[Nicholas Witchell:] gentleman. Boos, jeers and some tense moments as the Queen receives the keys of Nicosia. And acquitted, the doctor who prescribed cannabis to save her daughter from death of serious bodily harm. [music] A judge at the Old Bailey has jailed an Irish terrorist for twenty five years for plotting a massive I R A bomb attack in Central London. Patrick Kelly who's forty one was also found guilty of attempting to murder one of the police officers who foiled the plot. P C Raymond Hall was shot last November in North London when he tried to arrest Kelly and an accomplice who were in a lorry which was found to be packed with more than three tonnes of explosives.
[Neil Bennet:] The intuition of two unarmed policemen thwarted the I R A's attempt to plant the biggest ever bomb in the capital. On patrol in North London in the early hours of the morning, they became suspicious about a seven tonne lorry. Part of the number plate was obscured and it had been badly resprayed. It was hardly surprising the two occupants made such a quick getaway when stopped. Three and a half tonnes of home made explosives were inside, needing only seconds to prime. The device was three times the size of the Baltic Exchange bomb and would have devastated buildings within three hundred yards. Giving chase down a side road, one of the policemen challenged two men. One of them pulled out a revolver aiming it inches away from P C Ray Hall's nose. He ducked instinctively and the bullet grazed his head. He felt a second shot hit him in the back and knock him off his feet. He survived to tell an Old Bailey court of his miraculous escape. P C Hall, a former Royal Engineer, who served in the Falklands war before joining the police, said he was convinced he was going to die. Police believe Patrick Kelly was the driver of the lorry in North London rather than the gunman. He had an unlikely background for a terrorist. With convictions in England for gross indecency and importuning. Although he was found guilty in Dublin of kidnapping, he was not a known I R A man. But he and the suspect who escaped, were intent on repeating the mayhem of the City of London explosion eight months earlier. Passing sentence, Mr Justice Leonard told Kelly, the public needed protection from him. His bomb would have caused enormous damage and more importantly, could have killed anyone in the area. The judge said P C Hall's bravery in preventing the attack deserved the highest commendation.
[Raymond:] Er I joined the police five years ago with the intention of helping and serving the public and I think er last year I done it. And today the public have er returned their gesture in honour of me in the returning of the guilty verdict. What I done on that night was no more than any other police officer does or would do in the same situation.
[Neil Bennet:] As he spoke, Patrick Kelly was driven away to begin his twenty five year sentence. Neil Bennet, B B C News, at the Old Bailey.
[Anna Ford:] A twenty one year old student has been cleared at the Old Bailey of raping another student after a drunken Christmas party. Austin Donnellan went on trial at his own insistence because he said he was unhappy with the way the disciplinary committee at London University's King's College was dealing with the case.
[Triona Holden:] Cleared of rape, Austin Donnellan stepped out of the Old Bailey and stepped into an angry scum of photographers and reporters fighting to get close to him. His case, involving an allegation that he raped another student after going out with her, has attracted wide media attention. Almost inaudible in the crush, he thanked everyone who'd helped him in the case.
[Austin:] I'm especially grateful to my friends who supported me by giving evidence.
[Triona Holden:] Mr Donnellan who's twenty one and the woman were students at King's College in London. The court heard how last Christmas they both went to a dance, the woman got very drunk and they ended up back at her room. The court was told she'd alleged she was unconscious when he had sex with her. But he told the court it was quite the opposite. She was not a dead piece of meat, he said, but very energetic in bed. She encouraged sex. Donnellan said that if at any time she'd wanted him to stop, he would have done. The court heard the police became involved in the case at Mr Donnellan's insistence. The woman student and King's College wanted the matter dealt with by the University's disciplinary committee. But Mr Donnellan claimed they wanted him to admit a lesser charge to get him out of the college quietly. He said he refused to accept this because he was not guilty of anything.
