a shake—up of how we pay for energy — the regulator ofgem is set to instruct suppliers to offer deals without standing charges. nhs bosses warn hospitals in england are being hit by a tidal wave of flu and other winter viruses, distinction for the 88—year—old, who finally reached grade eight on the 88 keys of the piano, almost seven decades after his last exam. coming up on bbc news, we'll have reaction to yet another defeat for manchester city — their chances of automatically making the champions league knockout�*s now increasingly unlikely following the loss atjuventus. good afternoon and welcome

to the bbc news at one. the prime minister has said questions need to be answered over the murder of ten—year—old sara sharif, as ministers say they're preparing stronger safeguards for children being taught at home. sara's father and stepmother were found guilty of her murder yesterday. our reporterjessica lane has more. she sings happily sara sharif love to sing. a little girl whose favourite colour was pink. her favourite food was chicken biryani. yesterday, her father and stepmother were found guilty of her murder and her uncle, who lived with the family, guilty of causing or allowing it to happen. sara was murdered last august after years of neglect and abuse. and today the accusation that she was failed... the safety net that should have supported her, the services working together for her, have failed her.

and there needs to be... every time this happens we talk about reviews and move on, look to the future. no. we need change. the children's commissioner says those things which must be changed immediately are... a register of children who are being home educated. better sharing of data about children between different agencies. and changes to laws about the physical punishment of children. and the stark fact is that sara is not the only child suffering from safeguarding failures. a report from an independent panel shows that five were affected in one year between april 2023, and march, 202a. to try and bring this number down, new child protection teams are being set up. you would have one single team or point where child protection concerns would be investigated and addressed. it will represent and reflect a sea

change in how we deliver together our very clear responsibilities to protect children. it is all too late to help sara, who was found abandoned and alone on a bunk bed with bruises, burns and bite marks. but the government says it will do more to help other children. obviously there are going to be questions that need to be answered in relation to this case. i don't think that we should allow ourselves to think that whatever the rules on smacking are has got anything to do with this case. this is about violence, abuse, it is about making sure there are protection safeguards for children, particularly those being home—schooled. it is hoped that at last real changes will be made to protect other children like sara from being beaten, abused and murdered by the people who should love and care for them most. jessica lane, bbc news. let's get the latest now from our home affairs correspondent, daniel sandford. daniel, this has been a case that has shocked so many people,

with many asking, how could this have happened again? yes, a very good question, we have been given access by the high court to a lot of the family court papers to a lot of the family court papers to do with this case, we have been poring over those for several months, and what comes out is this shocking timeline of a girl who social services knew about, even before she was born, who after a couple of years and concerns had eased, she came back into their view when she was six years old and they carried out a report and decided the right person for her to live with was her father, right person for her to live with was herfather, the man who ultimately killed her, and comes back into view again five months before she died when school noticed bruising on herface yet before she died when school noticed bruising on her face yet social services say, at this stage, we are not going to do any more, the school can monitor her. the big question now requiring immediate action is

this issue around home—schooling because what happened after the school was asked to monitor sara sharif, herfather decided school was asked to monitor sara sharif, her father decided to take her out of school and home—school her. the worst injuries, the injuries that ultimately led to her death, happened in the last few months of her life and it meant they were happening without the monitoring the social services had asked the school to do and without any other monitoring, nobody else was trying to monitor that. it meant she was beaten to death out of sight. i should give one caveat about the home—schooling solution to the awful things that happened to sara sharif and that is the pillow that ultimately killed her were not delivered in the school holidays, she died in the school term, the school holidays, so even if the school holidays, so even if the school had been monitoring her, the blows that actually killed her would have happened in the school holidays. have happened in the school holida s. . ~ have happened in the school holida s. ., ~ the energy regulator ofgem is planning to scrap standing

charges for some customers. a report into the daily fixed fee heard from thousands of members of the public and raised concerns that some households are hit disproportionately. standing charges cover the cost of connecting homes to gas and electricity networks and are the same regardless of energy use. the exact amount varies depending where you live, but a typical household pays around 61p a day for electricity and 31p for gas, adding an average of £300 to an annual bill. those who use smaller amounts of energy could benefit from a tariff which excludes the charge. but vulnerable customers who use a lot of energy could lose out. our cost of living correspondent, colletta smith, explains. a year ago, the energy regulator asked to hear people's views about standing charges, and you didn't hold back. it was their biggest response to any consultation ever. and people of all ages at this community group have plenty

