is still defying brexit predictions — but for how long? a warning about dementia — why living near major roads letters from a princess to palace steward — diana's handwritten notes are sold at auction. coming up in the sport on bbc news, hull city appoint former olympiakos boss marco silva as their new manager. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. jill saward, the first survivor of rape to waive her right to anonymity, has died. she was 51. in 1986 she suffered a violent assault by two men during a burglary at her father's vicarage in west london. at the end of the trial of the rapists, thejudge said her trauma had "not been so great". jill saward went on to become a tireless campaigner and many believe her efforts changed the way we now deal with sex crime and its victims. our home affairs correspondent june kelly looks back at her life. jill sawa rd jill saward was 21 when, in 1986, she became the victim of a crime which caused revulsion across the country. there was horror that, in a suburban vicarage in ealing, west london, a young woman was dragged into a bedroom at knife—point and raped repeatedly by two men. into a bedroom at knife—point and raped repeatedly by two menm began to be serious when man 2 took me upstairs and brought me into this room, the spare room, and told me to undress. her attackers were part of a three—man gang who broke into her family home. her father, a three—man gang who broke into her family home. herfather, and her boyfriend were badly beaten. jill saward's rapists tied her up with a skipping rope. in the criminal trial that followed, the judge caused outrage when he said thatjill saward's trauma had not been so great. he gave her attackers lighter sentences than the gang member who did not rape her. royal my response to what thejudge did not rape her. royal my response to what the judge said, that the trauma suffered was not so great, again, i don't think words can express how i felt in that situation. i don't think the judge had a clue what i went through. as a rape victim, jill saward's name was kept secret. but she took the decision to write a book and speak publicly about what she had injured. i want people to be able to understand just how much of a trauma rape is, and what you go through when you have been raped. i hope that what i have done will help other people. having been exposed to the realities of the criminal justice system, jill saward became a pivotal advocate for better treatment for other victims. she was at the vanguard of a successful campaign to stop defendants in rape cases from cross—examining women bringing complaints. tonight, fellow campaigners paid tribute to her. one of the most important things she did was to try to dispel the stigma and the taboo around rape and sexual violence. she very strongly and correctly repeated the message that the victim has nothing to feel ashamed about. it is always the perpetrator who has the reason to feel shame. jill saward leaves a husband and three sons. the attorney general said she had opened the eyes of many politicians and helped to ensure that victims were placed at the heart of the criminaljustice system. the campaignerjill saward, who's died at the age of 51. the number of new cars sold in the uk hit an all—time high in 2016. the increase, of more than 2%, was mainly due to high demand from business customers, according to the society of motor manufacturers and traders. but sales are expected to fall sharply this year, as our industry correspondent john moylan reports. once, new cars were the preserve the privileged few. not any more. these days, we buy cars like mobile phones. the reason we're all buying so many new cars is because the industry makes it so easy for us. in fact, the vast majority of customers are now effectively leasing new vehicles for an affordable monthly payment, rather than worrying about the overall sticker price. ivan foreman used to buy cars second—hand. now he doesn't have to. all of the options now available with leasing and financing, i can now pay less overall on a monthly basis but still go home with a brand new car. you can probably have a car like that for £10 more than your golf. this shift in how we buy cars is also changing the type of car we're buying, too. there's a real trend for people to buy more upmarket cars, because the monthly payments are usually not that much greater than buying a more mainstream vehicle and people are very badge conscious and they want the latest technology and that's what these premium manufacturers are offering. last year, total sales hit almost 2.7 million cars. that was up 2.3% on the previous year, which was also a record high. but the industry now expects sales to fall by more than 5% in the coming here. than 5% in the coming year. that's because consumer demand has been falling. it could get worse, amid the economic uncertainty ahead. what's more, higher prices are coming to forecourts. the pressure that comes from a lower value pound, to a certain extent does help exporters but the converse is it makes imports more expensive. around six out of seven cars we sell here are imported, so the pressure of that depreciation in sterling will undoubtedly float through into price rises. the rising price of fuel won't help either. petrol and diesel have hit an 18—month high. after five years of growth, the car market could be in for a bumpy ride. john moylan, bbc news. and now to another sign of how the economy is doing. britain's service sector grew at its fastest pace for 17 months in december — that's according to a survey published today. services, which cover everything from retail and transport to banking and accounting, make up three—quarters of the economy. our economic editor kamal ahmed is here with me. on the face of it, this is good news? it certainly is. as you say, the services sector is the largest pa rt the services sector is the largest part of the economy. it's very important it performs well. this seems to be on the back of pretty confident british consumers, who are still out there, shopping. the chief economist of the bank of england was atan economist of the bank of england was at an event today that i was at. he welcomes these figures. he admitted the bank of england, maybe last year, before the referendum, was a little too pessimistic, that the figures we have had on the services sector, on