Killed teacher was 'shining light'

1 May 2014 Last updated at 10:46

The family of teacher Ann Maguire, who was stabbed to death at a school in Leeds, have described her as "a shining light" who "brightened the world".

Mrs Maguire, 61, had worked at Corpus Christi Catholic College for more than 40 years before she was attacked in front of pupils on Monday.

In a statement, her family said they were "devastated" at her death.

A 15-year-old boy has appeared at Leeds Youth Court and was remanded in custody charged with Mrs Maguire's murder.

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Danny Savage North of England Correspondent, BBC News

---

Every seat was taken in Court 20 at Leeds Youth Court.

In court were the parents of the 15-year-old boy accused of Ann Maguire's murder, to whom he nodded as he walked in.

Also in court was Mrs Maguire's husband - who stared intently at the youth - and her daughters and a nephew.

The boy said, "yeah" four times in reply to questions asked.

He will appear via video-link in front of Leeds Crown Court on Friday.

The boy, who cannot be named, is due to appear via video-link at Leeds Crown Court on Friday.

In the statement, issued by West Yorkshire Police, Mrs Maguire's family described her as "a loving wife, the best mother, a treasured sister, a true friend".

"We are devastated. Her selfless, genuine, caring nature will remain with us eternally," they added.

Family members said they were "overwhelmed" by the support, sympathy and tributes they had received which were "a source of great comfort at this dark time".

The statement added: "Ann, we will love you always, your loving family."

Mrs Maguire, who taught Spanish, was due to retire in September after a 40-year career.

She had joined Corpus Christi, a 950-pupil college in the Halton Moor area of Leeds, as a student teacher and last year the school had celebrated her 40th year of service.

Mrs Maguire lived in the Moortown area of Leeds with her husband, Donald, and is understood to have had two daughters.

Hundreds of floral tributes have been laid outside the school by current and former pupils since Monday.

A book of condolence was also opened at the church that adjoins the school.

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Police quiz Adams on woman's murder

1 May 2014 Last updated at 07:07

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Speaking to Irish broadcaster RTE before his arrest, Mr Adams said he was "innocent of any part" in the murder of Mrs McConville

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams continues to be questioned by Northern Ireland police in connection with the 1972 murder of Jean McConville.

Mr Adams has spent the night in custody after going to Antrim police station, where he was arrested.

Speaking before his detention on Wednesday evening, Mr Adams said he was "innocent of any part" in the murder.

Mrs McConville, a 37-year-old widow and mother-of-10, was abducted and shot by the IRA.

Her body was recovered from a beach in County Louth in 2003.

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Police said a 65-year-old man presented himself to officers at Antrim police station and was arrested.

'Malicious allegations'

In a statement, Sinn Féin said: "Last month Gerry Adams said he was available to meet the PSNI about the Jean McConville case. That meeting is taking place this evening."

Mr Adams added: "I believe that the killing of Jean McConville and the secret burial of her body was wrong and a grievous injustice to her and her family.

"Well publicised, malicious allegations have been made against me. I reject these.

"While I have never disassociated myself from the IRA and I never will, I am innocent of any part in the abduction, killing or burial of Mrs McConville."

His party colleague Alex Maskey condemned the timing of the arrest, just over three weeks from the European and local government elections.

However, Mrs McConville's son Michael, who was 11 when his mother was murdered, welcomed the arrest.

"We're just happy to see everything moving as it is moving at the minute," Mr McConville said.

"Me and the rest of my brothers and sisters are just glad to see the PSNI doing their job. We didn't think it would ever take place [Mr Adams' arrest], but we are quite glad that it is taking place.

"All we're looking for is justice for our mother. Our mother, on the seventh of next month, would have been 80 years of age.

"Although we didn't spend much time with our mother, we'd have like to have spent a lot of time with her. If the IRA hadn't have killed our mother, God knows, she still might have been alive today."

Mrs McConville, one of Northern Ireland's so-called Disappeared, was kidnapped in front of her children after being wrongly accused of being an informer.

