that from the very beginning they thought this missing persons investigation, they treated nicola as high risk because she had specific vulnerability. they later clarified all that by telling us what those vulnerabilities wear. they said that nicola had alcohol issues and that she had struggled with the menopause, and that they had resurfaced in recent months. that provoked a lot of reaction. you heard that tweet from the home secretary. what followed was a lot of criticism, which perhaps the force was not expecting, from a number of groups who felt deeply uncomfortable that this kind of information was being released to the public, details of nicola s private life, three weeks into the investigation, and the questioned whether it was relevant, whether they had to do that at all. so the force was under a lot of scrutiny. lancashire police did inform nicola s family they were about to do this. they said that nicola would not have wanted that kind of information to be released.
with a two huge matches to get things under way an inspiring story of friendship and hope kevin sinfield has raised millions of pounds for mnd. people living with the disease tell us they can t thank him enough. good morning to you. it s a clear cut tale of two halves this weekend with today largely cloudy and mild and tomorrow chillier but dry with plenty of sunshine. it looks like it was a chilli into next week as well but i will have more of that and the weekend s weather details right later on. it s saturday the fourth of february. our main story us defence chiefs say they have identified a second suspected chinese surveillance balloon, this time above south america. the first balloon was seen yesterday above the state of montana, in the north of the united states. it prompted washington to cancel a high level visit to beijing and accuse the chinese authorities of being irresponsible. china has apologised but insisted it s simply a weather monitoring device which has
the energy regulator ofgem has asked suppliers to pause the forced installation of prepaid metres. it follows revelations that a debt collection company working for british gas broke into the homes of vulnerable people to install the metres. prepayment metres require customers to pay for their energy in advance. it s more expensive than paying by direct debit, but are sometimes the only option for people who have struggled to pay and are in debt to a supplier. ben king has more. an undercover reporter from the times newspaper joined a team of debt collectors, entering the home of a single father with three young children. they count as vulnerable. but, these workers from arvato financial solutions, working for british gas, opened the door and installed a prepayment meter anyway. installing prepayment meters by force is legal, but it s meant to be a last resort, and should not be done to vulnerable households. if people cannot afford to top up the meters, they will be left wit
for motor neurone disease. campaigners say new research funding needs to be handed out quicker. i met imeta i met a family bakery in manchester finding out what the interest rate rise means for businesses and customers. manchester united to decide on the future of their player mason greenwood after charges of attempted rape and coercive behaviours against him are dropped. while some of you will see some light rain or drizzle through the day it will actually be a mild day when the sunshine comes out with a feel of spring in fact. don t get too used to use that, though. i will have the full forecast here on breakfast. it s friday, the 3rd of february. the family of a woman who s gone missing in lancashire has made an emotional plea for people to come forward with information. 45 year old nicola bulley disappeared a week ago, while walking her dog in st michael s on wyre. we can speak now to our reporter, dave guest, while walking her dog in st michael s on wyre. who joins us fr
british gas admits there s no excuse for using debt agencies who broke into homes to fit prepayment meters. and, we speak to microsoft s bill gates about covid, vaccines and conspiracy theories. i guess people are looking for the bogeyman behind the curtain, the over simplistic explanation. and coming up on the bbc news channel. manchester united say they will conduct their own process before determining the future of their player, mason greenwood, after assault charges were dropped against him today. good evening. the bank of england has raised interest rates to the highest level for more than 1a years, with inevitable consequences for people with mortgages, credit card debt and other borrowing. the rise by 0.5 percentage point to 4% is yet another attempt to control inflation. the bank confirmed that the economy is set to enter recession this year, but it said the recession could be less pronounced than previously thought, as there are early signs that the economy is st