OP's News

Ballymena school mourns boy, 5, after fatal river fall

Image captionA multi-agency search operation was launched along the Braid River

The five-year-old boy who died in hospital after he fell into a river in Ballymena, County Antrim, has been named locally as Kayden McGowan-Fleck.

Kayden was pulled out of the Braid River on Saturday afternoon in a major multi-agency rescue operation and was airlifted to hospital in Belfast.

Police confirmed his death in hospital on Saturday night.

He was a pupil at Harryville Primary School in Ballymena and the school has paid tribute to him on social media.

‘In shock’

In a message posted on its Facebook account, the school said: “Please remember the McGowan family in your thoughts and prayers at this very sad time as they mourn the loss of wee Kayden.

“The whole school community is remembering you at this sad time.”

Air ambulance at scene — Image captionThe child was airlifted by helicopter to hospital in Belfast

The multi-agency search operation began near the Ecos Centre, a nature park off the Broughshane Road, at about 13:00 GMT on Saturday.

It involved police, firefighters, the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) and Community Rescue Service volunteers.

An NIAS spokesman said they despatched the air ambulance, an A&E crew and a doctor to the scene.

He confirmed that child was recovered from the water at 15:04 GMT, and was flown by air ambulance to the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children.

The child travelled more than 6 km (four miles) along the river from the point where he entered the water to the point where he was pulled out.

Police and firefighters at scene — Image captionFirefighers were also involved in the operation

Sean McCarry, regional commander of the Community Rescue Service, said the boy “accidently fell into the River Braid near the Ecos Centre at Ballymena and was quickly swept downstream”.

“Despite valiant efforts by rescuers form PSNI, the Community Rescue Service and NIFRS, the child was carried a considerable distance downstream in the fast flowing river,” he said.

PSNI Insp Shaf Ali said: “I would like to thank everyone involved in the search effort and extend my sincerest condolences to the family at this time.”

Woman in her 80s stuck in Essex bath for three days

A woman in her 80s has been rescued after becoming stuck in her bath for about three days.

A neighbour called police when she had not seen the elderly woman for several days, and her curtains had not been opened, which was “out of character”.

Essex Police forced entry to the house near Thurrock, where the distressed woman told them she had been “trapped in the bath for up to three days”.

She was assessed and taken to hospital. Her condition is not known.

‘Curtains closed’

“The woman sadly has no nearby family or friends that are able to make regular visits to check on her,” said PC Tom Matthews, who rescued her along with student police officer Tom Currin.

They were alerted by a neighbour at about 14:00 GMT on Wednesday, who said the woman was not answering her door to the postman and the curtains were still closed at the house in Aveley.

“A neighbour spotted a few minor things that were out of character and she rightly called for help,” PC Matthews said.

“When we arrived we could tell that something was wrong, and we had no option to force entry to the property in order to help the woman, who was quickly assessed and taken to hospital.”

Praising the elderly woman’s neighbour, he said this was “an example [of] why it’s essential to check on your elderly and vulnerable neighbours”.

Boris Johnson meets Aung San Suu Kyi for Rohingya talks

Media captionBoris Johnson meets Aung San Suu Kyi for Rohingya talks

Boris Johnson has met Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi for talks amid the Rohingya refugee crisis.

The foreign secretary called for the safe return to the country of refugees who have fled following a military crackdown.

Nearly 700,000 people have left since the action began in August 2017.

The BBC’s Reeta Chakrabarti said there were smiles as the pair shook hands, but said: “The plight of the Rohingya people will be a difficult topic.”

Mr Johnson will later be taken on a tour of Rakhine State – the area the refugees are from – by the Myanmar military and will also meet the chair of the Advisory Board on the Rakhine Advisory Commission, Surakiart Sathirathai.

On Saturday, he met members of the Bangladeshi government and visited camps on the Bangladesh border holding the refugees.

After visiting the Cox’s Bazar camp, home to more than 500,000 refugees, Mr Johnson said the “horrendous living conditions” further strengthened his commitment to finding a solution.

