Spotlight - Nowhere To Call Home - BBC iPlayer
It’s not only EDs that are becoming refuges for some of those seeking a bed. Vulnerable young men told
@BBCSpotlightNI
they want to go to prison - “you get heat, 3 meals a day & a warm shower.”
Afghanistan: Taliban leaders refused to speak directly to award winning journalist Anisa Shaheed but she remains on the front line. Remember her name in the coming weeks & months - BBC News
The video in circulation of men singing gleefully about the horrific murder of a young woman on honeymoon. Obscene. Vile. The words take your breath away. Wholly unacceptable to anyone with a shred of decency.
J Clarkson writes that he “hates” Meghan Markle, not like he hates Rose West, the serial killer who conspired to murder at least 10 young women, but “on a cellular level”. He lies awake dreaming of her paraded “naked through the streets” pelted with excrement. The Sun printed it.
Man charged with the murder of 21 year old Chloe Mitchell from Ballymena.
Chloe is the 39th female to die violently at the hands of men in Northern Ireland since 2017. Another family & community devastated in one of the most dangerous places for women & girls in Europe.
#VAWG
Breaking
@BBCNewsNI
One of the most disturbing stories I have worked on.
The horrified family of a young man who took his own life in 2017 speak out.
Two
#PSNI
officers investigated for allegedly sharing images of his body on WhatsApp with genitals exposed
@BBCSpotlightNI
Two police officers have been investigated for more than three years over allegations they manipulated a suicide victim's body and shared photos and a video online -
@Mandy_McAuley
@BBCSpotlightNI
Natalie McNally’s dad says he struggled to identify her body because of horrific injuries - Sunday World
“It was a frenzied attack..He battered her, he hit her over the head, strangled her, she had bones broke in her neck, then he stabbed her to death.”
Mr Hume we prayed for you round my daddy’s coffin last night, that you would be successful so that what has happened to us wouldn’t happen to any other family”
“Blessed are the Peacemakers”
RIP John Hume
“Mr Hume we prayed for you round my daddy’s coffin last night, that you would be successful so that what has happened to us wouldn’t happen to any other family”
#SpotlightNI
#TheTroubles
@mandy_mcauley
Impt questions
@AllisonMorris1
“A violent man who stabbed a petite & pregnant young woman, loved by all, is still at large.
..In a modern age where everyone leaves a digital footprint, it seems bizarre that the killer hasn’t yet been identified.”
A significant Belfast court ruling that could impact linked cases
@BelfastTele
“Imported loyalist paramilitary weapons stored by Co Armagh farmer moved to safety after police warned him about imminent raid, the High Court has heard.
In the first disclosure of its kind, the
Thirty years ago - at the end of one of the deadliest weeks in The Troubles - UDA gunmen entered the Rising Sun bar in Greysteel & murdered seven people. Another man died later.
A gunman shouted "trick or treat" before opening fire. Families of the victims would help pull NI
“Mr Hume we prayed for you round my daddy’s coffin last night, that you would be successful so that what has happened to us wouldn’t happen to any other family”
#SpotlightNI
#TheTroubles
@mandy_mcauley
As Troubles inquests are shut down
@BBCSpotlightNI
investigates why the government stepped in to stop the release of information about the involvement of state agents in murders by Mid-Ulster UVF. Testimony from inside the gang raises new questions.
Tue BBC1 & I-player
From today’s homily
#Noah
Weeks ago Noah gave a poem to his mum by Leo Buscaglia. In one part it says:
To love is to risk not being loved in return
To live is to risk dying
To hope is to risk despair
To try is to risk failure..
The greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing
Chloe Mitchell - Terrible news tonight from Ballymena. Another beautiful young woman murdered in Northern Ireland. Human remains found in search for missing woman - BBC News
27 year old Zarifa Ghafari became Afghanistan's first female mayor in 2018. The Taliban killed her father & has vowed to kill her.
“I’m sitting waiting for them to come. There is no one to help me or my family. And they will come for people like me.”
Markethill preacher Barrie Halliday summoned by PSNI over ‘Catholic rats’ video - Belfast Telegraph
Pastor Halliday said the video was “accidentally” made public, “not intended for a wider audience”, & his comments had been taken “out of context”.
In Derry the women who suffered domestic violence and abuse and who died by suicide are known as “The Lost Women”. This programme is for them and all who have suffered mental anguish at the hands of their abusers. Thank you to the survivors who have shared their stories to give
On iPlayer tomorrow:
@mandy_mcauley
investigates the hidden toll of women who take their own lives after enduring violence in the home. She hears calls for the law to change to hold abusers to account for those deaths, and pleas for greater recognition.