[Michael:] The college were going to try the issue before a pr private almost secret little disciplinary committee containing academics and students. And he didn't want that. He wanted it tried out in the open and for his name to be cleared. Decisively and that's happened now.
[Triona Holden:] Mr Donnellan's tutor said the case was important because it dealt with such a sensitive issue.
[speaker008:] The key point to me was as soon as he said n as she said, No, he stopped. In my book that's not rape. And it seems not in the jury's book either and I'm very glad of it.
[Triona Holden:] Moved by the verdict, Mr Donnellan's mother said she was proud he'd taken the case to the police in order to clear himself. The family are now celebrating at a secret location. Triona Holden, B B C News, the Old Bailey.
[Nicholas Witchell:] Women's groups have responded angrily to the jury's decision to clear Austin Donnellan of rape. And the case has again raised the question of what constitutes consent to sex.
[Polly Toynbee:] Scenes like this leading to brief encounters between couples who may scarcely know each other, can some say, cause confusion about sexual etiquette. Is it reasonable for a woman to invite a man to her bedroom, even to undress and get into bed, and still reserve the right to refuse penetrative sex?
[speaker010:] It shouldn't be, Okay, we're in bed together, we're gonna have sex whether you want to or not. If someone changes their mind, they have that prerogative. Er and if someone isn someone might be getting into bed and and not intending to have sex then that's fine as well.
[Polly Toynbee:] However others of an older generation say women should know the risks they take once they take their clothes off.
[Nicholas Witchell:] The male sex drive being what it is, the chances of his being able to stop are less perhaps than she realizes. There is a point for many men which they regard as the point of no return. And as I say, if they are perfect men, maybe they can take a deep breath and stop just like that. But some men can't.
[Polly Toynbee:] Students at London University were almost unanimous today in saying a couple going to bed together didn't necessarily mean the woman consents to sex.
[Neil Bennet:] If the woman has asked him to stop, if she has changed her mind and doesn't want to go through with with the action o of intercourse or whatever, then the man should stop.
[Raymond:] Everybody's very confused by it. Most sex is probably nearer to rape, particularly in one's early years. And we might like to give credit for And I think it's really hard to learn to read the signs.
[Anna Ford:] Both parties, the man and the woman should always be in control of the situation and if for some reason they want things to stop, should have the authority and the power to do that.
[Polly Toynbee:] But some were less sure.
[Triona Holden:] I think if a girl got into bed with you er no clothes, I think the intention to have sex is very clear.
[Austin:] I'm against rape but definitely if a woman er goes to a man's bed then it's quite er er sensible that if a man expects to have sex with that woman. Simple as that.
[Polly Toynbee:] However, social historians say couples having non-penetrative sex goes back a long way. A practice called bundling was quite common in the past. With an unmarried couple in a bed with a bolster down the middle.
[Michael:] They'd just be in their underwear and er it's er there's certain evidence that they engaged in what we would call heavy petting nowadays.
[Polly Toynbee:] Some women say the old idea that a man is uncontrollable past a certain point is absurd. Consent from a woman needs to be gained at every stage during sex, even once a couple are in bed. But others say that this definition of rape will undermine the progress made so far in getting the courts to take rape seriously. It was only two years ago that rape by husbands became illegal. Polly Toynbee.
[Anna Ford:] The Prime Minister has again made it clear he has no intention of scrapping plans to put V A T on fuel and power. During Prime Minister's questions. the Labour leader John Smith urged the government to abandon what he called these foolish proposals. But Mr Major said extension of V A T was a vital part of policies to reduce public borrowing, earlier the Prime Minister presided over a cabinet discussion of the options for next month's budget.