Last month, Ivor Bell, 77, a leader in the Provisional IRA in the 1970s, was charged with aiding and abetting the murder.

There have also been a number of other arrests over the murder recently.

The case against Bell is based on an interview he allegedly gave to researchers at Boston College in the US.

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• Dozens of former IRA members were interviewed in Belfast and other cities and towns from 2001-2006 as part of an oral-history project known as the Belfast Project
• Details about internal politics and activities of the IRA were revealed on tape, including accounts of a hunger strike in prison in the 1980s
• Overall the project cost about $200,000 (£118,520), mostly provided by an Irish-American businessman
• Each interview was transcribed, sent by encrypted email to New York and then the material was sent to Boston College
• Here the material was placed under lock and key at Burns Library, until some were released to the Police Service of Northern Ireland last year following a legal battle with the college

Sources: Chronicle of Higher Education, New York Times

The Boston College tapes are a series of candid, confessional interviews with former loyalist and republican paramilitaries, designed to be an oral history of the Troubles.

The paramilitaries were told the tapes would only be made public after their deaths.

However, after a series of court cases in the United States, some of the content has been handed over to the authorities.

Informer claim dismissed

The claim that Mrs McConville - who was abducted from her flat in the Divis area of west Belfast - was an informer was dismissed after an official investigation by the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman.

She was held at one or more houses before being shot and buried in secret.

The Disappeared are those who were abducted, murdered and secretly buried by republicans during the Troubles.

The IRA admitted in 1999 that it murdered and buried at secret locations nine of the Disappeared.

The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains was established in 1999 by a treaty between the British and Irish governments.

It lists 16 people as "disappeared". Despite extensive searches, the remains of seven of them have not been found.

Mr Adams has never been charged with membership of the IRA. He was, however, interned in 1972 under the controversial Special Powers Act, but briefly released in order that he could take part in talks in London between representatives of Sinn Fein and the then Home Secretary Willie Whitelaw.

He was later re-arrested and interned at Long Kesh. Following an aborted escape attempt he received a prison sentence.

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Travel problems ease after IT fault

1 May 2014 Last updated at 10:27

Airports and sea ports are returning to normal following an IT glitch which caused long delays for passengers.

The fault on UK Border Force computers, which began on Wednesday, disrupted airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Birmingham with ports such as Dover and Southampton also affected.

The Home Office apologised and said engineers had been working "through the night" on the issue.

Gatwick and Heathrow airports said it was "business as usual" by Thursday.

On Thursday morning, Immigration Minister James Brokenshire said: "The current situation is much improved and we are doing our best to keep waiting times to a minimum during this morning's busy period.

"We apologise for any delays but security must remain our priority at all times."

A spokesman for Gatwick Airport told BBC News that the queues had reduced overnight, that its IT systems were "back up and running" and it was "business as usual" for passengers.

Officials at Heathrow confirmed there were no queues at their terminals on Thursday morning.

The glitch meant that UK Border Force staff were forced to manually input passport details for those arriving in the UK rather than simply scanning documents.

The delays had a particular impact on non-EU passengers, and extra Border Force staff were called in to try to reduce the queuing time.

The BBC's Sarah Falkland said delays of up to 90 minutes befell passengers on Wednesday evening, while the queuing time at Gatwick was even longer.

Continue reading the main story

Border agency staff were professional, friendly and helpful but clearly struggling with failed computers"

End Quote Christian Walton

She said the problem affected both self-service e-Passport gates - which operate by running a facial recognition check against a traveller's passport - and manned customs desks.

At London Luton Airport, passenger Simon Kalman, 57, of Golders Green, London, told BBC News he had been queuing alongside about 2,000 other people, and had waited for almost two hours.

Mr Kalman, who arrived at the airport at 22:45 BST on Wednesday after flying in from Barcelona, said: "It was a total mess, there was limited water available and people were getting very frustrated."

