And mental torment on his victim. The family of a policeman who survived a frenzied machete attack say theyre proud of his bravery. We have a special report from inside disputed kashmir as tension continues to rise between india and pakistan. These are people who have just come from a mosque after offering friday prayers, who have just from a mosque after offering friday prayers, who havejust gathered into a spontaneous protest. And a novel way to pass the time in Church Taking a ride on a helter skelter. And coming up on bbc news. Joffre archer has been included in the england squad for the second ashes test against australia, but there is no place for moeen ali. Good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. For the first time in 6. 5 years, the uk economy has shrunk. It fell in the three months from april to june this year, by 0. 2 . The contraction in gdp, or the total value of goods and Services Made and sold by all sectors of the economy, was worse than some had expected. But the chancellor, sajid javid, says the fundamentals of the economy remain resilient and strong, and hes not expecting a recession. However concerns over brexit and a Global Economic slowdown are affecting trade and business confidence. So, what does the fall in growth mean for us all . Heres our economics editor, faisal islam. This is a stockpile, reams of printing material, plastics, inks shipped into this leicesterfood labelling company to beat the last brexit deadline. This across tens of thousands of british warehouses boosted the economy before march and took away from it between april and june helping leave the british economy shrinking for the first time in years. For now it isnt generally expected the uk is in its first formal recession, that is two consecutive quarters of the year where the economy gets smaller, since the great financial crisis a decade ago but this is the first shrinkage over a three month period for six and a half years when the crisis in the eurozone was raging. The First Quarter of this year was flatter by the effect of millions of pounds of stock piling which explains some, not all of todays weakness. The question now is what happens in the next three months . What a welcome for a new chancellor of the exchequer who played down his shock on a visit to the National Grid. No one will be surprised by a todays figures, there was a general expectation growth in this quarter would be slower than the previous quarter and the important thing is the fundamental of the uk economy remain very strong. Can you rule out a recession . Im not expecting recession at all, and dont take my word for it, there isnt a single leading forecaster that is expecting a recession. The east midlands is a hub for logistics and freight and these lorries and giant storage shedsis these lorries and giant storage sheds is an economy trying to deal with the prospect of more fundamental changes to the way this country trades. The governments argument that the disappointing numbers down to the fact that in warehouses up and down the country they had to wind down the extraordinary level of stockpiled parts and products for the brexit that never was in march but this is only part of the story. A recession although not likely is now possible. The economy far from turbo charged ata the economy far from turbo charged at a sensitive point. Here in nottinghamshire the chancellor was meeting apprentices and acknowledged a brexit factor in the numbers but not a jolt from the rising chances of no deal in october. Most of all we wa nt of no deal in october. Most of all we want to bring certainty which is why we must leave on october 31 and if that means leaving with no deal, thatis if that means leaving with no deal, that is the way its going to be. If that means leaving with no deal, that is the way its going to hem is the certainty of no deal that is impacting on certainty, that is what the bank of england has said. Businesses want certainty around brexit. But what sort of certainty . The labelling boss says he is fed up of stockpiling and he has delayed investing to fit out his new factory. We went through this before march and now between march and october, we have had a lot of unstable, uncertainty, and the cloudy skies are upon us again. We cant move forward or back, we are stuck in a rut, thats where we are. Expectation is britain avoids a formal recession by growing but with the pound tumbling again nothing seems too certain in the british economy. Lets pick up on the final point you made, faisal, the pound has fallen toa made, faisal, the pound has fallen to a ten year low against the euro and dollar so is the chancellor right to be at so sanguine about there not being a recession . The expectation is there will not be a recession, right now, as opposed to the quarter between march and june, that right now it is growing again. How can you be certain in anything in british economic, politics or the eu economy, too. And i think, actually, although you heard the chancellors say this number was not surprising, the proof of that pudding would be in the currency markets, where sterling has fallen again pretty sharply, close to multi year historic lows against the major currencies. And that will have a Feedback Mechanism back into