24/02/2012 Reporting Scotland

Welcome to Reporting Scotland. On the programme tonight: Guilty of a

multi-million-pound scam. We have the story of the skippers

he ran an industrial scale fraud, breaking quota rules and secretly

landing illegal catches. The power of Scotland. The

country's second-biggest company warns that uncertainty over the

independence referendum is threatening investment.

Later in the programme, in search of the God particle. The world's

best brains look to unlock the secrets of the universe and we

speak to Peter Higgs. Also tonight, the latest on the

challenges facing Rangers. Ally McCoist talks about a week of

startling revelations. My reaction was shock, but not surprised.

17 fishing boat skippers have been fined more than �700,000 in their

part in the �63 million fraud in Shetland and the North East. The

High Court in Glasgow heard that the scam involved land in black

fish, that is fish caught above the quota they are allowed under

European rules. Three factories were also part of the fraud. The

judge said they had carried out a cynical and sophisticated scheme

motivated by money. Have you got anything to say about

today's case? Leaving court after being fined. The skippers at the

centre of the multi-million-pound scam had little to say. Are you

going to carry on fishing? These are the so-called trawlers at the

centre of the scam. All but one of them indeed Shetland fleet was

involved in a racket along with other boats from the mainland.

scale of the investigation was staggering. The skippers on board

were landing illegal fish on an industrial scale. They were

offloading thousands of tons of fish, much more than they were

allowed under European fishing rules to protect stocks. The fraud

was widespread and sophisticated. Every single landing that was made

by all of those skippers was actually fraudulent. It is not a

victimless. The reality is that there are only so many fish in the

sea. That is why these quotas are in place. So who was involved?

These are the skippers who carried out the scammed scented ins

Shetland. They landed more than �47 million worth of illegal fish. They

have been forced to pay back more than �3 million of profits they

earned in the racket. How did they do it? The skippers

falsified their logbooks as they landed their catches. They lied

about how much fish was on board. They catch was pumped ashore to the

factory to be processed, but the scale weighing the fish was right.

Officers were looking at the wrong weight in the hall. The true weight

was on a screen hidden in the loft. In Peterhead, they had a different

technique. When police raided the factory, they found that fish was

pumped ashore underground, but staff were able to divert the black

fish along a different pipe. The official catch was pumped to the

left, the black fish was diverted, diverting the weighing scale. These

are the pipes discovered by police hidden underground. How were they

caught? Officers and police raided the factories in 2005 after an

investigation into the company's accounts. It is known throughout

the industry that illegal black fish were being landed. It was

widespread. I'm not only talking about the UK, but about the whole

of northern Europe. This industry is now squeaky clean, and we have

independent certification in 98% of our stocks. The factory at the

centre of this scam is still waiting To hear its fate. It was

through pipes like this that the fish was illegally landed. It now

faces having to pay back the profits is made from the racket

along with a hefty fine. For Scotland's second biggest

company SSE has warned that the uncertainty about Scotland's

constitutional future will increase the risk it -- it attaches to

investment projects. The statement from the energy company is being

seen as a blow to the Scottish government's claims that the

economy will be unaffected by independence plans. What, in

essence, is the argument that SSE is making? SSE is based in Perth

and is known to most of us as Scottish Hydro. It is saying there

are risks, there are uncertainties, both in the prospect of

independence and also in the delay that there will be until that vote

is taken. They are saying that the regulation of markets, which is

important to be power industry, may change subsidies particularly for

renewables. Subsidies could be cut if you cannot turn to customers

South of the border to support them. It is unclear even whether Scotland

will remain in the European Union. Any business investment has risk

attached to it. In this case it is political risk. They are saying it

will be a premium rates which will be added to future proposals. That

cuts costs up and makes proposals less likely to go ahead. They may

not be said about to make a Littlecott -- Point, but there are

political implications. Indeed. They are not saying they are for

against independence, but this matters a lot to debate around the

referendum. Opponents of independence have warned for a

while but the prospect will put off investors. They struggle to find

any evidence for that. They now have evidence. The SNP, meanwhile,

has pointed to a lot of big companies to continue to invest in

Scotland knowing what proposals are on the table for constitutional

change. The First Minister today, talking specifically about the

power markets, said that after independence he wants Scotland to

remain heavily integrated with the rest of the British Isles. The idea

of a market throughout these islands, that has already been

endorsed, not just in Britain, but in Ireland as well. That has been

endorsed by all administrations. On the point of Europe, I think most

people realise that Scotland is part of the European Community and

will remain so. On that, he is in agreement with SSE, which wants

integrated markets across the British Isles. The economy really

matters to the depend -- debate about independence. It will shape

people's views and ultimately their votes. And you.