Christian Walton said the immigration hall had been "packed" at Heathrow airport after his flight from Zurich landed on at 19:50 BST on Wednesday.

He said: "Nobody could tell us how long the wait would be. It took about 20 minutes for somebody to start handing out water, but only after people complained.

"People were joking a bit, generally well-behaved and resigned to a long wait, typically British.

"Border agency staff were professional, friendly and helpful but clearly struggling with failed computers."

Are you at a UK airport or do you know someone who has been affected by the delays? Do you have any information you would be willing to share with the BBC? You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with the subject line "Travel disruption".

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IMF approves $17bn Ukraine bailout

1 May 2014 Last updated at 03:11

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The head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, said there would be regular checks on Ukraine's progress

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a $17.1bn (£10.1bn) bailout for Ukraine to help the country's beleaguered economy.

The loan comes amid heightened military and political tension between Ukraine and neighbouring Russia.

The loan is dependent on strict economic reforms, including raising taxes and energy prices.

The money will be released over two years, with the first instalment of $3.2bn available immediately.

The head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, said the IMF would check regularly to ensure the Ukrainian government followed through on its commitments.

In March Ukraine put up gas prices by 50% in an effort to secure the bailout.

The government has also agreed to freeze the minimum wage.

The bailout had to be approved by the IMF's 24-member board, which includes a Russian representative.

The IMF loan will also unlock further funds worth $15bn from other donors, including the World Bank, EU, Canada and Japan.

Russian recession

In December last year, Ukraine agreed a $15bn bailout from Russia, but this was cancelled after protests forced out pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych.

On Wednesday, the IMF warned that Russia was "experiencing recession" because of damage caused by the Ukraine crisis.

The fund said $100bn (£59bn) would leave Russia this year, partly caused by US and EU and sanctions.

The sanctions were imposed after Russia annexed the Crimea region from Ukraine last month.

Pro-Russian activists have taken over scores of government buildings in cities and towns across eastern Ukraine, though the Kremlin denies its forces are involved.

The activists have also taken hostages including international monitors.

Tens of thousands of Russian troops are stationed close to the Ukrainian border, and Moscow has warned that its soldiers will act if Russian interests in eastern Ukraine - where a majority of the population are Russian-speaking - are threatened.

The US and EU have accused Russia of failing to implement the terms of a deal agreed in Geneva aimed at defusing the crisis by disarming illegal militias.

They have both stepped up sanctions against Russia this week, naming more individuals and companies facing travel bans and asset freezes.

Moscow blames Kiev for the unrest and has condemned the sanctions

Further funds

The IMF bailout will also make available $1bn in loan guarantees from the US, which was recently approved by Congress.

"Today's final approval for the $17bn IMF programme marks a crucial milestone for Ukraine," said US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew in a statement.

He added that the bailout will "enable Ukraine to build on the progress already achieved to overcome deep-seated economic challenges and help the country return to a path of economic stability and growth".

Earlier on Wednesday, an international conference in London ended with a commitment to help Ukraine recover tens of billions of dollars worth of assets which were allegedly stolen by the ousted President Yanukovych and his allies.

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Labour plans to cap rent increases

1 May 2014 Last updated at 08:26

A future Labour government would cap rent increases in the private sector and scrap letting fees to estate agents to give a "fairer deal" to tenants.

Ed Miliband will pledge to end "excessive" rent rises when he launches his party's campaign for local council and European elections.

An "upper limit" on rises will be put in place based on average market rates.

The Labour leader will also call for longer, securer tenancies and rental charges of up to £500 to be axed.

The Conservatives said evidence from other countries suggested rent controls lead to "poorer quality accommodation, fewer homes being rented and ultimately higher rents".

Speaking in north-east London, Mr Miliband will say a "cost-of-living crisis" affecting millions of families will be at the centre of Labour's four-week campaign before the polls on 22 May.

'Generation rent'

A generation of people have been unable to get on the housing ladder due to spiralling prices and yet the needs of long-term tenants have too often been neglected, he will argue.

