The Sunday Telegraph Reports:THE DIFFICULT THING IS TO LEAVE WITH CLEAN HANDS`

UNTAMED MALADY    -  As part of my investigations into the criminal underworld I met some of Manchester's feral teen's. These were among the most dangerous individuals I have ever met. It does not bode well for the future of our inner cities. The following are transcripts of my interviews with them in the Guardian. Patrick Butler,  Guardian Society Editor, takes up the story.

Donal MacIntyre reports on Britain's underworld for Mail on SUnday

For his cinematic debut, investigative TV reporter Donal MacIntyre spent three years shadowing a Mancunian gangster. He asks how crime lords like Dominic Noonan – armed robber and convict - can operate outside the normal rules of law

The conditions, I'm reliably informed, are perfect for a bank job. The street, with its boarded-up windows and desolate back alleys littered with the residue of drunks and junkies, is still and quiet. The distant sound of a group of kids playing kick-about with a can somehow intensifies the silence. We pull over just before a junction.

Dominic Noonan at his brother's funeral

Ahead of us, on the corner, is a Barclays bank. As we sit and wait, a dark-blue armoured security van pulls up right outside and a guard in a stab vest gets out. Crammed into the car beside me is Dominic Noonan. He is 5ft 11in tall and 18st, but it is not his physical presence I feel most; more his mental arithmetic. I turn to look at his fat bulldog face and shaven head.

My current high priority campaign is for the provision of a trauma centre for miscarriage of justice victims. The following is an article I wrote for The New Statesman which gives the circumstances behind my involvement in this new campaign and my work with MOJO - The Miscarriages of Justice Organisation.

“I spent a lifetime in jail for a murder I never committed`, he said. These were final moments in the short, lost life, of Stuart Gair, 44. A heart monitor pronounced him dead on the worn sitting room carpet where he lay. The noise from the defibrilllator blew the tolerances of the radio transmitter that was recording the last minutes of a man who had died, in truth, many years before his cardiac arrest.Sitting on a thread bare sofa, in a thread bare one bedroom flat, against the bleak surrounding walls – Stuart Gair, gave the impression that he had not left the prison that had been his home for nearly 12years.

On my adventure mission with BBC's Wild Weather -  I spent nearly three months in the Arctic. This is an account of my encounter with an Arctic Hare. 

Over 1600 inside the Arctic Circle, sitting precariously on the back of overladen sleigh pulled by thirteen specially bred huskies and driven by two elite Danish soldiers I caught a special glimpse of how the world and its inhabitants adapt to the most extreme of environements.

It was -40C on the eastern coast of Greenland at the Meservik army base in the middle of nowwhere accessible only by satelite phone and the Danish mail service. It was 10pm and a cold breeze was cutting across at 48kph. A light dusting of snow was kicked up and swirled as the dogs ( part dog and part-Inuit husky) drove off their hind legs, howling and barking with a thrill of an expedition. The expedition in question was a short one - in fact, a short hop and parcel dispatch. The parcel was me, and the repository was a snow hole , on the side of a hill, that was to be my home for the night.

The night was glorious with moonlight throwing a pink hue on a glossy white landscape. Earlier in the evening the northern lights had danced sea green across the sky for us: taking the perfect shape of a sea horse. I watched mesmerized, sinking and slipping on the snow until I lay flat on my back for ten minutes dazzled by nature's greatest show.  The wispy green apparation faded peaceably away. Still drunk on the experience and a couple of glasses of red wine with Commander Norritt and his Danish SAS unit later , I prepared for my night in the snow hole - an experiment constructed by the producuer to make my life as uncomfortable as possible. One of these days they'll kill me off.

That night as we left the compound at quite a pelt I noticed one of the dogs in the midde of the pack veer left off the track. His body turned but the momentum of the pack kept him in line. The dogs with their thick fur might be oblivious to the cold but dog number seven was not oblivious to the Arctic hare sitting tall about 50 metres off the moonlit track. Soon the others caught the scent and veered off in the direction of the snow-white hare - in the pink glow its outline was discernable only by its dark eyes. As thirteen howling wolf dogs raged towards it, it moved not a jot.

It knew more than any creature there that night, it was adapted perfectly to this environment , so instead, it just stood tall and surveyed its patch showing no sign of fear.

The dogs jangled in their chains, a triumph of breeding and adaptation, struggling agianst the army handlers who cracked them into line. The men, wrapped in down, were trained to live unsupported with the dogs in the most extreme conditions on the planet, for three months at a time. The army's elite force learned (just) to tolerate their surroundings and each man had his own bag of tricks  - and sockes - to deal with what is frankly an inhuman climate. And then there was me. A freezing terrified Londoner - trained for nothing, and adapted to no climate except one where central heating and a good pub are nearby.