You are watching Reporting Scotland. Still to come: Calls for more

affordable homes for families in rural areas, as they are priced out

of the market. And in sport, we hear from Ally

McCoist, who admits to being shot at the recent ranges revelations.

Can Scotland cut out their silly mistakes when they play France on

Sunday? We look ahead to the big match at Murrayfield.

Stirling Council has become the only local authority in Scotland to

cut its council tax. The 1% reduction means the average bill

will fall by just �12 every year. We councils across Scotland already

tried to make substantial savings, how can Stirling justify its

decision? Our correspondent has been finding out.

It looks like the people of Stirling will soon have a little

bit more money in their pockets, but not much. A council tax could

well hardly bring a shopping bonanza. You could perhaps by a

some iron brew or a pot noodle every now and again. His 20p a week

a reduction you would welcome? is hardly worth it. It has to be a

good thing. Every little helps. the party that proposed the could,

it was symbolic as much as anything else. It is �160 more expensive to

live in Stirling and it is to live in Dumfries, and there is no

inherent reason for that, so we want to try to bring the burden of

taxation down for the families of Stirling. The SNP, which runs the

council without a majority, are angry. They say the tax cuts will

leave them �145,000 worse off. this time, we do not need to cut

tax. This will affect the poorest and most vulnerable people in

Stirling, and it is a sad day that the Labour Party have jumped into

bed with the Tories. Because it's got through as Labour and the

Conservatives voted together to defeat the administration. Today,

the Labour -- Labour party argument has bitten the dust. Other Scottish

councils already have their budgets in the back. No-one else will be

cut in council tax this year. The Labour MP for Falkirk, Eric

Joyce, has been charged with three counts of assault after a fracas in

a Commons bar. The former soldier left a police station in London

late last night after being held for 24 hours. We understand that Mr

Joyce was suspended from the Labour Party by Ed Miliband, not by the

Scottish leader, Johann Lamont. Detectives investigating the murder

of Jenny Methven say they are narrowing down the time her killer

struck. The 80-year-old was found dead by her son on Monday evening

in a cottage they shared near the village of Forteviot. A trawl of

CCTV footage has and -- unveiled a number of potential witnesses who

are being where -- urged to come forward.

The mystery of what made the universe work has intrigued as for

thousands of years. Recently, scientists have turned their

attention away from the stars into the internal workings of the atom.

For the past 40 years, they have been hunting for the Higgs boson

particle. Its existence was proposed by Professor Peter Higgs

of Edinburgh University. Today, the 82-year-old physicist was honoured

by Edinburgh University, he gave our correspondent a rare interview.

In this huge circular tunnel beneath Switzerland and France,

they are looking for a missing piece of the universe, the Large

Hadron Collider is the world's biggest machine. Why does it

matter? It is the answer to an enormous question. Arthur's Seat

here ways millions of tons. If you could blasted into the

weightlessness of space, it would still have a mass of millions of

tons. Why? What gives things them mass G Newton could not explain

that, nor could Einstein. Here in Edinburgh in the 1960s, p 6 --

Peter Higgs could. He is characteristically modest about it.

It is something I have lived with for a long time. It is down nearly

48 years since I did this work in 1964. It was another 12 years until

it was suggested that it was time experimentalists started taking an

interest in what I actually pointed out in an added paragraph to a

paper, which in its first version, had been rejected. I pointed out

that a characteristic of these theories was the residual particles,

and that is what became known as the Higgs boson. This is what they

think a Higgs event could look like. Professor Higgs has been waiting to

be proved right for 50 years. Has he ever doubted that the bosun

particle exists? I am about three standard deviations confident, but

I want five standard deviations, as the experiment lists at CERN do.

could no seen whether the Higgs particle is there or whether sides

will have to think again. A look at what else has been

happening across the country this Friday: An investigation is under

way after a small oil tanker went adrift while berthing at Scapa Pier.

The Clipper Burgundy was carrying 2000 tonnes of fuel. The harbour

authority has played down reports that it ran aground.

A bronze sculpture stolen from Kelvingrove Museum at the weekend

has been recovered undamaged. Dreaming, valued at �20,000, is by

Gerald Laing. It was found after an anonymous tip-off.