[speaker008:] The cabinet's discussion was hampered by deep uncertainty about the strength of the recovery. Views differed on how much any increase in taxes could threaten the move out of recession. The most cheerful remarks seemed to have been made about the health of Michael Heseltine, who was making his first appearance at the cabinet since his heart attack. The Prime Minister led the welcome, there were cries of, hear hear and a ritual banging of the cabinet table. The chancellor kept his cards very close to his chest. He intends to wait until the last moment before making the vital decision on taxes. Mr Major told the commons that the recovery does seem to have taken root. And he made clear that despite the government's small majority, they would be prepared to take difficult decisions about how to reduce the enormous government deficit.
[Polly Toynbee:] The reality is that we need to cope with the fiscal deficit and we have the courage to do so.
[speaker008:] The labour leader opened up an Autumn offensive against the extension of V A T.
[speaker010:] Does the Prime Minister have the remotest appreciation of the overwhelming hostility throughout this nation to imposing V A T on domestic fuel. In addition to its obvious unfairness, is there not now evidence that the governments tax increases impel consumer confidence and any hope of a recovery. In these circumstances will the Prime Minister now abandon these foolish proposals.
[Polly Toynbee:] Well I think the er right honourable gentleman knows for both I and my right honourable friend the chancellor have made the position quite clear, that the extra value added tax is a vital part of our policies to get public borrowing down but that we will be offering help to people who are vulnerable. If the tax Madam speaker, is as obnoxious as the right honourable gentleman claims, then why did the Labour conference vote and I quote, For a general shift in taxation towards energy resource use? What is that other than VAT?
[speaker008:] The unpopularity of the V A T increase was a key factor in the Liberal Democrats victory in the Christchurch by-election. The government's majority is now down to seventeen. Getting a tough budget through the commons won't be easy. John Sergeant, B B C News, Westminster.
[Nicholas Witchell:] The chancellor's team of independent economic advisors, the so- called seven wise men, have urged him not to do anything in his budget next month to damage the recovery. They've called for the gradual introduction of tax increases balanced by a reduction in interest rates. The chancellor's plans are always the subject of intense speculation as budget day approaches. At the conference of town planners today, he expressed the treasury's customary disdain for most of it.
[Neil Bennet:] Strong rumours that I'm about to tax everything that moves and doesn't move. And this has er been an experience of every chancellor before. Er most of the accounts of what I'm discussing er are pretty well near fiction. Er a and er they will certainly remain secret until I produce my budget.
[Nicholas Witchell:] But the rumours reflect merely what everyone knows, events are conspiring to make this budget a particularly difficult one. The chancellor's major budget headache is that the government is fifty billion pounds in the red. To reduce that borrowing figure, he could cut spending. But the overall expenditure total for next year has already been agreed and it's unlikely that much more could be pared from it. That leaves Mr Clarke with the option of raising taxes. But higher taxes mean that consumers and businesses have less money to spend. And that could damage the prospects for recovery. In their thrice yearly report, the treasury's panel of independent advisors express concern about the economies fragility. They're against large tax increases next month. Instead they want to see a more gradual approach backed by a cut in interest rates.
[Raymond:] We do think that there is a need to increase tax receipts further over the medium term from nineteen ninety five onwards by about one percentage point of G D P, about seven billion pounds. But we do not think the chancellor should raise taxes much next year because the recovery is too weak to accept that.
[Nicholas Witchell:] Figures out today suggested those fears about recovery are well founded. Consumer spending appears to be slowing. The panel believe lower interest rates are needed to boost flagging demand. But they think the chancellor will have no choice but to increase taxes in the longer term as the economic climate improves. The message to the chancellor is a clear one, don't tax now, tax later. But he knows that later means closer to the next election. And while it may be economically desirable to raise taxes then, it might prove politically impossible. Gerry Baker, B B C News, as the treasury.