"'Generation rent' is a generation that has been ignored for too long," he will say.

Continue reading the main story

We need to deal with the terrible insecurity of Britain's private rental market"

End Quote Ed Miliband Labour leader

"Nine million people are living in rented homes today - over a million families. That is why a Labour government will take action to deliver a fairer deal for them too."

Too many tenants, Mr Miliband will argue, are vulnerable to being asked to leave their properties at short notice under current rules - sometimes because a landlord wants to put the rent up.

Citing figures suggesting rents have risen by 13% on average since 2010, equivalent to £1,020 a year, Mr Miliband will say tenants need greater protection and predictability regarding their monthly outgoings.

Under Labour's plans, landlords and tenants would agree initial rents based on "market value" and, thereafter, a review could only be conducted once a year.

While landlords would still be able to increase what they are charging following changes in market conditions, there would be an "upper ceiling" to prevent rent hikes out of step with the overall market.

The threshold would be based on an industry benchmark of average rent rises. The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors is currently considering what an appropriate figure would be.

Tenancy agreements

Estate agents would also no longer be able to charge a letting fee for renting out properties in addition to requiring a deposit and the first month's rent upfront.

Although fees vary widely at the moment, Labour said tenants were having to pay an average of £355 each time they moved into a new property.

Rules on tenancy agreements would also be changed to give more certainty to tenants wanting to remain in their properties for an extended period.

As now, a tenant would be able to terminate a tenancy after the first six months, with one month's notice.

But a landlord could only do so with two months' notice and if certain conditions were met, such as the tenant failing to meet their rental payments, engaging in anti-social behaviour or breaching their contract in other ways.

After the six-month probationary period, contracts would automatically run for a further 29 months.

During this period, landlords could only ask tenants to leave for a breach of contract, or if they wanted to sell the property or needed it for their own use, not as a way of raising the rent.

Students and business people on flexible contracts would still be able to request shorter tenancies while existing contracts for buy-to-let properties agreed before the changes took place would be honoured.

Under current rules, tenants already have the right to challenge "excessive" charges and to be protected from "unfair eviction and unfair rent".

Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps said the Labour plan was a "short-term gimmick" and accused the opposition of "political tampering".

"The only way to raise people's living standards is to grow the economy, cut people's taxes and create more jobs. We have a long-term economic plan to do that, Ed Miliband doesn't."

Housing charity Shelter welcomed any move towards more "modern, stable rental contracts" but the Institute of Economic Affairs said rent controls would distort the market and create "perverse incentives" for landlords in areas where market rents rise quickly.

On Europe, Mr Miliband will claim that Labour's priority will be to change the way the European Union works rather than seeking to leave.

Labour has promised an in-out referendum on the UK's membership of the EU if further powers are transferred from London to Brussels, but admits this is "unlikely" during the next Parliament.

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Police 'don't record fifth of crime'

1 May 2014 Last updated at 09:40

A fifth of crimes in England and Wales could be going unrecorded by police, according to a report.

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) said 14 alleged rapes were among the offences that had not been recorded by officers.

One report of rape was not recorded because of "workload pressure", the inspection of 13 forces found.

Home Secretary Theresa May said the report exposed "unacceptable failings" by the police.

HMIC - which inspects and monitors the 43 police forces in England and Wales - is conducting an inspection into the recording of crime data.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

Each mistake represents a victim losing their chance to get justice and to access support services"

End Quote Adam Pemberton Victim Support

If its initial findings were repeated across England and Wales, it could mean 20% of all crimes were going unrecorded, it said.

'Unethical behaviour'

Mrs May said it was "quite possible" the HMIC study could lead to an increase in recorded crime.

An unrecorded crime is classed as one that is reported to the police, but not recorded as an offence.

The failure rate was too high, HMIC found.

"We believe that it is weak or absent management, poor knowledge on the part of those making the crime recording decisions with the crime recording rules, weak or absent training or workload pressures," said Chief Inspector of Constabulary Tom Winsor.

