Updates for Wednesday 6 January 2016
Fitzrovia News
A wild animal again roams Fitzrovia. It is perhaps the largest untamed mammal seen ’round these parts since building started on the ancient hunting grounds we at FN call home. It has so far eluded capture on camera, despite the best efforts of your correspondent, whose account follows, external.
London mayoral candidate Caroline Pidgeon has promised if she is elected in May she will cut Tube and rail fares for journeys before 07:30 by half.
The Lib Dem said the move would help London's lowest-paid workers.
Labour's Sadiq Khan has pledged to freeze fares until 2020, and Conservative Zac Goldsmith has said he would "bear down" on travel costs.
Green candidate Sian Berry wants to scrap travel zones and introduce a flat fare across the city. Karl Mercer reports:
Mayoral candidate Pidgeon pledges to cut Tube fares for journeys before 07:30 by half.
The World at One
BBC Radio 4
Kevan Jones suggests Labour's defence policy is now being "controlled" by the "North London part of the party" - a reference to the fact that Jeremy Corbyn and Emily Thornberry represent neighbouring constituencies in Islington.
He says this will be "greeted with dismay" by people who believe Labour must represent the whole of the UK.
Shadow transport secretary Lillian Greenwood - who has remained in post - says Mr Corbyn has the "prerogative" to re-assemble his top team and it is "disappointing" that the focus is on the reshuffle rather than the government's failings.
On a personal level, she says reshuffles are always difficult. Labour needs to show it can hold the government to account, she adds, and show it has an alternative programme for government.
The World at One
BBC Radio 4
Kevan Jones ( shadow defence minister who resigned today after Jeremy Corbyn's reshuffle) says there has "been nothing straightforward and honest" about the reshuffle, saying it is incorrect - as some are suggesting - that Maria Eagle wanted to move from defence, making it clear that she didn't.
Labour's leadership is "very top-down", he suggests, where opposing views are not listened to.
He says Labour has "to be credible" on defence, adding that both he and Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson think Emily Thornberry's appointment as shadow defence secretary was a "mistake".
While he gets on well with Mr Corbyn, he says he is being badly advised and there is "no party management".
BBC London News
Coming up on BBC London news at 13:30, we will look at Lib Dem mayoral candidate Caroline Pidgeon's proposal for commuters who start their journeys before 07:30 paying half-price fares on London's transport.
We will also have the latest on an armed robbery at a jewellers in Mayfair earlier today.
And, more than 11 primary schools in west London are earmarked to have earthquake shelters put in their playgrounds to protect children from noise from Heathrow airport.
BBC Radio London
On Vanessa Feltz's show tomorrow between 07:00 and 10:00, London mayor Boris Johnson will be in for a chat and taking your calls.
He's got less than five months to go so what do you think he's achieved or failed to do in office? Get your questions in to vanessa@bbc.co.uk
Earlier, Labour mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan told BBC Radio London he has a fully funded package to freeze transport fares in London until 2020, which will be delivered using "a combination of cuts, savings and ending waste" in Transport for London (TfL).
Liberal Democrat mayoral candidate Caroline Pidgeon has promised to cut Tube and rail fares for journeys before 07:30 by half, if she is elected in May.
Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith has said he would "bear down" on travel costs while Green candidate Sian Berry wants to scrap travel zones and introduce a flat fare across the city.
BBC Radio London
As Labour party's shadow cabinet is undergoing a reshuffle, former London Mayor Ken Livingstone has told BBC Radio London’s Vanessa Feltz that leader Jeremy Corbyn could not continue to have frontbenchers “slagging off” his key advisers.
He said: “What you can’t have… is frontbenchers and members of the shadow team popping up on telly and slagging of Jeremy’s key advisers and accusing them of briefing that there was gonna be a big purge. None of that was true.
Image source, Reuters"They were appalled at all this stuff about how there was going to be a revenge reshuffle.”
Mr Livingstone, a close supporter of Mr Corbyn, said the reshuffle was never about revenge. he added that decision making in the party was more open now than it had been in the Tony Blair years.
BBC Radio London
Sean McGarton witnessed the robbery at a jewellers on Avery Row, just off Bond Street, this morning.
He described how armed men "smashed" their way into the store in broad daylight. Listen:
Eyewitness describes the robbery at Avery Row
Following news about an impending strike ballot over night Tube services, Steve Griffiths, London Underground, external's chief operating officer, said: "We have made the same fair and sustainable four-year pay offer for Tube Lines maintenance staff as has been made for staff employed by London Underground.