construction, on manufacturing, have been more positive since britain voted to leave the european union. but he did signal a note of caution, and sound a note of warning. he said that this year, and next year, could be tougher, because of the fall in the value of sterling, imports of food and fuel are likely to be more expensive. those inflation pressures are pushing into the british economy. what was interesting about today's figures, they said that inflation pressures in the services sector on the high street were at their highest since 2011. so, those pressures will push through to higher prices for consumers. that could mean the economy could stutter in the future. thank you very much. two people have been killed and five wounded in a car bomb explosion in the turkish resort of izmir. the blast took place outside the city's courthouse, with armed attackers opening fire before detonating a bomb. two of the attackers were shot dead by police and a third is said to be on the run. people who live near major roads could be at greater risk of developing dementia. that's according to a decade—long study by scientists in canada. they say air pollutants caused by heavy traffic could get into the bloodstream. but the researchers say more work is now needed to understand the link. our medical correspondent fergus walsh has the story. air pollution and noise, two of the downsides of living near a major road. but a greater likelihood of getting dementia? well, that is the theory behind a new study. this research shows, for pretty much the first time, there is a link between living near a busy main road, we are talking like a busy a wrote or dual carriageway, and having an increased risk of dementia. i think it shows that it could be a new risk factor we have not considered before. study of 2 million canadians found about 10% of dementia cases in urban areas could be linked to exposure to heavy traffic. researchers found living within 50 metres of a major road increased the risk of dementia by 7% — 11%. road increased the risk of dementia by 7% -11%. at road increased the risk of dementia by 7% - 11%. at 100 road increased the risk of dementia by 7% — 11%. at 100 metres, the increased risk was 11%. leeds is like any urban centre, congested and polluted. keeping the mind active is one of the benefits of this crossword club. so, are members worried that city living might be harming them? i try to live a healthy lifestyle. i eat very well, i exercise regularly. and yet you can, just by living near a main road, you can do yourself a great deal of damage. that is concerning. it would not be a great shock to me, in the same way that when unleaded petrol was introduced, the connection between lead and brain damage was unproven. i would not be at all surprised. around 850,000 people in the uk have dementia. it gradually robs them of their memories and their brain function. but the origins of the condition are not well understood. this research does not prove that heavy traffic causes dementia. it makes a fascinating link that requires further investigation. but there are already many reasons to avoid the polluted air in our cities. it can cause serious breathing difficulties and trigger a heart attack or stroke in those already at risk. last year, british scientists found tiny pollution particles in samples of brain tissue, another hint there may bea link brain tissue, another hint there may be a link between traffic and neurodegenerative conditions. for now, the best advice to reduce your dementia risk is to exercise and eat healthily. fergus walsh, bbc news. our top story this evening... the survivor who helped change the way we deal with rape, jill saward, dies aged 51. still to come... princess diana's letters under the hammer — but how much did they go for? coming up in sportsday on bbc news, sir andy murray was an early break down in his qatar open quarterfinal against nicolas almagro. find out if the spaniard could cause an upset against the world the way domestic violence cases are dealt with in family courts in england and wales looks set to change. the justice secretary wants to stop the growing practice of abusers questioning their own victims — adding to their ordeal. one woman in four can expect to experience domestic violence during her lifetime. at the moment, two women are killed every week in england and wales by a current or former partner. now, a home office—backed pilot scheme has brought northumbria police and several other agencies together in a new way of tackling the problem, and as our uk affairs correspondent jeremy cooke reports, the early signs are encouraging. they're on the road. and on the doorstep. i'm just going to try around the back. northumbria police, tracking down those guilty of a crime often unseen — domestic violence. the lad we're going to see is no stranger to the police anyway. it's a volatile relationship, erm, so there's physical violence, emotional violence. this time, he's not there. but the cops will be back. the key is intelligence—gathering, a task that goes well beyond the police. his father believed he may have been recalled to prison... in this one room are councils and probation workers, victim support groups, the nhs and more. six police events on our system are all down to domestic abuse. all it designed to identify suspects. all of it designed to identify suspects. we wouldn't have a domestic abuse victim if we didn't have a perpetrator. therefore, if we want to stop domestic abuse, we need to stop the perpetrators. the work could hardly be more urgent. this police force alone has dealt with almost 30,000 domestic abuse calls in the past year. we were standing in the kitchen just talking, and then next thing, he just flew for me. was biting us, punching us, grabbed us by the throat. ijust thought she was in the wrong, i was blaming her for everything and i punched herand kicked her and i physically assaulted her. i don't know what i done it for, just something flipped, or clicked, and ijust went absolutely berserk. back on the street, the police are still on the case. and finally, they track down their man and the woman he's abused many times. they've slipped out of the house into the back alley. hiya, folks, you all right? this is to inform you that northumbria police have identified you as a domestic abuse serial perpetrator. what's different here is that