He said: “It is vital that the Rohingya refugees must be allowed to their homes in Rakhine voluntarily, in safety and with dignity, under international oversight, and when the conditions… are right.”

Media captionMyanmar must find a safe and dignified way for Rohingya Muslims to return, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has said.

After meeting Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmud Ali, he said: “I was really struck by how Bangladesh and the UK really share a common analysis of what needs to be done. We need to make those points together to the government in Nay Pyi Daw.”

The United Nations has described the exodus of Rohingya people from Rakhine state, and the military offensive which provoked it, as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.

Two-year plan

Neighbouring Bangladesh has agreed a timeframe with Myanmar for repatriating Rohingya people.

But aid agencies have expressed concern over the projected figures for the transfer – Myanmar has agreed to accept 1,500 Rohingya each week; Bangladesh says it aims to return everyone within two years.

And the refugees are worried about the conditions and their rights upon their return.

Image captionBoris Johnson visited Cox’s Bazar refugee camp as part of the first official trip to Bangladesh by a foreign secretary in a decade

Britain is one of the biggest direct donors of aid for the humanitarian effort to help the refugees.

The foreign secretary’s trip to Bangladesh is the first such official visit in a decade.

He will go on to Bangkok, Thailand, for talks with Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.

Northamptonshire Vietnamese illegal immigrant teens still missing

Police images of Vietnamese immigrants who have disappeared — Image captionThe teenagers had been placed in accommodation by Northampton County Council’s social services department

All but one of a group of Vietnamese teenagers who went missing after entering the UK illegally remain at large two months after a police appeal.

The 13 teenagers, aged between 14 and 18, were housed by Northamptonshire social services after coming to Britain in June and September, police said.

Only one teenager has been found and is currently being safeguarded.

Northamptonshire Police said the appeal resulted in reports across the country “which have all been followed up”.

A spokeswoman said: “The team are still progressing inquiries provided and will do continue to do so.”

‘Concerns’ for welfare

Police said at the time of the original appeal the three girls and 10 males had been placed in homes in Northampton and Corby, having been found in the back of a lorry in Corby in June.

They had disappeared “one after the other” from the locations where they had been housed by Northamptonshire County Council, police added.

The council said it was “still very concerned” about their welfare.

A spokesman added: “There are particular concerns about these young people due to the circumstances of their arrival and given the fact that we had very little time to assess their needs when they came into our care before they went missing.”

Police have not commented on whether the youngsters were trafficked or entered the UK of their own free will.

The missing teenagers, named in the order they appear in the photograph (top row, left to right, followed by bottom row, left to right), and their heights are:

Tung Anh Le, 18
Trong Nguyen, 16, 5ft 4in (1.62m)
Tran Tram, 17, 5ft 2in (1.57m)
Quang Trong Nguyen, 17, 5ft 1in (1.55m)
Quang Dang Le, 16, 5ft 5in (1.65m)
Linh Nguyen, 17, 5ft 4in (1.62m)
Binh Van Hoang, 17
Ha Van Nguyen, 16, 5ft 6in (1.66m)
Ha Van Le, 16, 5ft 7in (1.70m)
Ho Sy Hoang, 16, 5ft 8in (1.72m)
Khoa Anh Yu, 14
Lihn Van Nguyen, 15

Nine-hour rescue for stranded walker

A walker has been rescued in a nine-hour operation after becoming stranded in blizzard conditions about 3,000 ft up a mountain.

Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team was called out on Saturday evening to help the man on Carn Ban Mor, a Munro-height mountain in the Glen Feshie area.

The walker’s feet and boots had frozen, which resulted in him cutting the laces off his footwear.

He was found after rescuers scaled the summit of the mountain.

The mountain rescue team said the coastguard helicopter had made “strenuous attempts” to reach the casualty and drop the rescue team off as high as possible, but that their efforts were thwarted by the blizzard conditions.

