he's been speaking exclusively to clive coleman. after the case against him was dropped, liam allan is coming to terms with the end of a two—year nightmare. i was relieved for notjust myself, but everyone that's been with me every step of the way, and everyone it's impacted. it wasjust a huge, huge relief. you sort of get your life back. you don't realise that you've lost parts of your life, until you actually have it completely done. the trial may be over, but the strain it caused remains vivid. i'll be honest, i did start to suffer from panic attacks, a couple of weeks before court, which is why i said it was probably my worst time. because you just — where it has to be internal, where you have to have your own reaction, panic attacks are an internal reaction that you can't help yourself. but it is to be expected, you can't not go through this and not panic and not fear, and remain strong through the whole thing. it could bring the strongest person in the world to their knees. liam went on trial charged with six rapes and six sexu

clive coleman, bbc news.n's chief brexit negotiator, michel barnier, has said the transition period after the uk leaves cannot continue beyond the end of 2020. the uk is due to leave in march 2019, and had asked for a longer transition, of around two years. well, the prime minister gave evidence to a committee of mps today and was asked about transition plans. i think, as you know full well, in my florence speech i said that i thought that probably the limitation period would be about two years. that was what the indications we had at that time. we are about to start the negotiations, and obviously what we have seen today is that position coming from the european union. we will be in negotiations as to what, quickly in the negotiations as to what the implementation period should cover. they have set that september 2020 date because that cove rs september 2020 date because that covers their current budget plan period, so that has a neatness for them, if i put it like that. but we will obviously have to discuss

clive coleman, thank you. first time — to try to prevent strike action in the run—up to christmas. the airline says it's invited pilot unions from a number of european countries to talks next week. it's urging its staff to call off the industrial action which is planned for wednesday 20th. here's our business correspondent, joe lynam. it's europe's largest airline in terms of passengers. it prides itself on low fares. and no—frills. it has refused to recognise trade unions in its 32 year existence. until now. faced with a highly damaging strike next week, ryanair has invited pilots to talk about forming a trade union. in its letter to pilot unions in britain and ireland, and for —— four other countries, it said... this is a major change of tone from only three days ago, when the airline said it would face down the unions behind the planned strikes. which it described as a small group which don't care how much they upset they cause colleagues or customers. this is pretty astounding news today from ryanair. ryan

clive coleman has the story.was dropped, liam allan is coming to terms with the end of a two—year nightmare. i was relieved, notjust for myself, but for everyone who's been with me for every step of the way. and everyone it has impacted. it wasjust a huge, huge relief. you sort of get your life back. you don't realise that you've lost parts of your life until you have it completely done. the trial may be over, but the strain it caused remains vivid. i'll be honest, i did start to suffer from panic attacks, a couple of weeks before court, which is why i said it was probably my worst time. because you just, you have to have your own reaction, panic attacks are an internal reaction that you can't help yourself. but it is to be expected, you can't not go through this and not panic and not fear and remain strong through the whole thing. it could bring the strongest person in the world to their knees. liam went on trial charged with six rapes and six sexual assaults. his lawyers were repeatedly refused access to his al

clive coleman, bbc news.national monetary fund says its economists were not too gloomy, in their predictions about brexit, and that weaker prospects for economic growth in the uk, had underlined their case. christine lagarde was presenting the imf‘s latest report on the british economy, which slightly downgrades the prediction for growth this year, affected by the weaker pound and the uncertainty surrounding brexit. christine lagarde has been speaking to our economics editor kamal ahmed. she came before the referendum with a warning. if britain voted brexit, then the economic risks were clear. it is going to be pretty bad to very, very bad. that is what we see. today she was back for the first time since that brexit vote, to give her analysis of where we are now. since the start of this year, growth has slowed notably. the significant depreciation of sterling that followed the referendum has pushed inflation over 3%, squeezing real incomes. how do you respond to those critics who suggest the imf is simply too

clive coleman, bbc news.ry of ian shaw who has learning disabilities, autism and epilepsy. he was diagnosed with testicular cancer and in january was told he had three months to live. but after watching our report, a psychiatrist got in touch, suggesting ian's case should be looked at again. it was, and ian is now responding well to treatment. charities say it raises questions about the care given to some people with learning disabilities, as alison holt reports. september, and it's an important moment in the shaw household. 34—year—old ian will soon be on his way to hospital. going out for a drive, ian, in the ambulance? yes, please. yeah, please. ian has learning disabilities, autism, epilepsy and can't speak for himself. morning, everyone. hello. he also has testicular cancer. he's being taken for his second round of chemotherapy, and that's a major change. at the start of the year, his family was told he was terminally ill and had three months to live. he spent a long time in bed, especially when i though