"But because the failure rate is as high as it is... it is impossible to rule out discreditable or unethical behaviour."

Continue reading the main story

Forces inspected so far:

• Cheshire
• City of London
• Devon and Cornwall
• Essex
• Gloucestershire
• Greater Manchester
• Gwent
• Hertfordshire
• The Metropolitan Police
• Norfolk
• North Wales
• North Yorkshire
• South Yorkshire

Inspectors listened to original calls from the public and the resulting incident reports to check whether or not crimes had been recorded correctly.

Out of a sample of 3,102 incidents across 13 forces audited so far, HMIC found 2,551 crimes should have been recorded but 523 were not. This included reported sexual offences, violent crimes, robbery and burglary.

Describing "workload pressure" being cited as the basis for not recording a report of rape, the report said: "In this example, it was considered that recording the crime would entail too much work, as the officer made a judgment that the circumstances of the complaint made it unlikely that the case would be prosecuted."

Met officer James Patrick said he was forced to resign from the force after raising concerns similar to those in the report.

"I started discussing this on a blog way back in 2012 and I feel like telling the truth has resulted in a negative impact," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"Victims weren't receiving the right service."

The watchdog also found some offenders were being wrongly given out-of-court disposals, including cautions and fixed penalty notices. In one in 10 cases, the measure could not be justified because of the individual's offending history, it said.

Adam Pemberton, of the Victim Support charity, said unrecorded crimes were "completely unacceptable".

"This is about much more than inaccurate statistics or poor number-crunching - each mistake represents a victim losing their chance to get justice and to access support services."

Crime stats 'could rise'

Mrs May said: "HMIC's interim report exposes unacceptable failings by the police.

"It is quite possible, once HMIC has completed its work on recorded crime statistics and made recommendations on how the police need to improve, that we will see an increase in recorded crime.

"If that increase is driven by improved accuracy in the recording of crime or more victims reporting crime to the police, we should welcome it.

"Such an increase would not mean that crime itself is rising."

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: "Though only an interim report, the Inspectorate's findings are extremely serious."

Although HMIC has only inspected 13 of 43 forces so far, this covers 60% of crimes, because two of the largest - the Metropolitan Police and Great Manchester Police - have already been done, HMIC said.

The other forces already inspected are Cheshire, City of London, Devon and Cornwall, Essex, Gloucestershire, Gwent, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, North Wales, North Yorkshire and South Yorkshire.

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Call for smear tests for under-25s

By Charlotte Hayward Newsbeat reporter

1 May 2014 Last updated at 10:35

The twin of a teenager from Liverpool who died from cervical cancer says it was her sister's "only wish" to have the age at which girls are routinely offered smear tests to be lowered.

Sophie Jones, 19, died in March from the disease.

Her death led to an online petition which has attracted more than 300,000 signatures and is now being debated in the House of Commons by MPs.

"It was Sophie's only wish to have the age lowered," said Ashleigh Jones.

"[It was] so that another family of a 19-year-old girl doesn't have to go through the process of what we went through."

Sophie Jones hadn't been tested for cervical cancer because doctors thought she was too young

At the moment the NHS routinely screens women over 25 in England, Northern Ireland and Wales.

In Scotland it's women over the age of 20 but there are plans to raise that to 25 next year.

Peri Cawley, Sophie's mother, says she wants young girls to be able to make the choice about whether to go to their GP with possible symptoms such as vaginal bleeding or cramps and be offered a smear test.

I don't speak to anyone about it because then it's real

Ashleigh Jones

The family say Sophie was originally misdiagnosed with Crohn's disease before doctors discovered she had cervical cancer in November 2013.

Ashleigh said it was unbearable to watch her sister go through such intense pain.

"I don't speak to anyone about it because then it's real," she admitted.

"To see her with her cheek bones sticking out, it just wasn't her, she wasn't that person."

The MP for Wirral South, Alison McGovern, said the debate was a "massive tribute to Sophie and all her wonderful friends and family" and that GPs needed to have more awareness around the condition.

