Hammond Hits Back Over £2bn MoD Underspend

By Vincent McAviney, Sky News Political Producer

The Defence Secretary has hit back at criticism of a £2bn underspend by the Government department he oversees, saying the money will be spent on future kit for soldiers.

Philip Hammond reacted angrily to claims he had been "overzealous" in pursuit of an austerity drive that will see thousands of soldiers lose their jobs.

They were made in a Daily Telegraph article which suggested the underspend at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) was partly down to cuts in military personnel and equipment.

Mr Hammond said: "These retired 'senior military figures' (quoted by the newspaper) are presumably the same people who presided over an out of control defence budget that led to the previous Government sending troops into battle without the proper equipment needed to protect them.

Mr Hammond is overseeing a major cost-cutting exercise at the MoD

"They clearly have no idea how the defence budget now works.

"Instead of having to delay and cancel programmes as in the past, we now budget prudently and then roll forward any underspend to future years, allowing us to place new equipment orders."

Mr Hammond's comments came as a Sky News investigation revealed Government departments have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on calls to directory inquiries numbers since the last election.

The MoD alone made 158,640 calls to 118 lines between May 1, 2010, and August 31, 2013 - the equivalent of 186 calls per day - at a cost of £271,000.

A spokesman said the number of calls made from fixed phone lines had fallen by more than three-quarters in the last four years.

However, the expenditure is equivalent to the annual salaries of 15 squaddies or nine junior officers, or around 270 sets of Osprey body armour.

The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) made 97,265 calls between May 2010 and August 2013 at a cost of £72,387.

This was despite the department barring staff from calling 118 numbers in March 2011 and Secretary of State Iain Duncan Smith pledging to cut costs to help fund police and the forces.

The MoD says it has cut the number of directory inquiry calls it makes

Robert Oxley, campaign director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, added: "It's astonishing that so much taxpayers' money has been wasted needlessly dialling these services, especially in the internet age.

"Sadly, a blase attitude over who is picking up the phone bill is all too common in some corners of the civil service."

It is the second time in as many months the MoD's spending on phone calls has been brought into question, and comes at a time when the military is undergoing a massive cost-reduction programme which includes thousands of redundancies.

In August, the department revealed it had run up a £40,000 bill on calls to the speaking clock.

The MoD has said this was partly down to a "technical error" in one of its systems which meant the number was being dialled automatically.

Thousands of soldiers are losing their jobs as the MoD cuts costs

However, Sky News now understands that between May 1, 2010, and August 31, 2013, 99,887 calls were in fact made by departmental staff to the speaking clock at a cost of £39,845.

The faulty automated system placed an additional 28,663 calls to the number but the £12,355 cost of these calls is being repaid by the company which installed it.

A spokesman for the MoD said: "Calls to directory inquiries from the majority of the 260,000 MoD fixed phone lines are banned but some staff working in isolated locations, who do not have access to a military phone network or the internet, are able to call directory enquiries to obtain contact details."

A spokesman for the DWP added: "118 numbers are banned, except where they are used by jobseekers or their advisers when looking for work.

"The costs of these calls have been cut by more than two-thirds since 2010, as more of the 1.4 million claimants we support move online for their job searches."

Freedom of Information Act requests were submitted to all government departments, although some departments including the Home Office and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs refused to provide the information.

Several other departments said they had barred 118 calls, instructing staff to use internet search engines to obtain contact details.

Labour shadow minister Jon Ashworth told Sky News: "This is yet another example of the Government's failure to tackle waste.

"David Cameron and his ministers need to act now to stop allowing thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money being squandered on these costly calls."

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Brain Implant 'Could Stop Parkinson's Growth'

By Rhiannon Mills, Sky News Correspondent

A hi-tech brain implant could transform the lives of people living with Parkinson's disease.

Scientists in Bristol have developed a system of tubes and catheters that allows them to pump protein therapy deep into patients' brains.

It is hoped the technique will encourage cells damaged by the disease to grow again.

