BBC presenter Alex Lovell's rape-threat stalker jailed

Crime reporter(wp/bbc):

A man who stalked a BBC presenter with letters in which he threatened to rape her has been jailed.

Gordon Hawthorn, 69, of Street, Somerset, sent the threats to Points West's Alex Lovell over six years.

Ms Lovell started suffering panic attacks as a result of the threats, which included claims he was watching her closely enough "to smell her hair".

At Bristol Crown Court the judge, Martin Picton, said Hawthorn left Ms Lovell "frightened and miserable".

Ms Lovell began receiving Hawthorn's cards at the BBC's regional centre on Whiteladies Road, Bristol, in 2012.

Hawthorn - who was jailed for two and a half years - had previously pleaded guilty at the city's magistrates' court to one count of stalking involving serious alarm or distress.

He sent the presenter letters for more than six years but they became more threatening between January 2016 and March 2018, police said.

His conduct "amounted to stalking and caused Ms Lovell serious alarm or distress, which had an adverse effect on her usual day-to-day activities", the charge stated.

Reacting to the sentence, the 45-year-old said she welcomed the "strong message" sent out by the courts and that "justice has been done".

'Cards just filthy'

"I am really pleased that it is over but also that it sends a strong message that it's not OK and that anyone reporting being frightened in this way is going to be taken seriously," she added.

Ms Lovell said she had suffered panic attacks and at times had been "convinced he was near".

"He said... that he was watching, that he was close enough to smell my hair."

"There were four years of cards that were just filthy, and then suddenly there were two years of threats that got progressively worse."

She added notes were "really terrifying"… and they stated "that he was strong enough to have raped several times before."

Hawthorn was caught following a police appeal, which led to a member of the public telling officers she had received a similar card.

During his police interview Hawthorn was read a number of the messages he sent her.

One card, with a rabbit on the front, said he "only rapes blondes" and asked: "How does it feel... to now learn that your stalker has already raped six women."

It was signed: "From your stalker and soon to be your rapist."

Judge Picton said Hawthorn chose to send "disgusting frightening letters" to the presenter.

"The letters you sent caused distress and fear. She knew the author of those letters was watching.

"When out and about she couldn't be sure you wouldn't be watching for her."

• Man admits BBC presenter rape threats
• Police hunt greetings card stalker

Det Ch Insp Simon Brickwood from Avon and Somerset Police said Hawthorn was "paying the price for his cruel campaign of harassment".

"This case highlights the fact that stalking doesn't have to be physically watching or following someone."

He praised Ms Lovell for her "bravery in speaking out about her distressing ordeal to encourage other victims of stalking and harassment to seek help and report offences".

Oxford Street terror attack plotter 'resisted' de-radicalisation

Crime reporter(wp/bbc):

A man who planned to drive a van into 100 people in London was working with a government de-radicalisation programme at the time, a court heard.

Islamic State (IS) supporter Lewis Ludlow pleaded guilty last August to planning the Oxford Street attack and raising money for terrorism.

But a sentencing hearing at the Old Bailey has now heard he was engaging with the Prevent programme at the time.

Ludlow, from Rochester, Kent, told a contact: "They think I'm stupid."

The former Royal Mail worker, a Muslim convert, has also used the name Ali Hussain.

A phone, found in a storm drain near his home, contained images of "hostile reconnaissance" carried out at London landmarks, prosecutors said.

He was put under 24-hour police surveillance and then arrested in April.

The first of several attempts to engage Ludlow with Prevent had come in 2008 after he had been found carrying a knife at college, the court heard.

Ludlow, an associate of the convicted terrorist Anjem Choudhary, consistently refused to engage until early 2018 when he met an assigned mentor 16 times.

Prosecutor Mark Heywood QC, said an undercover police officer had observed Ludlow telling a contact: "I have been exaggerating my depression and they think I'm stupid. I'm naive but not stupid or mad."

In messages with a female contact, intercepted by police, Ludlow wrote: "I resisted the same programme twice in the past."

The woman had advised him to "be polite with them," adding: "Even if u dont believe it, fake it."

Ludlow, by then under intensive surveillance, replied: "Yes."

Police discovered he was communicating with a leading extremist in the Philippines, planning a multiple casualty vehicle attack in central London, and scouting targets such as the Disney Store on Oxford Street.

In a torn up note recovered from a bin hear his home, Ludlow wrote "it is a busy street it is ideal for an attack. It is expected nearly 100 could be killed."