the economy because itll mean imports and the price of petrol and food could go up again, too, so you have this factor to bear in mind as well. And, also, these numbers are a window into a world, even if you say they are all distortions and they will wipe their way through the comic it is extraordinary to see the amount of stockpiling there was a head of the last deadline. So, we await what happens in this quarter but i think itll be a recession. Faisal islam, our economics editor. Thank you. A Major Incident on the National Grid has caused power cuts affecting homes, trains and airports across large parts of england. London and the south east, parts of cheshire and staffordshire have all been hit. Transport for london says the drop in power has affected some traffic lights. Katie austen is with me and what more do we know . This power outage looks to have affected very large swathes of england and wales, and Power Networks are blaming it on a failure at National Grid. There is a long list of areas affected now, which include the nottingham area, some of the numbers through ofjust nottingham area, some of the numbers through of just how nottingham area, some of the numbers through ofjust how many people are affected by this, at least 111,000 homes in the nottingham area, at least 31,000 in the forest of dean area, uk Power Networks serving london and the south east have said their customers are affected as well so the north east of england as well, the northwest. It really is a very large incident and it affecting travellers well, so network rail confirming services around newport, gloucester, ashford, eastbourne, i could go on, have all been affected by this and we have seen thames link say that the failure of the Electricity Supply has affected their services as well and services might be cancelled, delayed or revised until the end of the day. Meanwhile, drivers have been warned some traffic lights are also affected so they are being warned to drive affected so they are being warned to d rive carefully affected so they are being warned to drive carefully as well while this incident goes on. Weve heard some airports are affected, its not clear how that is playing out yet but weve heard heathrow is not affected. Ok, thank you. A 28 year old churchwarden has been found guilty of murder, after tricking his victim into changing his will. Ben field manipulated Peter Farquhar, who was 69, duping him into a relationship and then lacing his food with drugs and neat alcohol. However field was found not guilty, of the attempted murder of a retired headmistress who was 83, and whom field also admitted, hed tricked into a relationship. Tom symonds has the story. A respected former teacher and novelist, Peter Farquhar rendered helpless. He had suffered falls, injuries, he had no idea what was going on. That second voice is the man who talked his way into peters life. Despite the age difference, his student, ben field, promised to marry him while secretly lacing peters food with drugs and neat alcohol, killing him slowly for his money. Here is a cold, calculating, devious man, who took pleasure from inflicting both physical and mental torment on his victim. Evil. Peter even dedicated a book to field. In return, field tried to convince people he had dementia, and then peter was found dead. Alcohol was suspected. Suspiciously, he had signed his home over to ben field. But field wasnt done. Three doors down from the house where peter lived, he found another elderly victim. And the deception started again. A sexual relationship with Ann Moore Martin, 57 year age gap. He targeted her religious beliefs, bizarre messages started appearing on her mirrors. Ben field had planned it all in his notebook, and, then, this. Hello, im thinking of withdrawing all my accounts, money held in my accounts. £27,000. But ann also told her niece what was going on and the police got involved. They found out about fields abusive relationships. They exhumed and re examined peters body. The jury today found ben field had suffocated him. He had already admitted defrauding peter and field. Fields friend, martin smith, was cleared of charges that hed helped. In a Statement Read by the police, Peters Family said there were lessons to be learned. If people hear the story, we hope they are very, very careful if somebody unexpected walks into the life of a loved one when that loved one is vulnerable and lonely. There must be other people out there like ben field and we wouldnt want anyone to have to go through the things that we have. In the quiet village of maids moreton, this was a chilling case. Two devout but Vulnerable People mentally and physically exploited. Sadly, Ann Moore Martin also died of natural causes. Ben field, his picture hanging over her dressing table, had blighted her final years. Tom symonds, bbc news, oxford crown court. A man has appeared in court charged with the attempted murder of a policeman in east london. The officer, pc stuart outten, is in a serious but stable condition in hospital after being stabbed several times with a machete. Today his family have been speaking about how proud they are of his bravery. Heres richard lister. Police constable stuart outten, hailed as a hero after a machete attack which could have killed him. The 28 year old has been a policeman all his adult life. His family said today he had been overwhelmed by the level of public support. It was on this east london street that pc outten was set upon after stopping a van suspected of having no insurance. Despite horrific injuries to his head and hand, he subdued his attacker with a taser. 