Shock as a woman dies after “a horrific, savage and brutal attack” in a flat in Derry. She is the second woman murdered in Northern Ireland this week. A third woman is recovering after she was stabbed multiple times in her north Belfast home - BBC
In Belfast two football clubs on either side of the interface reach out to young people
“We are encouraged by our friends at Sandy Row FC ...As neighbouring teams on an interface we are both willing to work together to give our youth a better opportunity.”
St James Swift’s
The PSNI “still gathering evidence”.
One pyre had effigies of
@naomi_long
@MaryLouMcDonald
&
@moneillsf
swinging. Another with posters of politicians, one a local foodbank founder, & ‘Kill All Taigs’, threatened to topple onto a healthcare centre.
#UnquietGraves
#collusion
In 1973 Margaret Campbell identified UDR man Robin Jackson as her husband’s killer. Security sources say he was already a state agent. Decades later, in 1992, Jackson targeted the Cairns family in Bleary for attack. Rory & Gerard Cairns were murdered.
Robin Jackson and Billy Wright had conspired to murder Gerard and Rory Cairns a year before the killings – would this evidence be enough to reopen the investigation?
#SpotlightNI
#TheTroubles
@mandy_mcauley
Larne bandsman who strangled on-off girlfriend after she refused to perform sex act is spared jail despite “crossing the threshold for a custodial sentence by a mile”.
Under new legislation Marc Young pleaded guilty to non-fatal strangulation.
To the absolute gent who stepped forward & bailed me out with £1.50 at the car park in Bow Street mall & then vanished thankyou so much ! I was losing the will. You’re going to get an abundance of karma for that act of kindness ! Merry Xmas sir 😇😇😇 🎅
#frazzled
“Lost Boys makes a compelling case for the existence of a network of organised, well-connected paedophiles who exploited the chaos of a rapidly escalating Troubles as cover for their crimes – crimes covered up by British intelligence agencies” Irish News
Northern Ireland is one of the most dangerous places to be a young girl or woman in Europe. It’s now the only part of the UK where the Women’s Aid Federation does not receive core funding from local government.
🛑TIME HAS STOPPED🛑
Women’s Aid Federation NI now no longer receives core funding from the Department of Health.
We are now the only Women's Aid Federation in the UK not to receive funding from local government.
#SAVEOURFUNDING
#legacy
On 15th August 1998 31 men, women, children, & unborn twins were killed in the
#Omagh
bomb by dissident republicans opposed to the IRA ceasefire & the Good Friday Agreement. Over 300 people were maimed & injured. Remembering all of them, & their loved ones, today
Another week another horrific attack on a woman.
Teenage boy in garda custody after allegedly killing woman in attack shared on social media. Sources say the nature of the incident has caused “profound shock” to even experienced investigators.
Request to hold a civic reception for junior All Ireland winning Antrim camogie team denied by Causeway Coast & Glens DUP Mayor.
It’s the third time a civic reception relating to a GAA team has been denied by Ivor Wallace since he took office this July.
Tributes are pouring in for Natalie McNally, a much loved young woman, killed in her own home.
Natalie is the 16th woman murdered in Northern Ireland since March 2020.
As another family mourns what will it take to end this horrific cycle of violence.
A
@thetimes
headline that should stop everyone in their tracks.
“The reporter accompanied debt agents in below-freezing conditions as they worked with a locksmith to break into the home of a single father of 3 young children & switch them to a prepayment meter."
Joe Biden breaks down in tears after chance meeting with priest who gave his late son Beau last rites.
“He laughed, he cried, it just kind of hit the man, you could just see how deeply it all felt and meant to him..it was extraordinary.”
#Mayo
Episode 2 of the Secret History of the Troubles series
@BBCSpotlightNI
has won best Domestic Affairs Documentary at the Association of International Broadcasters awards
@theaibstv
A formidable category! Many Congratulations to Darragh McIntyre & all the team
“It was a waste of time and a waste of life.”
As the 1970’s came to an end, the conflict was expanding in ways few could ever have foreseen.
#SpotlightNI
#TheTroubles
“There are more loyalist paramilitaries today than there were 30 years ago, & I think that's a really disturbing reality. Quite what they're doing is open for serious questions.”
Dr Aaron Edwards’ evidence to MPs at NI Affairs Committee
@BelTel
Sandy Row football club issues appeal amid civil unrest
“We use sport to break down religious barriers & have forged great relationships & ongoing friendships with clubs all over Belfast....Cliftonville FC, St James Swift's & St Pat's to name a few..”
