our next penal estonia be our next penal colony? well, with just 83 cell spaces left in england and wales, is the government really now looking for answers straight out of the 19th century? we ask that question. and convicted baby killer lucy letby hires a new lawyer to lead her defence. as growing questions are asked about the evidence presented to the jury during her trial. a misguided media storm or miscarriage of . miscarriage of. justice. and here's one for you throughout the show. today, we're going to be asking a question on parenting. gordon ramsay gave an unusual gift to his twin 18 year olds for their 18th birthday. places in the london marathon. yes. while most 18 year olds might get an ipad, maybe a new phone, the lucky

ones might even get a car. know gordon ramsay's children got places in a marathon? is that sort of tough parenting? what's needed more of in this country , needed more of in this country, or is it frankly cruel? i want your thoughts. gbnews.com/yoursay is the way to get involved. we'll be having that conversation throughout the programme as well as, of course, our lead stories. your thoughts are also very welcome on the issue of deporting criminals to estonia , of all places on the estonia, of all places on the rwanda scheme, the germans are perhaps looking at that one more time. and of course, all of the other stories we cover today. those are after your headlines with sam francis . with sam francis. >> tom, thank you very much. and good afternoon to you. it's just after 12:00. the top story from the newsroom this lunchtime, a people smuggler who left a group of migrants screaming for help, concealed in a refrigerated van, has today been jailed for ten

years. anas al mustafa has been sentenced for smuggling seven people from france to the uk, hiding them in a cramped fake vehicle compartment. crew members on a ferry carrying that vehicle had to use an axe to free the migrants. after hearing their pleas for help. one of the victims, who suffered a stroke, has since developed a long term memory issue as a result of the conditions that they were placed in. the home secretary is leading a summit to address the escalating crisis of people smuggling across the english channel. that meeting comes in response to a tragic incident this week, where 12 lives were lost when a boat capsized in the deadliest crossing so far this yeah deadliest crossing so far this year. the yvette cooper will be joined by key cabinet ministers, intelligence officials and law enforcement agencies to target criminal smuggling networks. enforcement agencies to target criminal smuggling networks . she criminal smuggling networks. she says there's a moral imperative to act and wants to see tighter collaboration with european partners. well, with over 21,000 arrivals so far this year, the summit will also focus on

enhancing the new border security command . meanwhile, security command. meanwhile, germany is considering using british funded facilities in rwanda to deport migrants entering the european union. it comes as berlin is facing mounting pressure to kerb illegal migration following last month's isis linked stabbing at a festival. german officials think the eu should repurpose the asylum facilities that britain set up, which were recently scrapped by sir keir starmer. our political correspondent olivia utley has more. >> there will be those who argue and in fact conservative mps are already arguing that if the rwanda policy is good enough for germany, if germany believes it will act as a sufficient deterrent to stop illegal immigrants coming over to germany, then why did keir starmer choose to throw out that policy on his first day in office and replace it with this rather nebulous plan to smash . rather nebulous plan to smash. the gangs? >> mps and campaigners in lincolnshire are celebrating the decision to scrap plans to house

migrants at raf scampton. the government claims it fails to represent value for taxpayers money. the former lincolnshire airbase was estimated to have cost £200 million by 2027, 60 million of which has already been spent. the government will now close and sell that site, focusing instead on what is calling faster asylum processing. our east midlands reporter, will hollis, is outside the raf base. >> the labour government says despite £60 million being spent on the former raf air base, it is not value for money for the taxpayer. and between now and 2027, the £121 million that would have been spent can be better spent elsewhere. >> we've heard today the uk prison population has now hit a record high with 88,521 inmates. that's as of this morning, up 171 on the past week's peak. the surge, driven by recent nationwide disorder, has seen the prison population rise by over 1000 in just the past

month. in response, the government is considering renting jail cells in estonia to ease overcrowding. meanwhile, a temporary early release scheme here in the uk is set to begin on the 10th of september. scotland is setting new boundanes scotland is setting new boundaries to give women unobstructed access to abortion services from the 24th of september. the abortion services act will make it a criminal offence to interfere or harass anyone accessing or providing abortion services. that law aims to safeguard women and staff from intimidation or distress within 200m of designated hospitals, and clinics. the uk is sending 650 missiles to ukraine in a £160 million boost to its defence against russia. john healey, making his first appearance as defence secretary overseas, will make that announcement at a summit in germany today. the missiles are part of a larger £3 billion aid package and will be delivered by the end of this year. in the us,

officials have arrested the father of a 14 year old boy accused of a deadly school shooting. in that rare legal move, colin grey faces multiple charges, including involuntary manslaughter, for allegedly allowing his to son access the weapon that was used in that attack. it sadly killed four and wounded nine others. investigators in georgia have revealed. both the 54 year old and his son had previously been questioned over online threats about carrying out a school shooting. the teenager called grey, used a semi—automatic rifle in the incident and will be tried as an adult. rifle in the incident and will be tried as an adult . and be tried as an adult. and finally, this lunchtime, areas from london to the west of england are for in a wet end to the week. the environment agency is warning potential flooding and travel disruptions in store , and travel disruptions in store, especially in low lying areas. roads near the thames in west london could even flood at high tide this evening, while devon and the south—west and west sussex all remain under alert. meanwhile though, scotland will see the best weather today where

temperatures could reach up to 27 c. those are the latest gb news headlines for now. your next update from me in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts . forward slash alerts. >> good afternoon britain. it is seven minutes past midday now. the home secretary , yvette the home secretary, yvette coopen the home secretary, yvette cooper, is chairing a landmark meeting with ministers and law enforcement officials today as she sets out labour's plans to smash criminal smuggling gangs. it all comes after the tragic incident in the english channel. this week, with 12 people losing their lives, while while attempting that most perilous crossing. well, our political correspondent olivia utley joins

me from outside the national crime agency, where the meeting is taking place. olivia, what's being said ? being said? >> well, in terms of concrete policy proposals or conversations, they don't really seem to be any. it's all a question of yvette cooper sort of putting the wind in the sails of putting the wind in the sails of britain's plan to smash the gangs. that's the three word slogan, which keir starmer seems to be focusing on. she's managed to be focusing on. she's managed to gather an impressive sort of cast of characters for this meeting today. you've got various ministers, the foreign secretary, the justice secretary, the justice secretary, you've got members of the national crime agency, of the national crime agency, of the of the crown prosecution service, and you've got members of the police as well. and they're going to have a conversation. the question is, is a conversation good enough? as you mentioned there this week, this issue has come really under the spotlight after the grisly news that 12 migrants were found dead in the channel and the position is complicated

by the fact that germany is now considering using some of the facilities that british taxpayers paid for in rwanda in order to house temporarily migrants who've come over to germany illegally. now, it's not as straightforward as the german government simply sort of hijacking the rwanda policy. the rwanda policy was a question of deporting migrants forever over to rwanda , whereas the german to rwanda, whereas the german equivalent would be processing their claims in rwanda and then allowing those whose claims have been assessed as valid to come back to germany. but it isn't a great look for keir starmer. there will doubtless be questions, and in fact there already are questions from conservative mps about whether, if that rwanda scheme is good enough for germany, if they think it will act as a strong deterrent to stop migrants coming over to germany illegally, then why did keir starmer throw out that rwanda plan? and what exactly has he replaced it with? all of these conversations? talk about a new

border security force that yvette cooper is going to introduce, with lots and lots of new civil servants. but as yet, we don't really yet see that kind of strong deterrent idea . kind of strong deterrent idea. you could argue that the deterrent policy in the rwanda proposal didn't really work over two the years between when it was first mooted and when the general election was called, not a single migrant was deported to rwanda, but there was some sort of ideology there. how long can keir starmer and yvette cooper go without replacing it? >> it is extraordinary to hear the government again and again complain about the cost of the rwanda scheme, the many millions that were spent on it, building those facilities in rwanda only for potentially the germans to then use those facilities that we, the british taxpayers, have paid for. that doesn't sound like it's particularly penny pinching or or sound financial governance . governance. >> well, exactly. the british government has already paid £318

million to the rwandan government and that money can't be recouped. it's not quite clear whether the german government will simply be able to sort of adopt wholesale those facilities. and in fact, the rwandan authorities have said that quite a lot of that accommodation has already been let out or given to locals in rwanda. but as you say, i mean, the labour government might might argue that it's a sunk cost and that the wider policy would continue to cost a lot. moving forwards , there was a moving forwards, there was a huge price tag attached to every single migrant who went over to rwanda. but as you say, a lot of the infrastructure was already there and the scheme was ready to go. apart from the rather, the big caveat that human rights lawyers were making it absolutely impossible to actually deport any migrants over there. so keir starmer will probably have to explain a little bit more how he's going to try and perhaps recoup some of that money, or at least make some way for those facilities, perhaps to help the british

taxpayer in some way. >> well, olivia utley, thank you so much forjoining us there . so much for joining us there. live from the national crime agency . joining me now to agency. joining me now to discuss this further is the former migration minister, kevin foster. kevin, this is yet another meeting about a problem that, frankly, has been going on for years. >> yeah, i can't see today's summit producing anything particularly surprising. i suspect actually, all the outcomes have already been agreed beforehand, which is usually the way in government when you have a meeting like this, you agree the outcomes before. then you get together to just basically sign them off, and a few people watching will think a summit, just what we needed. and a lot of this is labour's been talking about smashing the gangs. well, that was never going to be a whole hearted solution to this. yes, we need to tackle the gangs, but what did they think the police were doing? there are people who'd been prosecuted and there was already work ongoing. but i think what's really interesting is this germany looking at rwanda, because it's the whole of europe looking at solutions to some of these issues, not

just us. >> getting back to this issue of this summit today, when you were in the home office, i'm sure there were these directions to smash the gangs. is it it seems a little incongruous that the home secretary might well be sitting there saying, right, well, what you all need to do now is start smashing these gangs. i suppose everyone sitting around the table will say, but but i'm sorry, home secretary. that's what we've been trying to do. >> yeah, i think the nca will be, you know, somewhat surprised if there's any suggestion they haven't been working on this issue for some time along with other police forces and border force. and, you know, when we heard about the new border security command, i think some people said, well, that sounds very much like a small boats operational command. in fact, when you put suella braverman's statement announcing the small boats operational command against yvette cooper's announcing her border command, they're almost identical. it just sums things up. so this idea that, yes , of course we idea that, yes, of course we need criminal prosecution, but it's only part of the solution. it's not going to provide, you know, some sort of magic bullet outcome to an incident where, as we touch on, people are losing

their lives. >> and of course, the government that you were a member of wanted this two pronged approach where you crack down on the gangs on the one hand, and on the other you have a deterrent as well. it seems now that that deterrent has been thrown away with nothing to replace it. and we sort of have a11 pronged strategy now in the united kingdom. but as you touched upon, there are other countries in europe, i think 15 or 16 of them, that are now looking at offshore processing . offshore processing. >> yeah, there's a number. been looking at it and we looked at, for example, some of the other models and some of the things we were looking to introduce, such as for example, accommodation centres, which would help speed up claims as well as provide accommodation. we looked at greece for that and what they'd done to deal with the crisis they had a few years ago. italy, of course, is looking we've seen what they've done with albania. we understand they may also look further afield as well. and now, of course, we've had the news around germany. so every country in europe is wrestling this idea of what do you do with people who you have declined or have travelled from another safe and democratic country, who the

country they've travelled from won't accept that you can't realistically return them to their home country either through the situation there or their home. government just refuses to accept returns. what do you do with them ? and that's do you do with them? and that's where third country options come in, like rwanda. >> now there'll be a lot of people listening to this conversation thinking , kevin, conversation thinking, kevin, you were migration minister for two years, during which time the numbers coming across on boats went up. not down. who on earth are you to say to this government that they've got it all wrong? when the record of the last government wasn't exactly rosy on this issue? >> well, it's got to be said, tom. i covered the legal area of migration rather than the small boats issue, which were other ministers. but i understand why people say, well, hang on, you know, wouldn't we like to have seen more under the previous government? yes, of course, there's things i would have liked to have done faster and quicker, particularly getting rwanda going. but i think what we'd say is it shows this is not a simple issue. and the idea that just a slogan of smash, the gangs and today's summit of like telling law enforcement, you need to enforce the law, well,

great, but that's not going to provide a solution to what is a complex issue. and it's no surprise to now see countries in europe looking at some of the solutions that we came up with in the way that we looked at greece to see what they'd done, to deal with a terrible situation about 5 or 6 years ago. >> it does seem extraordinary that there have now been 8000 migrants who have crossed the engush migrants who have crossed the english channel since the labour party got into office. i mean, we're heading on for a larger year of crossings now than there was last year. this is a problem thatis was last year. this is a problem that is getting worse, not better. what can the government do if these talking shops that we're talking about today, these these summits and meetings with all these different agencies aren't actually going to produce much that's concrete. what should the government be doing instead? >> well, what they need to do is to answer this key point. what do you do with those that you cannot return to france, a safe and democratic country? they've just left . and where you cannot just left. and where you cannot deal with their home country, government or where their home country government simply refuses to accept enforced

returns. and that's where you're going to need to find a solution , going to need to find a solution, because if not, then those paying because if not, then those paying a people trafficking gang to come over? no, the core fact is that even if they get turned down, what if there's nowhere you can send them? they're going to end up staying here at some point and you've got to bust that. because if you don't deal with that, you don't deal with the fundamental business model that gangs are operating on. then you're not going to deal with this issue. and that's what they really need to start getting their heads around. >> does that mean they need to start looking at some of the international obligations that this country signed up to, or are there ways to sort of still live up to those international obugafions live up to those international obligations while still being able to say, if you come to this country illegally, you cannot stay a lot of people, a lot of lawyers, quite frankly, would say those two positions can't go together. >> well, it's interesting, of course, we just discussed germany looking at rwanda, of course, germany, for very obvious historical reasons, as very entrenched protections around human around human rights in its in its law. so it's not about a choice. and whilst it would be very welcome to update many of the international positions, the refugee