‘Kept trying’

A team of rescuers climbed up from the valley to find the man and bring him to safety, reaching him in the early hours of the morning.

In a Facebook post Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team wrote: “We were getting quite concerned for the casualty.

“He had cut the laces off his boots because both his boots and his feet were frozen.

“It sounded like he was in a bad way and it was proving really difficult to get to him.

“In the end, a party of Cairngorm Team members had to climb up from the valley to the summit of the hill to locate and rescue the walker.

“The helicopter crew kept trying to reach the stranded walker through the night, but the weather was simply too bad.

“The rescue effort lasted nine hours.”

Image captionAlan and Neil Gibson had been missing since Thursday

Meanwhile, rescuers in Wester Ross are continuing their efforts to find Neil Gibson, who has been missing since Thursday.

The 63-year-old, along with his brother Alan and their black Pointer dog named Archie, set out for Achnashellach at 07:35.

Alan Gibson’s body was found on Saturday evening.

Mountain rescue teams have been searching on the ground, while both the Inverness and Stornoway Coastguard helicopters have been flying over a huge area in an effort to find them.

UKIP leader Henry Bolton: It’s not all over

Media captionUKIP leader Henry Bolton says he still has ‘strong affections’ for Jo Marney

UKIP leader Henry Bolton is confident he will win the backing of his party in a vote of members next weekend, he told the OP’S NEWS Andrew Marr.

Mr Bolton suggested he was still in a relationship with Jo Marney, whose racist texts about Meghan Markle sparked a no-confidence vote in him.

“There are strong affections there, yes,” he told Andrew Marr.

But he said the party had to reform under his leadership or continue to be on the sidelines in the Brexit debate.

“I am getting a huge amount of support from around the country because the membership know what’s been going on within the party for a very long time and they know I am not responsible for that,” he told Andrew Marr.

“They know that factionalisation needs to be dealt with if the party is going to professionalise and be effective.”

Asked by Marr if his leadership was over, he said: “No, I don’t believe it is.”

‘More evidence’

Mr Bolton, who became UKIP’s fourth leader in 18 months in September, said the party could not afford another “four or five-month” leadership election.

“By then the party will have lost the opportunity to shape the future independence of this country, post-Brexit,” he said.

Mr Bolton faced a string of front bench resignations after the party’s National Executive Committee passed a vote of no confidence in him last month.

Senior UKIP figures said media coverage of Mr Bolton’s personal life – and the way he had dealt with it – had made his position untenable.

The row erupted after it emerged that Jo Marney had sent racist private messages on Facebook, including one saying Prince Harry’s fiancee Meghan Markle would “taint” the Royal Family.

At the time, Mr Bolton, who said the messages were sent before he met Ms Marney, described them as “utterly indefensible” and said he had ended the relationship.

He told Andrew Marr the messages had been taken out of context, adding: “In the days to come there will be more evidence presented as to how they were obtained,”

His future now depends on a vote of party members at an extraordinary general meeting next Saturday in Birmingham.

Energy firms could get welfare data

Details of people on state benefits could be handed to energy firms so they can give them special rates.

The plan, under consideration by the government, is intended as a new approach to help people who are struggling to pay their energy bills.

It would allow power companies to transfer customers to a special tariff set by the regulator, Ofgem.

Energy Secretary Greg Clark said the proposal would help vulnerable consumers.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said data-sharing would take place under strictly controlled conditions and only with customers’ consent.

Safeguard tariff

BEIS said it would open consultation on the proposals on Monday, as it would require a change in the law to allow the necessary data-sharing.

The tariff in question is known as the safeguard tariff cap and was introduced in April last year. It already covers five million people, mainly those on pre-payment meters.

Under the plans, customers receiving specific state benefits would be identified and automatically moved to the safeguard tariff.

Mr Clark said: “The effects of energy price rises are often felt most by those on the lowest incomes, as they are usually on the highest standard variable tariffs.