The protein, known as glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), is injected once a month through a port just behind the ear and pushed through the tubes and catheters by an external pump.

Doctors at Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, have trialled the system on six patients and are now looking for another 36 to continue the research.

Dr Kieran Breen, director of research and innovation at Parkinson's UK, said: "For years, the potential of GDNF as a treatment for Parkinson's has remained one of the great unanswered research questions.

Protein passed through the implant could encourage the regrowth of cells

"This new study will take us one step closer to finally answering this question once and for all.

"We believe GDNF could have the potential to unlock a new approach for treating Parkinson's that may be able to slow down and ultimately stop the progression of the condition all together.

"Currently there are very few treatments available for people with Parkinson's and none capable of stopping the condition from advancing."

Parkinson's, which affects more than 127,000 people in the UK, develops when a lack of a chemical called dopamine causes nerve cells within the brain to die.

This in turn causes symptoms such as stiffness, slowness of movement and tremors.

Previous research studies have suggested GDNF has the potential to encourage these cells to grow again - in effect stopping the progression of Parkinson's.

Scientists hope the technique will encourage cells regrowth

Tom Phipps, from Bristol, who was diagnosed with the condition eight years ago at the age of 50, was the first patient in the world to be fitted with the port system.

"I have a hope it will make a difference, if not by halting the progress of my condition then at least (allowing me to) lead a much more active life for a little bit longer," he said.

"If it doesn't affect me, it may affect, and positively affect, someone else at a later stage."

Professor Steven Gill, from Frenchay Hospital, told Sky News the equipment could be used to treat a variety of conditions.

"If this technology proves to be safe and reliable ... it has huge applications across neurological diseases, not only for treating neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's but also brain tumours and other conditions," he said.

The £2m project is funded by Parkinson's UK with support from The Cure Parkinson's Trust.

A foundation set up by actor Michael J Fox, who has the condition, also made a large donation.

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Driving Test Age Could Rise To 18

Young drivers could have to wait until they are 18 before they are allowed to take their driving test under proposals being considered by the Government.

The move is aimed at cutting the number of people killed and injured in accidents on Britain's roads.

Figures show more than one fifth of deaths in 2011 involved drivers aged 17 to 24, and around 10% of novice drivers are caught committing an offence within their probationary period.

The Government-commissioned report by the Transport Research Laboratory suggests learner drivers will still be granted provisional licences at the age of 17 but will have to complete a 12 month "learner stage" that would require drivers to clock up at least 100 hours of daytime and 20 hours of night-time supervised practice.

For the first year, newly qualified drivers would be hit by a curfew running between 10pm and 5am unless they were carrying a passenger aged over 30, as well as a ban on carrying anyone younger than that age if they were under it themselves.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: "Young drivers drive around 5% of all the miles driven in Britain, but are involved in about 20% of the crashes where someone is killed or seriously injured.

"We are committed to improving safety for young drivers and reducing their insurance costs - that is why we are publishing a Green Paper later in the year setting out our proposals. This will include a discussion about how people learn to drive."

One of the proposals would see the driving age raised from 17 to 18

Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: "Our own research shows that putting certain restrictions on young drivers allows them to rapidly build up live-saving experience in the safest possible way. Putting a firm number on casualty reduction is hard because of the pick and mix approach to graduate licensing. But the evidence suggests that a full package of measures could reduce fatalities by anything up to 60%.

"We should all have an interest in preserving young drivers' lives rather than exposing them to undue risk at the stage of their driving careers where they are most vulnerable. This is about ensuring their long term safety and mobility. Not curtailing it."

AA President Edmund King said although many of the proposals in the report had "merit", he questioned some of the recommendations.

"Road safety on the national curriculum is something we have long campaigned for and I am pleased to see it being recommended here," he said.

"However, at the extreme end this report could be seen as just recommending taking novice drivers off the road by regulation and restriction rather than helping them develop the right attitudes and skills to provide them with the mobility they need.