Mr Heywood said images taken by Ludlow of various London landmarks were "an exercise in reconnaissance" to identify locations to carry out "possible attacks against civilians."

In January 2018, Ludlow bought a ticket to fly to the Philippines but he was stopped at the airport and his passport was seized.

He claimed he was going to the country as a sex tourist but was found to have been in communication with a man named Abu Yaqeen in an area with a significant IS presence.

In March, Ludlow sent him money via PayPal and created the Facebook account Antique Collections, which he was alleged to have used as a front to send money to south-east Asia for terrorism.

The Old Bailey heard he filmed himself pleading allegiance to IS and stated: "I spit on your citizenship, your passport, you can go to hell with that."

The court was also shown images of Ludlow at public events with prominent Islamic extremists Anjem Choudary and Trevor Brooks.

The hearing, which is expected to last three days, continues.

Dredging starts at UK port that may be used in no-deal Brexit

Business reporter(wp/reuters):

Less than three months before Britain leaves the EU on March 29, the transport minister has been forced to defend awarding a 14 million pound ($18 million) contract for shipping goods to a new ferry company that has no ships.

On Thursday the company, Seaborne Freight, came in for further criticism when its business terms and conditions showed references to placing “any meal/order”, prompting speculation on social media that it had copied the format from a takeaway delivery company.

“Seaborne Freight. No ships, no trading history and website T&Cs copied and pasted from a takeaway delivery site,” Tom Watson, deputy leader of the opposition Labour Party, said on Twitter.

The Department for Transport said the company’s section on terms and conditions was put up in error and the company said it was updating its website as part of the launch.

But the furore has raised questions over whether Prime Minister Theresa May’s government has sufficient resources to prepare for its exit from the world’s biggest trading bloc after 46 years.

Currently, Britain’s EU membership means that trucks drive smoothly through border checks within the bloc. But in a no-deal Brexit, even a few minutes’ delay at customs for each truck could mean vehicles backed up at ports and queued on feeder roads on both sides of the Channel.

Britain awarded contracts worth more than 100 million pounds in total to three shipping firms to provide extra ferries. The other two are established operators - French firm Britanny Ferries and Danish group DFDS (DFDS.CO).

The port at Ramsgate could be used if customs checks clog the main terminals of Calais in France and Dover and Folkestone in Britain. The dredging will enable greater access for roll-on roll-off (RORO) ships and could help ease potential congestion.

Seaborne Freight, which has never previously operated a ferry route, told Reuters on Thursday the dredging work had begun and was due to take about 25 days to complete, depending on the weather.

It said it had been working over the last two years to offer once more a service between Ramsgate and Belgium’s Ostend - reopening a route that had closed in 2013.

The start date for its new service has been delayed until late March from an initial mid-February timeline. The company aims to operate two ships initially, which would increase to four vessels by late summer.

Shipping officials have voiced concerns given the complexities of finding RORO ships, which are usually booked in advance, as well as ensuring that smaller ports can provide the proper back-up if needed.

($1 = 0.7940 pounds)

Bristol-Myers bulks up cancer portfolio with $74 billion Celgene deal

Health reporter,bristol(wp/reuters):
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (BMY.N) said on Thursday it would buy Celgene Corp (CELG.O) for about $74 billion (£58.9 billion), creating a major pharma company with several blockbuster cancer drugs as competition in the immunotherapy space heats up.

Bristol-Myers pioneered immunotherapy with its Yervoy and later Opdivo, but has come under pressure as Merck & Co’s (MRK.N) rival treatment Keytruda moved ahead in market share in lung cancer treatment, the most lucrative oncology market.

The deal will create a company with nine treatments bringing in more than $1 billion in annual sales and a significant potential for growth in oncology, immunology and inflammation and cardiovascular disease.

Talks opened in September, with Bristol-Myers approaching Celgene, according to a source familiar with the matter.

BMO Capital Markets analyst Alex Arfaei said the deal addresses a priority for Bristol to diversify from immunotherapy, calling the acquisition opportunistic but expensive.

“This proposed deal does not send a confident signal about Bristol’s independent growth prospects,” Arfaei said in a client note.

Increasing competition for main cancer treatments of both companies and clinical setbacks last year have resulted in investor concern over their future prospects.

Shares of Celgene have lost 38.6 percent of its value in 2018, while those of Bristol-Meyers have shed 15.2 percent.