convention is clearly hideously out of date now from the 1950s, an era of steamship not jet plane travel. but you can deliver this and we could stay in the shire and deliver a rwanda. let's remember, rwanda is a place the unhcr relocated refugees to. you know, this isn't a novel concept internationally. to take someone who says that in theory, they're only here to find somewhere safe. having travelled through safe. having travelled through safe countries, say, well, that's okay. we've actually found somewhere that's perfectly safe for you. a country that specialises in refugee resettlement. and that was rwanda. >> well, kevin foster, thank you so much for talking through all of that with us. really appreciate your perspective on this issue. now, in a moment, we're going to be hearing from the home secretary herself very shortly. so stick around for

good afternoon britain. it's 22 minutes past midday now before

we move on with this topic, we're going to be talking to the security minister, dan jarvis, in just a moment. but we've got time to squeeze in some of your views first. gbnews.com/yoursay is the way to get in touch. christine. hi. christine has said hi, tom. nice to see you back. good to be back. the reasons starmer and cooper squashed the rwanda scheme is because it was a conservative idea. so says christine, i think there's probably quite a bit of partisan truth to that. although the labour party can rightly say it never really got off the ground, evans says. please can someone explain to me how germany can look at the rwanda scheme when we're constantly told it's in breach of echr laws? well, evan , i think one of laws? well, evan, i think one of the big reasons here is that germany doesn't want to use rwanda to permanently place migrants there. the exploration that the german officials have been saying this week is about just using it for offshore

processing, rather than everyone going there to stay for all time. perhaps that's something that britain could have looked at that would have got around some of those echr problems. but bruce has written in to say summit in the labour handbook really means a jolly well , really means a jolly well, bruce, i have to say, right opposite the national crime agency headquarters is a really marvellous pub called the black dog. it's actually in one of taylor swift's new songs, so perhaps that's where yvette cooper et al are going afterwards. but i'm delighted to say that. joining me now from westminster is the minister of state for security, dan jarvis. dan, thank you so much for making the time for us. this afternoon is yet another summit really what's needed here? >> well good afternoon tom. >> well good afternoon tom. >> this is an important drawing together of senior ministers chaired by the home secretary. but with the foreign secretary, the attorney general and with operational partners, the intelligence services, the national crime agency, border force and representatives from the ministry of justice to look

very carefully at the work that we are doing to tackle the vile criminal networks that are smuggling, trafficking people across the channel on a regular basis. this is a big priority for the government . we've for the government. we've inherited a situation, frankly, of chaos where there wasn't the focus, there wasn't the resource, there wasn't the arrangements in place to tackle the problems upstream. we've got organised to do that. and today's gathering is about ensuring, ahead of the appointment of a border security commander that we are best organised and we've got the resources in the right place to tackle this very difficult but very important problem. >> the home secretary, when she got into office, said that she would appoint such a commander immediately. it's been almost two and a half months since that immediate promise was made. and still we're waiting in the meantime, 8000 people, 8000 people have crossed the english channel just since this government got into office. it

takes the total of this year to 22,000. and just this week, 12 deaths as well . why hasn't this deaths as well. why hasn't this appointment happened already ? appointment happened already? >> well , firstly, on your point >> well, firstly, on your point about the deaths , every death is about the deaths, every death is an absolute tragedy and that's why we're working at pace to prevent people from having to make this most perilous of journeys. that's why we're in the process of appointing a border security commander. and you will see an announcement about that in the near future. it's an important role because what it will do is co—ordinate all of the activity to tackle these vile criminal networks upstream. it's incredibly important that we draw together all of the resources of government. but critically, we need to work cooperatively with our neighbours, both in europe but also internationally as well. we are not going to solve this problem from the uk. what we need to do is have very good

working relationships with colleagues in europe, particularly with france, but with other countries as well, but also internationally. look at the work that the national crime agency have just done recently with bulgaria , 40 small recently with bulgaria, 40 small boat engines have been seized. that means that there are 40 small boats that will no longer be making the crossing. that's around about 2400 people not making the crossing who otherwise would have done. look at the work that we've been doing in libya, working with the libyan police force , less libyan police force, less seaworthy vessels and more people. >> the same number of people are in calais, the same number of people want to come across. but if they have fewer boats on which they can come across, perhaps less seaworthy boats on which they can come across. i mean, if you're just attacking the boats, the people are still there. the people still want to come. you've got no deterrent for the people. doesn't that mean more deaths ? mean more deaths? >> the focus needs to be and is on the vile criminal networks that seek to traffic people from

right around the world. that's why we've been working in libya. that's why we are working in a range of different companies, countries around the world to ensure that people look at the uk and think and see that we are a hard target, a difficult place to get into. and that's why the home secretary has convened this gathering today to focus those activities and make sure that we are best organised to work collaboratively amongst ourselves, but also critically internationally as well. we've seen actually, in terms of the numbers and you rightly challenged me on the numbers, but the numbers for the months of july and august are 22% down on the comparative figures for the months of july and august of last year. this is a difficult problem, but your viewers should understand the importance that we attach to it, and the fact that we are more effectively using the resource that the previous government wanted to squander on the rwanda scheme, which was an expensive gimmick. it was never going to work. now the germans have taken the money

that was going to be used for that, and we are reinvesting it in our national crime agency and in our national crime agency and in ways that we can ensure that we can more effectively target the vile criminal networks that are putting people in boats. we are putting people in boats. we are limited on time. >> so i do want to move on to another issue here in the very near future, who will make a big contribution to that process. and that other issue is, of course, the consequence of 8000 illegal migrants coming across. since your government came into office, because these migrants have to go somewhere while the processing takes place . you've processing takes place. you've closed down the bibby stockholm barge , you're announcing you're barge, you're announcing you're closing down raf scampton. you want to close down the hotels as well. if migrants can't go on barges, they can't go in disused raf bases and they can't go in hotels . where are these people hotels. where are these people going to go ? going to go? >> well, none of the things that you've just mentioned represented good value for taxpayers money. we've inherited

a situation where we've got a cohort of 100,000 people who haven't properly been processed by the previous government. they didn't focus on processing the asylum returns , and instead all asylum returns, and instead all of the eggs went into the rwanda basket, which was ultimately a kind of a failed process. so what we've done is reinvest that resource more effectively. so we're in the process of getting a thousand more caseworkers so that we can much more effectively process those who've made claims for asylum. where those claims are successful will be providing accommodation for those people in the normal way, but where they are not successful, those people will be returned. minister completely unsustainable. >> pretty quickly there you'll be providing accommodation for those people in the normal way. you're going to be putting them in council houses. >> no. the point i was making is that we've inherited a situation where the previous government effectively stopped the processing of those who've made asylum claims, and that meant we had this perma backlog of

100,000 people, some of whom were accommodated in hotels, at huge expense to the taxpayer . huge expense to the taxpayer. thatis huge expense to the taxpayer. that is not the way to process people's asylum claims. >> so we've we've established you're not going to be putting people in hotels, more caseworkers or raf bases or barges. you say they're going to be accommodated in the normal way, those that are approved. and we assume that the vast majority of these people are going to be approved. that's all of the indication from your government to this to this point. no, no, no , that's that's point. no, no, no, that's that's that's not what i said, tom. >> the point that i made was that where people had been processed through the system and that wasn't happening before , that wasn't happening before, they will either be returned or if their asylum claim is successful, then they will be processed in the normal way. the problem that we've . well not problem that we've. well not necessarily. well, let's see where we get to. >> we have 90% approval rates is that we've inherited a backlog of 100,000 people. >> the previous government didn't invest the resource in the right place in order to

process the claims. we've we've we've refocused that resource on a scheme that wasn't going to work in order to get a thousand more caseworkers. so we can actually do the work of processing these claims. that's absolutely the right way to proceed. and that is what the home secretary will be discussing with cabinet colleagues today. >> minister, we are very short on time, so i'm going to try one more time for those that are approved, for those who have come across illegally and claimed asylum, and that will be approved as the majority will be, according to all analysis . be, according to all analysis. where will they go? will it be in limited council housing 7 ce. space? >> well, i don't accept the premise of your question on the assumption that the majority will be approved. there is a process in place. we need to begin that process of looking carefully at the asylum claims where they are unsuccessful. then people will be returned. and that's why we've been working very hard to get returns agreements in place. but britain has a system which currently is

not working. that's what we've inherited. there was the miranda scheme, an expensive gimmick. >> i'll give you, minister. >> i'll give you, minister. >> i'll give you, minister. >> i'll give you some ground on this one. >> let's say marshalling that effort across. let's say one asylum seeker is approved. >> where does that individual go? i'm not even going to claim it's going to be 100,000. i'm not going to claim, as most experts do, it will be 90,000 or above, let's say one. where would that individual go? would it be in a council house? >> well, arrangements will have to be made to accommodate people who successfully are processed through the asylum arrangements. but the bigger point is that there was no processing arrangements. 100,000 people were stuck in this perma backlog because the previous government didn't put the resource in the right place. we've shifted that resource from a scheme which was never going to work, so that we can actually do the work of processing people's applications. but the most important point for your viewers to understand , tom, is that we

to understand, tom, is that we need to put mechanisms in place where people can't get illegally into the country in the first place, and we need to tackle the problem upstream. that's why the home secretary is meeting with operational partners with the national crime agency to look at that work, to see how we can do more internationally, to target the criminal networks and stop people getting to the northern french coast in the first place. the previous government failed to do that. it's a priority for us, and we're getting on with making sure that we can make it work. >> okay, dan jarvis, security minister, thank you so much for joining us this afternoon on good afternoon britain. appreciate your time and i'm sure many people will be making their own minds up about where on earth these approved migrants are actually going to end up, if not disused, raf bases. this is good afternoon britain on gb news. lots more coming up . news. lots more coming up. convicted convicted baby killer lucy letby hires a new lawyer. i'm asking today is this all a misguided media storm or a miscarriage of justice? that's to come after your latest headunes to come after your latest headlines with sam francis .

headlines with sam francis. >> tom, thank you very much . and >> tom, thank you very much. and good afternoon to you. just after 12:30. and we'll start this update with some breaking news from spain, where police say they have found the body of a young man in a mountainous area of majorca, believed to be that of a missing british hiker. we understand that his partner , we understand that his partner, a 27 year old, 26 year old british woman, was also found dead earlier this week. that's after a storm hit the island. authorities have been searching the tramuntana mountains since wednesday, where flash floods caught ten hikers off guard. two of them were swept away in that narrow canyon, about five kilometres long and 300m deep. so that news just in to us from spanish police that the body of a young man believed to be a british man, has been found . in british man, has been found. in other news, a people smuggler who left a group of migrants

banging and screaming for help concealed in the back of a van has been jailed today for ten years. anas al mustafa has been sentenced for smuggling seven people from france to the uk, hiding them in a cramped fake vehicle compartment. crew members on a ferry carrying that vehicle had to use an axe to free the migrants . after hearing free the migrants. after hearing their pleas for help, one of the victims, who suffered a stroke, has since developed a long term memory issue as a result of the conditions they were kept in. the home secretary is leading a summit to address the escalating crisis of people smuggling across the english channel. that meeting comes in response to a tragic incident. this week, where 12 lives were lost when a boat capsized in the deadliest crossing so far this year. yvette cooper is being joined by key cabinet ministers, intelligence officials and law enforcement agencies to target criminal smuggling networks. she says there is a moral imperative to act and wants to see tougher and tighter collaboration with european partners . germany is

european partners. germany is considering using british funded facilities in rwanda to deport migrants entering the eu. it comes as berlin is facing mounting pressure to kerb illegal migration following last month's isis linked stabbing at a festival there. german officials think the eu should repurpose the asylum facilities that britain set up, which were recently scrapped by sir keir starmer's government . and in the starmer's government. and in the last few minutes , the government last few minutes, the government has said that it has no plans to send prisoners to estonia. addressing rumours on policies to ease overcrowded jails in the uk. it comes as prison spaces in the uk hit a record high this morning, with the population now reaching 88,521 inmates. that's 171 more than past the last week's peak. downing street insists that building more prisons does remain a key priority, and they say that a ten year strategy will be published this autumn to make sure there are enough spaces for dangerous offenders . those are

dangerous offenders. those are the latest headlines for now. a full update at the top of the houn >> for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gb news. com forward slash