"Rather than compensating the proposed significant new restrictions through earlier access to the roads under supervision the authors propose delaying and extending the driving development process to the point where even some 30-year-olds will be restricted in whom they can carry as passengers.

"This academic report has raised a number of options for debate and careful consideration. The question is how many of its recommendations will be acceptable to the government and public at large."

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White Widow's Links To Kenyan Mall Attack Group

Sky News has obtained a report by Kenyan intelligence officers which places the British wife of a London 7/7 bomber at the centre of a terror cell operating from Mombasa.

The document suggests 29-year-old Samantha Lewthwaite, also known as the "white widow", is involved with plotting attacks on UN facilities, the Kenyan parliament and other high profile institutions for al Shaabab.

The organisation claimed responsibility for last month's attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, which killed at least 67 people.

Sky News has also obtained handwritten pages from Ms Lewthwaite's journal.

:: Watch Sky's Special Correspondent Alex Crawford's video report on the world's most wanted woman above.

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Alzheimer's: Pill Hope After Study Breakthrough

Scientists are hailing a landmark British study which has paved the way for a pill that can cure brain diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's by stopping the death of neurons.

The Medical Research Council (MRC) team focused on the root cause of many degenerative brain diseases - abnormally shaped proteins that stick together in clumps and fibres.

When enough misshapen protein builds up in the brain it can trigger a reaction that results in the death of nerve cells.

Other approaches have sought to stop or limit the accumulation of the abnormal protein, whose structure is folded the wrong way.

But this research, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, targeted the harmful way brain cells react to misfolded proteins.

Using a drug injected into the stomachs of mice through a mouth tube, they flipped a cellular switch from "off" to "on" to prevent neurons dying.

Five weeks after treatment one group of mice remained free of symptoms such as memory loss, impaired reflexes and limb dragging.

They also lived longer than untreated animals with the same brain disease.

During the study, a neurodegenerative disease caused by abnormal prion proteins was induced in the mice.

Prion diseases, which include Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), are rare in humans but share the same underlying cause - misfolded proteins - as more common conditions such as Alzeimer's.

Lead scientist Professor Giovanna Mallucci, from the MRC Toxicology Unit at the University of Leicester, said: "We were extremely excited when we saw the treatment stop the disease in its tracks and protect brain cells, restoring some normal behaviours and preventing memory loss in the mice."

The scientists stress human trials are a long way off and point out that the mice suffered serious side effects, including significant weight loss and raised blood sugar.

But they also believe the research demonstrates in principle the possibility of developing an oral treatment - a pill or swallowed liquid - that can protect the brain from neurodegenerative disease.

The research is at a very early stage and it could be a decade or more before the medicine is actually developed.

But experts said the findings were highly significant.

Professor Roger Morris, from King's College London, said: "This is the first convincing report that a small drug, of the type most conveniently turned into medicines, stops the progressive death of neurons in the brain as found, for instance, in Alzheimer's disease," he said.

"True, this study has been done in mice, not man; and it is prion disease, not Alzheimer's, that has been cured. However, there is considerable evidence that the way neurons die in both diseases is similar; and lessons learned in mice from prion disease have proved accurate guides to attenuate the progress of Alzheimer's disease in patients."

He added: "This finding, I suspect, will be judged by history as a turning point in the search for medicines to control and prevent Alzheimer's disease."

Professor David Allsop, from the University of Lancaster, said: "Inhibiting this pathway has produced some very dramatic and highly encouraging results in mice infected with prion disease.

"The main caveats of the research, however, are that prion disease is very rare in humans, and it is not yet clear if the same approach will be viable for much more common neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

"More research is needed to determine if this approach is valid for any condition other than prion disease, and also to find ways of getting around these problematic side-effects."

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Potholes: 'One Every Mile' On Britain's Roads

By Mike McCarthy, North of England Correspondent

There is a pothole for every mile of road in Britain, according to new research.

Official council data obtained under a Freedom of Information request show a 79% increase in compensation claims in the past financial year from motorists as a result of pothole damage.