56 year old Muhammad Rodwan from luton appeared at Thames Magistrates Court this morning charged with the attempted murder of the young policeman and possession of an offensive weapon in public. Muhammad rodwan was in court for less than five minutes. He stood to give his name, his date of birth and to confirm that he is british. He said he had no fixed address and there was no application for bail. Murder of the young policeman and possession of an offensive he remains in custody and will now face trial at the old bailey. Hell return to court next month. Richard lister, bbc news, at Thames Magistrates Court. Borisjohnson says preparing for a no deal brexit, will be his top priority, and that it will also be the top priority for the civil service. In a letter to all Civil Servants, the Prime Minister called on them to make rapid and urgent preparations for leaving the eu with no agreement. It comes as the labour leaderjeremy corbyn, has called on the uks most senior Civil Servant to intervene, if mrjohnson pursues a no deal brexit, in the middle of a general Election Campaign, when mps will be powerless to intervene. Heres our political correspondent, jonathan blake. He couldnt be clearer. We need to get brexit done by october the 31st. The Prime Minister has promised brexit will happen by the current deadline, with or without a deal. No ifs, no buts. Today he told Civil Servants preparing for no deal will be their top priority, and that while he wanted an agreement with the eu, he recognised that might not happen. A no deal brexit is what the labour leader and others dont want. Theyre worried parliament could be left powerless if the Prime Minister holds a general election after the uk has left the eu. Sojeremy corbyn has written to the head of the civil service, sir mark sedwill, seeking urgent clarification of whether that would break government rules. He says forcing through a no deal brexit during an Election Campaign would be an unprecedented, unconstitutional and anti democratic abuse of power by the Prime Minister. And asks for confirmation that in that scenario, the government should seek a time limited extension to the brexit process. If we cant have a Prime Minister who will do the decent thing, who will behave honourably, we have to go around him and say to the head of the civil service, youve also got duties here that you must adhere to. So how could we end up there . When mps get back here from their summer break next month, its expected the government will face a vote of no confidence. If it loses and a new government cant be formed within14 days, that would trigger a general election. The Prime Minister decides the timing of that, and if, as downing street appears prepared to allow, its held after october the 31st, the uk would have already left the eu. So what if brexit happened during a general Election Campaign . During the pre election period you cannot have radical changes of policy. The difficulty forjeremy corbyns position is the default position is that we leave the European Union on october the 31st. The man whosejob it is to prepare for a no deal brexit wouldnt be drawn on the timing of any election but said again the uk would leave on october the 31st. That is the date that has been agreed between the eu 27 and the uk. I dont want a general election because i believe its important we get on with delivering brexit. Many in parliament are determined to stop a no deal brexit. The government is adamant there will be no further delay. Jonathan blake, bbc news, westminster. The time is 18. 16. Our top story this evening. The uk economy shrinks for the first time in six and a half years as growth dipped by 0. 2 in the three months tojune. And still to come. The country braces itself for a weekend of Stormy Weather. Coming up on sportsday on bbc news. Well be live from anfield as european champions liverpool kick off the new premier league season. They face norwich city as they make their return to the top flight. India has told pakistan to keep out of its internal affairs as tension continues to rise over the disputed region of kashmir. Today some mosques were allowed to open in the indian administered parts of the territory after a Communications Blackout and lockdown thats been in place since sunday. Kashmir is claimed by both pakistan and india, with the two Nuclear Armed neighbours controlling different areas of the state. But last week delhi revoked the limited autonomy of the territory it administers, taking away its special status. For some observers, the move fits the populist agenda of indias hindu nationalist Prime Minister, nahendra modi, as kashmir is indias only majority muslim state. Our correspondent, yogita limaye, is one of the few International Journalists in kashmir. Shes sent us this report from the city of srinagar. Tensions are beginning to rise. Young protesters have been coming out in many areas. Pelting stones at Security