But what a world the weather offers us! And how remarkable it is that we can adapt and mould and mutate to survive in the most ardous of climatic and environemental conditions. I've travelled the globe  tasting and touching the worst and the best of the world's weather - from the Sahara to the Tropics, from the blast of the Fastnet wind to the silence of the doldrums and the heat of Arizona to the wet of the Belizian jungle - and the truth is that no animal on the planet can survive its variety and extremes of weather better than man. In the Arctic the hare is entitled to disagree, but thats its kingdom. Across the globe, the awesome and inexplicable truth is that the human body is a remarkable machine that has habituated itself to a wild and turbulent world. I use `man` in the generic  sense. Me - I'm still at sea without my central heating and my pub.

Best wishes to all our supporters and viewers in the year ahead for 2007. It has been a crazy year even by my own standards. We have shared our home with the Insect Tribe of Papua New Guniea and they gave us a wonderful insight into our own world for the sereis Return of the Tribe which was broadcast in April. Since then Chief Joseph has died after a crocadile hunt and he is in our thoughts. Our adventure with them will continue I am sure. I first met the tribe while filming the Edge of Existence, the antropology travel series which visited the Beduin of Oman, the Sea Gypsies of Borneo and the Llama traders of the Andes. These were special journeys and I am grateful to the directors, producers and camera teams which made it all possible.

There was our Sundance debut with A Very British Gangster which went on to cinema here, Spain and also in France. It went on to win awards in those two countries too and I am very grateful for all at Dare Films particulary, Sam Emmary, co-producer and Sally Hilton, our fantastic editor who made it all possible. Our anti-smoking campaign for Cancer research UK and the Dept of Health, also picked up awards in France and the UK, despite the banned Polonium commercial never making it to broadcast.

The Underworld strand continued with follow ups to three previous subjects including a ten year renunion with drug dealer, Wayne Hardy, who I exposed as an undercover reporter ten years ago for World In Action. The end of the year saw Street Crime Live, an innovative crime show from the streets which sinularly tackled the problems surrounding yourth crime. The death toll of teenagers on our streets has been a particular focus and our final credits roll was replaced with a homage to all the (as then 64) victims in `07. There has to be a better way - lets hope for sure that this toll drops in the year ahead and condolences to all the families. To all our viewers and supporters thanks so much for caring; myself and my team hope to bring you new, fresh and challenging work this year and we will all try to do our little bit to make it a better and safer place to enjoy for everyone, including my new baby girl ,TIger, who spent the Christmas in hospital. To my wife and family and colleagues and all at Five, Tigress, North One, Dare Films, True North Productions thanks for putting up with me.

 When the Insect Tribe of Papua New Guinea hosted me as their guest - it only seemed right to offer them a return visit. This is what happened when a `stone age` tribe came to live with my family in London.

We were entertaining our new house guests over tea and biscuits. Their conversational gambits were proving to be somewhat unusual.

"How much did you pay for your wife?" Samuel coolly asked me. "I, er...I...well...", I spluttered.

"Do you mind if your husband have baby with another woman?" Samuel's spouse Christina asked my seven-months pregnant wife Ameera, who almost choked on her tea.

"Who is the boss?" asked Samuel, casting a knowing glance towards Ameera.

The nun adored by the Vatican ran a network of care homes where cruelty and neglect are routine. Donal MacIntyre gained secret access and witnessed at first hand the suffering of "rescued" orphans

The dormitory held about 30 beds rammed in so close that there was hardly a breath of air between the bare metal frames. Apart from shrines and salutations to "Our Great Mother", the white walls were bare. The torch swept across the faces of children sleeping, screaming, laughing and sobbing, finally resting on the hunched figure of a boy in a white vest. Distressed, he rocked back and forth, his ankle tethered to his cot like a goat in a farmyard. This was the Daya Dan orphanage for children aged six months to 12 years, one of Mother Teresa's flagship homes in Kolkata. It was 7.30 in the evening, and outside the monsoon rains fell unremittingly.

Earlier in the day, young international volunteers had giggled as one told how a young boy had peed on her while strapped to a bed. I had already been told of an older disturbed woman tied to a tree at another Missionaries of Charity home. At the orphanage, few of the volunteers batted an eyelid at disabled children being tied up. They were too intoxicated with the myth of Mother Teresa and drunk on their own philanthropy to see that such treatment of children was inhumane and degrading.

Five News exposes ill-treatment of disabled youngsters at mother teresa's care home
Five News has uncovered serious shortcomings at a care centre run by Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, it was announced today.
This special investigation by Five's investigative reporter Donal MacIntyre, contains secret filming at the Daya-Dan centre, Mother Teresa's home for the learning disabled,  which is responsible for around 50 disabled children aged six months to 12 years. 

The film reveals:
-       children restrained whilst being fed
-       youngsters tethered by robe to their cots overnight
-       a group of children abandoned on the toilet
-       haphazard care and hygiene & degrading treatment 

An investigation into the Daya Dan home for learning disabled chldren in Calcutta, run by the Missionary of Charity Sisters, Mother Tereesa's order shows children tethered by the ankles in their cots. Former Operation's director of Mencap, Martin Gallagher, said that it shoddy and degrading. "As far as I am concerned it is a breech of their human rights".