to say on the matter. i think that standing charge is ridiculous. the gas companies, electric companies are making too much profit anyway. you know, the most vulnerable people, it's harderforthem, especially when they don't use much in summer. so, you know, i mean, they're not getting anything for it. we can notice a massive dropjust from it being...just from us - going to bed and then getting up six i hours later and literally nothing's i been on and somehow you've spent 60—70pjust by going to bed. - at the moment, most people pay a unit price for each bit of gas and electricity they use, and then they pay a standing charge — a fixed price every day, just for being connected to the network. now, ofgem wants every energy supplier to offer an option with a rolled—in price. the regulator says that for some

people with very high energy use, perhaps because of a disability, getting rid of the standing charge totally would mean they would have to pay even more expensive bills. now, most people i think won't know which category they fall into, so we will need to work with the suppliers to work out how do we get the right information to people so they can make active and positive decisions about what the right option is for them? and making sure that in doing so, we protect those most vulnerable customers. households here in bradford and across the northern area are paying the highest standing charge in the country — 72p a day, compared to a2p a day in london — more than £100 extra a year. well, seeing as we're on lower wages up north, it's... yeah, it's a bit of a kick in the gut. but 0fgem aren't changing that now. they've decided to start another review into those regional differences and what costs should even be included in the standing

charge, so there'll be no decision on that for a good while yet. colletta smith, bbc news, in bradford. the nhs is warning of a tidal wave of flu hitting hospitals, with the number of beds being occupied by flu patients increasing by 70% in a week. latest figures show that, on average, more than 1,800 people were in hospital with flu each day last week. this was up from the previous week's 1,099 flu patients per day. the figures also showed that 28% of patients waited more than four hours to be treated in a&e last month. 0ur health editor hugh pym joins me now. it's a familiar story — nhs pressures at this time of year. how worrying is the current picture? well, the nhs always has to deal with flu every winter but you have good years where cases are not too high and bad years when they are really rising quite fast and the

worry in hospitals and across the nhs is the flue wave appears to have started much earlier than normal in november. the question is, will it be an early wave that subsides? will it continue rising causing a lot of pressure through the new year and into january when the nhs is traditionally under most pressure? two years ago we had what looks like something similar to what is happening now with the peakjust before new year and i remember it put incredible pressure on hospitals and ambulances were queueing up outside. that is the worry. health chiefs are saying there was still time to go and get a flu jab if you are eligible. they are saying it is very important. and covid jab as well. that is the message. if you think about normal pressure, 95% of beds occupied, it does not take much with respiratory conditions like flu and rsv to add to the pressure on

hospitals and one hospital we have been at this week was saying that emergency admissions to hospital beds coming through a&e up 22% year on year. i think thatjust illustrates the type of pressure. for patients, slightly better news when it comes to planned treatment, routine operations and appointments, the number is down a bit 7.54 million. down a bit but still a long way to go in the context of the government's pledge to bring waiting lists right back with 92% being seen or having an operation done within 18 weeks. . ~ or having an operation done within 18 weeks. ., ~ , ., two people have been arrested after an eight—month—old baby was seriously injured by a dog. police were called to a house near folkestone yesterday afternoon.

the baby was flown to a hospital in london where she is in a serious condition. the backlog of court cases involving people denied asylum has more than doubled in the last year. according to new figures from the ministry ofjustice, around 34,000 cases are waiting for appeal decisions — an increase of 24,000 compared to a year ago. a quarter of drivers found breaking the 20mph speed limit in wales have been caught on just two roads. in the past ten months, more than 15,000 drivers were caught speeding on the a4102 in merthyr tydfil and the a5104 at pontybodkin. a rioter who tried to set fire to a hotel housing asylum seekers in rotherham, following the southport stabbings, has been jailed for nine years. we're joined now by our reporter phil bodmer. phil, what more can you tell us about his case? sheffield crown court heard that

levi fishlock travelled from his home in barnsley to a hotel housing asylum seekers in rotherham on the sunday 4th of august this year, the 31—year—old was given a nine year custodial turn today and an extended sentence of 14 years for arson with intent to endanger life. and three years and four months for violent disorder. both of the sentences to run concurrently. he was seen smashing windows and pushing a flaming bend towards a hotel door. the court was told 64 police officers were injured on that day, some seriously, along with three police forces and a police dog which needed veterinary care. sentencing levi fishlock, the recorder said, this was one of the first cases come before the court, telling levi fishlock, you are involved in almost every arena of racist criminal conduct that day, playing your part

to the full. he said the venom of racism racially motivated violence. levi fishlock, grey tracksuit, showing no emotion in court, but members of his family in the public gallery were seen to wipe away tears as he was taken down.— the new islamist authorities in syria say they plan to close the infamous prisons run by the ousted president, bashar al—assad. they've also vowed to bring stability to the country. 0ur middle east correspondent hugo bachega joins us now from the syrian city of aleppo. hugo, what do we know about these prisons? yeah, these are places known for being brutal, violent, people were tortured and killed injails being brutal, violent, people were tortured and killed in jails across the country. this is obviously a message that is going to resonate with people all across syria, tens of thousands of detainees believed to be in jails