these cops are not making an arrest, they're trying to get him to engage in a programme to stop the violence. we can offer you these courses now, and... what kind...? is it a big project? it's things like, they're looking at things like anger management, drug and alcohol misuse, and it's like, you want to make that step. and that step is this. you recognise the behaviour before it escalated towards being abusive... it's a key element of this new home office—funded pilot scheme. aggressive behaviour is a choice. every man on this course had admitted domestic abuse, physical or mental. your body tenses up, your fists will clench. the numbers are impressive — for men who complete this course, rates of offending have reduced by 61% — enough to make a difference. i love him, and we've got four children together. that to me is enough to try to make things work. and thank goodness it did. thanks to this course some people watching this who will say, you shouldn't be on this course, you should be injail? yeah. well, to be honest with you, i think i should have been injail. i think anyone who hits anybody or abuses anybody or anything else, should go to jail. but obviously, i've had a second chance. ultimately, those behind this programme want one thing — to stop the abuse. they're doing all they can, but there are warnings that the process can only be as strong as its weakest link. we've taken the initiative, and i want the courts to follow suit and take the initiative, too. perpetrators need to be stopped. and it is a nasty course of conduct that's changing vulnerable victims' lives and the courts need to intervene, understanding that. the police here stress that whenever possible, perpetrators will still face arrest and prosecution. it's a zero tolerance message, and it's all about protecting victims. details of organisations providing support for victims of domestic violence are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline, a transgender woman being held at a male prison while on remand has been found dead in her cell. jenny swift had been in custody at hmp doncaster in south yorkshire after a man was stabbed in november and later died. it's reported ms swift, who was charged under the namejonathan swift, had asked to be put into a women's prison. an independent investigation will now take place. the rmt union has accepted an offer from transport secretary chris grayling to discuss the long—running dispute over operating train doors on southern rail. unions argue the extension of driver—only services, where drivers rather than guards open and close carriage doors, is unsafe. but the industry regulator insists it's a safe method. top intelligence chiefs in the united states have warned that russian cyber operations have become more aggressive and pose a major threat to the us government. they were speaking at the start of an investigation by us senators into cyber—attacks which the intelligence agencies say were designed to interfere in november's presidential election. our north america editor, jon sopel, is in washington for us. where does this leave donald trump's relationship with the intelligence services? decidedly rocky, george. we have got donald trump being absolutely disparaging of the intelligence chiefs and their assertion that russia tried to influence the outcome of the presidential election by hacking into democratic party computers. yesterday, donald trump was tweeting approvingly of the wikileaks founder julia —— julian assange. he also tweeted, saying, why have the intelligence chiefs delayed their meeting with me? may be they're trying to build a case. so today we had the intelligence chiefs firing back, saying, only senior officials in russia could have authorised the recent data thefts and disclosure at. they said it was part of a multifaceted campaign, that it was not just hacking, it multifaceted campaign, that it was notjust hacking, it was also disinformation, propaganda and fake news. and they said they had a very high degree of confidence that it came from the top of the russian state. but the one thing that donald trump is determined not to accept, and i'm sure he will not, even when he meets the intelligence chiefs tomorrow, is that his election victory was down to the russians. because of course that would take away the legitimacy of his position as the president—elect. a bbc investigation has found that large amounts of illegal drugs are being delivered unknowingly by postal workers, with few checks taking place. over the past few months, radio1 newsbeat has heard concerns that more now than ever, your local postman or woman could be at the end of a multi—million pound drug chain. jim connolly reports. it's an illegal trade worth millions. and it means your local postman could unwittingly be delivering drugs alongside the regular mail. more and more people are buying drugs on the dark web, and it means people like this... how you doing? ..are the final point in the drug deal chain. one parcel that has had drugs in it. what was in there, as far as you know? it smelt of cannabis. so you smell it, and then what? you tell the managers and all they say is, you need to deliver it. if you see the place it's being delivered to, just tell them to be more careful. really? the royal mail told us it doesn't knowingly carry any illegal items in its network. but getting drugs online is becoming more popular with people like steve, who would only speak to us if we protected his identity. it was cheaper and it had less chance of getting what we call skanked. me and my friend have found it incredibly funny how she handed it over and said thank you very much, i looked at her and said, thank you very much. she walked off, completely unaware that she was part of a drugs trade. this part of london used to be home to a lot of shops where you could buy legal highs, or new psychoactive substances. the government say its new law to tackle this has meant that the shops have all closed down. but we managed to get these drugs on the dark web, getting around that issue. we asked the government to come on and speak to us about this, but they declined. they say they are spending £1.9 billion over the next five years on cyber security. so, how easy was it to buy those drugs on the dark web? we've come to meet chris monteiro, an independent security expert and researcher. i mean, everything