the iopc said there was no evidence of— start.ghts on that?— evidence of racial bias. what are your thoughts on that? i think the iopc has your thoughts on that? i think the lopc has not _ your thoughts on that? i think the iopc has not given _ your thoughts on that? i think the iopc has not given the _ your thoughts on that? i think the iopc has not given the met - your thoughts on that? i think the iopc has not given the met policej your thoughts on that? i think the i iopc has not given the met police a clean bill of health, they have criticised the police on a number of occasions when processes and procedures were not carried out. from my perspective, ijust think, if this had been a white middle—class a2—year—old social worker who had gone missing with no history of going missing before, i do wonder whether it would have been taken more seriously. haifa. do wonder whether it would have been taken more seriously.— taken more seriously. now, i understand — taken more seriously. now, i understand that _ taken more seriously. now,

is one thing i do want to say, which is, as far as i am aware, and this needs to be assured by the iopcdentified. how did couzensjoin the met�*s firearms unit, when there had been a previous allegation of indecent exposure when he worked as an officer in kent, six years ago? what went wrong on vetting? in terms of vetting, the public will be rightly concerned. i have asked that there should be a review of national police vetting standards. couzens was not re—vetted when he became a firearms officer or when he joined the met. i am not going to discuss the details. this is for the iopc to say what happened, but what i can say that there has been much speculation about an incident in kent. no police officer was arrested, charged, convicted at all. the met will allow itself to be examined, but it is not a public inquiry or the resignation that some have called for. lucy manning, bbc news. let's take a look at some of the day's other top stories. and a metropolitan police officer, has been remanded in custody, charged with raping a woman he met on a dating app. st albans' magistrates' court

figures today from the police watchdog, the iopc, show that over the past three years in disciplinaryforces across england and wales have been found guilty of abusing their positions for sexual purposes. 29 have been sacked and ten resigned prior to their hearings. six cases led to criminal conviction. the most serious we have, serious sexual offending and at the other end, we have behaviour such as unwanted contact, excessive messaging, that sort of thing. and what this tells us is that we are investigating it and bringing sanctions for that. the watchdog said the horrific actions of wayne couzens shows the policing must root out abusive behaviour. june kelley, bbc news. sue fish is the former chief constable of nottinghamshire police. she believes the current numbers are just the tip of the iceberg. there is a horrific number of women who are contacting me to say this is their experience of both serving officers now and, indeed, former officers. those that left the service because they couldn't cope with how they were isolated, alienated, and marginalised, because they complained ab

the independent office for police conduct, the iopc, says it's investigating a group of police officersly shared discriminatory messages on a whatsapp group. the messages were discovered during the investigation into the murder of sarah everard. it is now believed that the group included wayne couzens who was yesterday given that whole life sentence. five serving officers, that's five serving officers, are under investigation for distributing the messages which were sent between march and october 2019, in addition to a former officerfrom march and october 2019, in addition to a former officer from the met. three of the serving officers are from the met, one is from the civil nuclear constabulary and one from the norfolk constabulary, who are being investigated for gross misconduct. two of the met officers and another former met officer have been notified by the iopc that they are under criminal investigation for offences under the communications act. that's the latest we have on this whatsapp group which some information has come to light about. let's now cross to simonjones who is outs

is one thing i do want to say, which is, as far as i am aware, and this needs to be assured by the iopcetting? in terms of vetting, the public will be rightly concerned. i have asked that there should be a review of national police vetting standards. couzens was not really vetted when he became a firearms officer or when he joined the metropolitan police. i am not going to discuss the details. this is for the iopc to say what happened, but what i can say that there has been much speculation about an incident in kent. no police officer was arrested, charged, convicted at all. the met will allow itself to be examined, but it is not a public inquiry or the resignation that some have called for. lucy manning, bbc news. asa as a police officer has been remanded in custody after a charge of raping a woman he met on a dating app. the pc david who is 46 denies the allegation. he was off—duty at the allegation. he was off—duty at the time of the alleged offence in september last year and is currently from duty. a nurse charged with murdering aid to babies and attempting to murder ten babies has

this is for the iopc to say what happened, but what i can say that there has been much speculation aboutitself to be examined, but it is not a public enquiry or the resignation that some have called for. lucy manning, bbc news. it's 17 minutes past six — the headlines: the chancellor has defended his tax rises and says no tax cuts until public finances allow. the new rules coming in today which make it easier for travellers coming to the uk. coming up on sportsday on the bbc news channel, a day after watford sacked xisco munoz as manager the club have confirmed 69—year—old italian former leicester city manager claudio ranieri as their new man in charge. how much graduates in england need to be earning before they begin paying back their student loans is currently being considered by the government. at the moment anyone earning just over 27,000 pounds a year starts to repay their debt. but with only 25% of students expected to pay back their loan in full, there are suggestions that threshold could be reduced so that more students start repaying their debt. 0ur education editor branwen jef

figures today from the police watchdog, the iopc, show over the past three years in disciplinary hearingswanted contact, excessive messaging, that sort of thing. and what this tells us is that we are investigating it and bringing sanctions for that. the watchdog said the horrific actions of wayne couzens shows the policing must root out abusive behaviour. june kelley, bbc news. sue fish is the former chief constable of nottinghamshire police. she believes the current numbers are just the tip of the iceberg. there is a horrific number of women who are contacting me to say this is their experience of serving officers now and, indeed, former officers. those that left the service because they couldn�*t cope with how they were isolated, alienated, and marginalised, because they complained about their colleagues. so... but the serving officers are saying it�*s just... nothing has changed. ranks are being closed against them. the complaints are not being investigated properly. they�*re being told, you know, "he�*s such a charming chap, "he�*s a great police officer, he couldn�*t possibly "have d

spinks and the man she accused of stalking her, but the case remains with the police watchdog, the iopc different landscape. suddenly, this thing is a huge great thing and you suddenly see it for what it is. this is a battlefield. its tendrils are highly sensitive to touch. and the monstera is within reach. got it. programmes reveal the deadly struggles that go on between plants. the latest time—lapse cameras capture the intense competition for sunlight. the vine tightens its grip and begins to haul itself upwards. you can build up a sequence into a real drama, so really feel that that particular plant is hell—bent on strangling some other plant, which they often are, of course. so it's quite vicious, the world of plants? plants can be very vicious. any gardener will tell you that — that there is a war going on out there in the herbaceous border. and the attenborough message is that plants are more than something interesting to look at — they are vital for the climate and they are the foundation for all life on earth. the world depends upon plants and we treat them with so little though

spinks and the man she accused of stalking her — but the case remains with the police watchdog, the iopcto really open up, but the figures at the moment we need to show we have got too many cases out there. it is unacceptable to be letting this run at the moment. the transmission rate is almost one, slightly above one. that means that the case numbers are growing very slowly. we can either have these measures in place with a high level of transmission, which is what we have got at the moment, or get the transmission level down and have the same quite mild measures in place and keep the level of transmission stable again. the and keep the level of transmission stable again-— and keep the level of transmission stable aaain. , ., stable again. the message from sage is that a spike — stable again. the message from sage is that a spike in _ stable again. the message from sage is that a spike in infections _ stable again. the message from sage is that a spike in infections that i is that a spike in infections that we saw injanuary is at the moment increasingly unlikely, instead we expect a ser