[Anna Ford:] About a hundred Greek Cypriot demonstrators booed and jeered the Queen today as she was handed the keys of Nicosia. The divided capital of Cyprus. The demonstrators want Britain to apologize for the executions of nine men who fought for the island's independence in the fifties. Here's our Middle Eastern correspondent Michael Macmillan. In Nicosia's old city, a couple of hundred right wing Eoka supporters chanted, The Queen is a traitor, we don't want you here. [chanting] Inside the walls at Famagusta Gate, the shouting could still be heard as the Queen was presented with the key to the city by the Mayor of Nicosia. Those opposed to the Queen's visit had demanded that she be refused the honour both here and in Limassol. It was an uncomfortable affair, the Mayor used it as an occasion to condemn what he called the Turkish occupation of the North of the island and Douglas Hurd looked on clearly anxious that the whole thing be wound up as soon as possible. The chaos continued as they reversed the Queen's Rolls Royce for a quick departure. Her press secretary looked worried. As did her driver. And Mr Hurd who's angered the Greek Cypriots by his plans to meet the Turkish Cypriot leader, declined to comment. He was booed as well. The Queen emerged to more protests but finally forced a smile before she was driven away. Elsewhere in Nicosia there were several arrests and in one incident police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd. It was a day in which the Queen was anxious to leave the past behind and to the end she made a point of meeting Argentinian soldiers who form part of the U N contingent here. It has been a difficult day for the Queen and tonight she's been snubbed following the decision by the municipality of Limassol not to present her with the keys to the town. The palace is playing it all down but clearly this visit is not going according to plan. Michael Macmillan, B B C News, Nicosia, Cyprus.
[Nicholas Witchell:] The time is six sixteen and still to come, big supermarket chains line up to try to stop American style shopping in Britain. The supermarkets say warehouse club shopping should be subject to the same planning laws as they are. And Benazir Bhutto is back as Pakistan's Prime Minister for the second time. [music]
[Anna Ford:] A doctor who gave cannabis to her sick daughter has been cleared of criminal charges at Liverpool Crown Court. Dr Anne denied supplying cannabis. She said she gave it to her daughter because she believed it was the only drug which could help alleviate her condition. She said she'd been following a higher moral law.
[Triona Holden:] The trial lasted a week. Dr always insisting that she wasn't campaigning for the legalization of cannabis. For ten years, Anne who ran a G P practice from her home at Wallasey, tried to obstruct her daughter taking cannabis because she thought it would do her harm. The court heard that Lucy who is thirty three has suffered a serious and intractable illness for thirteen years. Eventually her mother became convinced cannabis could help after reading evidence from doctors in the United States. The s' family priest says the conflict between medicine and law put a tremendous strain on the doctor.
[Austin:] As a doctor she would be i in the dilemma of of trying to give her daughter something which er is not allowed, and yet as a as a doctor she could prescribe other things for other people and here she is as a mother with her own child in her own house, unable to to do anything very much for her.
[Triona Holden:] It took the jury less than an hour to clear Dr.
[Michael:] What she did she did clearly for the benefit of her daughter who was unwell, as any normal natural mother would in the circumstances.
[Triona Holden:] What what are you going to do now?
[speaker008:] I want to go and have a gin and tonic. A double gin.
[Triona Holden:] Dr 's defence had been legally unusual, that of necessity. She believed that supplying cannabis to her daughter was morally right in the medical circumstances. John Thorne, B B C News, Liverpool.
[Nicholas Witchell:] Two men who ran Britain's biggest ecstasy smuggling gang have each been jailed for twenty four years at Maidstone Crown Court. The men, Ronald Maine and Ronald Johnson, headed an international operation, smuggling drugs worth and estimated fifty eight million pounds. Two accomplices were also jailed for their part in the operation.
[Anna Ford:] The supermarket chains, Sainsbury, Tesco and Safeway have applied to the high court to try to stop the opening in this country of an American style warehouse club. Costco is due to open a club at Thurrock in Essex next month and is able to cut prices by keeping overheads low. It's classified as a wholesaler but the supermarkets say Costco should be subject to the same planning rules as retailers.
