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narrator: pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news". >> hello, i'm lewis vaughan jones. you are watching "the context" on bbc news. >> this was a calculated and cynical campaign of child murder involving the smallest and most vulnerable of children. >> we heard harrowing detail about the effects the baby's debt has had on the parents mental health.

some have had breakdowns, other have needed medication or turned to overhaul. -- alcohol. >> it is cowardly that people that commit centura describes do not face their victims and hear firsthand the impact crimes have had on their families and loved ones. she will spend the rest of her life in prison for murdering seven babies. at court, she refused to come out of her cell hear the sentencing or to hear the harrowing impact her crimes had on the victims families. also, millions of americans face floods and high wind after southern california is hit by the first tropical storm in 80 years. scientists in london developed an artificial intelligence tool that can reveal exactly how much an unhealthy lifestyle can prematurely aged your heart.

we'll see how it works. and the spanish fa president apologizes for kissing a player after spain's world cup win. here in the u.k., a judge has ruled the child killer lucy b will never be released from prison. 33-year-old former nurse was jailed for life for each of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six more. letby refused to appear for the sentencing. two of her victim describing her refusal as a final act of wickedness from a coward. the court heard of the grief and trau caused by letby's crimes. the families of her victims gave harrowing statements, telling of the horror of losing their babies, some dying in their parents arms. our correspondent has been in

court throughout the trial. she people never be free again. >> so depraved, so wicked, lucy letby will be in prison forever. today the courtroom reeled as the raw human cost of her crimes was laid bare. >> parent after parent told of the impact of letby's brutality. she said she was conflicted because the nurse had taken them . as they spoke, you could hear the sound of weeping around the courtroom, including from the jury. they spoke about seeing their babies suffer, and would live with the trauma forever. the mother of baby c said that knowing their murderer was watching us was something out of a horror story. the father described his son's skin color changing

rapidly. he said it was not normal to the naked eye. it was horrific to see and something he would never forget. he said his son was quickly christened. moments later, he was gone. >> for the mother of baby i, she said i don't think we will get over the fact that our baby was tortured until she had nothing left in her. >> we heard harrowing reports about how the parents have been affected. some have had mental breakdowns, others needed medication or alcohol. two said they considered suicide. they spoke about their loss. the mother of baby d said we have to organize her funeral. her service took place before her due date. baby g was left disabled as a result of letby's attacks. her parent said she will never

have a sleepover with a best friend, never go to high school, never have a boyfriend or get married. >> this was a cruel, calculated and cynical campaign of child murder involving the smallest and most vulnerable of children. there was a deep malevolence bordering on sadism in your actions. you have no remorse. there are no mitigating factors. in their totality, the offenses of murder and attempted murder, of exceptionally high seriousness and just punishment, requires a whole life order. >> the mother of twin babies said the trial had felt like a platform for letby to relive her crimes. but failing to show her face today had been one final act of wickedness from a coward. the family's statements will be

sent to letby. the mothers of baby anb said you thought it was right to play god with our children's lives. we heard about memories being forever tarnished. bab p's others said i hate the fact that lucy letby was the last person to hold him. she destroyed our lives. having refused to come up from herself for the hearing, letby was brought away from the court, leaving distress and fury in her wake. lewis: we were following events at the manchester trial court. >> lucy letby is now beginning her whole life sentence that was handed down here at manchester crown court. the justice making it very clear that, due to the severity of her crimes, he talked about the calculating nature of what she did, malevolence bordering on sadism, the way she targeted the

babies and then tried to cover her tracks. as he laid out his sentencing remarks, he said the only sentence that would be appropriate in this case was a whole life sentence. of course, there is a mandatory life sentence for murder, but he said in the case of lucy letby's crimes, only a sentence that meant she would never leave prison would be appropriate in this case. the families of many of lucy letby's victims were in court number seven to here though sentencing remarks and also deliver their own victim impact statements, their opportunity to tell the court and the judge about the ordeal they had been throug beginning with the birth of their premature children who were being treated on the neonatal unit of the hospital, going through the loss of those babies, and then the discovery that lucy letby, a nurse that should have been caring for them, was the one who murdered or attempted to murder them. promises were made that lessons would be learned from this case.

the government launched an independent required -- inquiry, and as lucy letby begins her sentence, knowing that she will die behind bars, she may well yet returned in the future to face further charges as the investigation into the whole of her nursing career continues. lewis: next to the u.s. flood and high wind warnings are in place for millions of people right now. southern california was hit by its first tropical storm in 80 years, while storm hillary has been downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone. we will take a look at some of the destruction. we will focus on these areas, los angeles, palm springs, death valley, and las vegas in nevada. these are the latest pictures showing the devastation caused in cathedral city. cars being abandoned in the mud.