Forces and jeering at them. Soldiers fire lead pellets. And tear gas. To disperse the mob. Voices that have been suppressed for days have begun to be heard. This was a spontaneous march by men who had just offered friday prayers. They won through small alleys because they cannot go on to the main roads. Translation in every part of india, people are celebrating but they dont know that our hearts are brief bleeding. We are under siege. Sand we have been completely betrayed. They put a gun to our heads and told us that a few people in the government have decided our fate. Earlier, inside the mosque, too, there was sloganeering. And the cleric also made a speech about the issue. The dispute over kashmir can only end when they take the opinion of people here, he said. Its the first friday since the move was announced. While most of the bigger mosques we re while most of the bigger mosques were closed, in some places people we re were closed, in some places people were allowed to go out and pray. However, phone and internet lines remain cut off and separatist leaders have been moved out of kashmir. Top politicians from the region remain under house arrest. The Indian Government taking no chances, worried that the situation here could spiral into widespread unrest. Yogita limaye, bbc news, srinagar. The Electoral Commission says britain needs law is fit for the digital age to take into account the rise of Companies Like facebook and google. The independent body which regulates party and election finance is calling for Greater Transparency and more powers to investigate campaign spending. Heres our media editor, amol rajan. Are you going to vote liberal on thursday . Certainly, yes. Very good, very good. And my boyfriend. Not so long ago, the most effective political campaigning took place face to face and door to door. Such campaigning still has its place, of course, but today the persuasion machines of social media offer a more efficient route to voters. In just the past month, conservative spending on such ads has boomed, fuelling rumours of a snap election. Whats the attraction of social media platforms like facebook to people who have a political message they want to get across . Its really incredibly low cost and its really easy to use. Anyone sitting on their own can open a laptop, they can create a page, start advertising to very small, very targeted communities they want to reach out and engage. So, the barriers in terms of getting involved are just so much lower now. The leave campaign in the brexit referendum was masterminded by dominic cummings. Played here by Benedict Cumberbatch in a channel 4 film. There is a product in town. One that you cant control. Hes now a Senior Adviser in number ten. In 2017, he articulated his digital strategy. We sucked in data on the precise same basis that facebook marketing allows. And, then, we had, therefore, large sub samples of the overall polling samples, which you could actually rely on, and then you could take the data and plug it straight back in to facebook. But this is about much more than one man or one plebiscite. Social media companies, like facebook and its subsidiaries, are radical extensions of the 20th Century Advertising industry. They are giant persuasion machines that provide campaigners, whether commercial or political, with thousands of data points that enable very cheap, micro targeting. But the perennial question is who regulates this stuff . I dont understand why the government is taking so long. I think we should be looking at emergency legislation to bring our electoral law up to date to at least establish the basic principles that the same requirements that exist on a poster or on a leaflet should exist in an online ad on facebook as well. There is a regulatory void here. The information commissioner said it regulates use of personal data but has no role in regulating the content or the money. The Advertising Standards Authority said any ad intended to influence voters would be unlikely to be covered by our rules. And the Electoral Commission, which regulates political finance but not content, say they want new powers in this arena. Weve been calling for changes to the law to make political campaigning online more transparent, and the funding of it known much quicker than it currently is. We think that absolutely needs to happen so that the voter can know where the money is coming from. Technology always outpaces legislation. The trouble is social media now threatens to undermine the very democracy it once promised to improve. Amol rajan, bbc news. Theyre not normally built on consecrated ground, but a 55 foot high helter skelter has a new home in norwich cathedral. Aimed at attracting more people to the building, itll give visitors a rare chance to get up close to the impressive medieval roof as they contemplate life and the universe on their way down. Our religion editor, martin bashir, has been to take a look. Amid the ancient cloisters of this hallowed place, not the sound of evensong. But hallowed place, not the sound of evensong. But a fairground ride. It is good fun really good fun. Did it make you think about anything more deeply . Honestly, no. Other than what a random thing to have an cathedral . It was very good and fast. It