She added: "This is a really important opportunity to ask questions of the government about what more they can do to make sure that this is not likely to happen to anyone else."

We had no evidence of benefit and some evidence of harm so we stopped

Professor Julietta Patnick, Director of NHS Cancer Screening Programmes in England

The director of NHS Cancer Screening Programmes in England, Professor Julietta Patnick, says girls are only called for a test from 25 because the screening test doesn't work very well below that age.

"Women who had their cervixes treated at a young age, when they were pregnant they quite often ended up with a premature delivery, compared with women who didn't have their cervix treated," she said.

"We had no evidence of benefit and some evidence of harm, so we stopped."

Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube

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Sacking over poor elderly home care

30 April 2014 Last updated at 08:17 By Alison Holt BBC Panorama

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Secret filming by BBC Panorama shows some residents being taunted, roughly handled and one being slapped

One staff member has been sacked and seven suspended from one of England's largest care homes after an undercover probe by BBC Panorama found poor care.

The filming at the Old Deanery in Essex showed some residents being taunted, roughly handled and one was slapped.

The home said it was "shocked and saddened by the allegations".

Care Quality Commission figures seen by the BBC show over a third of homes that received warning notices since 2011 still do not meet basic standards.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

People shouldn't be getting into this business if they don't care"

End Quote Andrea Sutcliffe Care Quality Commission

Allegations of poor care and mistreatment at the 93-bed home in Braintree, where residents pay roughly £700 per week, were first raised by 11 whistleblowers in August 2012.

Essex County Council put it on special measures for three months until concerns were addressed.

But secret filming by Panorama's undercover reporter over 36 shifts found many of the same sorts of issues reported a year earlier, including:

• a woman slapped by a care worker who had previously been complained about for her poor attitude towards residents

• the same woman, who has dementia and is partially paralysed after a stroke, was also repeatedly mocked and taunted by other care workers

• cries for assistance from a resident suffering a terminal illness ignored as she sought help for the toilet, and her call bell for assistance left unplugged on one occasion

• a resident bed-ridden with a chronic illness left lying in his own excrement after two care workers turned off his call bell without assisting him

Alex Lee, the reporter who conducted the undercover filming, said she saw "many good care workers trying their best" - but also saw some staff "mock, goad, taunt, roughly handle and ignore" elderly residents.

"Some were even left in their own mess for hours," she said.

Last November, while Panorama was undercover, the home was inspected by the regulator and passed for the first time in 18 months.

When the CQC revisited this February after being told about Panorama's findings, they found too few staff and some residents waiting an "unacceptably long time" for call bells to be answered.

Continue reading the main story

Panorama: Find out more

• Behind Closed Doors: Elderly Care Exposed, BBC One, Wednesday 30 April at 21:00 BST

Anglia Retirement Homes Ltd, which runs the Old Deanery, said the incidents involved a "small number of staff" and were not reflective of the high standards of care it demanded.

A statement said: "As soon as the new management team was made aware of the allegations we took immediate action.

"We hired an independent law firm to carry out a full investigation as a matter of urgency.

"Eight staff were immediately suspended, and have not returned to work, pending a full inquiry.

"Our priority remains the health and wellbeing of our residents and we have more than 200 dedicated members of staff who remain committed to the highest standards of care."

It added: "The care worker responsible for slapping a resident has been summarily dismissed."

Whistle-blowers

The company was taken over by new owners in November 2013.

A former care assistant at another home, who became a whistleblower, said she had experienced problems not being solved. Eileen Chubb runs a charity called Compassion in Care which supports people reporting misconduct in the industry.

She has had nearly 2,000 calls to her helpline in 14 years and she often found repeated complaints about the same problems in the same homes.

"Every day cases are coming in where there has been up to 15 staff, 20 staff, raising concerns, then six years later, more staff raising the same concerns again," she said.

