Auto parts suppliers warn hard Brexit may set UK sector back 25 years

Business correspondent(reuters/wp):
Failure to secure a trade deal for Britain when it exits the European Union next year could set the UK auto sector back two decades, leading parts suppliers said on Wednesday as they urged leaders to reach agreement at a summit in Brussels.
Europe’s carmakers’ lobby ACEA and suppliers’ association CLEPA, along with BMW (BMWG.DE) and brakes maker Brembo (BRBI.MI), jointly warned that a no-deal exit would be catastrophic for the industry.

The “just-in-time” industry model relied on frictionless trade between Britain and mainland Europe, they said.

“If we are continuing to be taken hostage by this situation, the flourishing UK auto industry could come back to the situation it was at 20-25 years ago,” said Roberto Vavassori, a management board member at Brembo and president of CLEPA.

The recovery of Britain’s auto sector in the 20 years since the decline of British Leyland and its successor Rover Group was based on investment from around the world, he said.

Vavassori said he felt “betrayed” that Brembo’s manufacturing in Coventry, UK, would be a different prospect post-Brexit from the time of its investment 15 years ago.

ACEA said contingency planning by its members included a temporary production shutdowns and scouting for warehouse space to stockpile parts.

“No amount of contingency planning can realistically cover all the gaps left by the UK’s withdrawal from the EU on WTO terms,” ACEA said, referring to a no-deal scenario in which Britain would have no preferential access to EU markets.

Rapist let out for day targeted mother and girl

Pic:Johnson has been jailed for his barbaric attack ( central news )
Crime reporter(wp/es):

A sexual predator serving a life sentence for rape terrorised a mother and daughter while free on day release from  a psychiatric hospital, a court heard. 

Andy Johnson, 47, followed the woman and her 13-year-old daughter to their home and told them: “Do as I say and you won’t get hurt.” 

When the girl started to scream, Johnson was chased away by her father and later arrested nearby. The incident happened as the authorities prepared to free Johnson from custody. 

He had been given three life sentences in 1999 for raping a woman and trying to rape her 10-year-old daughter at their south London flat. 

Former soldier Johnson, also known as Andrew Le Feuvre, posed as a policeman to get into the flat, then threatened to kill the mother and daughter if they did not submit to his demands. 

Sentencing him for the attacks at the Old Bailey, Mr Justice Blofeld said it was “the most horrific sexual offence which ... certainly falls into the worst one or two I have heard.” 

Johnson was sent to maximum-security Broadmoor hospital indefinitely to be treated for his psychopathic disorder, and he was also sentenced to six-and-a-half years two years ago for an attempted rape in Jersey in 1995.

However, by February this year Johnson had been transferred to Bethlem Royal Hospital in Beckenham and was granted periods of unsupervised leave. 

He broke the terms of his release by drinking heavily in a pub in Sutton and smoking the drug spice and tried to chat up women at the bar. 

On the bus back to hospital on February 2, Johnson spotted his victims and followed them to their home, pressing up against the girl as her mother tried to open the front door. 

Sentencing him last week at Croydon crown court to seven years in prison, Judge Deborah Charles said he could receive “no effective treatment” for his personality disorder in a hospital.

The court was told Johnson had been transferred to a lower-security hospital in 2012 when his mental health showed signs of improving. He was allowed unsupervised eight-hour sessions out of custody, with his eventual release pencilled in for next year. 

Johnson admitted trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence. 

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “Restricted patients may be allowed temporarily into the community at the request of a doctor and only after an extremely tough risk assessment.”

No retrial for teacher accused of having sex with pupil on flight

Pic:A jury foreman said it was not realistic that the jurors would return a majority verdict (PA)
Crime reporter(wp/es):

A former teacher will not face a retrial over allegations she had sex with a student in the toilet of a plane.

Eleanor Wilson, 29, denied four charges of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust during a trial at Bristol Crown Court.

Judge Peter Blair QC, the Recorder of Bristol, told the jury of four men and six women they could leave after 10-and-a-half hours of deliberations last week.

The jury foreman informed the judge there was not a “realistic prospect” of a majority verdict being reached.

After this, the Crown Prosecution Service asked for seven days to consider whether it wished to seek a retrial.

On Wednesday, October 17, it confirmed it would not do so.

Ms Wilson was accused of having drink-fuelled sexual intercourse with the teenager on a British Airways flight home from a camping trip in August 2015.

It was alleged the teacher, then aged 26, kissed and cuddled the boy on three other occasions, in addition to the alleged intercourse.

Within weeks of the pair returning from the trip, rumours spread around that Wilson was in a relationship with a student.

When confronted by the head teacher she denied this and said she was "horrified" at the accusation.

At the same time of the rumours spreading, Wilson discovered she was pregnant and went on to have an abortion.

Prosecutors claimed the boy was the father.

Wilson told Bristol Crown Court the boy had imagined the incident in the toilet.

She also denied holding his hand and kissing him during time alone, stating there was “no truth whatsoever" in the allegations.

Wilson, a Royal Navy Reservist, insisted the boy had imagined what he claimed happened in the plane, but he gave evidence and stated a bond had developed between them. 

He told the court he was speaking the truth. 

Ms Wilson, of The Rope Walk, Dursley, Gloucestershire, was released on unconditional bail following last week's hearing.

In July 2017, was banned indefinitely from teaching following a report by the National College for Teaching and Leadership.

Theresa May arrives in Brussels for crunch EU summit

Political reporter(wp/es):

Theresa May has arrived in Brussels to meet EU officials in an effort to save stalled Brexit negotiations from reaching a stalemate.

The Prime Minister will address the leaders of the EU27 countries this evening as she battles to save her beleaguered "Chequers" proposals amid continued opposition within her own party.

The meeting has been called the "moment of truth", as it was originally booked as the event where states would give the green light for Brexit to go ahead.

Before heading to the summit, she was addressing MPs at PMQs where Jeremy Corbyn said her Chequers plan was 'dead'.