[Polly Toynbee:] This is the development that's upsetting Britain's supermarket giants. A huge warehouse that's nearing completion at Thurrock in Essex, and which offers the kind of discounts already enjoyed by millions of Americans. Like this Boston store, warehouse clubs are open to members only and though they're pitched at businesses, individuals can join too if they can show they've a steady income and pay their thirty dollar subscription. For that they get access to anything from food to car tyres. Mostly well known brands at up to fifty percent less than they'd pay elsewhere.
[speaker010:] I need to have three of four hundred dollars because before you even get through the store, you just buy.
[Nicholas Witchell:] I believe that the large supermarkets have had it too good for too long. They've had tremendous power in the market place with no competition.
[Polly Toynbee:] American supermarkets have hit back by cutting many of their prices and printing more money off coupons. They save this woman over twenty pounds a trip. Like our own superstores, they stock a much wider range of goods than the warehouses, but experts say supermarkets in Britain should be worried if the clubs do take off here.
[Neil Bennet:] Unless they dramatically change the way they do business, they're going to have problems, they won't go away certainly. I mean people are always going to want to want the convenience of er driving to a nearby established supermarket, but their profit margins will decline.
[Polly Toynbee:] But the big three supermarket chains deny their high court action is to kill off Costco. They say they simply want clubs to be subject to the same planning restrictions they face.
[Raymond:] They're promoting themselves to a very significant extent on the basis that they're selling at cheaper prices to the public. That means in my book that they're er doing retailing. Er if they're retailers then they should er comply with retail regulations as does any other retailer in the United Kingdom.
[Polly Toynbee:] Costco has already put in a second application to answer some of the criticisms. But supermarkets have hinted that they may challenge that in the courts as well. John Andrew, B B C News.
[Nicholas Witchell:] Benazir Bhutto has been sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan for the second time after a decisive victory in the country's parliament over her greatest rival, the Muslim League leader, Nawa Shariff. But her Pakistan people's party must wait until tomorrow to find out if it has the power that comes with control of the key state of Punjab.
[Anna Ford:] After days of coalition building, Benazir Bhutto could only wait to see if it had paid off. Nawa Shariff lost the election and he's lost the battle for the independence and members of minority parties who hold the balance of power. The count was a hundred and twenty one for Benazir Bhutto, seventy two for Nawa Shariff. And from the Prime Minister's chair, a word for the loser. Pakistani voters watched the drama unfold.. a short drive from the capital, is one of the Punjab cities where Nawa Shariff is strongest. His control of the Punjab Assembly neutralized Benazir Bhutto's last administration. The former military dictator General Zir-El-Haaq is still revered here. His son sits in the National Assembly for Nawa Shariff's party.
[Triona Holden:] We have all come out with er with the worst er scenario ever er in the er democratic history of Pakistan. And any government which is going to be formed in the centre I don't think it is going to last for too long.
[Anna Ford:] Benazir Bhutto says that after the summer of turmoil in Pakistan, this could be the last chance for parliamentary democracy.
[Austin:] Everyone knows that if this time round, there is political instability, it may be a long time before Pakistan gets yet another chance at election.
[Anna Ford:] But for now the army is prepared to watch and wait. As Benazir Bhutto was sworn in the news came in that her choice for speaker had been elected in Punjab. The first indication that tomorrow she could take the state. Benazir Bhutto looks to be strong but it's a coalition of convenience not conviction, in a country where politics follows the rules of war, opposition means nothing, winning is everything. Tonight Benazir Bhutto is winning. David Loin, B B C News, Islamabad. The Welsh Secretary, John Redwood, told the House of Commons today that the Welsh Development Agency had tightened up its procedures in the wake of a highly critical report. In July the Commons public accounts committee attacked the W D A for its management practices and for making unauthorized redundancy payments worth more than a million pounds. The Agency's chief executive has since resigned, another director left today and two other directors have been disciplined. Our industry correspondent Stephen Evans reports.