Breakdown service Britannia Rescue also says the figures show that potholes measure 295 square miles (764 square km) in Britain - more than twice the size of the Isle of Wight.

It describes the situation as a "pothole epidemic" and claims that road maintenance in the UK is severely underfunded.

It says almost one in 10 people have suffered car damage as a result of poor road surfaces in the past 12 months.

Among the other statistics relating to potholes revealed by the research are:

:: Local authorities have paid out £2.5m in compensation to motorists in the past financial year.

:: UK councils have received 32,600 compensation claims over the same period - a 79 % increase over the previous year.

:: The most common problems are tyre damage (43%), damaged suspension (34%) and damaged wheel rims (26%).

According to the findings King Lane in Leeds, the B6273 (South Moor Road/Moor Lane) in Barnsley and Holly Lane in Banstead are some of the worst roads for potholes in the UK.

Researchers blame the combination of a harsh winter followed by a dry summer for exacerbating the problem but they argue there is not enough funding for road maintenance.

Potholes measure 295 square miles collectively in the UK, the data found

Britannia Rescue said: "Short-term fixes are often chosen over longer term solutions, with close to a quarter (23%) of councils admitting they usually temporarily fix potholes rather than resurface the area.

"The average cost of repairing a pothole is around £50, meaning the amount paid out by councils in compensation could have been used to repair more than 50,000 potholes."

The company's managing director, Peter Horton, said: "Britain's pothole epidemic has resulted from years of underinvestment ... we now have around 200,000 potholes on UK roads.

"Motorists should protect themselves and their vehicles by reducing their speed on potholed roads, and also reporting damaged roads to their local council."

Cyclist Chris Peck has welcomed the call for better investment in road maintenance. 

He broke his nose and a tooth and had to have eight stitches in his face after being thrown from his bike while riding in Westminster.

He said: "Some passers-by peeled me off the road and waited while an ambulance was called - even though it was only around 250m to hospital. 

"At the time I had no idea what had happened. It was only going back later that day that I realised I had hit a pothole."

He received compensation of £4,600 from London for Transport.

But Mr Peck said: "Compensation doesn't really cover me for the year or so of reduced cycling due to neck pain, nor the permanent scarring."

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Passenger Lands Plane After Pilot Falls Ill

A passenger has made an emergency landing at Humberside Airport after the plane's pilot became ill.

During the flight, the pilot made a distress call when he became so sick he was unable to continuing flying the light aircraft.

Two flight instructors were called in to talk to the passenger from the ground while he took control of the plane, an airport spokesman said.

The man had very limited flying experience and had never landed an aircraft before.

Despite this, he managed to successfully land at the North Lincolnshire airport just after 7.30pm.

"The passenger flew over the airport a couple of times and then was talked down by two flight instructors and the emergency services were waiting for them when he landed safely," the airport spokesman said.

Details of the pilot's condition are not known at this stage, police said.

The light aircraft took off from Sandtoft Airfield, near Doncaster, for training with one passenger.

The plane took off from Sandtoft Airfield

The man and pilot, who have not been named, were the only two people on board the aircraft.

Humberside Airport praised the response of emergency services in a tweet.

"We are pleased to say that the incident that started a few hours ago has been successfully dealt with.Great response from emergency svs!" the airport said.

Flights coming into the airport were delayed while the plane was moved from the runway.

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E-Border Review: Thousands Of Alerts Deleted

More than 649,000 alerts relating to potential drug and tobacco smuggling into the UK were deleted without being read, an inspection into border controls has found.

The Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, John Vine, discovered the alerts were erased from a government system when he was examining the multimillion-pound e-Borders programme.

The border check system was set up by the Home Office 10 years ago to collect Advanced Passenger Information (API), which is then checked against terror and criminal watch lists.

The e-Borders programme is viewed by the Government as the front line in the battle to stop criminals and terrorists from entering or leaving the UK.