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Andrea Sutcliffe: "I'm shocked and really angry about what Panorama have found"

The CQC said it would work with the care sector to improve standards, but it was determined to ensure problems were addressed.

Its new chief inspector of social care, Andrea Sutcliffe, said she was "shocked and really angry" about the poor care Panorama had found.

She said her "heart goes out" to those affected, but also to the "hundreds of thousands" of good care workers who had been let down by the "small minority".

"People shouldn't be getting into this business if they don't care," she said.

Asked if the CQC's systems were working, she said most care was good and the organisation would act on any concerns raised.

Minister for Care and Support Norman Lamb said there was a "stubborn minority of care providers who do not meet acceptable standards".

"We have to send out the message that there should be no place in our care services for providers of that sort," he said.

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Undercover reporter Alex Lee worked 36 shifts at the Old Deanery in Essex

Panorama: Behind Closed Doors: Elderly Care Exposed on BBC One on Wednesday 30 April at 21:00 BST and then available in the UK on the BBC iPlayer.

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Co-op report blames Britannia deal

30 April 2014 Last updated at 09:22

The Co-operative Bank's merger with the Britannia building society in 2009 should never have happened, a major review of the organisation has said.

Sir Christopher Kelly's report blames the deal for the bank's near-collapse last year.

His report states both companies had problems that were exacerbated by the merger.

It also points to failings in management and governance "on many levels".

Sir Christopher added the deal might have worked had the organisation received first-class leadership, but "sadly it did not".

Sir Christopher told the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme: "It is the merger [between the Co-op Bank and the Britannia], not the Britannia itself that caused the problems."

He said both organisations brought problems to the deal.

In Britannia's case, it was the vast size and unwieldiness of its commercial property loan book.

But the Co-op Bank had several problems of its own, including its approach to risk when lending money to customers and a large IT project that was already under way, which the merger "vastly complicated".

Sir Christopher added that the Co-op Bank "had a legacy of mis-selling payment protection insurance (PPI), which was not unusual at the time, but is particularly disappointing for an ethical bank".

Financial crisis

Among other reasons for the near-collapse of the bank identified by the report are the economic environment following the 2008 financial crisis and the demand from financial regulators for banks to hold increased levels of capital that followed.

Niall Booker, chief executive of the Co-operative Bank said he broadly accepted the findings of the report, which he admitted would "make difficult reading for our customers".

But Mr Booker added: "We do believe there are many more positive aspects of the Co-operative Bank's culture that are not reflected in the report - for example, not enough credit is given to the service ethic and empathy of our employees."

He apologised again for "past failings" and reiterated his commitment to "restoring the bank to financial health".

Richard Pennycook, interim group chief executive of the Co-operative Group, said: "Following the wake-up call of our recently announced £2.5bn loss, Sir Christopher Kelly's report today lays bare the failings of management and governance that caused it.

"It is a sobering assessment which shows clearly that the Co-operative Group's loss of control of its bank could have been avoided."

Profits hit

The report added that the financial crisis and the response to it by regulators and policymakers were the only factors outside the Co-op Bank's control.

Unlike a number of other financial institutions, before the merger, the Co-operative Bank obtained most of funding from its own customers' deposits.

As a result, it was not adversely affected when the international money markets dried up during the financial crisis and considered itself as having "weathered the crisis well".

But the bank was hurt by the prolonged period of low interest rates introduced by the Bank of England, which depressed its net margins and profitability.

The bank's problems were further complicated by the fact that some of its customers ran into difficulties, particularly business customers involved in commercial real estate - a market that itself all but collapsed following the financial crisis.

That depressed the value of the bank's assets and made it more difficult for its clients to refinance, limiting the Co-op Bank's ability to reduce its own heavily concentrated exposure to the sector.

The commercial loan book that the Co-op Bank inherited as part of its merger with Britannia stood at £3.7bn and accounted for as much as half of its lending and a greater proportion of its regulatory capital, the report added.

