they would go ahead and arrest and charge him. i was naive on that. it started with the met police who asked me to get the withheld number. my phone company were very clear thatis phone company were very clear that is not the job of the

victim and the map has a special way of doing that. when i message the other setback, they say, we are working on old information. it was then passed on and they said they did not think there would be enough evidence because it was a withheld number two work out who it was. there was almost like a shrug of the shoulders, it felt. in fairness it took them a couple of months but they did trace the number. it turned out this was a man in the lancashire area, pass the lancashire police. this is now january 2023. i assumed lancashire police would now know the name of the suspect, they would arrest and charge him. pretty simple, i thought. it did not turn out to be that way. lancashire police told me they did not have the necessity to arrest. they would knock on his door, they did get a couple

of times. they told neighbours they were looking for him and i was really concerned. they had given him the wherewithal to destroy the phone and get rid of the evidence. he knew they were looking for them. i was really concerned, i had done a lot of reporting unfortunately on violence against women, harassment against women. i reported on the case of sarah everard and wayne couzens, the police officer who had committed indecent exposures before he went on to murder sarah. they are seen as a red flag. i wanted this man stopped because i was worried he could go on to commit more serious offences. eventually after my pushing they did go and arrest this man. great, i thought that we now have some progress. surprise, surprise, he said he had lost the phone. he had not made the calls, he denied it. this went on for months. eventually, lancashire police

came back to me and said they werejust dropping the came back to me and said they were just dropping the case, there was not enough evidence and they couldn't charge him. as you can imagine, i was absolutely furious that they had connected this man to their number and they knew that it was his voice. i said i was not happy with their decision, i wanted to appeal it turns out there is at victim is right to review with the police when not just for prosecutors but the police as well. my case was reviewed and they agreed i would keep trying to get more information. so they did some more phone checks and surprise, surprise took another couple of months. it turned out that, yes, he had a different sim card which was destroyed my number was on it and he had

called me nine times was that they told me they were going to bring him in that rearrest him and interview him again. that didn't happen quickly. i started to text the others are saying, why haven't you rearrested him, why haven't you brought him back in? you said it was significant evidence. one senior officer said he felt the case had stalled and he will try to find out why. eventually they did bring him in, they did rearrest him. he denied it again and it took till december 2023, more than a year after he had called me, lancashire police finally judged him. a massive delay in the court case. it was supposed to be heard at lancaster magistrates�* court a couple of weeks ago. i went up to lancaster and it was listed for 9:30am. the case was heard at

5pm and he hadn�*t turned up. magistrates decided they would give him the benefit of the doubt, that may be because of the postal system he hadn�*t received their letter telling him there had been a change in the court date. and then ijust happen to call on monday to say, when is the case now being heard? i was told that it has been listed for this afternoon. i had no way of getting up to burnley magistrates�* court it was being heard in. i wanted to seejustice was being heard in. i wanted to see justice being was being heard in. i wanted to seejustice being done, i wanted to see the man making these calls. i wasn�*t able to be there. a colleague based in salford went and he heard the man from black than deny the charges, saying that someone else had probably used his phone —— blackburn. luckily, magistrates found him guilty.

finally, after more than two yes, i got a conviction. he will be sentenced in a couple of months. that will take more time. unbelievably, when i was researching the story this week to write it for the bbc website, i discovered an article from the lancashire telegraph, nearly a decade ago, that reported that this man had been found guilty nearly a decade ago of more than 15,000 obscene calls over a three—month period. so it was clear this man was a prolific offender and it even had a quote from their time from a lancashire police officer. so the whole experience just felt that it was a struggle for the police to take it seriously, a struggle to get the conviction. i don�*t feel that getting justice should be the victim�*s struggle. we put all of this to

the met, to lancashire, and the met admitted their investigation clearly fell short. lancashire police said initially it didn�*t meet the standards expected. since it has gone on the website this morning, i have had an