“These people are at risk of being plunged further into fuel poverty if they are left at the mercy of a broken energy market.

“Enabling energy suppliers to establish who should be on Ofgem’s safeguard tariff cap will help these vulnerable consumers.”

Last week, Ofgem said the savings for people on the safeguard tariff would be reduced from April,but added that it was not designed to be the cheapest tariff on the market.

Mylee Billingham death: Father charged with murder

A man has been charged with the murder of his eight-year-old daughter who was stabbed to death.

Mylee Billingham was found with knife wounds at her father’s West Midlands home on 20 January. She died later in hospital.

William Billingham, 54, of Valley View, Brownhills, is charged with her murder and also with making threats to kill.

He is currently in custody and is due to appear at Wolverhampton Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

The house on Valley View — Image captionMylee Billingham was found with knife wounds at the house in Valley View, Brownhills on 20 January

Post-mortem tests found Mylee died of a single stab wound to the chest.

Mr Billingham, known as Bill, was arrested after the incident and taken to hospital with injuries.

He was discharged from hospital on Friday.

MPs could block Theresa May’s Brexit plan – Anna Soubry

Pro-European Conservative MPs could join forces with Labour to block the kind of Brexit Theresa May wants, a Tory rebel has warned the PM.

Anna Soubry claimed there would be a Commons majority against leaving the single market and customs union.

Labour’s Chuka Umunna, appearing alongside Ms Soubry on the Andrew Marr show, agreed with her comments.

MPs have been promised a “meaningful vote” on the terms of Brexit before it happens in March next year.

“If this government doesn’t get this right,” said Ms Soubry, “the majority of members of parliament, putting their constituents first, will find themselves unable to vote for a withdrawal agreement.”

‘Huge mistake’

Theresa May is set to deliver a major speech within the next three weeks outlining the future relationship Britain wants to have with the EU.

The prime minister has ruled out continued membership of the single market and customs union.

But Ms Soubry, one of 11 pro-European Conservative MPs who defeated the government in December on the right to get a vote on any final Brexit deal, said the PM’s stance was a “huge mistake”.

“Not only is it bad for our economy but it also fundamentally undermines the [Northern Ireland] peace process that was achieved and this is really important,” she told Andrew Marr.

She said she wanted the UK to remain in the European Free Trade Area, like Norway, which would allow access to the single market without being a member of the EU.

Asked by Andrew Marr if they believed they had a majority in the House of Commons to defeat “the kind of Brexit the prime minister wants”, Ms Soubry said: “If she’s not careful, yes.”

Mr Umunna said: “There is no majority in the House of Commons for us simply to jump off a cliff.”

Another referendum?

When Andrew Marr suggested to Ms Soubry that she was politically closer to Mr Umunna than she was to leading Brexiteer and Conservative colleague Jacob Rees-Mogg, she said: “I’m not denying that.”

Asked if she thought Brexit would definitely happen, Ms Soubry said: “I genuinely don’t know what is going to happen.”

Responding to whether it might be stopped, she said: “Well I’ll tell you who might stop it, and that’s the people of this country.

“We won’t stop it. It is the people. We gave the people a referendum to start this process.”

Mr Umunna said he also backed another referendum on the terms of the Brexit deal – something his party leader Jeremy Corbyn has appeared to ruled out.

He claimed the Labour leader – who last month rejected calls to attend a cross-party summit on avoiding a “hard Brexit” – was “open minded” about staying in the single market.

‘National interest’

“I cannot conceive of circumstances where Labour MPs are marshalled to go through the lobby and vote against us staying in the customs union and the single market, with the likes of Jacob Rees-Mogg, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove,” said Mr Umunna.

Both MPs insisted they were acting in the “national interest,” which they said transcended party politics.

Labour’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell said another Brexit referendum would cause divisions and a “better route” would be to have a general election.

“Better we have a general election. On the issue, and all the other issues, because you then have a wider debate as well,” he told told ITV’s Peston On Sunday.

Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable, who is campaigning for another referendum, said: “It is good to see cross-party cooperation between Tory and Labour rebels.”

He said he was “optimistic that the rebellions in both Tory and Labour parties will spread in coming weeks”, and that his party was working with them in the House of Lords.

Oxfam Haiti sex claims: Charity ‘failed in moral leadership’

Media captionPenny Mordaunt: ‘They did absolutely the wrong thing’

Ministers could cut off funding for Oxfam if it cannot account for the way it handled claims of sexual misconduct by aid workers, the international development secretary says.

Penny Mordaunt will meet the charity on Monday to hear more about claims staff used prostitutes in Haiti in 2011.

She said Oxfam had failed in its “moral leadership” over the “scandal”.

She told Andrew Marr other charities should report any similar issues and pledged they would all be followed up.

Oxfam has faced growing criticism over the way it handled the allegations of misconduct by its staff in Haiti, where they were working in the aftermath of the huge earthquake that devastated they country in 2010.

Its own investigation into the allegations led to four people being sacked and three others resigning – among them its country director for Haiti, Roland van Hauwermeiren.

Oxfam has said it was “dismayed by what happened” and has since set up a hotline for people to report sexual abuse and misconduct.

Ms Mordaunt said what is alleged to have happened was “a complete betrayal of both the people Oxfam were there to help and also the people that sent them there to do that job”, describing it as “a scandal”.

And she said Oxfam did “absolutely the wrong thing” by not reporting the detail of the allegations to the government.

Ms Mordaunt said it did not matter how good the safeguarding practices were in an organisation if they did not “have the moral leadership to do the right thing”.

She added: “If the moral leadership at the top of the organisation isn’t there, then we can not have you as a partner.”

She said she was considering whether the organisation should receive any more funding from the Department for International Development – which gave it £32m ($44m) in the last financial year.

Destruction following the 2010 Haiti earthquake — Image captionThe Oxfam staff had been in Haiti as part of the relief effort following the 2010 earthquake

Fresh claims

Meanwhile, Oxfam is facing further allegations, reported in the Observer, that its staff used prostitutes in Chad in 2006.

That mission was also led by Mr van Hauwermeiren, who resigned from Oxfam in 2011 amid the charity’s investigation into the Haiti allegations.

Oxfam said it could not corroborate the latest claims but it said it was “shocked and dismayed” at what it called the unacceptable behaviour by a small number of people.

“Since the Haiti case in 2011 we have introduced a range of measures to prevent sexual abuse and misconduct happening in the first place and improve how we handle any allegations,” the charity said.

‘Culture of denial’

The Sunday Times has also reported new allegations, saying more than 120 workers from UK charities were accused of sexual abuse in the past year.

Ms Mordaunt’s predecessor as international development secretary, Priti Patel, said she was aware of the wider issue of sexual abuse and child exploitation in the aid sector from when she was at DfID.

She told Radio 5 Live’s Pienaar’s Politics there was “a culture of denial in the aid sector about the exploitation and sexual abuse that has taken place historically for decades” and called for a database for “predatory paedophiles” who she claimed could be infiltrating the organisations.

“We need them… to stop this disgusting and corrosive culture of the revolving door in aid agencies,” she added.

Ms Mordaunt said she suspected there were paedophiles “targeting” the sector to carry out predatory activities, saying that was why it was so important that aid organisations reported offences.

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said she was concerned the scandal could lead to fewer people donating to charities.

She told Pienaar’s Politics: “People will be thinking twice about making donations to these charities and if the government is thinking about suspending funding as well to those charities, what happens to those people in acute distress who need the assistance?”

Media captionOxfam former boss knew of sexual misconduct ‘in a lot of places’

On Saturday the Charity Commission said that while Oxfam had reported that it was investigating inappropriate sexual behaviour, bullying, harassment and staff intimidation in 2011, it had not given the full details.

The regulator took no further action at the time but says it would have acted differently had it known all the facts.

Oxfam has denied any cover-up.