>> good afternoon britain. it is 20 to 1 and this is of course gb news now. lucy letby has appointed a new barrister in an attempt to overturn her convictions, on the grounds that the jury were exposed to unreliable evidence. mark macdonald is gathering experts and said there was a strong case that the former nurse was innocent. warning that juries do get it wrong. it all comes as the royal statistical society previously raised concerns

surrounding the statistical aspects of evidence in medical misconduct investigations. well, delighted to be joined now by the statistician and professor at the university of warwick, jane hutton. jane, thank you so much for joining jane hutton. jane, thank you so much forjoining us this much for joining us this afternoon. firstly, if you would, can you explain what the problem with relying on statistics alone could be in a case like this ? case like this? >> well, if you're going to rely on statistics alone, whether you recognise the statistics or not, it's quite a good idea to get the statistics correct. >> that's both the data and the analysis . there's extensive analysis. there's extensive evidence that that was not done in this case. >> further, if you're simply looking at coincidence , any of looking at coincidence, any of us could have landed up in the position if you weren't looking hard enough. >> where there were a series of events, were events where we were present. that's why my understanding is i'm not a lawyer. they're supposed to be

evidence of an actual action taken rather than everything in the entire trial being circumstantial and relying heavily on pulling out one statement from notes, of which there were hundreds, and where there were hundreds, and where there were hundreds, and where there were contradictory statements on the same page. and yet you're highlighting one of the statements, not the other. essentially, the issue is both selective use of data and omission of data . omission of data. >> now, of course, the prosecution's case was that babies under lucy letby care were dying. she went on holiday and babies stopped dying. she came back from holiday and babies started dying again. and then she was taken off the ward and they stopped dying again. is your argument that that's all a big coincidence? >> certainly the last statement is extremely misleading because when she was taken off the ward,

the ward was also downgraded. the whole ward was downgraded. you had different babies there . you had different babies there. firstly. secondly, you need to look at all the deaths. the additional eight deaths, not just the seven mentioned. and you need to look at the rates. if you've got an experienced nurse and you've lost your advanced nurse practitioners , advanced nurse practitioners, that nurse may be on an awful lot more of the time. so there are a whole number of complexities that you want to look at. and another one would be the matter of multiple births , be the matter of multiple births, one of the judges, i think, or the prosecuting counsel said it's very surprising that siblings were ill at the same time. now okay, i'm not a doctor, but i have done research in neonatal medicine, and that statement is a remarkably ignorant. it's worse than the error in the sally clark case. if you have got twins who are monochorionic, that means the twins share one placenta. then your pregnancy is at risk. as

soon as that's known , you're soon as that's known, you're followed up long before the babies are born. if those babies are then born very premature. what would be surprising is if they were not similarly ill, you know, they're much more likely to both have cerebral palsy. both die then there would be if you had, as in sally clark case, a baby born one year and a baby born another year. >> and yet we can talk about the statistics in all of this, but we could also talk about the type of deaths that happened and the and the and the murders that lucy letby was convicted for, for carrying out were all very similar types of sudden collapses in babies that were deemed to be doing all right. and the other deaths that you mentioned that weren't looked at by the court seem to be infections or other things that had very obvious causes. is that

not a reasonable delineation to make between the two different types of baby deaths ? types of baby deaths? >> no it's not. so if we first of all consider the seven deaths, two allegedly from insulin, there are two big problems with that. one, as a statistician, i would not use data that carries a warning saying this is not fit for purpose. i think the forensic science regulator would be pretty concerned about that too , pretty concerned about that too, and of course, if i remember correctly, there's an allegation that lucy letby tampered with a bag of insulin to put insulin into a bag. and before she left her shift, how did she know exactly which bag was going to be picked up? so that evidence is highly questionable , is highly questionable, statistically and medically, the idea that the babies were basically doing well, i think my medical colleagues certainly questioned with regard to air embolism . you have to have

embolism. you have to have proper methods of diagnosis. i haven't yet read julie's paper, but i have worked on how reliable diagnoses are. so a big court case and one important issue was the reliability of the diagnoses made by doctors. and they were not reliable, as far as i can see from what i've read. so far. on air embolism, there is no reliable method of detecting air embolism. it's a matter of speculation . for that matter of speculation. for that reason, i'd really like to know how there were 28 families, 61 cases given to the expert who put itself forward . how were put itself forward. how were those cases selected? were they analysed blind? what would happenif analysed blind? what would happen if you got experienced? current neonatologists. that evidence has been retired for 15 years. to look at the data. they reach the same conclusion and the information i have is that they would not the information i

have is that doctors made mistakes like putting in the wrong size tube into a, you know, in a ventilator. so the baby was not in fact ventilated. i think there's a serious issue that should be considered. >> i think one of the big, big issues, perhaps throughout the whole of the case was of course, the reporting restrictions that we found. so we sort of had to go off of snippets. we don't have access to all of the information that the jury had access to, and it was only foreign reporters. it was only overseas publications that could report about this as it was going on. perhaps we'd have a more enlightened conversation if we had different rules surrounding court reporting. but jane hutton , really appreciate jane hutton, really appreciate your view as a statistician from the university of warwick. a really interesting perspective on what no doubt will be a story that rolls on and on. well, this is good afternoon britain on gb news. lots more coming up on today's programme, including travel chaos. yes, that's ensuing over a month's rain. that's to fall in two days

across the south of the uk. might be best to stay in and watch gb news. see you shortly

good afternoon britain. it is 51 minutes past midday. some breaking to news bring you now. painter and decorator thomas burley has been handed the longest prison sentence so far , longest prison sentence so far, following the rioting in early august after he was jailed at sheffield crown court for nine years for his role in the violence outside a hotel housing hundreds of asylum seekers in rotherham. so that's the longest sentencing so far for painter and decorator thomas burley. after those riots over the start of the summer. moving on now,

southern england and south wales were put under a 24 hour danger to life rain warning today as downpours could bring travel disruption and flooding. while the met office imposed the alert for the whole day amid fears of up to 60mm of rain falling today in addition to 44mm. yesterday meteorologists warned that communities could be cut off by floods, experienced power cuts and even see damage to structures over the next two days. well, to discuss this further , delighted to be joined further, delighted to be joined by met office meteorologist alex deakin and alex, it's september, it's early september. why is the weather behaving like it's december? >> it is a bit chilly and a bit wet out there to say the least. isn't it a bit disappointing following on from what has been for many of us, certainly by recent years comparison a pretty disappointing summer. so now we're in meteorological autumn. yeah, we expect low pressure systems, but we are in quite a strange position this week because the low pressure is

really affecting the south. >> and actually it's a beautiful day in western scotland, 25 degrees. they're experiencing some of their highest temperatures of the year in fact, western scotland may have its highest temperatures in may and september. they completely missed out on summer. so yeah it's all switched around. we've got low pressure to the south of us and that's bringing us easterly winds, and it's bringing the south. these downpours that we're seeing through the rest of today , through the rest of today, particularly across south wales and south—west england . and south—west england. >> i have to say, a friend texted me earlier today saying, are you enjoying the weather? i thought she was joking , but, but thought she was joking, but, but she wasn't. it was lovely where she wasn't. it was lovely where she wasn't. it was lovely where she was and terrible where i am. are we going to see more of this huge sort of regional variation across the uk? >> certainly for the rest of today and into tomorrow, we're going to continue with these contrast. another pretty good looking day tomorrow in western scotland, northern ireland, northwest england mostly set fair with some sunshine and finally some warmth. yet in the south, where we'll continue to see the downpours. they should ease a bit tonight, actually, and tomorrow, certainly tomorrow morning won't be as wet in the

south, but then through saturday night and sunday again across england, wales, the potential for further heavy rain to come up further thunderstorms are possible and when you add up the rainfall that's already fallen over recent days, that could cause some further issues. so yeah , we're going to keep these yeah, we're going to keep these contrasts for a couple more days. and then as we go into next week it turns colder. but the weather kind of returns to a bit more normal in terms of its distribution of rainfall. >> so alex, you say we're into meteorological autumn, is that it? then have we have we had the last of summer. shall i, shall i pack up the sunhat, put away the sunglasses , wrap up the suncream sunglasses, wrap up the suncream for another year? is that it? >> oh, it's too early to say that we often get decent spells of weather in september. you know, we often have fine weather. some of the. in fact, the hottest day of last year was recorded in september. so yeah, we can still have some fine spells. we're only just at the end of the first week, so there's still plenty of fine weather to go just because we call it meteorological autumn doesn't mean it's necessarily going to be the end of summer.

in fact , the fine, warm, sunny in fact, the fine, warm, sunny weather can continue into autumn into october. so yeah, it's too early. don't put your shorts away just yet, but certainly next week you're not going to need them. >> okay, perhaps the swimming trunks next week instead. and as you say , last year the hottest you say, last year the hottest day of the year was actually in september. that will be confusing to a lot of people looking out of the window today. if you were a betting man, are we going to see such a such a sort of mini heatwave again this year? >> of course, i'm not a betting man, but yeah, there's always there's always going to be a spell. i think i'd be very surprised if we don't get some settled weather in september. yeah, there's no sign of it at the moment, but we're only a week in. there's three weeks left, in fact. yeah, it was this time last year. exactly. this time last year. exactly. this time last year where we were sweltering. it was over 30 degrees. so yeah, we have seen a big contrast compared to last yeah big contrast compared to last year. but our weather is variable. our weather is always changing. and of course with our changing. and of course with our changing climate, the extremes are becoming more extreme. so when we see heavy rain, it's at that extra end of the spectrum.

we see these heavier downpours when we see heat, it is that little bit hotter. that's what climate change is all about. we've just had a slightly cooler than average summer if you measure it compared to the most recent climate. but if you took this summer and put it into the 60s and the 70s, it would have been warmer than okay. so we are seeing a changing climate. >> well, alex always a pleasure to to you. thanks for joining to you. thanks forjoining us. coming up next, we're

good afternoon britain. it's 1:00 on friday the 6th of september. i'm tom harwood, painter and decorator thomas burley is handed the longest prison sentence so far following those riots. last month, he was jailed for nine years for his role in the violence outside a hotel housing hundreds of asylum

seekers in rotherham. we'll have the very latest as a dozen migrants die attempting to cross the channel today, the home secretary chairs a landmark summit as she tries to smash the smugglers. but did she give up on rwanda too soon? germany is now exploring the use of abandoned british migrant facilities in that country , and facilities in that country, and britain used to ship prisoners off to australia but could estonia now be our next penal colony? with just 83 cell spaces left in england and wales, the government seems to be ambiguous. backwards and forwards, hokey cokey ring around the idea of deporting prisoners to that country . country. now the politicians are back to school and it is a busy news day for us. but amidst it all, we've got a question about parenting.

yes gordon ramsay, the chef, got an interesting present . for yes gordon ramsay, the chef, got an interesting present. for his 218 year old twins on their 18th birthday a couple of years ago this week. he revealed he got them. not an ipad, not a phone, not even a new car. no, the multi—millionaire celebrity chef got them places in the london marathon . now, is that sort of marathon. now, is that sort of tough parenting that we need to see more of in this country? or is it all just too tough? and should his kids be able to live a little? i want your thoughts on that. and views on parenting in general. is he being too tough? your thoughts very welcome @gbnews dot com forward slash yoursay. we're getting to that and of course all of the other big stories we're covering today after your headlines with sam francis . sam francis. >> tom, thank you and good afternoon. it'sjust >> tom, thank you and good

afternoon. it's just after 1:00 and the top story this lunchtime. well, it is that breaking news that thomas burley from swindon , described by from swindon, described by a judge as an unquestionably dangerous offender, has been jailed for nine years for his role in last month's rotherham riot. the 27 year old has received the harshest sentence handed out so far, after that widespread violence. sheffield crown court has heard. he engagedin crown court has heard. he engaged in what the judge described as grotesque acts of violence fuelled by, he said, malicious and ignorant social media posts . burley had earlier media posts. burley had earlier pleaded guilty to arson after setting fire to an asylum seeker hotel along with pleading guilty to violent disorder and possessing an offensive weapon . possessing an offensive weapon. and in some more breaking news from spain, a police there have found the body of a young man in a mountainous area of majorca , a mountainous area of majorca, believed to be a missing british hiker . his believed to be a missing british hiker. his partner, a 26 year old british woman, was also found dead there earlier this week after a storm hit the

island. authorities have been searching the tramuntana mountains since wednesday, where flash floods caught ten hikers off guard and two were sadly swept away in that narrow canyon, which is about five kilometres long and 300m deep. a people smuggler who left a group of migrants banging and screaming for help concealed in a refrigerated van, has today been jailed for ten years. anas al mustafa has been sentenced for smuggling seven people from france to the uk, hiding them in that cramped and fake vehicle compartment. you can see the pictures there . inside that pictures there. inside that vehicle, crew members on a ferry carrying the vehicle used an axe to free the migrants after heanng to free the migrants after hearing their pleas for help, and one of the victims, who suffered a stroke, has since developed a long term memory issue. as a result of those conditions , the home secretary conditions, the home secretary is leading a summit to address the escalating crisis of people smuggling across the english channel. the meeting comes in response to a tragic incident

this week where 12 lives were lost when a boat capsized, the deadliest crossing so far this yeah deadliest crossing so far this year. yvette cooper will be joined by key cabinet ministers, intelligence officials and law enforcement agencies to target criminal smuggling gangs. she says there's a moral imperative to act and wants to see tighter collaboration with european partners. well, with over 21,000 arrivals this year so far, the summit will also be focusing on enhancing labour's new border security command . germany is security command. germany is considering using british funded facilities in rwanda to deport migrants entering the eu. it comes as berlin is facing mounting pressure to kerb illegal migration following last month's stabbing at a festival, german officials think the eu should repurpose the asylum facilities that britain set up, which were recently scrapped by sir keir starmer. our political correspondent olivia utley has more. >> there will be those who argue and in fact , conservative mps and in fact, conservative mps are already arguing that if the

rwanda policy is good enough for germany, if germany believes it will act as a sufficient deterrent to stop illegal immigrants coming over to germany , then why did keir germany, then why did keir starmer choose to throw out that policy on his first day in office and replace it with this rather nebulous plan to smash the gangs? >> olivia utley there are political correspondent, well, mps and campaigners in lincolnshire are celebrating today after a decision to scrap plans to house migrants at raf scampton. the government claims that it fails to represent value for taxpayers money. the former lincolnshire airbase was estimated to have cost £200 million by 2027. £60 million of which has been spent so far. the government will now close and sell that site, focusing instead on what it's calling faster asylum processing. our east midlands reporter, will hollis, has been outside raf scampton for us today. >> the labour government says despite £60 million being spent on the former raf airbase, it is