Last year, Celgene bought experimental cancer drug developer Juno Therapeutics for $9 billion, betting on its chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, known as CAR-T, in a bid to reduce reliance on its mainstay drug, Revlimid.

Brad Loncar, chief executive officer of Loncar Investments, said both companies have made significant mistakes and poor investments in acquisitions and partnerships with smaller companies.

“Both of them were coming into this year kind of limping. Merging together makes the combined entity a lot stronger,” said Loncar, whose firm runs the Loncar Cancer Immunotherapy ETF.

Celgene shareholders will receive one Bristol-Myers Squibb share and $50 in cash for each share held, or $102.43 per share, a premium of 53.7 percent to Celgene’s Wednesday close.

Bristol-Myers shares fell 9.5 percent at $47.10, while Celgene shares rose 33.5 percent at $88.95 in premarket trading.

Celgene shareholders will also receive one tradeable contingent value right for each share held, which will entitle them to receive a one-time potential payment of $9 in cash upon regulatory approval of ozanimod and liso-cel by Dec. 31, 2020 and bb2121 by March 31, 2021.

Bristol-Myers said it expects to speed up a share repurchase programme of up to about $5 billion, subject to the closing of the transaction, market conditions and board approval.

The companies expect to close the deal in the third quarter of 2019. The cash portion will be funded through a combination of cash on hand and debt financing.

The deal is expected to add more than 40 percent to Bristol-Myers’s earnings on a standalone basis in the first full year after the deal closes.

Bristol-Myers has obtained fully committed debt financing from Morgan Stanley Senior Funding Inc and MUFG Bank Ltd.

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC is the lead financial adviser to Bristol-Myers, and Evercore and Dyal Co. LLC are its financial advisers. Kirkland & Ellis LLP is its legal counsel.

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC is serving as lead financial adviser and Citi is the financial adviser to Celgene. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is its legal counsel.

Britain names two women to top Bank of England panel

Banking&Finance reporter(wp/reuters):

Bowe, currently chair of the Banking Standards Board (BSB) industry group, will replace Richard Sharp on the FPC, which monitors risks in Britain’s financial system, from the end of March.

Gadhia, who was chief executive of lender Virgin Money for more than 10 years until it was taken over by CYBG (CYBGC.L), will replace Martin Taylor at the end of June.

“As chair of the Banking Standards Board, Colette has led the way in developing and embedding better standards of conduct across the banking sector,” BoE Governor Mark Carney said in a statement on Thursday.

“Jayne-Anne brings deep and relevant experience in retail banking and her successful business career.”

POLITICAL CONTROVERSY

Since the 1990s Bowe has had several jobs at the top of consumer regulation, notably heading the Personal Investment Authority and Britain’s telecoms watchdog, Ofcom.

As a senior civil servant in the 1980s, Bowe was drawn into a political scandal as former prime minister Margaret Thatcher and her ministers secretly competed to swing the sale of British helicopter maker Westland to either U.S. or European suitors.

Under orders from the trade and industry minister Leon Brittan and with Thatcher’s blessing, Bowe leaked a confidential legal memo to undermine defence minister Michael Heseltine’s bid to secure a European buyer for Westland.

Bowe kept silent about who ordered the leak for nearly 30 years, citing the principle of confidentiality between ministers and civil servants. She once said she had “nothing but contempt for people who blab”.

As chair of the BSB, which was set up in a bid to improve conduct standards at banks after a string of scandals, she told MPs last year that bankers were still too afraid to admit mistakes to colleagues.

GENDER BALANCE

MPs have previously criticised the finance ministry for appointing too few women to the Bank’s three main monetary, financial and regulation policy committees.

Bowe and Gadhia will bring the total number of female policymakers at the Bank to six, compared with 16 men.

The finance ministry said it interviewed five women and three men for the posts.

Gadhia has long been an advocate for greater representation of women in senior roles in Britain’s financial services, where the four big banks all have male chief executives and chairmen.

Gadhia and Bowe will at some point appear before MPs from parliament’s Treasury Committee.

UK ticket-holder scoops £115m EuroMillions jackpot

Staff reporter(wp/bbc):

A UK lottery player has come forward to claim the £115m New Year's Day EuroMillions jackpot.

The National Lottery said the win is the fourth biggest in UK history and follows a series of big British lottery successes in recent years.

A further 10 UK players have each pocketed £1m after the Millionaire Maker codes on their tickets were picked.