In 1973 Margaret Campbell identified UDR man Robin Jackson as her husband’s killer. Security sources believe Jackson turned state agent at this time. In 1992, Jackson targeted the Cairns family in Bleary for attack. A year later Rory and Gerard Cairns were murdered.
#thetroubles
Patrick’s wife Margaret, picked Jackson out in 2 ID parades.
The judge in the trial of billy Mc caughey and John Weir, for the murder of William Strathern, was told by RUC that Jackson was not also facing this murder charge, “for operational reasons”
I’ll be on
@BBCgmu
to talk about our
@spotlightni
investigation. As terrified families struggle to pay off drug debts run up by their children we hear that young people in Northern Ireland are being forced into sex and criminality by paramilitary - linked gangs who are central
Spotlight returns to the airwaves and your devices tomorrow - watch
@mandy_mcauley
reporting on the drugs debts dragging young people into criminality.
On iPlayer tomorrow morning and on BBC One Northern Ireland at 10.40pm.
Lyra McKee’s sister says Sinn Féin letter leak “exploits her murder”
for politics.
Nichola was aware of SF’s “efforts to encourage dissident republican groups, including Saoradh, to move away from violence & engage with the political process” since 2019.
Horrific news from East Belfast as another woman is found murdered in Northern Ireland.
A 21 yr old man has been arrested for the murder of 43 year old Rachel Simpson.
What will it take to confront the cycle of violence against women in our society?
So pleased that our mid-Ulster investigation for The Secret History of the Troubles series
@BBCSpotlightNI
@tamannarahman
@clairewhelan
is nominated in the national Current Affairs category
@RTS_media
Thanks to the families & the many sources, & contributors who stuck with us
“I knew there was something desperately wrong.”
October 1993 was the bloodiest month since the Seventies. Twenty four people died in one week alone.
#SpotlightNI
#TheTroubles
@mandy_mcauley
#NeverForgetAnn
Ann Lovett, the 15-year-old schoolgirl who died
#otd
in 1984 after giving birth to a stillborn baby boy beside a grotto in Granard in Co Longford. After her death other girls came forward who had given birth in secret.
On full reading The SundayTimes
#Covid19UK
expose is devastating. The lack of preparedness for a pandemic, the failure to act as the infection spread. Multiple sourcing from scientists & medics. A senior gov advisor broke ranks. And this crisis is far from over re testing & P P E
No sign of up to £600 energy support payment for Northern Ireland
“..people need cash. A food parcel, debt advice isn’t going to cut it.. it’s so ludicrous that people don’t have access to the gov support available in other parts of the UK” ,Dr Ciara Fitzpatrick on Radio Ulster
So pleased that our mid-Ulster investigation for The Secret History of the Troubles series
@BBCSpotlightNI
@tamannarahman
@clairewhelan
is nominated in the national Current Affairs category
@RTS_media
Thanks to the families & the many sources, & contributors who stuck with us
“Rachel is the 23rd women to be killed in Northern Ireland since 2020. She is the third women murdered in Northern Ireland within the past four weeks.”
@WomensAidNI
Thirty years ago 24 people were killed in one week in Northern Ireland. It seemed the cycle of violence would never end. On 28 Oct young brothers Rory & Gerard Cairns were watching TV when loyalist paramilitaries burst in & murdered them.
#Shankill
#KennedyWay
#Bleary
#Greysteel
“I knew there was something desperately wrong.”
October 1993 was the bloodiest month since the Seventies. Twenty four people died in one week alone.
#SpotlightNI
#TheTroubles
@mandy_mcauley
The head of the Royal College of Nursing in NI has warned that unless there is widespread Covid-19 testing of all key health workers, there will not be a functioning health service
@BBCNewsNI
@patcullen9
also said proper safety equipment & masks for staff were needed urgently.
A security surveillance operation on a key suspect in the murder of Sean Brown - LVF gunman Mark ‘Swinger’ Fulton - was lifted the night before the killing, a coroner hears - The Irish News
The PSNI & MI5 have sought multiple redactions to case documents
As the NI police ombudsman launches an investigation into the arrest of Sean Graham massacre survivor Mark Sykes it emerges that victims had gathered yesterday to lay flowers & call for the publication of a long delayed report into the murders by the NI Police ombudsman.
Heart breaking - Mother, 39, with severe headache collapsed and died after 7-hour A&E wait.