But Mr Vine found that records relating to drug and tobacco smuggling were deleted over a 10-month period due to "poor data quality and the prioritisation of immigration over customs work".

He said: "These deletions had a significant impact on the ability of staff at the border to seize prohibited and restricted goods and deal with those responsible."

The deletions amounted to three quarters of all the customs work completed at National Border Targeting Centre (NBTC), the hi-tech hub where watch list checks on passengers entering and leaving Britain are carried out, his report said.

The inspector also found the e-Borders programme had not delivered planned increases in passenger data collection, with only 65% of all passenger movements into and out of the UK covered, due to complications surrounding European law.

Mr Vine said: "Despite being in development for over a decade, and costing over half a billion pounds, the e-Borders programme has yet to deliver many of the anticipated benefits originally set out in 2007.

"I was surprised that the use of e-Borders information to 'export the border' by preventing the arrival of a passenger because they had either been deported or excluded from the UK previously, was not happening.

Drug smuggling alerts were deleted from the system, it was found

"The Home Office should now define clearly what the aims of the e-Borders programme are ahead of the new procurement exercise, and be transparent about what e-borders will deliver and by when."

Immigration Minister Mark Harper said Mr Vine's findings would be taken into account, but he said improvements had been made.

"Border Force - which the Government split from the UK Border Agency in 2011 - is making significant improvements in its performance," Mr Harper said.

"The 2011 Vine Report revealed that border security checks had been waived without ministerial authorisation consistently since 2007.

"Today, there is a clear operating mandate and all checks are carried out.

"A year ago, the Border Force had trouble with excessive queues at airports. Today, 99% of travellers are cleared within the service standards we've agreed.

"The security of the border is now at the heart of everything Border Force does.

"We have the best coverage of any country in Europe but we are working to improve our coverage further."

But Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said border control is in "chaos".

"The Home Secretary must urgently explain why hundreds of thousands of possible drug-smuggling records were deleted in 2012 without having ever been read," Ms Cooper said.

"She needs to stop drug-smuggling information being deleted and get the proper border controls in place, rather than relying on divisive gimmicks like ad vans instead.

"It is an outrage that drug smugglers have been able to get away with it because basic information was never acted on."

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Child Benefit Penalties Faced By Thousands

Tens of thousands of parents face being fined for failing to register the child benefit they received this year with the taxman.

An estimated 165,000 people missed Saturday's deadline, meaning they could face penalties as well as losing the handout.

HM Revenue and Customs has urged those who have not registered to do so now to avoid further costs.

A spokesman for HMRC said: "More than 29,000 people registered for self-assessment over the weekend, taking the total registrations to 160,000.

"This means that 165,000 people still need to take action and on past experience we expect more people to register in the coming days.

"Although we are past the deadline, people should still register for self-assessment to minimise any penalties they may face."

Fines for failing to register will be decided on a case-by-case basis, HMRC said.

Under Government reforms, households where one parent earns more than £60,000 a year have to return the entire amount through the self-assessment system unless they have opted out of receiving it in the first place.

It will be taken away on a sliding scale where mothers or fathers earn between £50,000 and £60,000.

The system for recovering the money has proved highly controversial as families where both parents earn just under £50,000 each will keep their payments.

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Help To Buy Scheme Could Secure 180,000 Loans

Banks are expecting a flood of interest as the latest phase of the Government's Help to Buy scheme is launched.

The move will help homebuyers obtain mortgages worth up to 95% of property values.

And in the latest phase of the controversial scheme 15% of a property's value will be guaranteed by taxpayers, in return for a fee from the lender.

Prime Minister David Cameron said: "Help to Buy is going to make the dream of home ownership a reality for many who would otherwise have been shut out."

Chancellor George Osborne said: "Too many people are still being denied the dream of owning their own home, which is why we have brought forward the launch of this scheme, so as of today borrowers can start applying for a mortgage with a 5% deposit."

Taxpayer-backed Royal Bank of Scotland and its subsidiary NatWest immediately set out mortgage deals under the scheme and announced that 740 of its branches would extend opening hours for two weeks to cope with expected demand.

