The jury, which will not be present, has been told by Mr Justice Phillips that the witness is too ill to give evidence in full open court. He is simply unable to continue, I have told him he can go home”. Jurors were then sent away until Tuesday.Last night a lawyer said Mr Hill was not seriously ill.On Monday, the court will sit in closed session to take the video evidence of a witness from Coopers and Lybrand, auditors to the Maxwell companies. He sat at his desk doubled up and looking worried.After a brief adjournment his junior, James Richardson, said: “Mr Hill is definitely not feeling well and certainly not sufficiently well to continue proceedings today.”The jury of seven men and five were told by the judge that “Mr Hill was not feeling well when we started this morning, he valiantly did his best to carry on. The slot underlines Premier’s belief that a hefty bulk of its listening will come from the BBC – 37 per cent, according to the station’s pre-launch research.. JOHN WILLCOCK
Financial Correspondent
A defence barrister slumped on to his desk at the Old Bailey yesterday forcing the judge in the trial of Kevin and Ian Maxwell to adjourn proceedings until next week.The trial finished its opening phase as dramatically as it began when Michael Hill QC put his hand to his head and told Mr Justice Phillips: “I’m sorry, this is simply not going to work.”As the court rose at the Old Bailey, Mr Hill slumped to his desk, one hand holding his chest.
Mr Seaman explains: “People are looking for some sort of moral stance and traditional basics that we can live by.” However, he adds, Premier will not preach. “We’re not about hitting people over the head with a Bible.”The station’s willingness to take a stance has been demonstrated by its refusal to take advertising for the National Lottery, described by Premier’s chief executive, Peter Meadows, as a “national evil in conflict with the Christian ethics of the station”.Indications that this latest radio wannabe is ready to take off the gloves in the fight for listeners came this week with the announcement that it would run its own “Thought for the Day”, head to head with Radio 4’s daily spiritual turn on the Today programme.The presenters of Premier’s “Reflection for the Day” will include Richard Bewes and Elaine Storkey, both poached from the Radio 4 version. Faith becomes narrowly defined in terms of the Church, instead of being placed in the context of daily life. There will be a slice of morning worship and “In Between the Lines”, an attempt to make the Bible relevant to modern life.Premier believes the problem with current religious output is that it consigns faith to broadcasting ghettoes, placing God in a box. Kent, a former religious producer for Capital Radio, will front an afternoon magazine programme aimed at women, while the third member of the trio, the lead singer of Manfred Mann, Paul Jones, will lead listeners through his collection of Gospel music.The station’s programme director, Mark Seaman, says Premier will offer all the radio standards of news, current affairs, music and chat, but with a Christian twist.A coffee-time show with phone-ins will cover issues such as health and relationships, an afternoon magazine will deal with more health, holidays and cookery, while the late night cocoa-time slot will be taking in music and showbiz guests. RHYS WILLIAMS
Media Correspondent
Fears that Britain’s first Christian radio station would be all folksy revivalism seemed confirmed at its press launch yesterday, when three of the presenters picked up a tambourine, a harmonica and a guitar and launched into Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind”.The last time the guitarist Sal Solo reached the radio big time, he was lead singer of the Eighties band Classix Nouveaux who had a hit with “Is it a Dream?”.A similar thought must have crossed his mind as he stared at Cindi Kent, former lead singer of the Sixties band The Settlers, warbling “How many roads must a man walk down?”Solo, who has worked in broadcasting for decade, will present a weekend Christian music chart show when Premier goes on air in London and the South-east this afternoon.
They will probably grow up to be leading members of the country and this one episode should not ruin their lives.”So far, six boys have been bailed to return to the police on 19 July when detectives will decide whether any charges or cautions are necessary.Richard Kennedy, headteacher of Highgate School, which has 1,100 pupils, said: “We are not intending to take any action while the police action is under way.”There’s no suggestion of any offence taking place at school or using school computers.”Visa and high street banks have warned people not to use the Internet to order goods because of fraud and the difficulty in preventing criminals gaining access to card details.. Also his grammar and spelling were awful.”He added: “The boys involved are nice, bright kids and this was one act of stupidity. They were seduced into trying something that was made to sound exciting. It’s out of control.”The bulletin about credit card fraud was almost certainly written by a criminal – you could tell by the type of phrases and advice. More sophisticated computer programmes being used by criminals are capable of tracking credit card numbers from people ordering goods on the Internet.Detective Inspector Ron Laverick said: “The Internet is a horrible monster that’s been created and we can’t do anything about it.
They became suspicious after large amounts of expensive mail order goods were delivered to their home. All the teenagers involved are believed to have used computers at home rather than school equipment.The police uncovered the fraud after a credit card company reported several suspicious transactions.The police are dismayed at the ease with which the boys were able to obtain information about how to commit crimes. The boys allegedly used the information to illegally order thousands of pounds’ worth of computers and games.The parents of one 15-year-old boy reportedly called in the police after their son admitted using other people’s credit card details to buy computer equipment. JASON BENNETTO
Crime Correspondent
At least 14 teenagers from one of the country’s top public schools are being questioned by police after they allegedly used information from the Internet to carry out thousands of pounds’ worth of credit card fraud.The pupils, aged from 14 to 16, from Highgate School, north London, obtained a 13-page guide on how to commit fraud and where illegally to obtain credit card numbers from the computer information system.The fraud manual is believed to have been written by a criminal using the nickname The Metallian. Sixty-eight were asked to leave their schools: 17 on grounds of competence, 31 for poor conduct and 20 because of ill-health.. More than one- quarter of primary school children are in classes of 30 or more, and this figure looks set to rise.
The NUT is committed to holding local strikes in schools where teachers believe their situation has become intolerable.Mr McAvoy said the ballot result proved that a large proportion of conference delegates were following their own narrow agenda rather than representing members’ views, adding that “members do not want to see the campaign for proper funding of the education service diverted into gesture politics”.Meanwhile, the second biggest teachers’ union, the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers, announced yesterday that it would survey its members on whether they were prepared to strike over class sizes.nSuspensions of head teachers and deputies have more than doubled in the last 12 months, the National Association of Head Teachers said last night. More than 4,000 teachers could face redundancy after the Government refused to fund their 2.7 per cent pay rise earlier this year, forcing local councils to make cuts. Left-wingers have accused its general secretary, Doug McAvoy, of unfairly trying to influence the members’ decisions.Mr McAvoy said the NUT will continue to campaign against under-funding and rising class sizes. FRAN ABRAMS
Education Correspondent
Britain’s biggest teachers’ union has voted by more than four to one against a national one-day strike over under-funding, it was announced last night.In a secret ballot of the 160,000-strong National Union of Teachers, 80.3 per cent of voters opposed strike action, overturning a vote at their Easter annual conference.The announcement followed a campaign by NUT leaders against strike action. These would be places where fishing would be banned or very strictly limited in order to monitor how stocks and the sea-bed life recovers.The ministers also agreed to studies which could, in several years’ time, lead to offshore nature reserves beyond the 12-mile territorial limit.. There is fairly little which commits ministers to new actions and targets.But they did agree to vote in the International Maritime Organisation to make the North Sea an area in which ships are forbidden to discharge almost any oily waste from cargo and bilge tanks.They also agreed to work in the IMO to introduce, for the first time, engine exhaust emission controls on ships sailing within the North Sea, in an effort to curb pollution.The ministers also asked the European Commission to consider by 1997 a proposal for “undisturbed areas” within the North Sea. The bulk of it consists of calls for desirable actions, invitations to other international organisations to take action and statements of what North Sea nations are already doing to protect their common waters.