of thousands of detainees believed to be injails across of thousands of detainees believed to be in jails across the country. this is another effort by the new authorities to dismantle the system that was in place under bashar al—assad. i am that was in place under bashar al—assad. iam in that was in place under bashar al—assad. i am in aleppo, that was in place under bashar al—assad. iam in aleppo, the that was in place under bashar al—assad. i am in aleppo, the first major city captured by the rebels in the astonishing offensive earlier this month, and here too there is an effort by the authorities to say they are very much in control. you can see there is a new rebel flag being set up in the building over that, on this site, a huge billboard with a face of bashar al—assad, it has been destroyed, removed. syrian flags have also been removed from the square. a new era for syria and also concerns remain about what the new authorities are planning to do as they are now in power. hugo bachega, in aleppo, thank you. the time is 16 minutes past one. our top story this afternoon... the prime minister has described the brutal murder of sara sharif

as "just the most awful case," as questions are raised around the protection of children who are home schooled. and still to come... a warning to shoppers — as it emerges some online christmas coming up on sportsday on bbc news, we'll look ahead to a busy night of european football with chelsea in kazakhstan, manchester united in the czech republic, whilst ange postecoglou returns to glasgow as spurs take on rangers in the europa league. northern ireland's former chief fire officer gary thompson has been jailed for eight months after admitting two counts of indecent assault. let's speak now to our ireland correspondent sara girvin, who has been following the case, and joins us now from belfast crown court. sara — what did the court hear? gary thompson was northern ireland's chief fire officer from 2016 until

he was suspended in 2018, after his victim reported him to police. he then retired in 2020. today at belfast crown court the judge paid tribute to the victim, michaela holmes, she said she had shown courage through the legal process and had been subjected to experiences that colour to your entire life. we heard in court that gary thompson does now accept that he had ruined his victim whilst the offending was taking place, back in 26 -- 2006. offending was taking place, back in 26 —— 2006. michaela holmes the victim has been taking about the decision to waive her right to anonymity as a victim of a sexual assault, she said to encourage other victims of sexual assaults to speak up victims of sexual assaults to speak up and to start a conversation about predators, and what they can look like. , . .

predators, and what they can look like. , .., , predators, and what they can look like. , , , ~ like. they can be people we like. the can like. they can be people we like. they can be _ like. they can be people we like. they can be people _ like. they can be people we like. they can be people you - like. they can be people we like. they can be people you respect, | they can be people you respect, people _ they can be people you respect, people that we least expect. people like gary thompson, the former chief fire officer for northern ireland, who was todayjailed for eight months for indecent assault. mrthompson, have you anything to say to your victim? do you have any remorse for what you did? she says you're a predator and that you preyed on a vulnerable teenage girl. what do you say? thompson met michaela when he was her church youth leader. when he assaulted her, she was 15 and he was 38. afterwards, he told her they needed to "repent for their joint sin". you know, a little bit of maybe text to say like, you know, sin is sin no matter how big it is or who's done it. and, you know, we both need to repent for what we did. gary thompson was suspended from the northern ireland fire and rescue service in 2018, after michaela

reported him to police. why did you decide to report what had happened? just because i wasn't forced does not mean i gave consent. it still was abuse, and i realised because of the position gary thompson was in, both in the fire service at the time, but also in church, he was in prime position to just keep doing this again. the sexual contact would take place in thompson's car but one night he approached michaela at church. there was an office to the side, and he would have gone into that office so that he could send me inappropriate messages. um, regarding the fact that i was wearing my school uniform and that he found that really attractive, and then he would have come out and preached a sermon. churches can be a sanctuary for a lot of people, but it also becomes a sanctuary for predators. michaela's case has been plagued by legal delays.

today's sentencing has been six years in the making. but despite what she describes as a very long and difficult journey, michaela has this message for other victims. if this is happening to you, it is abuse. if someone so much older is taking advantage of you and you have to keep that secret, if you're not able to tell anyone, something's not right. and i would definitely say if coming forward is something that you want to do, please do it. the government is launching a review of the courts system, which could lead to a reduction in the number of cases in england and wales dealt with byjury trials. let's get more on this from our home and legal correspondent dominic casciani. dominic, what's led to this review? this could be a once in a generation if not more seismic change to how the courts operate, criminal courts in england and wales, and it is

being driven by a chronic situation and unprecedented crisis. we have currently got, looking at the figures as of this september, around 73,000 cases now waiting for trial in england and wales before the crown courts, serious cases, everything up to murder and rape cases. putting that in context, it is double the 143