Halifax and Bank of Scotland, owned by the state-backed Lloyds Banking Group, will start offering loans under the scheme on Friday but the Lloyds brand itself is not taking part.

The Treasury also announced that Virgin Money had signed up while the start-up Aldermore Bank has also said it will join.

Both will take part from January and Aldermore is exploring whether the date can be brought forward.

A Treasury spokesman said the lenders involved so far represented more than 30% of the mortgage market and that more lenders were expected to indicate participation in the coming months.

The scheme had initially not been expected to start until the new year but has been brought forward by three months.

It will offer £12bn in mortgage guarantees over three years and some estimates suggest 180,000 loans could be taken out under the initiative.

An earlier phase of the scheme, offering 20% loans on new-build properties, has already helped more than 15,000 people buy a new home since it was launched six months ago.

Help to Buy is controversial because critics fear it could fuel further rise in a housing market where prices are already rising.

But the Treasury said that while house price inflation stands at 3.3%, it is only 0.8% when the property hotspots of London and the South East are removed.

The new scheme means homebuyers will only have to find as little as 5% on homes worth up to £600,000. Depending on the size of the deposit, the Government will then guarantee up to 15% of the property value in return for a fee from the lender.

Lenders can start offering the mortgages from today, and they will be guaranteed by the Government from January 2014.

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Murder Witness Sues Met Police Over Reward

By Jason Farrell, Sky News Correspondent

A key witness in a high-profile murder case has told Sky News that he is suing the Metropolitan Police for not paying out on a reward offer.

The man who gave evidence in the trial over the shooting of unarmed police officer PC Patrick Dunne also said he lives in fear, after his identity was mistakenly released.

Speaking in a secret location the witness who we will call "John" (not his real name) told Sky News: "The police had told me that my name would never be released and that police were working in a unit of eight and not even other people in the police would know what they were doing.

"And going into the court case, my name was then given out. I then spoke to the police and said 'what the hell, my name's been given out'. And I was told 'oh we're sorry that shouldn't have happened'."

The killer, Gary Nelson, was convicted in 2006 for the shootings in 1993 of PC Dunne and a security guard William Danso. Nelson was described at the time as the most dangerous man in London.

John responded with information following a BBC Crimewatch appeal in 2001 which had offered a £100,000 reward, but he claims he only received £20,000.

He said: "We got told a year later that there's no money left in the pot. That was the answer. No letter, nothing and now I've taken legal action because of this."

Murder victims: PC Patrick Dunne (L) and William Danso

A Met spokesman confirmed that the force had "received a claim" earlier this year and had no further comment at this stage.

John's claim comes as police launch a new national witness protection service. It will create a national specialist Protected Persons Service to replace schemes run by local forces.

It is hoped it will encourage more witnesses to come forward. Last year, just over one in four of collapsed prosecutions were as a result of witness or victim reticence to give evidence.

In 2009/10, 18% of witnesses who attended court to give evidence reported that they or their family felt intimidated at some point and 40% reported concerns about coming into contact with the defendant and their supporters.

Lawyer Simon McKay, an expert in witness protection, said: "I think the key thing in handling all of these cases is that once one recognises that someone falls within the category of someone who needs to be protected is to be as honest and transparent with that individual as you can be.

Killer Gary Nelson was convicted over the shootings

"Confidence is key here, expectations are key here and the failings of the police forces that have handled these sorts of cases in the past have always let the people down in relation to those two areas."

Victims' minister Helen Grant told Sky News witness protection needed improving.

She said: "It was patchy and inconsistent across the country, and this new system will have national quality standards.

"There will be much, much better co-ordination of service, more consistency, more accountability, and very importantly too, it will create more confidence in the criminal justice system to encourage witnesses, victims, informants, other vulnerable people to come forward."

John decided he could not go through with the commitment of witness protection, as it would mean cutting ties with some family members.