A committee of Westminster MPs say they have found a way of moving

fishery controls away from Brussels and back to the UK without major

changes to treaties. They say the next move is up to the UK

government. A farmer's property on the Black

Isle is spearheading the drive to develop locally owned small-scale

wind energy projects across the Highlands. They will encourage

farmers and local communities to work together. The most common

obstacle is that neighbours object. That might overcome, if they are

involved in the scheme and are getting the benefit of the money

from the scheme. The world's oldest surviving

Kingfisher, the Carrick, is a step closer to move into South Australia.

Part of a giant crater which will be used to move the vessel have

arrived at the Maritime Museum in Irvin.

The National Trust for Scotland is seeking an archaeologist to be

based on St Kilda. It is 41 miles West of the Western Isles. The job

advert says applicants must be able to work alone.

Residents in three Borders villages have transformed redundant phone

boxes into information hubs. The kiosks in Eckford, Crailing and

Miss but continues of events, information leaflets and act as a

magazine Exchange. There is more on those and other

There has been a call for more to be done to build affordable homes

for people in rural areas. The conference in Dunkeld has been

hearing how young people are often priced out of the market and there

is a serious shortage of houses to rent.

These boys have the place to use -- space to play happily in their new

bedroom, while next door their brother has peace to get on with

his new homework but five months ago this Black Isle family were

living in a caravan, the UN accommodation they could find or

Ford. It was not much fun for anybody. At the time, I was lucky.

Friends supported us and what not. It was just one of these factors.

We hoped it would only be for the short term, which she was. Last

result. -- Last resort. There are few new council houses being built

and Government budget cuts mean charitable housing associations are

scaling back their projects, and especially in more remote areas.

Three years ago we were doing 350 units a year. This coming year we

will be doing about 60. So it is an enormous scale of difference and

the ones we will be building will primarily be in places like

Inverness and the larger towns. today a conference on rural housing

is being told they are imaginative ways to increase the supply of

affordable homes. But as waiting lists grow, this family know that

in their new home, they are the lucky ones. From our point of view,

we have a bit of peace and quiet and space. We have the facilities

we will need, the washing, washing machine etc. It is a whole

different way of life. You wake up warm in the morning and go to bed

warm at night. At the end of quite a week for

Rangers, here is the sport. And the week is not quite over yet!

Rangers director Andrew Ellis says he's sorry for his part in bringing

Craig Whyte to Ibrox, saying he was duped. Ellis introduced Whyte to

former owner Sir David Murray but says he now feels let down by him.

The news comes on the day the club's manager praised the media

after mortals with the administrators.

It looked like any other training session at Marie park but after one

of the toughest weeks in the club's history, this one was very

different. As these players limber up behind me to face Inverness,

they are effectively in footballing limbo. Their chairman is nowhere to

be seen. The director of football quit yesterday. There are 20 points

adrift of Celtic in the hunt for the final. It is the cold reality

of administration. Craig Whyte remains out of the country. He also

remains defiant he will finish what he started. His former business

associate is not so sure. Andrew Ellis it is apologising for getting

him involved with Rangers in the And what of the news that fans'

season ticket cash was used to help in the purchase of the club?

reaction was shock but not surprise. And the question about where the

cash is now? I have asked it already... I have asked it in front

of members of staff, some of the administrators, who have again done

their level best, their very best to answer the question. Ahead of

the players' union, this man was on hand to speak to the players today,

speaking first to act during football director Gordon Smith. As

it stands, there is no timescale for player redundancies. A

financial settlement has been reached with the police after

concerns over payments. How many of the current squad will be available

to take to the Fields Road remains very much in doubt.