not value for for money the taxpayer. and between now and 2027, the £121 million that would have been spent can be better spent elsewhere . better spent elsewhere. >> the government has said that it has no plans to send prisoners to estonia. addressing rumours on policies that could ease overcrowded jails. it comes as the uk's prison population hit record highs this morning, now reaching 88,521 inmates. that's 171 more now reaching 88,521 inmates. that's171 more inmates than the last week's peak. well, downing street is insisting that building more prisons is its highest priority and that a ten year key strategy will be published. this autumn to make sure that there are enough spaces for dangerous offenders in the us. officials have arrested the father of a 14 year old accused of a deadly school shooting in the rare legal move. colin grey faces multiple charges, including involuntary manslaughter, for allegedly allowing his son to access that weapon used in the attack that

sadly killed four and wounded nine others. investigators have since revealed that both the 54 year old and his son had previously been questioned over onune previously been questioned over online threats about carrying out a school shooting. the teenager called grey, used a semi—automatic rifle in the incident and will be tried as an aduu incident and will be tried as an adult . and finally, of course, adult. and finally, of course, it wouldn't be a news update without something on the weather. so areas of london and the west of england are in for a wet end to the week. the environment agency is warning of potential flooding and travel disruptions, especially in low lying areas . roads near the lying areas. roads near the thames in west london could even flood at high tide this evening, while devon, the south west and west sussex remain under alerts. meanwhile, though, scotland will see the best of the weather where temperatures could reach 27 degrees. those are the latest headunes 27 degrees. those are the latest headlines for now. i'll be back with you in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news

alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts . slash alerts. >> good afternoon britain. it's 1:08 now. thomas birley, from swinton, described as an unquestionably a dangerous offender, has been jailed for nine years for his role in last month's rotherham riot. yes, the 27 year old received the harshest sentence handed out so far after that bout of violence. well, joining me now is our national reporter, charlie peters. for more on this charlie nine years, it's a considerable sentence. yeah. >> when jeremy richardson, the recorder of sheffield, the judge passing down this sentence, said it was an exceptionally serious case. and before giving the sentence, he did turn to mr birley in the dock and said, you must listen very carefully to me

now as he explained that the maximum possible sentence for one of the charges, he admitted, which was arson with the intent to endanger life, is life imprisonment. that was at the maximum level of culpability. he could have been facing today. but in the end , it's nine years but in the end, it's nine years and under the current remit, that means he'll have to serve at least four and a half in prison for that time. we'll get further details later about any additional sentencing requirements put down on him by the judge and the probation services, but this all took place during the violence we saw on the back of the southport mass stabbing in the end of july. august the 4th is when this particular incident took place in rotherham in south yorkshire. it's interesting we hear that mr birley is from swinton. i've been several times. it's quite a gentle part of the south yorkshire town. it's just a, you know, a suburb next to next to rotherham. lots of people there commuting into sheffield, but very soon after those events, on august the 4th, those from swinton were caught up in some

really horrific scenes and some sheffield crown court. >> and that escenes sheffield crown court. >> and that {scenes and some of the situations there were really horrific scenes and some of the situations there were especially concerning to those especially concerning to those inside the hotel housing asylum inside the hotel housing asylum seekers and migrants, who said in the court and during the seekers and migrants, who said in the court and during the evidence heard in the trial that evidence heard in the trial that they had feared for their lives. they had feared for their lives. now the judge also read out a now the judge also read out a pre—sentence report, which was pre—sentence report, which was conducted by the probation conducted by the probation service before this event service before this event happened today. it said that, he happened today. it said that, he had views which raised alarm had views which raised alarm with the probation officer. and with the probation officer. and the judge also said there were the judge also said there were hints of a white supremacist hints of a white supremacist mindset. now, we haven't got mindset. now, we haven't got details of what those views details of what those views might have been. white supremacy might have been. white supremacy is a very serious way of is a very serious way of describing somebody's describing somebody's perspective. i wonder if we perspective. i wonder if we might be able to see that later might be able to see that later today, but it also is part of a today, but it also is part of a set of convictions that thomas set of convictions that thomas birley already had. he was had birley already had. he was had relevant previous convictions. relevant previous convictions. the judge said, including the judge said, including criminal damage , attacking criminal damage , attacking criminal damage, attacking criminal damage, attacking emergency workers and racially emergency workers and racially aggravated harassment. that's aggravated harassment. that's what the court heard today at what the court heard today at

sheffield crown court. sheffield crown court. >> and that and >> and that and that will have made this sentence more severe than someone for whom this would have been a first offence. >> it's definitely an aggravating factor. they would have had mitigating factors as well. about mr burley's background, perhaps, but he also admitted a charge of possessing an offensive weapon . and i an offensive weapon. and i think, you know, we heard from the judge at the start of the sentencing saying this is exceptionally serious. the maximum tariff is life imprisonment, with a minimum term for him to not get that sentence, for it to be brought down to nine years, there would have been a set of mitigating factors in the court, but a core part of it would have been the fact that he has pleaded guilty. so we'll get further comment later about how this occurred. but the judge here saying you are an exceptionally serious offender, while passing down the sentence the longest for any of those involved in the violence in august. >> a long sentence, although of course liable to serve half of it behind bars. this is all in the context of talking about our prison spaces crisis. we started the programme today saying there

were in

accordingly. many prisoners in two cells at a time. now this is bad, obviously, for prisoner welfare. there are several damning reports by the inspectorate of prisons exposing some of the self—harm. the appalling abuse and the mistreatment of prisoners at the hands not only of guards, but more keenly from other prisoners. but it also creates a less secure criminal justice environment for us. because if judges and the courts don't have the opportunity to send prisoners away, then we do get into potentially dangerous circumstances where those convicted of serious offences or repeat offenders don't face jail time. and we brought some reports onto this programme about a month ago. some analysis compiled by neil o'brien. the mp, which found that for many serious offences you had to commit dozens of them before you were eventually imprisoned . this were eventually imprisoned. this is part of a wider conversation, isn't it, about today reports that we could be sending prisoners to estonia under a new system, at least with the

government in tallinn. i was speaking with our specialist home affairs producer, tom fredericks, this morning. he said he's been covering home affairs for several decades and this opportunity has been touted regularly. it's unlikely in his perspective and for other commentators , it will go ahead. commentators, it will go ahead. and one of the problems to that is visitation. how can you facilitate visitation to family members funded flights to the baltic? it is a human rights. they're required every week. can you get them in estonia? you know i'm not so sure. >> goodness me. charlie peters, thank you so much for bringing us all of that. of course, the government using the aethereal description of no plans, which means, well, we might do it. we might not. charlie peters, our national reporter. thank you very much for those updates. now, the home secretary, yvette coopeh now, the home secretary, yvette cooper, is chairing a landmark meeting today amid ministers and law enforcement officials as she sets out labour's plans to smash criminal smuggling gangs. it all comes, of course, after the tragic incident in the english channel this week, with 12 people dying whilst attempting

that perilous crossing. our political correspondent olivia utley joins me now from outside the national crime agency. olivia, what is being said today ? olivia, what is being said today? >> well, in terms of concrete policy announcements , we're not policy announcements, we're not really expecting to get any. this is about getting all the right people in the room to have a conversation about the moral imperative of stopping the gangs, and there's no doubt that yvette cooper has managed to assemble an impressive cast. you've got various uk ministers. you've got various uk ministers. you've got various uk ministers. you've got members of the national crime agency, which is here behind me. you've got the crown prosecution service , etc. crown prosecution service, etc. but it is all about talking. it doesn't seem to be about making concrete plans. and at this point there's a big question aboutis point there's a big question about is talking really good enough? the tragedy in the channel this week has really shone a light on the plight of migrants making that dangerous crossing, and at the moment there isn't really a clear deterrent strategy in place. yvette cooper talks about

getting more border security officials so essentially pen pushers speeding up the asylum claims process. but for now, it doesn't really seem to be working. although to be fair, labour haven't had very much time to get their feet under the table. there were 22,000 migrant crossings this year, including 8000 since labour took office in july. keir starmer has promised that he's going to smash the gangs. it's going to have to put a bit more meat on the bones of that policy pretty soon if we're going to see a dent in those numbers. >> well, olivia, up you. thank you very much. joining us there outside the national crime agency. joining me now is international security and border control expert henry bolton. because, henry, i think many people will be sitting here listening to this thinking , listening to this thinking, another summit, another talking shop. another summit, another talking shop . where's the action? shop. where's the action? >> exactly. tom, let's start this by saying i have long called for a greater unity of effort amongst all of the various agencies and government

departments that are that either influence or who's work influences or is influenced by what happens on our borders, and so in that sense, this is a step in the right direction. but as olivia has just quite rightly said, this seems to be about talking rather than doing. and that's the problem here. now, i'm going to be very modest. tom. i'm sorry, but, you know, there is, i think, only one person in the united kingdom who has ever done this before brought unity of effort across government. and that's me. i've doneit government. and that's me. i've done it for numerous countries. but i'll tell you now, tom, the most incoherent, disjointed. if you like, approach to securing and managing our national air or national air, maritime and land borders. and remember, we do have a land border. it's the railway, the tunnel, the most incoherent that i have come across in the 56 countries that i've worked in is the united

kingdom by a long stretch. it is utterly incoherent. so henry, we're told that this government is bringing together a small boats command, is bringing together all of these different organisations, and they're going to have counter—terrorism powers, and it's going to be wonderful , powers, and it's going to be wonderful, right? yeah. and we've got, i think, 63 local government authorities all doing different things with certain border facilities, recruiting people under different employment contracts, having different procedures. and so on. we've got eight different agencies patrolling the english channelin agencies patrolling the english channel in various types of patrol boats, doing various sorts of functions. you know, you go to sweden, you go to canada, you go to iceland, you go to finland, you go to denmark. you even go to a place that's only got a lake, which is the republic of north macedonia. and what what have they done? they've combined all of these things together, all of these different agencies. so you get one agency doing all of the enforcement, all of the pollution control and all of the sea rescue stuff together. they do it like a police force would do it like a police force would do it. you don't just decide to

have a police force dealing with burglary and another one dealing with assaults, another one deaung with assaults, another one dealing with you know, traffic problems or something. you bring one police force doing all of these things in the united kingdom, we have not done that. we're not even talking about it . we're not even talking about it. i do, i do i mean, for example, the foreign secretary was supposed to be at this meeting this morning. now, if indeed he was or somebody very senior from the foreign office was there, great. because one of the big things, if you want to do upstream disruption of the people smuggling networks, then you've got to go out there with intelligence and tactical operations on the ground in coordination with local law enforcement, and that requires a strong diplomatic effort. if you want to open up the refugee convention or you want to do anything like that, you've got to have not just to have some cooperation with the foreign, commonwealth and development office. you have got to have an absolutely intimate team effort there. and to do that, yes, you have to have a national borders

coordinator, for want of a better word, not just simply a border security commander. you know, there's an expression, war is too important to be left to the generals. now, that's no criticism of generals, but they have their particular perspective, their particular orientation towards their work. but it's the same with police officers. i suspect. now, i don't know this. i'm going out on a limb, but i suspect that we will see the new border security commander. as a former police officer, that's a problem because this person has to pull together local government, port authorities , airport authorities, airport authorities, airport authorities, diplomatic effort , authorities, diplomatic effort, intelligence effort, military effort, all of these things, as well as the conventional policing side. it's a massive ask. so a step in the right direction. but there's a long way to go and there is not the experience in the home office or i think the government to do this. >> now. we're short on time, but i do want to squeeze this in, why on earth has it taken two and a half months? i mean, the

home secretary was saying that she wanted to recruit this new coordinator immediately. >> yeah, i declare an interest because i applied for the job. i didn't even get a get longlisted. so, two cards on the table, i don't know. the timetable for this was to appoint somebody around about now, but i understand that's been delayed for a couple of weeks. i have no idea why. you know, i would i would not be embarking upon creating this sort of infrastructure and having these sort of talks, until i had this person in the chair, because they are absolutely crucial to it. if you if they are a competent and i hope they are a competent, capable person able to do this job, then they are immediately going to find themselves inheriting something that the home secretary and others have put together, which is going to it's going to inevitably be problematic for that person. so they need to be part of this design work, not come into it

later . later. >> well, henry, it sounds like the home secretary has missed out on what could have been a bit of expertise at the top of government. has she got longlisted or shortlisted or appointed you? but, you know what? if she had, we wouldn't get to talk to you as much. so i suppose there's a silver lining there. thank you very much for coming on and talking us through that issue. really appreciate it. now coming up, we're talking reports of cronyism within the labour party, within the government. yes. there's another scandal brewing. find out more after this

an asylum seeker is approved. where does that individual go? i'm not even going to claim it's going to be 100,000. i'm not going to be 100,000. i'm not going to be 100,000. i'm not going to claim, as most experts do. it will be 90,000 or above. let's say one. where would that individual go? would it be in a council house? >> well, arrangements will have to be made to accommodate people who successfully are processed through the asylum arrangements. but the bigger point is that there was no processing arrangements. 100,000 people were stuck in this perma backlog

because the previous government didn't put the resource in the right place . right place. >> arrangements will have to be made. what does that sound like to you? to me, it sounds like housing a limited resource in this country. we clearly don't build enough of it. council housing, the waiting lists for which are stretching longer than just about at any point in our history. could it be that actually we're about to see maybe one, maybe 90,000 asylum seekers not be put on disused raf bases or in hotels or on barges, but actually into those limited number of council houses. could that really be the answer from this government? the minister didn't deny it to me last hour and i have to say that were it not the policy of this government to put asylum seekers to put those who have had their asylum applications approved