about it is pretty much like ebay, except it looks, frankly, a little bit more amateurish, a bit less polished ? yes, the technology is not as mature, in many cases. but you're accessing a highly anonymised website which is very hard to track down indeed. at the end of the session, we had bought three different drugs, ecstasy, some marijuana and some synthetic cannabis, known as spice. it's taken out of your wallet, and now it's done. a few days later, all three parcels arrived. we took them to this government approved testing lab. these don't particularly look suspicious. there is no way every single item could be opened, we'd never get our post. it would be backlogs upon backlogs. so, they're trained on things that look suspicious. none of which these do. it may have only been three samples, but the testing proved that everything we bought on the dark web is as described, raising the question, what needs to be done to stop the deadly trade? how will the authorities tackle a global issue, where every time one online marketplace is shut down, another pops up to replace it? six handwritten letters from princess diana have sold for over £15,000 at auction. they were all written to former buckingham palace steward cyril dickman, and include some revealing insights about the then young princes william and harry. sarah campbell is at the auction house in cambridge. for years, the items in the collections of cyril dickman had remained unseen in a cupboard. there we re remained unseen in a cupboard. there were letters, christmas cards, even a slice of wedding cake from the queen'swedding. all of them it turned out today are highly collecta ble, turned out today are highly collectable, especially those items relating to diana, princess of wales. are we finished now? no we're not. £3,000, £3,200. all done this time, the hammer is up, and it's going to go at £3,200. estimated values were quickly exceeded, as the world snapped up a little bit of royal memorabilia. as expected, it was diana's heartfelt letters to palace employee cyril dickman, the head steward at buckingham palace, which fetched the most. she was a mother who obviously cared about her children. and she was very generous and she wasn't afraid of putting her thoughts down on paper. and that was shown in some of the lots we sold today. september 1984, and prince william's eagerness to see his new baby brother was plain to see. five days after the birth, diana wrote, "william adores his little brother and spends the entire time swamping harry with an endless supply of hugs and kisses, hardly letting the parents near." that letter sold for more than five times the guide price. selling this time. at £3,200. bids are coming in online and on the phone from across the world, i'm told particularly japan, america and australia and all the lots so far have easily exceeded their reserve price. another letter, this time from 1992. alluding perhaps to the troubles in her marriage, which were about to be made public. she thanks cyril for thinking of her at this "difficult period" and writes that the boys are well and enjoying boarding school a lot — although "harry is constantly in trouble". again, this sold for more than £3,000. cyril died in 2012. today his grandson watched nervously as the family collection went under the hammer. it means a great deal. i mean, it's a good thing for my grandfather's name, i suppose, and again for my family. and, again, itjust raises the profile of what a great royal family we have. the royal family is a source of fascination around the world and almost 20 years after her death, it appears the interest in diana and her life has barely lessoned. time for the weather. it was very cold this morning, it was the coldest night in england so far this winter. it was —8 in parts of rural oxon. all change tomorrow, it will be a cloudy start, rather dull and for many of us come a wet as well. but it was beautiful today. marry early frost under the clear skies, but cloud will gather from the west. the winds pick up, the rain arrives into northern ireland and western scotland, and it will be pretty mild here. down into the london area, we keep those temperatures close to freezing, and potentially, freezing fog could be an issue in your early morning rush hour. further south, the cloud gathers. and the rain will be arriving, some of it heavy in northern ireland and west facing coasts of scotland. it will gradually drift eastwards. in the far north of scotland you might escape the worst of the weather. it will move in from the west. not too much in the way of heavy, persistent rain. perhaps across the midlands, east anglia and the south—east of england, it may well stay dry during daylight hours. it is the mild air which pushes the cold air back to the continent by the start of the weekend. all change, staying pretty cloudy and quite mild into the weekend, but largely dry. that's all from the bbc news at six. so, it's goodbye from me, and on bbc one, we nowjoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are. you are jill sawa rd jill saward has died at the age of 51. the attorney—general said she had helped to ensure that victims we re had helped to ensure that victims were placed at the heart of the criminaljustice system. were placed at the heart of the criminaljustice systemlj were placed at the heart of the criminaljustice system. i want people to be able to understand how much of a trauma rape is and just what you do go through. the justice secretary is attempting to close a loophole which allows domestic abusers to cross dep form partiers in during some court hearings in england and wales. two people have died and at least five were injured after a car bomb exploded outside a courthouse in the turkish city of izmir. police say two of the attackers were shot dead but another is on the run. very much suggests that britain's service sector is growing at its fastest pace for seven years. and the rmt union has taken up an offer from the transport secretary, chris grayling to hold talks to resolve the long—running dispute with southern rail over driver—only operated trains. ina in a moment time for sportsday but first a lack at what else is coming up. what now for security in turkey. they are coming to terms with the aftermath of the terror attack on new year's eve and today two people have been killed in a a terror attack in izmir.