She was triaged & observed by nurses but when she didn’t respond to doctors’ calls it was assumed she had left due to the long wait. She was lying under her coat.
“You couldn’t make this up …This is utter chaos, a complete farce.”
Reports of another night of “high drama”. Comedy gold if there were not thousands of families now desperate to make ends meet and access basic services across Northern Ireland.
A huge thank you to everyone who got in touch today. To all of you who have emailed and messaged, and taken the time to share your own personal testimonies, we will get back to you. Please try to leave a mobile. I will also respond to your questions & criticisms ..thanks again
Coming up
@BBCSpotlightNI
@BBCiPlayer
on Tuesday & BBC 1 10.40
In a cost of living crisis more vulnerable people are turning to paramilitary loan sharks for cash for basics - energy tops ups & groceries. We talk to those trapped in a cycle of debt & terror.
I interviewed Bea Worton for the Radio Ulster legacy series in 1999. I will never forget her searing account of leaving Daisyhill hospital in Jan 1976 with strands of her son Kenneth’s beautiful curly hair. A woman who devoted her life to family & justice
The latest Israeli airstrikes have destroyed the al-Zahraa neighbourhood in central Gaza, with more than two dozen blocks of flats razed to the ground.
"Ambulances cannot get here. People are screaming but we cannot pull them out," residents told the BBC
"We're Carrick people and we're never leaving."
Glenn Quinn's family are being threated by individuals they believe are linked to the South East Antrim UDA but his brother Martin says they will not leave their hometown
As the debate continues over sectariansm in the PSNI are there any updates on this recent case involving officers who allegedly defiled the body a young man who died by suicide?
“…the word "taig", a derogatory term for Catholics, was among the language in the speech bubble.“
Breaking
@BBCNewsNI
One of the most disturbing stories I have worked on.
The horrified family of a young man who took his own life in 2017 speak out.
Two
#PSNI
officers investigated for allegedly sharing images of his body on WhatsApp with genitals exposed
@BBCSpotlightNI
Over 20 former pupils of Holy Cross Boys’ Primary in Ardoyne have died by suicide or drugs. Today mental well-being is at the very heart of the curriculum. We filmed with campaigner, Philip McTaggart, as he delivered suicide awareness training to teachers & parents.
Israel ordered everyone in the north of the Gaza strip to move south to escape the bombing.
Last night Israel bombed Khan Younis & Rafah in the south, killing more than 100 people - many of the dead had obeyed the order to evacuate
Moville crash funeral: Boy found with arms wrapped around his sister, mourners told
“Go home & hug & kiss your loved ones & tell them how much they mean to you....I was left behind for a reason but I don’t know what that reason was..”
Geraldine Mullan
“Remember Noah & his mummy. Don’t let him be forgotten”
Three weeks after their beloved Noah went missing his devastated family have given thanks for the continuous love & support & asked anyone who knows anything, no matter how small, about his disappearance, to come forward
The UVF & the INLA are working "hand in hand" with 60 organised crime groups to import & distribute drugs across Northern Ireland, PSNI tells
@KellyBonner
@BBCNewsNI
RTS award winning film
@glenannefilm
which investigates the murder of more than 120 people in mid Ulster & the Irish Republic in the 1970s by a gang that included members of the RUC & UDR airs on RTE 1 this Wednesday at 9.35pm
@rte
@sean_murray1
Ulster University: Magee campus to get €45 million from Irish government for new teaching & student services building - BBC News
It is one of a number of cross-border projects set to have funding approved by the Irish cabinet later on Tuesday.
Spotlight : A Secret History of the Troubles has now passed 1 million iPlayer on-demand viewings across the series Episodes 1 - 6 available
@BBCiPlayer
@BBCSpotlightNI
As Illegal
#puppy
smugglers & dealers gear up for another Xmas windfall what will it take to end this barbaric trade?
Watch Spotlight Undercover : Pups For Sale
@BBCiPlayer
- Animals Under Threat.
Exposing those flooding Britain with sick & dying pups.
Solidarity & support
@trishdevlin
. Too many journalists are being threatened for doing their job. This type of intimidation can never be accepted in a free society.
Thank you to the many people in east Belfast who made me aware of this sinister graffiti today.
I think it’s clear to everyone who and what is behind it, and why.
I will continue to report on the thugs and bullies terrorising their own communities.
Damning Ombudsman report into 19 loyalist murders - including Greysteele - reveals police passing on information, failing to warn murder victims, intelligence & surveillance failings leading to the arming of loyalists, & destruction of informant records.