into those council houses, i put it to you that the minister would have denied it. well, let's move on now, because lucy letby has appointed a new barrister in an attempt to overturn her convictions on the grounds that the jury were exposed to unreliable evidence. mark macdonald is gathering experts and said there was a strong case that the former nurse was innocent. warning juries do sometimes get it wrong. this comes as two dozen scientists wrote to the health secretary last week calling for an inquiry into the countess of chester hospital to be postponed due to wider professional concerns. well, delighted to be joined now by our north west reporter , sophie reaper, who reporter, sophie reaper, who followed that trial. sophie, it seems curious to me that lots of people who weren't at the trial, who didn't hear the evidence, are now coming forward with their own views . their own views. >> well, this is one of those

cases, i'm afraid, where speculation has been rife. lots of armchair detective, lots of conspiracy theories. i'm sure many of our viewers will remember just just past this time last year, just before. sorry this time last year, those verdicts came in here at manchester crown court, and lucy letby was found guilty of seven counts of murder and seven counts of murder and seven counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder. then earlier this year, in a retrial on child k, she was also found guilty on one count of attempted murder there. so as it stands right now, lucy letby is facing 15 life orders in prison and she's currently the most prolific serial killer of children in modern british history. however, as you said, in the past few weeks, there have been these rumblings of concerns about the legitimacy of those verdicts. and then in the past 24 hours, we've heard, in fact, that letby and her legal team are potentially going to be launching a fresh appeal with fresh defence barrister mark macdonald. and he's, of course, said he's believed ever since

the beginning that there was a strong case for her innocence and as a result, he was going to be making an application to the criminal cases review commission to try and take her case back to the court of appeal. people will remember, of course, earlier this year that letby case did go to the court of appeal down in london, where a panel of three judges heard fresh evidence. but in fact ultimately rejected that application to appeal. now, on the website for the criminal cases review commission, they say for the commission to be able to refer a case back to the appeal court, we will almost always need to identify some new evidence or other new issue that might give reasons for a fresh appeal. we must be able to show the court some new information that was not used at the time of the conviction or first appeal, and that might have changed the outcome of the case if the jury had known about it. so from the sounds of it, if mark mcdonnell and his team are going to be reaching out to the criminal

case review commission, it sounds like perhaps they've got some new evidence or some fresh information that they believe could well have changed the jury's verdict, if it would have been provided at the time of the court case. so that will be the case. they will have to go through that process, of course. legal matters always have to go through the due process. but it sounds by the sounds of it, they're going to be making that application to the criminal cases review commission to try and once again take those 15 guilty verdicts to the court of appeal and essentially overturn them. >> goodness me. well, it sounds like an absolutely mammoth situation ahead . sophie reaper, situation ahead. sophie reaper, thank you very much for talking us through it. well, this is good afternoon britain on gb news coming up. we'll be hearing from home secretary yvette cooper as she hosts that landmark meeting on stopping the smuggling gangs. but before that, here are your headlines with sam . very good afternoon to with sam. very good afternoon to

you . 1:32. and the top story you. 1:32. and the top story this lunchtime, a 27 year old painter and decorator has been sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in a violent riot outside a rotherham hotel housing asylum seekers. >> sheffield crown court heard he was engaged in what the judge described as a grotesque act of violence, fuelled by malicious and ignorant social media posts. the judge called him one of the most serious offenders of the rioting so far, and imposed an extended five year licence onto thomas burley. ongoing dangerousness . spanish police dangerousness. spanish police have found the body of a young man in a mountainous area of majorca, believed to be that of a british hiker. his partner, a 26 year old british woman, was found dead earlier this week after a storm hit the island. authorities have been searching the tramuntana mountains since wednesday, where flash floods caught ten hikers off guard. two were sadly swept away in the narrow canyon about five

kilometres long and 300m deep. a people smuggler who left a group of migrants screaming for help concealed in a van, has been jailed today for ten years. anas al mustafa has been sentenced for smuggling seven people from france to the uk , hiding them france to the uk, hiding them inside a cramped and fake vehicle compartment. crew members on board a ferry carrying that vehicle had to use an axe to free the migrants after hearing their pleas for help. one of the victims, who suffered a stroke, has since developed a long term memory issue as a result of the conditions that they were placed in. the home secretary says that channel crossings in july and august fell compared to last yeah august fell compared to last year, ahead of a summit she's leading to address the escalating crisis of people smuggling in small boats. the meeting comes in response to a tragic incident this week where 12 lives were lost when a boat capsized in the deadliest crossing so far this year. yvette cooper is being joined by key cabinet ministers,

intelligence officials and law enforcement agencies to target criminal smuggling networks. she says there is a moral imperative to act and wants to see tighter collaboration with european partners . and the uk is sending partners. and the uk is sending 650 missiles to ukraine and a £160 million boost to its defence against the war with russia. john healey, making his first appearance as defence secretary, will make the announcement at a summit in germany today. the missiles are part of a larger £3 billion aid package and will be delivered by the end of this year. those are the end of this year. those are the latest headlines from the gb newsroom for now. i'll be back in half an hour. first though, a look at the markets for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone. >> sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts . gbnews.com forward slash alerts. >> cheers! britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news

financial report. >> well, as promised here is a quick look at the markets for you this hour. the pound will buy you $1.3175 and ,1.1863. the price of gold £1,913.32 per ounce. and the ftse 100 is at 8227 points. >> cheers ! britannia wine club the gb news financial

>> good afternoon britain. it's just coming up to 20 to 2 now. here's one for you. yes, more cronyism allegations at the core of the government . labour's of the government. labour's election fundraiser waheed alli has come under fire for making recommendations for public appointments. reports suggest he's been working with senior

officials to draw up a list of suitable candidates for roles due to come vacant during this parliament, with staff raising concerns of conflict of interest. the project name, ironically operation integrity. you couldn't make it up. joining me now is the political correspondent at the spectator. james heale james, what on earth is going on here? >> well, that's what we're trying to get to the bottom of, tom. i mean, it's a day ending in y. so it means more bad headunes in y. so it means more bad headlines for the government right now. of course, we've got the re—emergence of waheed alli after a fortnight out of the headunes after a fortnight out of the headlines talking about his actual role and what went on in terms of the transition period when he was preparing labour to get ready for government. obviously, for the past two years, it's looked likely that he was going to win. they won a big majority of 20 points or so and waheed alli was in charge of the fundraising effort for the opposition at the same time, of course, as having a downing street pass towards the end of that time and actually being advising on a lot of

appointments going on. so really it's a whole conflict of interest row involving potential allegations about money, about influence, about access, etc. all involved with the public appointment system. it really is quite the mess. >> now, of course, a pass to the heart of downing street is a rare and prized possession. not even cabinet ministers have that, save for the chancellor. i mean, this is perhaps tying together two different stories that we saw around cronyism at the start of this government. pubuc the start of this government. public appointments, but also giving passes to donors, passes for glasses as the scandal became known. this almost ties those two scandals together, because, it turns out that it could have been the case that the party donor is the guy drawing up lists for public appointments. >> well, absolutely. this is the really interesting thing. and of course, if you talk to labour people and the labour spokespeople have been out and saying, well, the outriders have been saying things like, well,

you know, waheed alli was a parliamentarian, he's a member of the house of lords. well, yes. but of course, you know, most members of the house of lords aren't involved in paying for the prime minister's glasses and clothes, are they? now? so i think that this is a sort of. waheed alli has a unique role. but as you say, tom, it ties in that other row about public appointments that labour have been out in government for 14 years. everyone understands the fact that they want to sort of go in there properly supported with people, but they have to go through the right processes. and what's interesting in this report in bloomberg news suggests, is that certainly within labour, there seems to have been a bit of discomfort about how the way in which this person was involved in advising on these appointments. and i mean, the thing for me, tom, really, is that this suggests that it isn't the end of the road, really. and more to come out. and what's so telling about this, of course, is the way in which number 10 today at the lobby briefing were unable to slap this down. yes, he was involved in the transition process, but they wouldn't say about his role in public appointments. so i suspect there'll be more questions rather than answers by that statement. >> it's very odd because they call this project project or operation integrity. so it's

being reported and operation integrity is all about presumably shoving friends of the labour party, labour activists, people who've worked for the party in the past in positions that are publicly funded in our so—called impartial civil service. i mean , impartial civil service. i mean, what strikes me? so what strikes me so peculiar about all of this is that this is the party that campaigned on cleaning up governments, on cleaning up what many people said was a big mess made of the civil service and of pubuc made of the civil service and of public appointments and all the rest of it. under the previous administration. and they're not even walking into the same trap. they're going further . they're going further. >> absolutely. and that's why i think it's striking, perhaps, that we've heard far less of the earlier starmer era talk about the ethics and integrity commission. remember, of course, there was going to be a suggestion that if the ministerial commissioner had suggested that there was going to be a conflict of interest or something, that person would have to be sacked. there had been a breach of the ministerial

code. right now, labour has sort of moved away from that. and i think they're coming to terms with actually what means being in power and the kind of difficult things that happen, i think, looked on part of the reason about this has been a bit of a incompetence. i think in some people within labour, which is that they tried to bring in all these people into government. there was a bit of a slow process, so they tried to sort of fit them in different ways. so there was ian caulfield, of course, a labour donor chassis was going to be a treasury director. now step back from that position. they want to bnng from that position. they want to bring their people in, but the way they've got to do it is properly and they've got to make sure obviously, that given they've talked the talk on this, you know, they've talked about being whiter than white, actually it seems decidedly grey when you look at all of this. >> i think one of the really odd things here is a lot of people might think that actually having a completely impartial civil service is impossible. parties of all hues have complained about the civil service and have always wanted more of their own people in, and i think there will be many people on all sides of the political spectrum who are sympathetic to the idea of new governments being able to bnngin new governments being able to bring in more of their own people to deliver the policy agenda on which they were elected . fine. but surely the elected. fine. but surely the way to go about doing that is to

present a bill to the house of commons and have it voted on, transparently saying we want a more political civil service and this is the process by which we're going to go about doing it. pass that through both houses, make that the law, and bob's your uncle. what seems very, very odd is that they're not doing any of that. they're keeping the sort of appearance of an impartial civil service. and shoving it full of their mates. that's the accusation. and i suppose a cynic might say, is this simply because if they were to draw up the mechanism by which you could officially appoint party political people to the civil service, they're worried that in five short years time, the opposition would do exactly the same . exactly the same. >> i think that's very much it, tom. i think that the danger for labouris tom. i think that the danger for labour is twofold. one is, which is the accusations of hypocrisy. obviously, they were very critical about any kind of civil service suggestions mooted under the last few conservative governments. but the other thing, of course , i think, is

thing, of course, i think, is the way in which this is all coming up with dribs and drabs. and so these stories are going on for days and weeks, and labour have been a bit slow and flat footed. it took about a week or so for ian caulfield to kind of step back from that position. so really it's just every day in the headlines about these negative stories and about people with money getting involved in that. it's not what labour says it's about. it's not what labour was elected to represent. and i think it's going to be something that could be a real problem if labour doesn't get a grip on this and sharpish. >> well, james heale of the spectator magazine really appreciate your thoughts on this, on this growing scandal. now, in response, a downing street official has said this pubuc street official has said this public appointments are made by ministers and departments in line with requirements and that waheed alli plays no part in this or in cabinet formation. well, that clears that up then . well, that clears that up then. this is good afternoon britain on gb news stay around of course, because in the next few minutes we're going to be heanng minutes we're going to be hearing from the home secretary. yes. meeting on smashing the criminal gangs has

now

good afternoon britain. it's just coming up to ten minutes to two. and as promised, we can now hear from the home secretary, yvette cooper. she's spoken in the last few minutes following that landmark meeting at the national crime agency. >> well, the criminal smuggler gangs are undermining our border security and putting lives at risk as we've seen so tragically in recent days. that's why we're determined to go after the criminal gangs. they should not be able to get away with making profit in this way . and we need profit in this way. and we need to build on some of the progress that's been made , increasing the that's been made, increasing the work with our european partners as we've been doing in recent weeks and even in the last few weeks. we've seen the work with bulgaria to stop some of the boats and engines that were destined for the channel. but we want to go much further and that's why we have this

operational summit today and that's why we see this as such important work. >> we've seen more than 1500 migrants arriving in kent, having crossed the channel in the last eight days. that doesn't sound like progress to me. >> we have this dangerous situation. the criminal gangs are undermining border security. they are putting lives at risk. in the first half of the year, the numbers of crossings that we inherited from the previous government were a record high for spring crossings. government were a record high for spring crossings . the for spring crossings. the numbers in july and august have been lower than in previous years, but we've also seen lives being lost and we still see these criminal gangs operating along the north. french coast. those gangs should not be able to get away with it, and that's why we're determined to go after them with the national crime agency working with europol , agency working with europol, expanding the additional investigators that we're recruiting for here at the nca, but also that much stronger partnership with european law

enforcement to stop those gangs and boats before they reach the french coast. >> cooperation with european law enforcement. but would you also consider cooperation with european governments, perhaps to process people overseas so that that journey across the channel is unnecessary? >> well, we're working closely now with other european law enforcement , other governments. enforcement, other governments. the prime minister has had serious discussions with other european leaders about the importance of us going after this organised immigration crime thatis this organised immigration crime that is making huge profits from this dangerous trade in people. and that's why we're focusing now on going after the gangs , now on going after the gangs, expanding the work with europol and with other european law enforcement organisations . enforcement organisations. that's where we think we can make significant progress. >> one other question, if i may. rafe scampton is a plan that you've now decided to ditch. but where are the migrants going to live? this is going to be a real problem, isn't it? just to find

enough spaces for all the people who are who ? you're not able to who are who? you're not able to return as fast as you'd like? >> well, we've seen this really shameful increase in the asylum backlog under the conservatives that we inherited. we also saw much lower returns way lower returns than under the last labour government. so the action we've immediately taken is to significantly increase the number of returns since the general election. and we are also working now to clear the backlog so that we can end these very costly asylum hotels . but very costly asylum hotels. but also in the case of scampton, that was incredibly costly for this single site. that was also strongly opposed in the local community as well. >> but where are they going to go? >> well, we've made clear that we need to bring down the asylum backlog, and we're already making progress in to order increase asylum decision making and also increase returns. so we've significantly increased