he has been speaking exclusively to clive coleman.nst him was dropped, liam allan is coming to terms with the end of a two—year nightmare. i was relieved for notjust myself, but everyone that's been with me every step of the way. and everyone it has impacted. it wasjust a huge, huge relief. you sort of get your life back. you don't realise that you've lost parts of your life, until you actually have it completely done. the trial may be over, but the strain it caused remains vivid. i'll be honest, i did start to suffer from panic attacks, a couple of weeks before court, which is why i said it was probably my worst time. because you just — where it has to be internal, where you have to have your own reaction, panic attacks are an internal reaction that you can't help yourself. but it is to be expected, you can't not go through this and not panic and not fear, and remain strong through the whole thing. it could bring the strongest person in the world to their knees. liam went on trial charged with six rapes and six sexual assaults. his l

clive coleman, bbc news.riminologist at the university of manchester. thank you for being with us. to discuss what is essentially an extraordinary case. it is horrifying and it could so easily have been a miscarriage of justice and it could so easily have been a miscarriage ofjustice that never came to light. it speaks to a number of problems that we have within the system around disclosure and underfunding within the police and prosecution services, cuts to legal aid, the lack of compensation for appeals. it is a very troubling case. so, how easy is it, do you think, to unpick what may have happened? social media can be awful in cases like this. you see some fairly horrific comments. there has also been some insightful commentary today from a number of barristers and police officers talking about the pressures that they are working under. the legislation is complex, the police are clearly underfunded, they are having to deal with more and more sex cases. the cps is underfunded, different solicitors face huge

clive coleman, bbc news.eu leaders meeting in brussels have agreed to move onto the second stage of brexit talks with the uk. as we have just heard, a of brexit talks with the uk. as we havejust heard, a judge has called for an enquiry into the colla pse called for an enquiry into the collapse of a rape trial after it emerged police did not reveal crucial evidence to the defence. ryanair has crucial evidence to the defence. rya nair has recognised crucial evidence to the defence. ryanair has recognised pilots' unions for the first time in an event to avert strike action in the run—up christmas. the date of prince harry and meghan markle's wedding has been announced. it will be on saturday the 19th of may next year. the couple confirmed their engagement last month and said the ceremony will take place at windsor castle. 0ur royal correspondent nicholas witchell is at buckingham palace, so now we have a date. so it's a saturday, which is unusual but not unprecedented. the wessexes got married on a saturday back

clive coleman, bbc news. judge and chair of the society of black lawyers and is here with me now. let us have a first response to what this report tales as, and does it surprise you? i am not allowed to speak as a judge. but it does not surprise me at all. we had this meeting about setting targets with lord mackay in 1988 when we were told judges would not go with this in the seniorjudiciary. almost 30 yea rs later in the seniorjudiciary. almost 30 years later it is not acceptable to suggest you could set targets for police officers, prison officers, even other parts of the ministry of justice, but you cannot set them for the judiciary. justice, but you cannot set them for thejudiciary. it is beyond understanding. if they are serious and committed to anti—discrimination across—the—board for minorities, for across—the—board for minorities, for a woman, people with disability, they have two set targets. what is they have two set targets. what is the rationale from their point of view and what credibility to you

clive coleman, bbc news.elling in an audi with 26—year—old tauqeer hussain who was also killed, and a fourth man who was seriously injured when the car ploughed into a taxi in the early hours of sunday. there are fears toys r us could collapse after it was told to put £9 million into its pension fund. it has to come up with the money by thursday in order for the pension protection fund to agree to the retailer‘s restructuring plan. earlier this month, toys r us said it would close at least 26 uk stores, leading to the loss of up to 800 jobs. it has cost more than £3 billion to build. it‘s the royal navy‘s biggest and most expensive ship. and now it has emerged that hms queen elizabeth is leaking. the aircraft carrier was commissioned by the queen less than two weeks ago. but during sea trials, she began taking on 200 litres of water an hour because of a faulty seal. our defence correspondent jonathan beale reports. this morning the royal navy‘s newest, largest and most expensive warship was tied up at portsmo

here's our legal correspondent clive coleman.les ofjustice being u nfa i rly are the scales ofjustice being unfairly kicked against defendants, because the police are not sharing evidence that could help their case? one of the founding principles of the criminal justice one of the founding principles of the criminaljustice system is beset by problems. the bbc understands isaac itiary spent months in jail, awaiting trial on charges of sexual activity with a child. the case against him was dropped yesterday, when text messages from his alleged teenage victim's phone, showed she routinely lied about her age. a few days earlier, the case against liam allan was stopped because text m essa 9 es allan was stopped because text messages showed her victims enjoyed having sex with him. in the last yeari having sex with him. in the last year i have not concentrated on anything so it has ripped apart my normal personal life. the metropolitan police is now carrying out a review into what happened to liam allan, and all the evidence in its curr