people wandering around in absolutely dreadful scenes. it is not just vehicles. this is a slightly bigger vehicle. these pictures coming in in the last hours. two people stuck in that camper van, isolated on the outskirts of cathedral city. to los angeles, some of the iconic hollywood settings. there is the hollywood walk of fame. universal studios, the theme park in l.a. now to palm springs, the governor gavin newsom said the city received more rain in a single hour than ever before. take a look at these pictures from death valley. you may know it for its extreme

temperatures, extreme heat. but now the desert environment has been inundated with water. over tlas vegas, the rain triggered severe flooding. hundreds of flights canceled in the city. in victorville near los angeles, some watched as the floodwaters inched closer to their home before finally making the decision to leave. >> all of that started within an hour or two and kept on piling up, the water coming up further the street. just more and more. lives cannot be replaced. material objects can. it is better to replace a house, fix that is damaged. lewis: california's governor gave this update on the now many problems being tackled by the state's emergency services. >> there is an old, ancient curse that is loosely translated

to, may you live in interesting times. certainly interesting times. tornadoes, lightning strikes, cal fire worried about wildfires because of the wind, not just tornadoes. office of emergency services in san bernardino, i checked my phone, learned about an earthquake that originally came in at 6.0. appears to be closer to 5.1. over 13 aftershocks just in the drive over to the ventura region. these are certainly interesting times. lewis: while storm chasers and enthusiasts have been chasing these, one of them is jason. >> i was not down there personally to chase this event, or to document it, but from what i have heard, it is more of an unusual storm especially for the area. as far as the desert southwest goes, any amount of rainfall,

that could lead to life-threatening flash flooding. that comes with your daily monsoonal type thunderstorms, that can style out on mountain peaks and dump that torrential rainfall, creating those rapidly developing flash floods. but when you ar talking about a storm of that magnitude dumping heavy rain over a lae area, we call it a rain flood. when it dumps a huge amount of rain over a large area, you get into the category of serious to severe problems, like we have witnessed in some of those smaller towns, places like los angeles, with that life-threatening flash flooding. lewis: we are going to los angeles now. a reporter in southern california is with us. thank you for talking with us. if you can, talk us through what is happening right now in l.a. >> the situation is much improved over the last few hours. the rain is gone, the sun has come out.

i don't see any wind, but i notice up the street -- i am in the north part of l.a. a lot of water still running down the gutters. you go through an intersection, it is like a boat with all the water splashing up. still plenty of water, flooded areas across the entire region, especially in the deserts, as you heard. there is going to be a lot of cleanup to be done. i just came from a house where a tree just split in half -- huge tree -- came down fortunately not on the house, because there was a whole family in there. came down onto the cars and crushed them like bugs. trees down, power lines. now the cleanup really begins. lewis: what have been the worst hit areas across southern california? >> i would have to say the desert areas. we had some intense storms, as

you know, over the winter time. some of the most rain we have had in decades, rain and snow, we got hammered. people compared this storm to that one. we got a lot of rain in a short period of time across the entire region, but i think the desert areas like palm springs were hit the hardest. i worked there as a young reporter, i started there in tv. i remember an august day that was sunny and warm, and by 2:00, half a block down the street, cars were being swept away by floodwaters. that is how fast it can happen. that is what the danger is. lewis: what is the scale of what authorities now have to deal with? >> i think there is a lot of cleanup but i don't know that this is really a whole lot different, cleanup wise, from what we went through in january and february when we were just

hammered by storm after storm after storm. the streets and the power lines, trees to deal with, flooded areas in palm springs. i don't know what that involves. that could be a long-term project. but we have been through this before, even though we have not technically had a tropical storm in l.a. in 84 years. lewis: looking forward, before i let you go, you are saying conditions are much better. the sun is out. is the worst of it now over? >> yes, the worst is over, probably ended about five hours ago, but even in the morning california time, the rain was intense and driving was dangerous. that was one of the big dangers. we have tripled a number of car accidents on the freeways that we do when it is not raining. it just gets really bad, really slick. you end up hydroplaning and

slamming right into a freeway wall. lewis: i appreciate you taking the time to talk to us. thank you for coming on the program. >> take care. lewis: around the world and across the u.k., this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news now. an israeli woman has been killed and a man wounded in a suspected shooting attack on a car in the occupied city of hebron. it comes to days after a father and son were killed in a car wash. violence in the west bank has intensified over the past year. a man has appeared in court charged with terrorism offenses connected to a data breach of northern ireland. names of more than 10,000 officers and staff were released by mistake. it is alleged that he had a

spreadsheet containing officers names at his home. he has been remanded in custody. the number of pothole-related breakdowns is at a five-year high according to the aa. call outs related to potholes were up by a fifth in july compared to july a year ago, with over 50,000 vehicles breaking down la month. you are live with bbc news. next, a new ai tool can reveal the aging effect on our hearts. it allows doctors to work out how much younger or older someone's heart is compared to their actual age. our science correspondent has this. >> this is a heart scan of a 61-year-old person, but the chances are the heart itself is older and has aged prematurely because of their genes or