"This will see an average 2% and inflation-protected rises in 2016 and 2017.
"Separately, to protect the work/life balance of our staff, we are also recruiting part-time drivers specifically to run the night Tube, therefore guaranteeing that no current driver will have to work the night Tube unless they choose to do so."
A student was kicked repeatedly as a man attempted to snatch his camera in Tower Hamlets in east London, police said.
The 20-year-old architectural student was walking along East India Dock Road and taking pictures on 23 December when the pillion passenger on a moped got off the bike, jumped over railings and tried to grab his camera at about 13:45.
CCTV footage of attempted robbery on East India Dock Road
Police have released CCTV images and footage of two men on East India Dock, one wearing dark motorbike clothing and a black crash helmet and another wearing a red jacket and a black helmet.
Image source, Met Police
Image source, Met PoliceThe victim was attacked when he refused to let go. The attacker ran away and jumped on the moped and the pair fled the scene.
Danny Shaw
BBC Home Affairs Correspondent
Regarding speculation Sian Blake's partner Arthur Simpson-Kent is in Ghana, police said "one line of inquiry is that he is not in the country".
Police would not confirm whether they had referred the case to Interpol. Interpol said it was a matter for the Met.
Image source, Met PoliceArthur Simpson-Kent with son Amon
Two reviews are being conducted by the Met. One is a serious case review which is standard in all major cases of this kind. It will look at what lessons can be learned.
The other internal review is being conducted by the Department for Professional Standards (DPS), to "fully understand the timeline of police interaction with the family". The DPS is expected to refer the case to the IPCC today.
Danny Shaw
BBC Home Affairs Correspondent
It is understood Scotland Yard will refer the case of Sian Blake to the Independent Police Complaints Commission later today.
Former EastEnders actress Sian Blake was last seen on 13 December.
Image source, Getty ImagesShe and her two children were reported missing on 16 December after police went to the family home after being contacted by another organisation, which was not, as has been reported, the Samaritans.
Police spoke to Arthur Simpson-Kent. He was later reported missing.
London Liberal Democrat mayoral candidate Caroline Pidgeon has promised to cut Tube and rail fares for journeys before 07:30 by half, if she is elected in May.
She said the move "would really help some of London's lowest paid workers who often have to work unsocial hours".
Image source, Getty ImagesLabour's Sadiq Khan has pledged to freeze fares until 2020, and Conservative Zac Goldsmith has said he would "bear down" on travel costs while Green candidate Sian Berry wants to scrap travel zones and introduce a flat fare across the city.
What do you think of the Lib Dem fares promise? Email us your thoughts.
BBC reporter Giles Edwards said eyewitnesses described four robbers on two motor scooters arriving, two darted inside while two others waited outside brandishing a knife and a pickaxe to keep bystanders back.
When the two robbers emerged, they leaped on the motor scooters and made off.
Scotland Yard says one man's been arrested following a reported robbery at a jewellers just off Bond Street. Police were called to Avery Row at 10:15 to reports of a gang on motorcycles armed with knives and hammers.
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Maintenance workers on London Underground are to be balloted for strikes in the long- running dispute over plans for a night Tube service.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union said around 1,300 of its members looking after maintenance and upgrade works on the Piccadilly, Northern and Jubilee lines are to vote on whether to launch a campaign of industrial action.
The move follows an announcement by London Mayor Boris Johnson that 180 part-time drivers are being recruited in a bid to launch the all-night Tube.
The service was due to start on weekends in September but no agreement has been reached with unions on pay and conditions such as how many night shifts they will work.
The staff being balloted work for Tube Lines, a wholly owned subsidiary of London Underground.
Image source, PAJermaine Baker, 28, was shot near Wood Green Crown Court, north London, during the alleged attempt on 11 December.
Izzet Eren, 32, has been charged with conspiring to escape lawful custody and possession of an imitation firearm with intent to commit an offence.
He is due before Bromley Magistrates' Court on 3 February.
A man is charged with trying to escape from a prison van in an alleged plot during which another man was shot dead by police.
Read MoreFormer Chelsea FC team doctor Eva Carneiro has arrived at London South Employment Tribunal in Croydon for her constructive dismissal case against the club.
The preliminary hearing is taking place in private before an employment judge.
Image source, Getty ImagesThe 42-year-old doctor was dropped after then-Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho criticised her and first-team physio Jon Fearn, calling them "impulsive and naive" for going on to the pitch to treat Eden Hazard during the match against Swansea.
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