clive coleman reporting.completing the main stages of the government‘s brexit legislation. the government accepts an amendment which means they won‘t now suffer a second defeat, this was on the issue of enshrining the brexit date into the legislation. there is a compromise amendment that the government has accepted. meanwhile the eu chief brexit negotiator michel barnier has been talking about the transition period post—brexit, and saying that actually it‘s going to be a bit shorter than theresa may outlined. she said the transition period would be about two years. he‘s saying it will be 21 months, it will end on the 31st of december 2020. this is what he said. translation: another important point, which is also in the european council decisions, relates to the duration of the transition period. it should be of a shorthand specific duration. at florence theresa may referred to a maximum of two years. our position is that this would run logically to the 31st of december 2020, because that's also the duration o

here is our legal correspondent, clive coleman.ing unfairly tipped against defendants, because the police are not sharing evidence that could help their case? one of the founding principles of the criminaljustice system is beset by problems. the bbc understands isaac itiary spent months injail, awaiting trial on charges of sexual activity with a child. the case against him was dropped yesterday, when text messages from his alleged teenage victim's phone, showed she routinely lied about her age. a few days earlier, the case against liam allan was stopped because text messages showed his alleged victims enjoyed having sex with him. in the last year i have not concentrated on anything so it has ripped apart my normal personal life. the metropolitan police is now carrying out a review into what happened to liam allan, and of the evidence in its current rape and sex abuse cases. that review is being conducted jointly with the cps and our investigating officers, to make sure those cases are safe to go to trial. 0ur priority are the 30—so

our legal affairs correspondent clive coleman reports.orted isaac itiary spent four months in jail awaiting trial on charges of sexual activity with a child. the case against him was dropped yesterday when text messages from his alleged teenage victim's phone showed that she routinely lied about her age. a few days earlier the case against liam allan was stopped because text messages showed his alleged victim had enjoyed having sex with him. in the last two years i have just spent worrying and you know, not really concentrating on anything. so it has completely ripped apart my normal sort of personal life. the metropolitan police is now carrying out a review into what happened to liam allan. and of the evidence in all its current rape and sex abuse cases. that review is being conducted jointly with the cps, so with the lawyers in each case and are investigating officers, to make sure that those cases are safe to go to trial, our priority is those 30 something where trials are about to start. i have no reason to believe that there are any

our legal correspondent clive coleman gave us more background to the case.y for these four messages because clearly the defendant in this case had been seeing, there are these messages that assist my defence. effectively, they blow the case out of the water. but what is troubling is the fact that consistently it seems that those telephone messages were not disclosed. that is why the judge has called for an enquiry. it is an absolute cornerstone of the system that the prosecution must add you to —— at you through their duty. there was a —— at you through their duty. there wasa damning —— at you through their duty. there was a damning report about this just injuly of this year by her majesty's inspector of constabulary. they found that in 22% against severely that the schedules of disclosure, what —— were found to be wholly inadequate and a lack of supervision by the police was in a significant cause for concern and 78% of the files examined were marked either pro orfair —— poor or fair. what i deem it and the crown prosecution service saying? —— what i deem i

in a moment we'll be talking to some dads, but first let's speak to our legal eagle, clive coleman.ut says the system is unfair. tom higham is in salford, josh lawsonjoins us from chester and with me here is simon knee. hijosh. hi. here is simon. lucas was two last month. he is around. he willjoin us when he feels like it. tom, the issue is maternity pay is generally higher than shared pa rental leave. generally higher than shared parental leave. how much higher. that is part of it, but mothers get 90% of full pay for several weeks at the start of pregnancy, at the beginning of having a child, while we are not advocating for lower pay for mothers, we're advocating for equal rights to men who take paternalty leave. if you want to create a balanced family and economy and all of the positives that ensues for the child and the family and the work place, you have to make an effort to make pay more equal in a society and in a country where there isa society and in a country where there is a still a huge gender pay gap, 17% or 19%, and also a situation where mothers are given incentives no

our legal correspondent, clive coleman, reports. black and minority ethnic backgrounds make up around 1496 ethnic backgrounds make up around 14% of the population. so it was shocking in a review by the mp david lammy published in september which found that people from these backgrounds make up 25% of the prison population and a1% of the youth justice system. of equal concern, just 11% of magistrates and 7% ofjudges come from these communities. there are many complex reasons for the inequality, but according to this former prisoner, some are simple as communication. we talk with our hands, something as simple as that, it used to get misconstrued as aggressive behaviour, just something that happens in my culture, we talk with oui’ happens in my culture, we talk with our hands a lot. to address the inequality, the review made 35 recommendations including allowing low—level offenders to defer prosecutions and opt for rehabilitation programmes. gathering more data on the ethnicity and religion of offenders and publishing sentence remarks