The winning numbers were 01, 08, 11, 25, 28, with Lucky Stars 04 and 06.

Tuesday's ticket-holder matched all seven numbers to take a total jackpot of £114,969,775.70.

Lottery operator Camelot said the winner will choose whether to be named when the ticket is validated and the prize money paid.

The win comes after builder Andrew Clark from Boston, Lincolnshire, was last month revealed as the winner of a £76m EuroMillions jackpot. He found his ticket tucked in the visor of his van six weeks after the draw.

The largest EuroMillions prize in the UK of 2018 - and the third biggest win of all time - was £121m to an anonymous ticket-holder in April.

The biggest lottery prize in UK history is the £161m EuroMillions jackpot won by North Ayrshire couple Chris and Colin Weir in 2011.

In August 2012, Adrian and Gillian Bayford, from Haverhill, Suffolk, won more than £148m.

EuroMillions is played in nine countries - the UK, Austria, Belgium, France, the Irish Republic, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland - with ticket-holders trying to win a share of the same jackpot.

Forced marriage victims asked to pay rescue costs

Staff reporter(wp/bbc):

British victims of forced marriages overseas are being asked by the Foreign Office to pay costs associated with their own rescue, it has been revealed.

An investigation by the Times found those unable to cover flights, food and shelter were made to take out a loan.

MPs have condemned the practice as "astonishing" and "immoral".

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he wanted the matter looked into and all British officials abroad should act with "compassion and humanity".

According to the report in the Times, British victims of forced marriage who ask for help abroad are informed about the costs.

UK officials will help them access their own funds, and contact friends, family or organisations that can assist them. But if they cannot find the money, they are asked to sign emergency loan agreements before returning home.

The Foreign Office says it will find funding options for those under the age of 18.

• Javid promises forced marriage crackdown

It has confirmed that between 2016 and 2017, 82 people were repatriated with the support of the government's Forced Marriage Unit and up to 12 loans were granted.

The Times says a Freedom of Information request showed the Foreign Office loaned £7,765 to at least eight victims in the past two years.

About £3,000 has been repaid, but debts of more than £4,500 are outstanding.

The victims helped last year are reported to include seven women found imprisoned in a "correctional school" in Somalia.

Four of the group, who were each charged £740, told the Times the demand had pushed them to the financial brink.

Under Foreign Office terms and conditions, a surcharge of 10% is added if the loan is not repaid within six months.

However, the department said its loans, which can be repaid at £5 a week, were more generous than commercial options.

Charging 'immoral'

Pragna Patel, the founder of Southall Black Sisters - which campaigns on the issue of forced marriage - described the policy as "unprincipled and immoral".

She said the costs would act as "a major deterrent" to people seeking protection from forced marriage.

Tom Tugendhat, the Conservative chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said MPs "will ask questions about this decision".

Writing on Twitter, he said the Foreign Office is "rightly proud" of the forced marriage unit "but we shouldn't be charging the most vulnerable for their own protection or dissuading them from asking for it".

Yvette Cooper, chairwoman of the Home Affairs Committee, tweeted: "Completely appalled by this. Forced marriage is slavery. For Govt to make victims pay for their freedom is immoral. Ministers need to put this right fast."

A leading expert on forced marriage said the policy was "morally wrong". "Protection should not have a price tag," tweeted Aisha Gill, Professor of Criminology at the University of Roehampton.

As home secretary, Theresa May introduced new laws targeting forced marriage in 2014, and the current Home Secretary Sajid Javid vowed in Augustto "do more to combat it and support victims".

The Foreign Office said emergency loans were used to remove vulnerable people from high-risk situations when there were no other options available to them but "as they are from public funds, we have an obligation to recover the money in due course".

It added that, in most cases, the person would have to give up their passport to the government in order to get a loan.

The passport is not returned until the owner has repaid their loan in full. If the loan is not repaid after six months a 10% surcharge is added to total.

Unless there are "exceptional circumstances", the Foreign Office will not help British nationals return home.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid said the Foreign Office and the Home Office were doing "an incredible amount to combat forced marriage".

"With this news it's something again for us to focus on and make sure we're doing everything we can," he added.

Mr Hunt, who is on a visit to Singapore, said he had asked officials to give him "proper advice on the whole issue".

"I have always stressed to embassies and posts abroad that they need to use discretion," he told BBC Radio 4's Today.

"Of course, we should behave with compassion and humanity in every situation but I want to get to the bottom of this particular issue."