The Co-op Bank wanted Britannia's personal customers and retail branches. But in acquiring them, it was also saddled with a "substantial volume of assets well outside its risk appetite in terms of type, loan-to-value or concentration risk".

Equally troubling, for the bank and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) alike, the regulator admitted to the bank's board in July 2011 that it did not believe Britannia would have survived, had it not been for its takeover by the Co-op.

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Farage will not stand in by-election

30 April 2014 Last updated at 10:10

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Nigel Farage said that it was more important to focus on the European elections

UKIP leader Nigel Farage has said he will not stand in the forthcoming Newark by-election.

The contest has been brought about by the resignation from Parliament of former Tory MP Patrick Mercer over a cash-for-questions scandal on Tuesday.

Mr Farage said he did not want to look like an "opportunist" by entering the contest, as he did not "have any links with the East Midlands".

He added that he wanted to focus on UKIP's European elections campaign.

Although the Conservatives have a majority of 16,000 in Newark, UKIP is currently doing well in opinion polls.

But John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, said UKIP would be "trying to succeed on the back of no particular local support at all".

'Courage'

Mr Farage told BBC One's Breakfast: "I haven't had long to think about it but I have thought about it, and we're just over three weeks away from a European election at which I think UKIP could cause an earthquake in British politics, from which we can go on and win not just one parliamentary seat but quite a lot of parliamentary seats.

"For that reason I don't want to do anything that deflects from the European election campaign, so I'm not going to stand in this by-election.

"I want to focus the next three weeks on winning the European elections and also I don't have any links with the East Midlands. I would just look like an opportunist, and I don't think that would work."

Asked whether he had decided not to run for fear of losing, Mr Farage replied: "I have shown some courage over the years…

"It's about choosing the right battles. It's about prioritising and I know that if I were to have said yes to standing in Newark the next three weeks would be dominated by am I going to win, am I not going to win, and we wouldn't be talking about open-door immigration, EU membership and that most of our laws being made somewhere else."

'Not an idiot'

Mr Farage referred to the former leader of the Monster Raving Loony Party, once a fixture at such contests, saying: "I'm not Screaming Lord Sutch. I don't stand in every by-election."

Ken Clarke, seen as the most Europhile of the Conservative members of the cabinet, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Mr Farage had been right to decide not to run, saying: "I am not really surprised. Whatever else Nigel is, he is not an idiot, and I don't think he'd have the faintest chance of winning in Newark."

He accused UKIP, which advocates leaving the European Union, of "peddling a total nonsense that our economic problems have been caused by immigration".

Mr Clarke, who is a Nottinghamshire MP, said: "I don't think the residents of Newark, some of whom I know because I used to represent some of the villages there, they're not going to vote for a card, larking about, trying to get protest votes."

Mr Mercer, who has represented the Nottinghamshire constituency since 2001, is due to be suspended from the Commons for six months for allegedly asking questions in Parliament in return for money.

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Secret filming shows Patrick Mercer signing a contract with the fake lobbying company set up by BBC Panorama

He was filmed by undercover reporters from the BBC's Panorama last year apparently agreeing to set up a parliamentary group to push for Fiji to return to the Commonwealth.

The MP had already said he would not contest the general election next year, having served as an independent since May 2013.

'Heaviness of heart'

In a short statement, the former soldier said he would not contest the findings of a report into his conduct, to be published on Thursday, which will call for him to be barred from Parliament for six months.

He said he was resigning with "a great heaviness of heart" for the sake of his family, adding: "I am an ex-soldier, I believe that when you have got something wrong, you have got to 'fess up and get on with it."

The MP, a prominent critic of David Cameron, who sacked him as a shadow minister in 2007, said he hoped his successor would be a Conservative.

The party has selected Robert Jenrick to contest Newark. Labour - which held the seat between 1997 and 2001 - has chosen Michael Payne as its candidate.

At the 2010 general election, Mr Mercer won 27,590 votes. Labour came second with 11,438 votes, the Lib Dems third with 10,246 and UKIP fourth with 1,954.

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