returns since the general election . we have we've had election. we have we've had additional new dedicated flights taking place, but also thousands of people returned since the general election. we are determined to make further progress on that because the number of returns had substantially fallen under the last government, and it's really important that the rules are respected and enforced. they weren't being were determined to make sure that we can address that serious issue . thank you that serious issue. thank you very much. >> well, as the home secretary , >> well, as the home secretary, appearing very serious about what she has emphasised is a serious issue, i'm not sure we heard an answer to that fundamental question. however, there are 100,000 asylum seekers who need to be processed who are in this country. they're living in this country. they're living in places like hotels. at the moment. the government's closing down options like raf bases and hotels. where are these people going to go? i'm not sure. we have quite heard the answer. well, this is good afternoon britain on gb news. lots more to

come, including an interesting story about the royal family that. story about the royal family that . next. that. next. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on gb news . news. >> good morning. welcome to your latest gb news weather update brought to you from the met office. there's a rain warning in force across southern areas. we could see some further. further localised flooding and travel disruption today, but further north it's actually a very warm and sunny day. we've got an easterly wind that's bringing a bit more of a breeze to northeastern areas, but the northwest, seeing the best of the summery weather or what's left of the summer anyway, across parts of northern ireland, western scotland, northwestern england, in particular, is where we'll see the best of the sunshine and temperatures climbing to the high 20s for some areas in the far north—west. in the south, though, we've got this rain warning in force through much of the day, and it's going to be a much cooler day across many

southern areas. temperatures widely in the mid teens, so quite an autumnal feeling day down here. and as i said, that rain could bring some further localised flooding and travel disruption into this evening. it's particularly as it moves further north into parts of south wales this evening, where we could see some surface water. so do take care if you're travelling in these areas, but elsewhere it's going to be a fairly fine end to the day. there will be a bit more in the way of low cloud pulling in off the north sea, though. across eastern coasts of scotland as well as northeastern england and the north coast of scotland as well. but for many northern areas it will remain largely dry overnight, a bit more in the way of that cloud dragging in further inland towards the pennines and central areas of scotland, and that band of rain will move northwards into the midlands parts of central areas of wales. but it will tend to fizzle away, so there will be some respite from the rainfall for many areas overnight. but quite a lot of cloud around and after a very warm day in the north and west, after a very warm day in the north and west , temperatures north and west, temperatures will hold up in the mid—teens for many areas up here by saturday morning. so quite a

bright and warm start to the day across northwestern areas once again . should be another fine again. should be another fine day here through much of saturday, but elsewhere across central areas we'll see quite a lot of cloud around. first thing, the risk of some quite heavy downpours into the afternoon in the south as well. we could see further downpours by late afternoon as well, but by late afternoon as well, but by that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers, sponsors of weather

gb news. >> will. >> will. >> good afternoon britain. it's 2:00 on friday the 6th of september. i'm tom harwood now. the home secretary has chaired a landmark summit as she tries to smash the smugglers. following the meeting , yvette cooper said the meeting, yvette cooper said the meeting, yvette cooper said the uk has a moral imperative to stop trafficking gangs. but where's the action? and britain used to ship prisoners off to australia, of course, but could estonia be our next penal colony

with just 83 cell spaces left in england and wales, the government is looking for answers potentially out of the 19th century and convicted baby killer lucy letby hires a new lawyer to lead her defence. growing questions are being asked about the evidence presented to the jury during her trial. was it a miscarriage of justice, or is this all a misguided media . misguided media. storm? also, what do you make of this this hour? we're talking about the royal family. sir ian mckellen has said that the queen had rather lost it by her final years. is it appropriate to reveal the contents of private conversations? is it appropriate to speculate on the mental state of our late monarch, or is it what we should be doing telling

the truth? well, i want to hear your views on all of this. it's becoming a bit of a scandal. yes, sir ian mckellen revealing some of the words that the late queen said to him in the years before she passed away. gbnews.com/yoursay is the way to join that conversation, or indeed any of the others welcoming, welcoming views on all of the topics we're discussing today. please do get involved. the website is there on your screens. we're going to get to all of that and so much more throughout the rest of the programme. after your headlines with sam francis . with sam francis. >> tom, thank you very much indeed. good afternoon to you. it's just after 2:00 and the top story this afternoon, a 27 year old painter and decorator has been sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in a violent riot outside rotherham hotel that was housing asylum seekers. sheffield crown court heard

thomas bailey engaged in what the judge described as grotesque acts of violence, fuelled by malicious and ignorant social media posts. he said. the judge also called it one of the most serious cases of rioting , and serious cases of rioting, and imposed an extended five year licence because of what he called burley's ongoing dangerousness . in spain, police dangerousness. in spain, police have found the body of a young man in a mountainous area of majorca , believed to be that of majorca, believed to be that of a missing british hiker. his partner, a 26 year old british woman, was also found dead earlier this week after a storm hit the island. authorities have been searching the tramuntana mountains since wednesday, where flash floods caught ten hikers off guard. two were swept away into a narrow canyon about five kilometres long and 300m deep. the home secretary has been chairing a summit today addressing the escalating crisis of people smuggling across the engush of people smuggling across the english channel. that meeting followed a tragic incident. this week, where 12 lives were lost when a boat capsized in the

deadliest crossing so far this yeah deadliest crossing so far this year. yvette cooper has been joined by cabinet ministers intelligence officials and law enforcement agencies to target criminal smuggling networks. and she says there's a moral imperative to act and wants to see tighter collaboration with european partners. >> we are determined to go after the criminal gangs. they should not be able to get away with making profit in this way , and making profit in this way, and we need to build on some of the progress that's been made , progress that's been made, increasing the work with our european partners as we've been doing in recent weeks and even in the last few weeks. we've seen the work with bulgaria to stop some of the boats and engines that were destined for the channel but we want to go much further, and that's why we have this operational summit today , and that's why we see today, and that's why we see this as such important work. >> home secretary yvette cooper there, speaking moments ago. well, a people smuggler who left a group of migrants banging and screaming for help concealed in

the back of a van has been jailed for ten years. anas al—mustafa has been sentenced for people smuggling, with seven being taken from france to the uk being hidden in a cramped and fake vehicle compartment. crew members on a ferry carrying that vehicle used an axe to free the migrants. after hearing their pleas for help. one of the victims, who suffered a stroke , victims, who suffered a stroke, has since developed a long term memory issue. as a result of those conditions . germany memory issue. as a result of those conditions. germany is considering using british funded facilities in rwanda to deport migrants entering the eu illegally. it comes as berlin faces mounting pressure to kerb illegal migration following last month's isis linked stabbing at a festival. german officials think the eu should repurpose the asylum facilities that britain set up, which were recently scrapped by sir keir starmer. our political correspondent olivia utley has more for us. >> there will be those who argue and in fact conservative mps are already arguing that if the rwanda policy is good enough for germany, if germany believes it

will act as a sufficient deterrent to stop illegal immigrants coming over to germany , then why did keir germany, then why did keir starmer choose to throw out that policy on his first day in office and replace it with this rather nebulous plan to smash the gangs? >> the government says it has no plans to send prisoners to estonia. addressing rumours on policies to ease overcrowded jails here in the uk, it comes as prison population numbers hit as prison population numbers hit a record high this morning, now reaching 88,521 inmates. that's up 171 on last week's peak figure. downing street insists that building more prisons remains a key priority, and says a ten year strategy will be published this autumn to make sure enough space is available for dangerous offenders . for dangerous offenders. breaking news in the last half hour or so from the us. a 14 year old suspect in a school shooting there has appeared in a georgia court facing murder charges after a deadly rampage on wednesday. the attack left

four people dead, including two teachers and two students, and wounded nine others. cole grey, who you can see here on the screen, used a semi—automatic rifle and is being held without bail and will be tried as an adult. in a rare move, his father, colin grey, is also facing multiple charges, including involuntary manslaughter, for allegedly allowing his to son access the weapon used in that attack . both weapon used in that attack. both are expected to appear in court again on friday. and back here at home areas from london to the west of england are in for a wet end to the week. the environment agency's warning of potential flooding and travel disruptions, especially in low lying areas. roads near the thames in west london could even flood at high tide this evening, while devon, the south west and west sussex are still under weather alerts. but scotland is set to see the best weather, where temperatures could reach 27 degrees. those are the latest headlines for now. your next update in half an

houh >> for the very latest gb news make of what went on today? >> for.l, make of what went on today? >> for the very latest news direct to your smartphone, sign >> for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts . forward slash alerts . forward slash alerts. >> good afternoon britain. it is forward slash alerts. >> good afternoon britain. it is 2:07. now the home secretary , 2:07. now the home secretary , 2:07. now the home secretary, yvette cooper, chaired a landmark meeting with ministers 2:07. now the home secretary, yvette cooper, chaired a landmark meeting with ministers and law enforcement officials and law enforcement officials today as she sets out labour's today as she sets out labour's plans to, as she describes, plans to, as she describes, smash the criminal smuggling smash the criminal smuggling gangs. it all comes, of course, gangs. it all comes, of course, after that tragic incident in after that tragic incident in the english channel this week the english channel this week with 12 people dying attempting with 12 people dying attempting that perilous crossing. well, that perilous crossing. well, our political correspondent our political correspondent olivia utley joins me now from olivia utley joins me now from outside the national crime outside the national crime agency where the meeting took agency where the meeting took place. and olivia, we've heard place. and olivia, we've heard in the last few minutes from the in the last few minutes from the home secretary. what does she home secretary. what does she make of what went on today? make of what went on today? >> well,

obviously, the labour government chose to throw out the conservatives. rwanda policy, which would have seen migrants deported indefinitely to rwanda when they arrived illegally in the uk. they said that that scheme was a waste of money and a gimmick, and you can see where they're coming from. between whether the scheme was first mooted in 2022 and 2024, when the election was called , no the election was called, no migrant was actually deported to rwanda . but there are those who rwanda. but there are those who are saying particularly, of course, on the conservative benches, that labour essentially threw out the baby with the bathwater. and that point has been a sort of highlighted by the fact that the german government is now considering using some of those facilities in rwanda that have been paid event. but the government obrwandaioes need , ,, , event. but the government ob rwanda that need , ,, , event. but the government ob rwanda that have , ,, , event. but the government for already by the british ob rwanda that have been , ,, , event. but the government ob rwanda that have been paid, , in rwanda that have been paid for already by the british taxpayer in to order temporarily taxpayer in to order temporarily house migrants who've come over house migrants who've come over illegally from germany. so there illegally from germany. so there will be questions if that does will be questions if that does go ahead about why, if that go ahead about why, if that scheme is good enough for scheme is good enough for germany, it's not good enough germany, it's not good enough for britain. for britain. >> really, really surprising >> really, really surprising outcomes from germany. but i outcomes from germany. but i suppose after the recent suppose after the recent

election results they've had, perhaps they're going down a election results they've had, perhaps they're going down a stricter line. olivia utley. stricter line. olivia utley. thank you so much for joining thank you so much for joining stricter line. olivia utley. stricter line. olivia utley. thank you so much forjoining us there outside the national crime thank you so much forjoining us there outside the national crime agency headquarters. well, agency headquarters. well, joining us now is international joining us now is international human rights lawyer david hay. human rights lawyer david hay. and david, this is a concerning and david, this is a concerning situation, of course, for situation, of course, for everyone , because ultimately, everyone , because ultimately, everyone, because ultimately, what we're talking about here boils to down people's lives. everyone, because ultimately, what we're talking about here boils to down people's lives. people are dying in the channel people are dying in the channel making this perilous journey. making this perilous journey. many people watching this will many people watching this will be sort of sitting fairly aghast be sort of sitting fairly aghast at the fact that the government at the fact that the government took away one of those two took away one of those two prongs that the previous prongs that the previous government was was using to try government was was using to try and stop this people trafficking and stop this people trafficking trade, namely a deterrent. trade, namely >> well, absolutely. i can i can understand that. i mean, as i've said before, i don't think rwanda would have been an effective deterrent. and so i don't think and, you know, it was a complete waste of money. and i don't think it would have been very effective in any

event. but the government obviously does

number of people crowding into fewer boats or less seaworthy boats, and that potentially unintentionally leads to more death. >> i think, tom, i think it's very difficult to actually, you know, stop people wanting to come to the country. you know, there's always going to be a reason why people want to come to, to, to, to the uk, as in other countries in the west. so i think, you know, it's going to be very difficult for any country anywhere in europe to find an effective solution unless they change the current laws that we have, because you can't stop people wanting a better life, whether that's for economic reasons or whether that's actually that their lives are at risk. and the genuine asylum seekers , that's something asylum seekers, that's something that you can't really tackle. i asylum seekers, that's something that you can't really tackle. i mean, tackling the people that mean, tackling the people that bnng mean, tackling the people that bring them is something that we bnng mean, tackling the people that bring them is something that we absolutely must do , but we need absolutely must do , but we need absolutely must do, but we need to get more severe. i mean, absolutely must do, but we need to get more severe. i mean, we've seen today there's a, you we've seen today there's a, you know, a conviction for people know, a conviction for people smuggling, but, you know, i smuggling, but, you know, i remember i think it was we spoke remember i think it was we spoke back in january, i think there back in january, i think there