Motherwell draw level with second place Rangers in the table tomorrow

but they will have to beat Celtic did a bit. Stuart McCall's team

have beaten every club outside the court Old Firm this season. The

team boss has a cunning plan for tomorrow. That will be the one

major disappointment since I have been manager. That at both Old Firm

games we have not performed. We have tried every tactic, every

formation. I will try to play two goalkeepers tomorrow but I do not

know if the League will allow us! We all make mistakes but not many

of us in front of millions of television viewers but a succession

of high-profile gaffes have left Scotland rugby players without a

point in this year's Six Nations campaign after two matches. On

Sunday they play France at Murrayfield and the Scots are

There is a theme to Scotland's Six Nations campaign so far. Unlike the

song, there is plenty to regret. Mistakes also cost us 12 months ago

in Paris, the powerful French pack still be weapon of choice. The

challenge for the Scots, stopping it. Which are well equipped to deal

with that and it is certainly a part of the game that I really look

forward to. It is no different this week. The visit of pre-tournament

favourites France is the toughest of tests for Scotland. We need

something to ignite our campaign. We may have found it, however

bizarre it sounds. Stuart Hogg's revelation that George Best was a

distant cousin should not be all that surprising given this reason

dry. -- Friday. The 19-year-old credits playing street would be as

a boy and not Faherty heritage -- family heritage for making him the

player he is. It is good fun. A few bumps and bruises. Murrayfield on

Sunday, then, is where the errors have to stop for Sunday -- for

Scotland. A sell-out crowd demand a He was some reply player, that

George Best, in his day! -- a rugby player.

It has been at the heart of the Gorbals area of Glasgow for more

than a century. Famously, in the 1970s, it slashed its ticket prices

to just 50p. Now the Citizens Theatre is reviving the 50p ticket

price policy for some of the shows in the new season.

When are we going to play squash? You are too good! Just one of a

string of classic being staged here this season and for some

theatregoers, anyway, for the princely sum of 50p. Even the

actors are feeling nostalgic. Walking backstage, the smell of the

place takes me straight back to when Amis doing my first show in

1985. -- I was doing my first show. For over a century the theatre has

adapted and changed almost as much as the community in which it sits.

Stars have come and gone, the theatre has faced bankruptcy and

demolition. Then in 19 some districts, but framers policy, and

attempts to make the theatre welcome to everyone. It certainly

captured a moment, the general excitement, the activities that

were happening in this building. They were seen as different and

special and challenging and radical. Later deals crept up with inflation

but remained parts of the evils of this theatre. We are in an area

that has a lot of building work at the moment. It does not look the

greatest area when you come here. And then you walked in to the

theatre and you have this extraordinary Victorian beautiful

auditorium. The first batch of 50p tickets go on sale tomorrow, when

they are expecting the sort of cues that their last encounter at the

box-office in the 1970s. It is cash only, which should not be a huge

problem. Since there is only two tickets per person, it will set you

back the grand total of �1. What does the weekend weather have

in store? It distinctly average. That is the

Today plenty of sunshine across much of the country. Mainly dry and

tonight it will be many dry as well with the wind easing. The exception

is the north-west, with the showers continuing to be pushed in on the

strong north-westerly breeze. Generally dry and bright overnight.

Some clear spells but temperatures many holding up around three or

four Celsius. Into tomorrow, the rain will start to beef up

particularly across the North West and then sink its way southwards

towards Argyll. The further south and eastern agree you are away from

there, it will be dry. Cloudy in the rain. Some areas of brightness

particularly through the eastern Borders and of Aberdeenshire. Come

the afternoon, across the South dry and clear. One or two spots of rain

into Glasgow and Strathclyde but generally, central and eastern

areas will be dry and cloudy. Some sunshine again for the north coast

of Aberdeenshire and into Moray. The Western Isles and into Orkney

and Shetland, clearer. If you are out and about hill-walking or

climbing this weekend, the rain and the West will be falling as snow

particularly on the higher ground. The further south you come, dry

conditions. Some extreme buffeting if you are out and about. For the

East, more dry. Very bright, temperatures there at more loan --

Munro level or the summits. There has been a thaw. Very little snow

at the moment. And very windy so definitely worth checking what is

open before setting out for scheme. The rest of Saturday afternoon into

the evening, the rain continues to move southwards. For the second

half of the weekend, more rain. These weather fronts tuning up in

the Atlantic, ready to work their way into her us here in Scotland.

To stop the day on Sunday, generally dry and Prydie -- cloudy

down eastern parts. The rain moving his way in. Slightly warmer than

Saturday. Wind strengthening from the South. What about next week?

Mild, wet and windy. It will be that when Monday and Tuesday.

Tonight there, fairly cloudy A summary of tonight's's top

stories: 17 fishermen from Strickland and a fish factory who

operated a �60 million fraud have been fined almost �1 million at the

High Court in Glasgow. -- Shetland. It involved illegal fishing which

exceeded international quotas. A British man is on his way to the

USA this evening after being extra kind deed -- extradited for

allegedly dealing in missile parts to Iran.