took four days to build and costs £2 per ride, the cathedral says it is designed to give a close up view of stunning medieval ceiling and start conversations about faith. I think we have to remember that we are dealing with a great diversity of people in our nation and if we are to reach out to lots of different people, we have to use different methods. At 55 feet tall, it is certainly closer to the heavens, but will it take visitors nearer to god . Isnt this a sign that the church has lost faith in its gospel message . And is now reduced to basically having gimmicks . No, this is a sign of a confident church. English cathedrals are the Great Success story of the church of england and the number is coming to worship are increasing on the numbers of visitors is rising. If that is so, why have a helter skelter . If that is so, why have a helterskelter . Because ourjob has a lwa ys helterskelter . Because ourjob has always been to retell the story. Helterskelter . Because ourjob has always been to retell the storylj am going to climb the 36 steps myself. Six flights of stairs and i am nowjust over 10 feet from the cathedral ceiling. Ready . Off we go that is quick i havent seen many of the ceilings from here i have to say, i think i prefer evensong for understanding the gospel and the Christian Faith but judging understanding the gospel and the Christian Faith butjudging by the line over there i think i am in the minority. Martin basheer, bbc news, norwich cathedral. Time for a look at the weather. Heres sarah keith lucas. A wild and windy weekend . For anybody organising outside events, the weather through the next 2a hours is not going to look particularly pretty. We have strong winds, heavy rain and thunderstorms, all of which are going to combine to bring travel delays and disruption and disruption to outdoor events. The cloud has been rattling in from the south west on a deep area of low pressure so if we look at the radar and the thunderstorms from the next last few hours, plenty of showers have produced thunder and lightning rattling their way eastwards across the country. These are the gusts of wind this evening, up to 50 mph. Certainly enough to cause significant disruption. The strongest winds across england and wales as we head through tonight and further north, plenty of heavy and thundery downpours, particularly for Northern England into scotland, Northern England into scotland, Northern Ireland and a mild night with the wind in this temperature is holding at a 16 or 17 degrees. This area of low pressure will bring that Stormy Weather through the day tomorrow so from the word go we have plenty of heavy showers and thunderstorms, particularly across scotland, Northern England and wales. Further south it will be the wind causing most of the problems. The wind is not as strong across scotla nd the wind is not as strong across scotland and Northern Ireland and Northern England but the showers could be prolonged and heavy with not a lot of breeze. Showers and thunderstorms across scotland, Northern Ireland into Northern England. To the south of that, these wind gusts in the black circles, 4050 wind gusts in the black circles, 40 50 mph, 60 mph around the coast. Not feeling as warm as it has done today with temperatures at 19 23d on saturday. It does look like most of the showers should ease away for the second half of the weekend so still one or two showers but things not as windy and it should be less disruptive weather during the course of sunday. Thank you. Lets return to the news of the Major Incident on the National Grid that has seen widespread power cuts. Michael calvin is at kings cross train station. How has a transport been affected . Station. How has a transport been affected . Tonight transport is almost at a standstill here at london kings cross and ijust went inside and there are hundreds if not over 1000 people waiting on the concourse. Every single board says delayed. This is one of the uk is busiest stations. In the last few minutes we have heard from the uk Power Networks on twitter, they replied to a tweet saying the fault was caused by a fault on the transmission network. That was in reply to a tweet and we have no further details but what we know is this is affecting the whole country, not just this is affecting the whole country, notjust london. Certainly services in london and out of kings cross are severely disrupted tonight. All right, thank for that. Lets get more on the situation across the country. Katie austin is here. Ipswich hospital has been affected by this power outage and it says the back up generator has failed to work. Therefore that power outage is rather affecting their entire south and a spokesperson for the hospital said staff are working flat out to keep patients safe. We heard from british transport policejose there isa british transport policejose there is a huge disruption on the rail network and they have officers assisting at train stations after that widespread disruption. We believe at this stage that gatwick and heathrow are still operating as normal but we will try to keep across the latest updates as they arise. Thank you. Katie austin there. Thats it, so goodbye from me. Now on bbc one, letsjoin our news teams where you are. Have a very good evening