Broadcast timeline
5 News with Dan Walker
Thursday 3 September 2026 · 17:30 BST · 55m · 10 stories · 15 annotated moments · 32 of 55 min on news stories (58%)
Broadcast overview
An AI-generated overview based on this broadcast's transcript.
The programme opened with the sentencing of three men for a £70m pension fraud involving a tree-planting scheme in Costa Rica. Then the UK and French leaders met at Downing Street to discuss small boat crossings, with France pledging 45 more officers and the two sides discussing co-operation on migration, defence, and other issues. The broadcast also covered a by-election announcement and other headlines including a pupil sentenced for stabbing a teacher, a guilty plea in a hit-and-run death, minimum wage underpayments, and a migrant boat disaster off Gran Canaria.
A vigil in London for victims of the Nepal and Tibet floods featured Dame Joanna Lumley and Sally Lindsay. Protesters in Edinburgh demonstrated against plans for hyperscale data centres, citing energy and water concerns. President Trump commented on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's return to the UK, and there was speculation about Meghan joining the cast of The Gentlemen. Other items included a new bus stop in a village with no bus service, and the ongoing closure of a maternity unit leading to antenatal classes on giving birth in a car.
The programme also reported on protests in Spain over migrant camps in Ceuta, a new US dollar coin featuring President Trump, a robot for elderly care, and the launch of driverless Uber taxis in London. It noted the deaths of Gloria Steinem and the vandalism of Dolly Parton's star. Finally, it honoured Neil Gilson as hero of the week for swimming the ten largest lakes in Switzerland to raise awareness of PANS and PANDAS.
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Charged quote Three men jailed for £70m pension fraud over fake Costa Rica tree scheme
need to know from around the world and here at home, it's Five News with Dan Walker. Tonight on Five News, the multi-million-pound pension com. Three fraudsters are jailed after convincing victims to invest their savings in a tree-planting scam. The defendants treated the company like it was a run on the bank by
Channel 5, 5 News with Dan Walker, 3 September 2026, 0:30-0:34
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Charged quote Three men jailed for £70m pension fraud over fake Costa Rica tree scheme
rumours the Duchess of Sussex could be joining the hit show. All that to come, but we start tonight with three men who cheated thousands of people out of their pensions. Left to right, we've got Matthew Pickard, Stephen Greenway and Paul Laver from Bournemouth. They stole around £70 million selling people
Channel 5, 5 News with Dan Walker, 3 September 2026, 1:29-1:32
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Charged quote Three men jailed for £70m pension fraud over fake Costa Rica tree scheme
All that to come, but we start tonight with three men who cheated thousands of people out of their pensions. Left to right, we've got Matthew Pickard, Stephen Greenway and Paul Laver from Bournemouth. They stole around £70 million selling people they were investing in tree-planting in Costa Rica. Today they were jailed at Southwark Crown Court. Our
Channel 5, 5 News with Dan Walker, 3 September 2026, 1:36-1:40
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Charged quote Three men jailed for £70m pension fraud over fake Costa Rica tree scheme
correspondent, Julian Druker, was there. It seemed an irresistible offer. Invest at least £10,000 in the British company planting trees in Costa Rica. And the so-called huge returns would benefit not only your bank balance but the environment too. These were the three directors of the Bournemouth based Ethical Forestry Limited. From left to right, Matthew
Channel 5, 5 News with Dan Walker, 3 September 2026, 1:54-2:02
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Charged quote Three men jailed for £70m pension fraud over fake Costa Rica tree scheme
at court, Pickard and the two other men defrauded more than 3,000 people out of their pensions and savings. They stole £14 million from the company to support their extravagant lifestyles. We thought it would be a good investment for us and it would also provide help for our autistic child when we're too old to give the help.