was a chap that had been was a chap that had been involved in financing, taking involved in financing, taking the money from the people the money from the people smugglers to affect this. and i smugglers to affect this. and i think several million pounds was think several million pounds was through his accounts. he was through his accounts. he was given eight years. i mean, he'll given eight years. i mean, he'll be out after for that is not a be out after for that is not a deterrent to get involved in deterrent to get involved in people smuggling. we need to people smuggling. we need to have life sentences for people have life sentences for people involved in people smuggling and involved in people smuggling and things like that, which i think things like that, which i think will help stem the flow. but will help stem the flow. but it's not a quick fix. should seekers , that's something it's not a quick fix. >> but of course, those sort of >> but of course, those sort of punishments will need to be put punishments will need to be put upon people who are overseas who upon people who are overseas who don't operate within this don't operate within this country and who operate in country and who operate in territories over which we have territories over which we have no jurisdiction, is a legalistic no jurisdiction, is a legalistic avenue here really going to be avenue here really going to be one that is useful if people are one that is useful if people are operating out of countries, operating out of countries, frankly, that we don't even have frankly, that we don't even have diplomatic relations with. diplomatic relations with. >> well, absolutely. i mean, >> well, absolutely. i mean, it's, you know, relatively easy. it's, you know, relatively easy. obviously, if someone's in this country or, you know, you know, obviously, if someone's in this country or, you know, you know, to go take them through the to go take them through the process and give them a life process and give them a life sentence, and that's something sentence, and that's something

we should be doing and life we should be doing and life should mean life. i think in this case, when it's involved with people smuggling because you are putting them at risk, you are putting them at risk, you shouldn't have people getting, you know, a year or two for any part of that . but of for any part of that. but of course, again, like you said, people that are majority of them are overseas. there's very little we can do in terms other than looking at extraditions. and then it's a very long term process, very expensive one and not very effective one. and, you know, much like the war on drugs that's been going on around the for world decades, it's impossible to completely fix it. and that's the same thing that you've got here. there's no quick fix. so tackling the gangs, that's going to be one of the small solutions. but it's not going to fix everything. you know, we really need to have a serious look at the existing laws, which doesn't seem to be a political appetite to do that at the moment. >> and when you say the existing

don't think always. i'm afraid i don't think we've solved the issue quite yet, but perhaps a few more conversations and we'll get there. moving on now. lucy letby has appointed a new barrister in an attempt to overturn her convictions, on the grounds that the jury were exposed to unreliable evidence. well, mark macdonald is gathering experts and said there was a strong case that the former nurse was innocent, warning that juries do get it wrong. well, it comes as two dozen scientists wrote to the health secretary last week calling for an inquiry into the countess of chester hospital, calling for that to be postponed due to wider professional concerns. well, we're now joined by our north west reporter, sophie reaper, outside manchester crown court. sophie, it feels like this sort of media storm around this story has sort of grown because of the vacuum of grown because of the vacuum of information that so many people had when we had all of those reporting restrictions, as dunng those reporting restrictions, as

during the case. >> well, tom, this is one of those cases that just seems to keep rumbling on. of course, that trial itself was ten months long. we had the retrial next week. we have the inquiry into the lucy letby trial and how she was able to carry out those acts beginning at liverpool town hall. so i think it's one of those things where people have just gotten so invested in it. and as you say, those reporting restrictions have meant people just became incredibly invested in what the outcome would be. and that has led to this speculation. now, it was this time last year that the jury returned here at manchester crown court with those shocking verdicts , seven counts of murder verdicts, seven counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder. that letby was found guilty on. then, of course, earlier this year , the retrial earlier this year, the retrial of child k. she was also found guilty of the attempted murder of that particular baby. so as it stands, she is facing 15 whole life orders in prison . but whole life orders in prison. but of course, throughout this entire process, that court case, which began in october of 2022,

she and her legal team have maintained her innocence throughout and now it seems that they could well be launching a fresh appeal as she's hired a fresh appeal as she's hired a fresh defence barrister , mark fresh defence barrister, mark macdonald. he has said from the beginning that he believes she has a strong case for her innocence, and that he will now be considering launching an application with the criminal criminal cases review commission in order to try and get that case taken back to the court of appeal. of course, earlier this yeah appeal. of course, earlier this year, we saw that case go to the court of appeal down in london, where it was heard before three senior judges. where it was heard before three seniorjudges. but ultimately they decided that that application to appeal would be denied. and that seemed like it was going to be it. but now it seems that a fresh appeal could be launched now on the website for the criminal cases review commission. just to give this a little bit of context, they say for the for the commission to be able to refer a case back to the appeal court, we will almost always need to identify some new

evidence or other new issue that might give reason for a fresh appeal. we must be able to show the appeal court some new information that was not used at the time of the conviction, or first appeal, and that might have changed the outcome of the case if the jury had known about it. so it seems like mark mcdonnell may feel that there was some evidence that was untapped or unseen by those juries, either at the retrial or in the initial trial that took place here at manchester crown court, that if the jury would have been privy to that, that it could well have been a different outcome. but that is something that of course, we will have to see if he's going to make that application to the criminal case review commission . we will have review commission. we will have to see exactly on what grounds he goes to them with to see if ultimately they can overturn those 5015 apologies, guilty convictions . convictions. >> goodness me. well, sophie reapeh >> goodness me. well, sophie reaper, thank you so much for that overview. we'll see what happens as that all continues. sophie reaper there outside manchester crown court. this is

good afternoon britain on gb news now. lots more coming up on today's show including lord of the rings, lord of the stings, sir ian mckellen unleashes on the royal family, calling king charles damaged. harry thick and most shockingly of all, he said the late queen was quite mad in her final years . much more on her final years. much more on that after this

good afternoon britain. it's 2:24 now, sir ian mckellen regarded himself as british acting royalty, has decided to take aim at the royal family, including the late queen. well, the lord of the rings thespians said prince harry is not

brownite king charles is clearly damaged and most shockingly, he said the queen was quite mad in her final years. well, let's get more on that with the former bbc royal correspondent michael cole. michael, this is a pretty strange outburst from sir ian. it's fairly unusual to sort of have private conversations talked about in this sort of way. >> yes, it's quite a royal broadside, you might say. six years ago, sir ian was playing king lear and to slightly misquote shakespeare speaking through king lear, how sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless actor ? because have a thankless actor? because there we are. sir ian is a knight of the realm. he's also a companion of honour. now, there are only 65 of those. and they are only 65 of those. and they are given for achievement over a

long period. and when the queen was investing him with this honourin was investing him with this honour in 2008, she said to him, not unreasonably, you've been doing this a long time, and he came back at her and he said, not as long as you. and then she said, does anyone still go to the theatre? well, he took that to be a rude remark by her. so he says, and a put down to his great profession . but it's great profession. but it's a fairly reasonable question. i would have thought , because with would have thought, because with the ticket prices sky high, who can afford it anymore? some people can. corporate people , people can. corporate people, perhaps. but the ordinary man in the street finds it a struggle to pay three figures for a ticket to an ordinary show, or perhaps a good show in the west end. but as you say, he's taken a scattergun approach, criticised prince philip, the late prince philip , as criticised prince philip, the late prince philip, as being deeply unhappy and also, the

present king being being also unhappy within, within the self and having a good swipe at prince harry, although he says he's a big supporter of prince harry. but then he goes on to say he had the pick of all the beautiful girls. i hope he chose the right one. you know, it's a strange, strange eruption from this ancient thespian who is so well respected to take issue with the royal family when absolutely there is no reason to. because i've always known the queen to be endlessly patient and kind , knowing as she patient and kind, knowing as she does that every word she says will be cherished by somebody and taken home and remembered. and i would have thought she's far too astute and discreet to have done anything that would have done anything that would have annoyed him. but so it seems he's upset. >> it is strange, of course, because he's a he's a pretty

thick skinned actor, and the queen was known to have a bit of a cheeky sense of humour herself . a cheeky sense of humour herself. i mean, he can't have seriously thought that his, his profession was being besmirched. i would have thought that actually a monarch who said a bit more than how do you do? and have you come far, would perhaps be a bit more of an entertaining conversation, talking about the sort of the relative prowess of the theatre . relative prowess of the theatre. >> yeah, you're absolutely right. of course . and i think it right. of course. and i think it shows respect to want to actually discuss something. i don't know why. why anybody would take umbrage at a question like that. because it's something which preoccupies everybody in the theatrical profession, particularly at this time after covid and so on, getting people back in the theatre and, and, and filling theatre and, and, and filling the theatres is a number one priority. so when she asked that question back in 2008, i think it was a particularly relevant one. and, why not? let's have a

discussion about it. he then says that the way she shook his hand was clearly indicated to him that it was a brush off, and she wanted to move on, but i'm quite sure she was investing other people that day, and she had to get through her program, and everybody had to have an even chance. >> now, as you say, sir ian is a knight of the realm, a companion of honour. these two things will mean that he has pretty close access in some ways, much closer access in some ways, much closer access than than than many people. just certainly than i do of the royal family. should we take what he says seriously ? take what he says seriously? >> well, there are only 65 companions of honour and that's for achievement over a long, long, long, long lifetime. and in the citation, he was praised for his his acting ability. i think i'm going to read it. outstanding achievements as an actor and also for his work championing the causes of diversity. but i go way, way back to clause 28 and

everything, he's always been outspoken. he led or was certainly involved in the campaign against that. he's always spoken out on chat shows saying things which are controversial at his time in life. at 85, perhaps he thinks he can let rip a bit, but i'm not sure whether it will go down terribly well because, ingratitude is, i think something that sticks in the throat of many, many people. he's been very fortunate. of course, he's great, talented actor. i've seen him once or twice on the stage, but i think when somebody has passed on prince philip and of course the late queen, it is a little bit unkind and a little bit unthinking, and it will upset other members of the family and many, many other people who cherish the memory of the late queen. >> i think i think you're probably right there. i don't know if it was meant in that way from sir ian, although there is one thing that he said that might strike more of a chord with with the rest of the country, and that is some saying

that prince harry isn't that bright . bright. >> well, i don't think anybody would say he was einstein. i mean, he went to eton. he didn't do terribly well. but of course he then did well in the army, and he served with distinction. two tours of duty in afghanistan . two tours of duty in afghanistan. and he's to be endlessly praised for that. and forever and all the other veterans who went out there and did their bit and many of them lost their lives, it's a little bit of a put down when you have the talents and the ability and the praise and the accolades that he has to, criticise and snipe at other people because they're not quite as intellectually bright as you are, is a little bit, infra dig. i think, and not worthy of a knight of the realm and a companion of honour. >> no. perhaps, perhaps not. although, i don't know, at the age of 85. perhaps you. perhaps you can get a bit more a bit more leeway with with how you talk to people. but michael cole, former bbc royal correspondent, always a pleasure

to talk to you. thanks so much for joining us. well, this is forjoining us. well, this is good afternoon britain here on gb news. lots of you have been getting in touch throughout the show. of course i'm going to be getting to some of your views after the headlines with sam . after the headlines with sam. >> very good afternoon. it's 232. exactly. and the top story from the newsroom this afternoon. a 27 year old painter and decorator has been sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in a violent riot outside a rotherham hotel housing asylum seekers. sheffield crown court heard thomas bailey engaged in what the judge described as grotesque acts of violence, fuelled by malicious and ignorant social media posts. the judge also called it one of the most serious cases of recent rioting, and imposed an extended five year licence because of what he called burley's ongoing dangerousness . spanish police dangerousness. spanish police have found the body of a young man in a mountainous area of majorca , believed to be that of majorca, believed to be that of a missing british hiker. his

partner, a 26 year old british woman, was found dead earlier this week after a storm hit the island. authorities have been searching the tramuntana mountains since wednesday, where flash floods caught ten hikers off guard. sadly, two were swept away into a narrow canyon about five kilometres long and 300m deep.the five kilometres long and 300m deep. the home secretary chaired a summit addressing the escalating crisis of people smuggling across the english channel. the meeting follows a tragic incident this week where 12 lives were lost when a boat capsized. the deadliest crossing so far this year. yvette cooper has been joined by key cabinet ministers, intelligence officials and law enforcement agencies to target criminal smuggling networks. she says there is a moral imperative to act and wants to see tighter collaboration with european partners . and in the us, a 14 partners. and in the us, a 14 year old suspect in a school shooting has appeared in a georgia court facing murder charges after a deadly rampage

on wednesday. the attack left four people dead, including two teachers and two students, and wounded nine others. colt grey, who used a semi—automatic rifle, is being held without bail and will be tried as an adult. in a rare move, his father , colin rare move, his father, colin grey, is also facing multiple charges, including involuntary manslaughter, for allegedly allowing his to son access the weapon used in that attack. both are expected to appear in court on friday. those are the latest headunes on friday. those are the latest headlines for now, i'm sam francis. sophia wenzler will have your next update at 3:00 for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code , or go to gbnews.com. >> slash alerts

>> good afternoon britain. it's 2:37 now. there's plenty more coming up on today's show, but before that, martin daubney is of course up at three. he's back. martin, what's coming up on your show later today ? on your show later today? >> cracking show today . tom. so >> cracking show today. tom. so on my show, it's another day in clown world. 8000 have arrived illegally since labour got into power, including 12 who perished in the channel this week. but don't worry , yvette cooper has don't worry, yvette cooper has thrown a meeting with that. that'll get the people smugglers quaking and then knock off nike's won't it? over 10,000 foreign prisoners in british jails. we can't even deport terrorists. and guess what? we're now going to export british criminals to estonia. another madcap idea that won't get off the ground. talking of which, germany nixed the rwanda plan. the plan that sir keir starmer shelved on day one of getting into power . are we an getting into power. are we an international laughing stock? it's almost like we need a fighter to come into power, to knock all the heads together.