This is a dilemma many struggle with. The alternative is to live in fear of repercussions. Police have improved security at his home, but John said he will be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life.

Despite helping to convict a dangerous killer, John said he "regrets" giving evidence.

He told Sky News: "I'm not getting a driving licence, I will not give my name to the DVLA. I don't hold a bank account. The council don't know who lives in the property.

"It's not just me, my wife as well, if she's been left in the house and she hears something outside, she worries straight away.

"You would normally think 'oh maybe that's a fox, maybe that's a dog'. We don't. We think that's somebody, maybe, coming to get us."

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British FBI-Style Crime Agency Starts Its Work

The head of 'Britain's FBI' has warned crime bosses there will be "no one beyond the reach" of the new crime-fighting agency.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) starts its work today, armed with an annual budget of nearly half a billion pounds to tackle serious and organised crime involving some 37,000 criminals.

More than 4,000 NCA officers will tackle crime under four commands - organised crime, economic crime, border policing and child exploitation and online protection - alongside a National Cyber Crime Unit.

Asked if the new law enforcement arm would be able to bring the fight to the "higher echelons" of organised crime, NCA director general Keith Bristow said: "To be clear, there will be no one beyond the reach of law enforcement or beyond the reach of the NCA.

"Those people involved in the most horrible activities can expect the most comprehensive and robust response."

The launch of the NCA spells the end of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca), which is to be absorbed into the new organisation.

Proposals for the new agency were first unveiled by Home Secretary Theresa May in July 2010 as part of a broader shake-up of the policing landscape.

At the time she said the US-style agency would have a sweeping new power to step in to directly task and co-ordinate police forces in a bid to tackle organised crime and secure the UK's borders.

Theresa May unveiled proposals for the NCA in July 2010

Mrs May claimed that too many of the 6,000 organised crime gangs in the UK were escaping justice and a tough new approach was needed.

The NCA has an annual budget of £463m for resources and £31m for capital, Mr Bristow confirmed.

It will run the country's first national intelligence hub, place investigators at UK ports to tackle border crime such as human trafficking and will track down child-sex abusers online.

It will also place around 120 officers overseas in 40 different countries.

Mr Bristow, a former chief constable of Warwickshire Police, said unlike Soca, the NCA would not operate as a covert organisation and wants to be recognised by the public.

Some of its officers will wear jackets and caps emblazoned with NCA when on operations.

Mr Bristow said: "We're going to be visible. We want the public to know who we are, what we do, what we're delivering, to understand the serious and organised crime threat that affects every neighbourhood and every citizen throughout the UK."

He added: "Frankly, we want the criminals to know who we are, because we want them to fear our attention."

The NCA will also be recruiting "special" officers - volunteers like special constables in police forces.

NCA specials with expert backgrounds such as in cyber or the financial sector are set to join the agency.

Mrs May said: "I want to make Britain a hostile environment for serious and organised criminals, with the new National Crime Agency leading that fight."

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McCanns 'Greatly Encouraged' By New Leads

Kate and Gerry McCann have said they are "greatly encouraged" by the expanding UK police investigation into the case of their missing daughter Madeleine.

The couple released a statement indicating they believe new information made available to police and a "detailed" Crimewatch reconstruction of events around the time the three-year-old went missing may finally turn up vital information.

"We are greatly encouraged by new information coming to light with pieces of the jigsaw now fitting together," they said.

"We are really hopeful that the forthcoming appeal on Crimewatch (Monday, October 14) will bring further new evidence which will take us a step closer to finding Madeleine and to bringing those responsible for her abduction to justice."

Earlier this week, police said they were combing phone records of thousands of tourists and residents who were at the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz at the time of Madeleine's disappearance in May 2007.

Scotland Yard detectives, who have interviewed 442 people as part of their review-turned-investigation into Madeleine's disappearance, hope to track down as many people present in the resort on or around May 3, 2007 as possible.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, the senior investigating officer, said: "We now believe we have the most complete picture to date of the events surrounding her disappearance.