The report for Five news and Sky, also found poor hygeine, haphazzard care and insensitive treatment.

Donal Writes:

I went undercover in the homes because I was contacted by very experienced aid workers who were horrified by what they saw in the Missionary of Charity Homes in Calcutta. They wrote of their concerns to the order but received no response. When I visited the home - it appeared that nothing had changed since they had worked there six months earlier. Indeed, the same criticisms, more or less, had been made of the homes for the last 11 years.

There are simply no circumstances in my mind why any learning disabled child should be tethered to a cot.

This woman looks like a hit man, and tells me she's out for revenge. Janet Street-Porter is plotting retribution on all those who slagged her off for I'm a Celebrity.

Gangsters make better company than television executives. For one thing, they're usually better-read (all that time in prison) and certainly funnier - you always laugh harder at a gangster's jokes, I find. But who genuinely scares you more? I've been through quite a few hit men and TV executives, and it's a close call.

This week, I entertained Paul Ferris, a man who stabbed, shot, robbed and scalped for a living - he had a reputation as a hit man and looks uncannily like a television executive. I pondered what it must be like to witness the life-force draining from victims in the last moments of life. Ferris, a major Glasgow gangland figure, is known as "The Accountant". Like many TV executives, he has never been convicted of murder, but has assassin's eyes.

On the way to meet him, I encounter another assassin - outside Glasgow airport. I had seen her but she hadn't seen me. A mutual friend, though, beckons me over. This woman looks like a hit man and she's on a mission. Tall, slim, striking and unmistakably scary, she tells me she is out for revenge. I know her.

The sex trade is bieng supported by Lancashire Constabulary who turn a blind eye to local newspaper ads offering massage services ( sex ) or special home visits, according to one Preston viewer. He says that despite Police Street Signs warning that kerb crawlers wil be prosecuted nothing is done to halt the massive expansion of the sex trade. In one local newspaper, over 55 numbers offering sexual services are offered, the angry Preston viewer notes.

Comment: Investigations done by me and others have long noted this blind eye and hypocrisy involved in the Policing of the sex trade.Its worth observing that up to 25% of girls on the game are not there willingly and therefore a bling eye to the oldest trade is not good enough. Its time for legal reform. 

Vets have been accused of milking pet insurance and causing needless suffering and pain in order to pump up their incomes, according to some viewers who have contacted the website. Following on our reports on rogue dentists and doctors - and their Governing bodies - the vets are now being blasted by members of the public - One dog owners complained of bills rising to nearly £5,000 - most of which after independent examination proved to be unnecessary.She writes "there is no organisation in this country that protects animals from over treatment or harm by vets. The conduct department of the Veterinary establishment exist purely to protect the vets." She writes that civil litigation is not an option as "my dog has no value in Law."

Comment: Pet Insurance is a good thing but as this case proves some Vets are abusing the system. Please let me know if you have had a similar experience and maybe a collective of disgruntled customers can start a pressure group to protect pets from greedy Vets.

A learning disabled woman who was abused in care had her case disconitnued after the Police decided that she was not a credible witness. Medical reports confirmed the abuse but an investigation could not establish who did the assaults. The family has contacted the site to request help and to get me to pressure the Social Services to provide them with respite care. The Social Servcies Department has failed to deliver this despite a legal requirement on them to do so. The family are also trying to funding for new treatment for their daughter and the London Social Services Unit have not been helpful. The family have struggled to get a local law firm to take a compensation claim against the carers because many of the firms have a relationship with the local social services department.

Comment: I have contacted the department concerned and politely asked them to review your case. Please let me know what progress you make.I now have a solicitor's firm who will also review your case which I will pass on. I hope things get better in the year new.

The threat to patients from Dentists who try to fit in too many customers has been overlooked according to one of the many Dentists who contacted the website after our investigation on Five. He says that the General Dental Council has been practising `supervised neglect`and believes that the work load on NHS Dentists is unethical and dangerous for quality patient care.

It is impossible to maintain standards when the average UK Dentist has over 1500 patients on his books."It has become normal for Dentists to sometimes have many times that number. I used to be a proud member of what used to be a respected profession. I now feel I am continually let down both nationaly and locally by a profession that is more concerned by image and where the next gin and tonic is coming from"... than patient care.

I cried when I was mugged. I wept like a baby. Described in the past as having a fearless demeanour and steely courage I happily admit to being a man of robust character -unlikely to emotionally collapse without due cause. But for some reason my mugging - I say my mugging - it was of course a shared experience - unleashed emotions and fears that I thought I had long buried from previous undercover work.

Diary: I saw Jonathan Ross's hair in curlers in the make-up room before his show. Shockingly, he was fondled openly by four hairdressers

'He changed the face of British current-affairs coverage'

"Peter Salmon is one of the nicest but most effective people in the media; a very quiet operator but with a very sharp brain. He was heading Granada Television in Manchester when I was working for World in Action, and he was responsible for some great shows towards the end of the programme's run.