well, look over the irish sea, conor mcgregor, the notorious mma champion , has decided he mma champion, has decided he wants to run for the irish presidency in 2025. now, before we laugh it off, he's actually favoured to have a good fighting chance of winning that another superb day in politics. that's all coming on my show. >> 3 to 6 pm. looking forward to it. martin at 3:00 now. lucy letby has appointed a new barrister in an attempt to overturn her convictions on the grounds that the jury were exposed to unreliable evidence. mark macdonald is gathering experts and said there was a strong case that the former nurse was innocent, warning that juries do get it wrong. well, how often do they? joining me is the criminal defence lawyer, paul britton. paul, thanks for coming into the studio. this is a fascinating case because it seems like there's sort of a gathering head of steam of many people who are saying that the criminal justice system should look again at. >> yes. well, tom, and looking

at what you just said, how often do they get it wrong? not very often . so what lucy letby often. so what lucy letby barrister is doing is going to the criminal case review commission . they get roughly commission. they get roughly 1000 applications per year. it was set up in 1997. since then , was set up in 1997. since then, only 800 cases, roughly 30 a yeah only 800 cases, roughly 30 a year, have gone to retrial been sent back. and of those, 30 a yeah sent back. and of those, 30 a year, the statistic is roughly four. are successful, so her chances aren't great. what her barrister, mark macdonald, is doing is that he actually has a bit of a passion about miscarriages of justice. in two thousand and seven, he set up a london clinic that looks at miscarriages of justice. it's been a passion for him since actually he qualified in 1997. he's been a criminal barrister ever since then, and he's been defending people who've been accused of all sorts of heinous things. >> i suppose most of the time they're found guilty in that there isn't actually a miscarriage. >> yeah, well, i mean, he'll only be able to represent in

this scenario when they have been found guilty, what's quite interesting is that he has two options. they can either look at the sentence so he'll review the sentence and say that was wrong at the ccrc, or he'll say that the conviction is wrong. they're going again for the conviction. now, when you've got two parties in this case, the crown prosecution service and lucy letby, his defence team, both sides will rely on evidence. both sides will have their own experts. and of course, they're going to present the evidence that favours their case. what the jury must do is decide which evidence is more credible. now, in the crown court, we have 12 jurors in lucy letby case, 12 of them found that the crown prosecution's evidence was preferred. and that's why she was found guilty of the seven murders. and six attempted murders. >> you're right to say that it was unanimous. it was a pretty overwhelming case presented to the jury . and lucy letby, it's the jury. and lucy letby, it's not like she was undefended . she not like she was undefended. she had a leading case, over £1

million of taxpayers money spent on her defence. and yet we now see a lot of people popping up on the television in the newspapers saying, oh, they didn't look at this or what about the texas sharpshooter analogy or all of these different things , is it likely different things, is it likely that this leading kc, who was trying to defend lucy letby , trying to defend lucy letby, wouldn't have considered? >> listen, that's a really interesting point because from what we read, the leading kc is still on the case. it's the junior that's been dismissed and mr macdonald has taken over the junior role. and we're told that the kc won't give any of the advocacy, will literally sit there in a sedentary position while mr macdonald does all the advocacy. so it's a lot to sit there. well, so it's not his case. it's mr macdonald's case that he's bringing on behalf of lucy letby and that that is interesting because we do hear a lot of these different issues. >> the guardian newspaper has run a story about the notes that lucy letby wrote . and this this

lucy letby wrote. and this this was quite a large part of the prosecution. she herself had written down. i am evil. i did this in notes found in her place of accommodation. she wrote down i killed them on purpose because i killed them on purpose because i am not good enough. i am a horrible person, played quite a big part in the prosecution of lucy letby. >> i mean, what more do we need than that really? but now the guardian newspaper is saying these were notes that she wrote on advice of her counselling to get out her dark thoughts, >> it seems strange that we're being told that now. would that have come up in the trial, or are people grasping at straws here? >> i think people are grasping at straws. and now the reason we've got people coming out saying she might be innocent is because the cohort or the group of us that accept that she's guilty, we go quiet now because we've had justice. we've had a result. so that only leaves the other side. and david davis was on good morning britain the other day. and he said several doctors have written to him, well, how many? several is more

than two. but, but, but less than two. but, but, but less than a lot . so how many doctors than a lot. so how many doctors have done that? if it's just 2 or 3, that's not a lot. that's not unusual. >> no, but i suppose when it comes to any sort of there are always dissenting voices on any issue.i always dissenting voices on any issue. i suppose perhaps the doctors that need to be listened to are the doctors who actually worked with lucy letby . worked with lucy letby. >> who are the witnesses? >> who are the witnesses? >> yes. >> yes. >> and tom, this was a very short case. no cases in the crown court last six, seven, eight weeks. this was only a four week trial. >> is that not a point in lucy letby favour? it is in her. >> well, no rushed. >> well, no rushed. >> if they might have missed something. >> no, it probably means that there is less or fewer independent documents, and it might be more witness heavy and the doctors would have given more witness evidence. four weeks is a good time, really, because the jury don't get what we call jury fatigue. you know, if it's eight weeks, 12 weeks, they sort of go blank . they sort of go blank. >> well, it's everything sounds the same. and it's yeah, it's a long time to listen to complex arguments. >> but four weeks, you know, arguably they should still be

refreshed and their decision should be safe. >> it is of course , concerning >> it is of course, concerning when we hear that there might have been a miscarriage of justice. there's been examples in the history of this country where there have been very famous miscarriages of justice. the reason we stopped hanging people was because someone was convicted , and it was found out convicted, and it was found out far too late that they were. >> well, when you're dead, you can't change it . can't change it. >> and so i suppose it's a careful conversation that needs to be had here, because sometimes , sometimes courts do sometimes, sometimes courts do get it wrong. >> it's right that it's looked at. the ccrc is a free service, but it's free at the point of use. the barristers are being are going to be receiving legal aid funding. so it's coming out of our pockets. how many times do you let someone have a go at it. so crown court failed lucy letby right. she failed to defend herself . court of appeal defend herself. court of appeal lost. you know, if you want to

take it again, should it not come out of your own pocket . yeah. >> and i suppose actually, how long does the taxpayer want to keep funding it? there are lots of people in these sort of communities online. there are lots of people in certain media outlets who are who are part of the lucy letby innocent brigade. i'd have thought they could crowdfund some money if they really want to. yes. is that is that an option? >> that is an option. and lawyers privately funded lawyers are often funded by crowdfunding. so it is an option available to her because i think available to her because i think a lot of people, a lot of taxpayers will feel that it's fairly it's a fairly bitter taste in the mouth , particularly taste in the mouth, particularly perhaps for the parents of the babies who were killed. yes. when can they grieve ? when can they grieve? >> million pounds of taxpayers money has been spent on lucy letby . letby. >> yeah, i mean, i worked it out about half a million, but i'll take your million, whatever it is, i might be adding the whole thing together, but it's an eye—watering amount of money and you make a very good point there. these parents of these children, you know, when are they going to be able to grieve? when are they going to be able

to not see it in the headlines anymore so that they can move on from it? i think it's i think that's a really important point. you know, justice doesn't just have to be done. it has to be seen to be done. but does that not apply to the victims as well as someone in the legal profession? >> when you see, we spoke to a statistician earlier on the programme who was saying, well, we shouldn't rely on statistics alone in these cases. we've seen politicians pop up and say things. there have been 1 or 2 doctors who don't seem to be particularly close to the case, but have a view when you see voices like that pop up, how does that make you feel? as someone who spends their life within the legal system ? within the legal system? >> well, as a lawyer, it's undermine it. >> as a solicitor , i'm not >> as a solicitor, i'm not supposed to feel anything. >> i'm supposed to think, right? so i think when i hear that you must be fully seized of all of the facts and the evidence, you can't cherry pick what you read in a newspaper or in a headline. had they sat through the four weeks and seen it all then and then they form a professional

opinion rather than a personal opinion. i think it's compelling, but to read and pick up on snippets and then have an opinion where you say something as extreme as lucy letby might not be guilty in the softest terms, but if people say she's innocent , for me, i think that innocent, for me, i think that undermines our whole judicial system. you know, there is a separation. david davis, for example , saying that she's example, saying that she's probably innocent. there's a separation of powers for a reason. you know, mps shouldn't be wading into these arguments publicly like that, particularly when in this case, her own lucy letby defence team are continuing the narrative. they're not letting it go. they're not letting it go. they're pushing it forward to the next stage. when is it going to stop ? to stop? >> well, paul britton, thank you so much for talking us through . so much for talking us through. what is a fascinating case, i'm afraid i don't think it's going to stop here two at at 2:48 on friday afternoon . but we will friday afternoon. but we will continue that case as of course it advances. this is good afternoon britain on gb news

afternoon britain on gb news after the break, a deluge of rain will continue in the south of the uk today. rain will continue in the south of the uk today . but will it of the uk today. but will it clear up by the weekend? well find out after this

good afternoon britain. it's just gone 10 to 3 now. southern england and south wales were put under a 24 hour danger to life rain warning today? yes, today in early september. this is downpours could bring travel disruption and flooding. the met office imposed the alert amid fears that more than four inches of rain will fall in the next 48 hours. well, let's search for a ray of sunshine with the meteorologist john kettley. john is the summer truly, well and

truly over ? truly over? >> absolutely not tom. >> absolutely not tom. >> and this is a bizarre situation really, because for 90% of the country at the moment, we're basking in glorious sunshine. i've just come out the garden here thinking i was going to get sunburnt. quite honestly, temperatures up around 2728 degrees from lancashire across to norfolk at the moment. so it really is hot across many places. it's in the south of england, which you referred to already, which is under this deluge of rain. it's moving very, very slowly and it's got these little embedded cells of thunder mixed in it as well of course, we saw all this starting about 36 hours ago, so there's already been the best part of two inches of rain across parts of southern england into hampshire, south wales as well in the past couple of days. and there is more of this rain to come. it's not coming all the time in the same place and it's edging northwards and also weakening as we go through the next 12 to 18 hours. but then it gets another kick from france, really from southern parts of europe, going to get another kick as we go through the latter

part of saturday and into the second part of the weekend as well. so we are going to see more storms which will bring this torrential rainfall and risk of flooding, certainly, especially across the south. >> it is absolutely fascinating how our relatively small country compared to some of the countries i can think of, has has got such a difference in in, in, in weather. i mean, a friend messaged me earlier saying are you enjoying the weather? and i thought she was joking, but no, it was actually very sunny there and terrible where i am, are we going to see any sunshine at all in the coming weeks? >> well, we are going to see more sunshine. and what's happening at the moment is just part and parcel of what happens in this country. there's a well—known saying in meteorology that every wind direction brings its own weather. and of course , its own weather. and of course, every wind direction can bring different types of weather across the uk. and we are surrounded by a lot of water of course, and we can get storm systems coming in from the south or from the west or from the east. now what's going to happen is it will turn cooler after

this deluge of rain. in 2 or 3 days time, it will turn colder again. >> i'm going to have to end it there, but hopefully well here we'll see what's happening this weekend with the weather. john kettley, thanks for joining us. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar, sponsors of weather on gb news. >> hello. good afternoon . >> hello. good afternoon. welcome to your latest gb news weather update. there's further heavy rain to come, particularly into the south—west through this evening in the north—west, though staying dry and warm through the next few days and across the east coast with an easterly wind pulling in off the nonh easterly wind pulling in off the north sea. there'll be quite a lot of cloud around through this evening and into the start of saturday as well. still some drizzly rain across some north eastern coasts of scotland and england, as well as across the south, where we'll see heavy rain now that will push and become more focused into parts of south wales, as well as some northern areas of devon as well, so we could see some further surface water through this evening here. a lot of cloud

around tonight and after the pretty warm day for many of us, temperatures are going to be quite mild for the time of year. to start the day on saturday. but if you're after sunshine, you're going to have to head up to the north and west through saturday as across the south, although there is a little bit of a respite from the rainfall to come, first thing tomorrow, there will be further outbreaks of rain later on in the day, but across northwestern areas of england, northern ireland as well as northwestern scotland , well as northwestern scotland, the highlands seeing the best of the highlands seeing the best of the sunshine and the highest temperatures. but we'll see high and low cloud across eastern coasts of the north throughout the morning. that should burn back a little through the day, but there will be some drizzly rain at the coast, most likely in the north and east. now, where the wet weather has pushed into parts of wales and central areas, we'll see that turn into heavier showers as we head into saturday afternoon. there is a risk of thunderstorms in there, so there could be some quite torrential downpours. there's going to be a much cooler day tomorrow in these areas compared tomorrow in these areas compared to today across the south coast as well. we could see some further heavy rain, but in the north—west once again warm and

dry, particularly for the time of year. and compared to recent weather. now the rain across the south will become much more intense as we head into sunday, a risk of some further heavy downpours across many areas of england and wales. but from monday and tuesday it looks to turn much fresher from the north and west .

by. well. >> everybody, good afternoon to you. it's 3 pm. and welcome to the martin daubney show on gb news. we're broadcasting live from the heart of westminster all across the uk. on today's show, after another tragic week when 12 illegal immigrants perished in the channel today, the home secretary called an emergency cabinet meeting at the national crime agency . yvette national crime agency. yvette cooper claims she can smash the gangs, but with almost 9000 arriving since labour got into

power, it seems the gangs simply aren't listening. and keir starmer scrapped the rwanda plan on day one. but now hotels paid for by british taxpayers have been snapped up by german officials who plan to use rwanda to process their own illegal immigrants. has britain become an international laughingstock? and with just 83 spaces left in britain's packed prisons, the government is considering exporting cons to estonia's empty nix. now there are more than 10,000 foreign inmates in our prisons. wouldn't that be the best place to start? and the government has sensationally scrapped plans to house 1700 asylum seekers at historic raf scampton. locals are delighted, but with labour's dispersal plans, the solution is the victory hollow. might these men be coming to a street near you soon? that's all coming in your next hour .