Madeleine on the day before she went missing in May 2007

"We are now making targeted and new appeals for help from the public. I truly believe there are people out there who hold the key to Madeleine's disappearance, and that so far they may be completely unaware of that fact."

Scotland Yard revealed that since launching its own investigation, 41 people of interest have been identified, including 15 UK nationals, up from 38 people of interest including 12 UK nationals established in July.

Detectives have issued 31 international letters of request to mostly European countries in relation to some of the persons of interest as well as accessing phone records.

The Portuguese investigation officially closed but authorities there are backing the Scotland Yard inquiry and officers from both countries will work together in pursuing new leads.

The Metropolitan Police now has a team of six Portuguese detectives based in Faro, who are carrying out inquiries on its behalf.

The McCanns are currently suing former police chief Goncalo Amaral for libel over claims in the book The Truth Of The Lie.

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Key Morecambe Bay Witness Reveals New Life

By Jason Farrell, Sky Correspondent

A key witness in the 2004 Morecambe Bay tragedy has told Sky News how he has rebuilt his life on the witness protection programme.

It comes as police launch a new national protection scheme, the UK Protected Persons Service, for people who are in danger from criminals.

Li Hua had to change his identity after giving evidence against his gangmaster boss who was accused of manslaughter over the drowning of 21 Chinese cockle pickers in the rising tides of Morecambe Bay.

In a secret location, Li Hua told Sky News: "I was very nervous and very frightened about giving evidence, but I thought about how the police rescued us. Then I thought that in the background the police had been reassuring us, they had been protecting us all this time."

Li Hua also wanted justice for the men whose lives had been callously wasted by his boss Lin Liang Ren.

"I thought, someone is leading us to pick cockles, that someone should let us know more about the tide times. Obviously he didn't. He's so irresponsible. He couldn't care less even about people of his own nationality. I totally detest him."

Li Hua says it was sheer luck that he managed to swim to a sandbank and was rescued by helicopter.

Li Hua said it was sheer luck that he managed to swim to a sandbank

"I was frightened to death. All I thought was about my family in China and I had spent so much money to get here, what would happen now?

"I was desperate and feeling hopeless. I thought that's it, I'm going to die tonight ... Then I saw the light from the helicopter."

Gangmaster Lin Liang Ren was convicted of 21 counts of manslaughter, facilitating illegal immigration and perverting the course of justice.

Having paid a Snakehead gang the equivalent of £14,000 to come to England, Li Hua feared repercussions and was put on the witness protection programme with his wife and children.

Nine years after the tragedy he now has a new life and runs his own business.

He said: "Life is a bit complicated because since we were under the protection we settled down. There were certain things we could say to friends and some things we just don't speak of. It became automatic.

Gangmaster Lin Liang Ren was convicted of manslaughter and other charges

"But most of the time what occupied my mind was to go on living, because the British Government and the police give us this life. So, I think I was more concentrating on work hard, pay tax, make safe and don't make trouble."

The police are launching the UK Protected Persons Service next week, which will be run by a national team of specialists, as opposed to local forces.

Police say lessons have been learned from the murder of Joan and John Stirland in August 2004, which was in retaliation for a shooting by Mrs Stirland's son.

The couple were not put on the protection scheme and information wasn't properly shared between forces when they moved home.

Detective Chief Constable Andy Cooke, heading up the new national-coordinated programme, told Sky News: "This is the first time this is going to be done through one approach. Previously, unfortunately, there's been a bit of a postcode lottery as to how you were treated and the training of those people looking after you.

"In some parts of the country there was a highly specialised approach to protecting witnesses and in other parts it wasn't so great. This gives us the ability and manpower to provide the protection to people who need it at the most difficult time of their lives."

Witness protection is a tough life and some refuse to do it.

It is estimated a quarter of prosecutions collapse due to reluctant witnesses, but for Li Hua, who thought he would die in the waters of Morecambe Bay, the family he thought of in that moment is now with him in his new life.

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