[speaker010:] Why have forty five Japanese companies chose Wales as their European launch pad?
[Michael:] The Agency has painted the brightest picture of Wales around the world. Spending a hundred and seventy one million pounds a year to draw countless foreign firms. But the image was tarnished by the public accounts committee report. Neil Smith, guilty of fraud, became marketing director and interviewed models in a hotel. Redundancy pay of one point four million pounds was said to be excessive. The Agency's chief executive resigned yesterday. One other official has gone, two demoted or reprimanded. Procedures are to be tightened.
[speaker008:] The independent panel that I appointed in July as you are aware, reported yesterday. Its recommendations are severe. However they are comprehensive. And it has given the board opportunity to take the necessary action.
[Michael:] In Parliament this afternoon the debate was over where responsibility lies.
[Polly Toynbee:] It is clear from the report that my predecessors were not to blame and that the primary responsibility lay at exept executive level in the W D A and I suggest honourable members opposite [shouting] read the report [].
[speaker010:] Is it any wonder given such casual leadership from the Welsh Office, that standards in the Agency itself fell to such unacceptable levels. This man's done a fabulous job. The Welsh Development Agency, fabulous job.
[Michael:] But the Prime Minister of the time's favourite W D A head Dr Gwynne Jones has now gone. As Wales seeks growth, the dilemma for the Agency is how to get a commercial go-getting mentality on public money with public control. The government wants devolved decision making. But then tight audits. Labour fears privatization. Stephen Evans, B B C News.
[Nicholas Witchell:] A bill to grant posthumous pardons to all three hundred and seven British soldiers who were executed in the first world war, has gained a formal first reading in the house of commons. The MP who introduced the bill said many of the men who were shot for cowardice were in fact suffering from shell shock. A village churchyard across the muddy fields from the Somme bears testimony to the British soldiers found to have failed their country. Condemned as cowards, deserters, they were shot by their own side in a war which wiped out much of a generation. In the first terrible hours of battle, twenty thousand died as they advanced into the German's heavy artillery and machine guns. One suicidal attack followed another every soldier wavered between courage and fear. In a regiment which had two men shot for cowardice, Reg Glen, now a hundred, says those executed didn't deserve dishonour or death.
[Neil Bennet:] It was shell shock. There was a er no doubt it was a disease. And it could attack anybody. And er more likely to be people of a nervous disposition.
[Nicholas Witchell:] Those men who finally couldn't face going over the top from these trenches on the Somme, met with summary justice. They had little chance to defend themselves at their court marshal, they weren't properly represented and there was very little right of appeal. The firing squads met at dawn. Just behind these front lines. Corporal Harry Farr was shot for cowardice in October nineteen sixteen. At the Somme memorial to those with no known grave, his granddaughter wants a posthumous pardon, to finally purge the shame her family had sought to hide for three generations.
[Raymond:] My mother didn't know until she was in her mid forties. And she only learnt from somebody else that her father had been executed. It was a dreadful stigma.
[Nicholas Witchell:] MP Andrew McKinley says records at the Imperial war museum clearly show the brutality of battlefield justice. His bill now goes forward for a second reading but stands a slim chance of becoming law.
[Anna Ford:] Executed May nineteen sixteen. Dear oh dear.
[Nicholas Witchell:] The families of those shot at dawn, still hope that Ministers who say they won't rewrite history, may yet change their minds and give every victim of the great war, the same respect. Mike Donkin, B B C News, The Somme. And tonight's main news again, an Irish terrorist Patrick Kelly, has been sent to prison for twenty five years for plotting a bomb attack in Central London and attempting to murder a policeman who stopped the lorry packed with explosives. A London University graduate has been cleared of raping a student after a party. And Greek Cypriot demonstrators jeered the Queen as she received the keys of Nicosia. The next national news is the Nine O'clock News but from Anna Ford and from me good evening.
[Anna Ford:] Good evening. [recording ends]