“Hardships of Life”
Photo of the year by Mehmet Asla, Siena Intl Awards
Munzir lost his right leg when a bomb was dropped on a Syrian bazaar. His son Mustafa was born without upper or lower limbs caused by medication his mother had to take after being sickened by nerve gas.
Paramilitaries costing Northern Ireland economy an estimated “minimum of £750 million a year”, according to draft Programme for Government
@BBCgmu
“Paramilitary harm continues to affect too many adults and young people. This rises significantly in communities where paramilitary
A public consultation has started on the NI Executive's programme for government, which contains nine key priorities for ministers.
Read more here:
Follow developments live here:
Delighted to win
@RTS_NI
at Belfast City Hall for our pups for sale programme. Thanks to a great team
@BBCSpotlightNI
@guygrandjean
, Stuart Lambe, Gwyneth Jones, Chris Thornton. Whistleblowers & sources have never been more important. Thank you 🙏
A really beautiful, uplifting report from the Mournes
@sophieraworth
amid the bleakness of the past few days. Respect to the inspirational stonemasons.
NI 100: In Northern Ireland only 40% of people polled
@BBCSpotlightNI
think NI's formation should be celebrated. 48% agreed with the statement that "the partition of Ireland & the creation of a land border 100 years ago was a negative development”
“This is the defining global health crisis of our time”
Many now asking:
Are we going to close NI schools now?
Are the entire top tier of the
@WHO
,
all veteran clinical scientists & doctors, wrong ?
Realistically how likely is it that they are all SF/ SDLP supporters?
"This is the defining global health crisis of our time.
The days, weeks and months ahead will be a test of our resolve, a test of our trust in science, and a test of solidarity.
Crises like
#COVID19
tend to bring out the best and worst in humanity"-
@DrTedros
#coronavirus
Northern Ireland - As more women are attacked and murdered many of those who worked so hard on the Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls
#VAWAG
strategy must be asking when it will finally be signed off ?
@niexecutive
Shock as a woman dies after “a horrific, savage and brutal attack” in a flat in Derry. She is the second woman murdered in Northern Ireland this week. A third woman is recovering after she was stabbed multiple times in her north Belfast home - BBC
During the pandemic many received free food parcels delivered by volunteers. Several orgs & individuals told Spotlight some volunteers in a number of loyalist areas were loan sharks in disguise. They went back to vulnerable households offering cash loans people are still repaying
Top UK general was warned in writing in 2011 that SAS soldiers were claiming to have executed handcuffed detainees in Afghanistan.
Instead of referring evidence to military police, he put it in a classified dossier and locked it in a safe - BBC Panorama
The police Ombudsman confirms it is assessing concerns raised surrounding the investigation into the death of Noah Donohoe. The 14 year old St Malachy’s pupil was found, without his clothing or belongings, in a storm drain complex in north Belfast
@trishdevlin
“Further information must remain confidential to protect national security.
Patrick Frizzell and Margaret Lundy are both suing the police and MoD amid allegations the arsenal of weapons was allowed to be brought into Northern Ireland and distributed among paramilitary groups for
My brother was a war photographer who died by suicide. His pictures comfort me – Powerful & important testimony
@taramillstv
that will touch so many
Somebody must know who did this.
Two German Shepherd dogs tied together and weighted down in the water with a dumbbell at Carrick Lough near Aughnacloy.
#AnimalAbuse
Devastating news that Noah Donohoe’s body has been found in a storm drain complex in north Belfast. Over the past six days of this bizarre case we’ve learned about a thoughtful, bright, & extremely gifted child. Prayers for Noah’s mum Fiona & family in unimaginable agony & grief
Another brilliant young woman cut down
#VAWG
Paris Olympics athlete Rebecca Cheptegei dies days after being doused in petrol and set on fire by former boyfriend.
The 33-year-old Ugandan marathon runner suffered 75% burns in the brutal attack. BBC News
Genuinely puzzled by this decision to promote an inspirational male brand/marketing/image consultant front and centre on International Women’s Day when you have three exceptional women on the guest panel - all champions of marginalised women in the community
Gin production has stopped at
@listokedistill
distillery in Co Louth, repurposed to make 62% proof hand sanitiser. They’re selling at cost and also supplying charities and hospitals
#coronavirus
#covid19
“He would threaten me with physical violence if I told anybody..”
Searing & courageous testimony from Davy Tweed’s step daughter, Amanda Brown
@BBCTalkback
@williamcrawley
. Speaking with such integrity & honesty on behalf of victims of domestic & sexual abuse everywhere.