Channel 5, 5 News with Dan Walker, 3 September 2026, 2:25-2:28
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Charged quote Three men jailed for £70m pension fraud over fake Costa Rica tree scheme
back to work. I'd retired. I had to go back to work. Still back at work. My husband's still working. I don't like to wish bad feeling on people, but I hope they have a bad time. I really do. I don't see any reason why they did what they did because if they had gone down the proper routes, they would have
Channel 5, 5 News with Dan Walker, 3 September 2026, 3:01-3:07
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Charged quote Three men jailed for £70m pension fraud over fake Costa Rica tree scheme
they have a bad time. I really do. I don't see any reason why they did what they did because if they had gone down the proper routes, they would have still come out making a lot of money. It was just greed, absolute greed. Investors were sent newsletters like this one from 2013. Inside, they were informed about the company's new
Channel 5, 5 News with Dan Walker, 3 September 2026, 3:15-3:20
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Charged quote Three men jailed for £70m pension fraud over fake Costa Rica tree scheme
The court heard emotional victim impact statements from investors who had lost tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds. The judge told the three men that the scheme was plunder, pure and simple. And he said they had spent the money as if they had won the lottery. Around 2 million trees were planted, but no funds were
Channel 5, 5 News with Dan Walker, 3 September 2026, 3:52-3:55
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Charged quote Three men jailed for £70m pension fraud over fake Costa Rica tree scheme
The money was taken out, described in court like a run on the bank. The defendants took everything they could out of the companies and they spent it on cars, houses, watches, artwork, absolutely frivolous. Pickard was today jailed for six years, Greenaway five and a quarter years and four and a half years for
Channel 5, 5 News with Dan Walker, 3 September 2026, 4:29-4:32
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- 7:29 Story begins PMQs debate over defence spending and welfare cuts
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Charged quote Green Party leader Zack Polanski announces by-election bid
Zach Polanski is a London Assembly member, but not an MP. He says he's lived in a constituent seat for years. He believes the Greens can win it. Normally, it's a Labour strong seat, but these aren't normal times. So this is going to be a big test for Andy Burnham's government. A big test for Zach Polanski, too.
Channel 5, 5 News with Dan Walker, 3 September 2026, 9:05-9:09
- 10:27 Story begins Aid reaches survivors a week after Nepal floods
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Charged quote Aid reaches survivors a week after Nepal floods
Dame Joanna Lumley and Sally Lindsay joined members of the Nepali community today to draw attention to their efforts to raise money for victims of the floods. It's eight days since a mudslide of unimaginable scale swept down through Nepal and Tibet, destroying everything in its path. You could see the weight of that water and the boulders and the
Channel 5, 5 News with Dan Walker, 3 September 2026, 11:09-11:13
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Charged quote Aid reaches survivors a week after Nepal floods
It's eight days since a mudslide of unimaginable scale swept down through Nepal and Tibet, destroying everything in its path. You could see the weight of that water and the boulders and the glacier coming down. It was so awful. It was so awful. And you couldn't think how anybody could survive it, and an awful lot didn't. How anything could be rebuilt from it.
Channel 5, 5 News with Dan Walker, 3 September 2026, 11:20-11:24
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Charged quote Aid reaches survivors a week after Nepal floods
trying to shut the door with horses bolted. I feel very upset because these are the normal people or the victims of something we could have dealt with. It seems so wrong that they bear the brunt of it, and we're not there to help. So we've got to do something. I do feel out of guilt, but also out of compassion, out of sheer love and neighbourliness, I
Channel 5, 5 News with Dan Walker, 3 September 2026, 13:10-13:17
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- 21:38 Story begins Trump says he would not take back Harry and Meghan
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Charged quote Trump says he would not take back Harry and Meghan
Welcome back to Five News tonight. And on the subject of welcoming back, President Trump has weighed in on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's return to the UK. Good riddance, I think, was the gist of it all. You may have seen that speculation as well, that Meghan is in line for an acting gig here in the UK.
Channel 5, 5 News with Dan Walker, 3 September 2026, 21:48-21:50
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Contested quote Trump says he would not take back Harry and Meghan
Six years ago, Harry and Meghan were preparing to leave the UK, stepping back from royal life and starting again in America. But how things change, they're back. Donald Trump says he's glad to see them go. I'm happy about it. No, I was not a fan. I thought, look, I had a very good relationship with the Queen.
Channel 5, 5 News with Dan Walker, 3 September 2026, 22:16-22:19
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Source: 5, "5 News with Dan Walker", Thursday 3 September 2026. Transcript excerpts and stills are shown only to support the analysis annotated alongside them. Search-result excerpts are distinct from the editorial annotations — see our copyright basis. The full broadcast is not reproduced.