unhealthy lifestyle. not even experts can tell from a scan how much the heart has aged. but a new ai tool can. there are already plenty of ways to assess how healthy our heart is, scans, blood pressure, ecgs, but these just give you a snapshot and can vary from day to day, month to month. but this new ai technique is different, it can give you an accumulated report of all the bumps and scrapes your heart has had through poor diet, exercise, smoking, and drinking. let's see how i get on. the first step is to have an m.r.i. scan after some gentle exercise. >> breathe out and hold your breath. >> the scientists record pictures of my beatingeart, and the ai system analyzes it. i am 61, but how old is my heart? >> it says that your heart age

is 63. >> that is a bit older than i actually a so how does that figure, what should i do? >> exercising enough, watching your weight, smoking. we are also interested in treatments that can slow down aging or reduce the effects of aging. these sorts of scans can quantify that, see how effective those treatments can be. >> here is the next step. 256 sensors are creating what is, in effect, a digital copy of this volunteer's heart. you can see how the electrical activity is flowing through it. >> these experiments will transform how we do health care. it will be possible for scientists to test the impact of drugs, cardiac devices, lifestyle changes, and importantly, to predict each individuals personalized risk. >> with ai and machine learning techniques already developing the next generation of

treatments to keep us healthier for longer. lewis: one of the researchers from that study is a professor from imperial college london. thank you for coming on the program. how significant, how important do you think this could be? >> we know that everyone ages at different rates. that's an important risk factor for many diseases. we are adept at looking at someone and being able to assess if they are old for their age, but our organs also age. that's important for predicting future outcomes, varies a lot between indivis. this new ai tool uses the same approaches that the human eye uses for recognizing agent meone's appearance, but uses images of the heart instead. it can produce an aurate prediction of someone's biological age actually is. lewis: is this something that simply couldn't be done by

humans, however long they studied, however good they were, something that is quantifiably different? >> it is difficult to judge by eye someone's age. it affects different organs, cardiovascular system differently. that is where the ai comes in. we have used 126 different features of the heart, blood vessels, ecg traces for it to ingest all of that data and make an accurate prediction. then we get an age gap, the difference between your heart age, and your true age. lewis: the difference between those two ages, i can see that as a patient sitting here, really appealing to know, but let's say i am given an age that is significantly older than me. then the battle is right. are there things that i can do, is this something else completely? >> we found both genes and

environmental risk factors were important. hypertension really drives premature agg. that is something that we can treat. but it doesn't give any symptoms. it's important, when people are invited for their health checks, get your blood pressure checked. it is not just a single snapshot in time, it looks at accumulated affect of all things in our lifestyle, all the risk factors we have experienced, and the cumulative effect of that on our heart age. it also has allowed us to pinpoint some genes that might be important as well, genes important in the immune system for regulating inflammation, an important part of aging. also elastic proteins in our system as well. lewis: tell me what are the kind of other potential uses here? it is clear from what you were saying, massive potential benefits in this case. but this kind of application is principal. how else could it help?

>> what we hope to do is to look at antiaging treatments. some of the genetic studies, genes that may be important in slumming down aging, or could be used as potential treatments to slow or revee aging in the future. these sorts of scans not only help us to pinpoint son genes that may lead to new therapies, but people looking at these treatments to look at the effect of slowing down aging or even reversing aging. that would be something that is exciting to do in the future. lewis: we will keep an eye on that. thank you very much for coming on the program and talking us through it. you will have noticed, as we were chatting to the professor, the pictures of that airplane live. we are bringing them to you straight because onboard is the victorious spanish women's football team, flying back from

australia and new zealand where the world cup was held, of course, and where they beat england 1-0 in the final. it was quite the match. they have touched down. you can see them live in madrid. the camera operator doing a fantastic job of trying to peek inside as they get ready to get off the airplane. it will be difficult to keep those players out of the way of cameras for very long. there is a huge parade expected, and they will be greeted, no doubt, with huge enthusiasm. we saw those scenes in madrid on sunday, thousands out watching the game on huge screens, in big stadiums, and the cheers that went up at full when they realized that they had done it. it was quite extraordinary. they were underdogto be fair. no one expected them to get that far because, in the buildup to the tournament, there were problems in the dressing room,

problems over the relationship of the management team, problems with the way the selection process had happened. certain players didn't even travel. despite all those problems, a remarkable run through the tournament. they actually lost 4-0 at one point, did not look like title winners, but they turned it around and beat england 1-0 in the finals. further controversy not just before the tournament started, but right at the end. the spanish the faa president just one of the spain players at the end of the trophy celebration ceremony. he has since apologized for that. we will be getting more details on exactly what happened, the backlash over that spor minister in spain. saying it was unacceptable. newspaper covered saying how accessible that moment was.

we will be getting some details on that, speaking to a journalist in barcelona just a little later. while we wait for the team, the door will be open the soon. i think time is just going to beat us. we are going to take a break for a few minutes. we will hopefully see the players get off of that plane when we are back. i'm lewis vaughn jones. this is bbc news. this narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪

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