04/10/2016 Reporting Scotland

That's all from the BBC News at Six, so it's goodbye from me, and,

on BBC One, we now join the BBC's news teams where you are.

A radical extension of the use of electronic tags for offenders

Road accidents are the biggest killer of young

to warn teenagers to belt up and slow down.

Can we learn from how Swedish football clubs cut fan violence

and improved relations with the police?

Former Scotland captain Barry Ferguson talks to us

about boozegate and the shame that kept him away from Hampden.

was a disgrace, I was embarrassing. Because it ended my career.

Also on the programme: Not seeing the wood for the trees -

the 100-foot specimens in the Queen's back garden

The Scottish Government is planning a radical extension of the ways

electronic tags can be used on offenders.

Sobriety tags, GPS tracking and tagging will be used

as an alternative to remand for the first time north

Our political correspondent Lucy Adams has this report.

Technology to replace iron bars. I volunteer to try it out. It means

offenders can stay at home rather than behind bars. Electronic

monitoring has been used in Scotland for almost 15 years, mainly as a

form of house arrest. Now it is fitted, that's when we would

normally walk around the premises. In future, these could be used as an

alternative to remand and for those who offend under the influence of

alcohol, and for the first time in Scotland it could be used to monitor

the movements of offenders using GPS technology. This is a typical screen

we would see for a person that has been GPS tracked. There is more than

1000 people currently tagged in Scotland. GPS says in future the

numbers could be limitless. They warned there are still blackspots in

reception for GPS and tracking but said overall it is effective. It is

not a soft option, it is a restriction placed not only on

offenders but also the families. Sobriety tags will be able to pick

up on tiny traces of drink in people's sweat for those who

reoffend when drunk. We spoke to one offender who has been monitored

three times by staff in this centre. He says it was life changing. When I

was in prison, I was embarrassed and ashamed, I didn't want my children

to visit me in a place like that because every dad is Superman to

their children so they don't want to be exposed as having any weaknesses.

I was ashamed to be in prison and to have done that my family, so having

the opportunity to be out meant the world to me. It's all part of a

wider government review on penal policy. The objective is to be about

thinking about the outcome we are trying to achieve. If it is an

individual where we want to monitor and restrict where they are at

particular given times, GPS tagging could be the most effective way to

do that alongside other measures. We are interested in looking at how we

can use electronic monitoring more but we also have to be very careful.

We have seen the SNP get soft on issues of justice, and whilst there

is a role to play we have got to make sure victims don't feel

forgotten. For the Scottish Government now, the job will be

persuading judges monitoring is more effective than prison.

Police in Suffolk searching for a missing airman from Fife say

they still haven't found his phone after checking the contents

Detectives believed his handset may have been lost or discarded

Corrie McKeague, who's from Dunfermline, went missing ten

days ago after a night out in Bury St Edmonds.

There has already been huge publicity about the disappearance of

Corrie, who went out ten days ago on a Friday night, a few beers, into

the early hours of Saturday, last seen on CCTV, after that nothing.

Police trapped his mobile phone from Bury St Edmunds to this area about

12 miles away. They tracked by using massed in the area. The theory is it

could have been lost or discarded, mixed in with rubbish, and got into

the back of the bin lorry. Police seized that vehicle and found there

is no phone. It is a Nokia Lumea 345. They say they are going through

hours of fresh CCTV footage. They are hoping for a fresh glimpse of

Corrie, and maybe a fresh clue. An MSP is calling for a fatal

accident inquiry to be held into the death of the Dundee boxer

Mike Towell, who died on Friday, after being knocked out in a fight

the previous evening. The 25-year-old had been

in a bout with Dale Evans The Conservative MSP Brian Whittle

says it would be "silly" to ban boxing but there needs to be a full

investigation to establish if Mr Towell had a brain injury

before stepping into the ring. In this particular instance, my

concern would be around if the step has been missed because we

understand he was having headaches beforehand, and if that is the case,

why was that missed? The steps that should not be there. So it is

incumbent on this board to make sure every step has been taken, and

lessons have to be learned. BBC Scotland has obtained the first

exclusive pictures of an oil leak Around 95 tonnes of oil leaked

from the Clair field on Sunday, BP says three surveillance flights

flew over the slick today and it The company says it believes

the environmental impact of the spill is likely

to be minimal. A woman who suffered life-changing

injuries in a car crash when she was sixteen has been

warning teenagers about Laura Torrance has been a wheelchair

user since the accident in 1999. With traffic accidents the biggest

killer of young people in Scotland, she's hoping they'll learn

from her experience. friend passed his test on the

Monday, this was Thursday night, we went for a drive, had a laugh and

listened to music. We had a chance to show off. We came up to the

corner to quickly and rolled into the farmer's field and I don't

remember much after that. I was 16 and I didn't think this would happen

to me. Hopefully they will look at me and think this can happen to me,

it is real life, not the movies. One can have silly mistake and it can

lead to something devastating and life changing. Demonstrating safety

to those about to drive on our roads. Young drivers up to 25 make

up for 10% of drivers in Scotland and 20% of crashes, it is a

disproportionate amount so we need to do engagement with them to make

sure they are where they are vulnerable and need to work on their

experience. This has been designed to show what a crash might feel

like. That was a really nasty jolt and it was only six miles per hour.

I'm learning to drive so this makes me more aware of my situation and

make sure I'm safe. I don't think it will put off anyone from driving,

but I think it will make everyone more cautious about it. If you're

going faster, what would it be like? Because that was scary. One person

is killed every week on our roads, campaigners want people to belt up,

slow down, and not use mobile phones at the wheel.

Senior Tories have tonight turned their fire on the SNP,

accusing the First Minister and her party of using Brexit

as a lever to try and bring about independence.

The prospect of a second referendum has been described as a Sword

of Damocles hanging over the Scottish economy.

Here's our political correspondent, David Porter.

Separate but inextricably linked, since that vote in June Brexit and

Scottish independence, issues both vying for attention and causing

confusion. We will make breakfast... Brexit a success. From Scotland, no

such verbal pitfalls but strong rhetoric nevertheless on how Brexit

is being portrayed. Using it as an excuse to threaten a second

independence referendum, that's not what the people of Scotland want, it

is a sort of Damocles, the single biggest threat to Scotland's

economy. And a very direct message to the Government. We will negotiate

as United Kingdom, leave as the United Kingdom, and face the future

together as the United Kingdom. Elsewhere at the conference, time

for the Conservative leader to meet the party faithful. Most of the

stuff I got was, you are from who? They liked that, but again the issue

of Brexit, and criticism of the First Minister. It becomes the post

of First Minister, the way she has tried to exploit the vote to get

independence back on the table, I think even she has realised she went

too far. The First Minister will take issue with that and probably

this as well. Who would we like to see Ruth in Theresa May's cabinet?

Look at that, will you be disappointing these people? I have a

job to do in Holyrood. So she doesn't want to be in Theresa May's

cabinet but tomorrow Ruth Davidson will share a platform with the Prime

Minister. You're watching BBC

Reporting Scotland. The Scottish Government is planning

a radical extension of the ways electronic tags can be

used on offenders. Not seeing the wood for the trees -

the 100-foot specimens in the Queen's back garden

which were thought to be extinct. Could a Swedish football

project help ease tensions between supporters and

the authorities in Scotland? the Scottish Cup final,

have led to calls for clubs to be There's also an ongoing debate over

the effectiveness of recent legislation covering

behaviour at matches. Alasdair Lamont's been

to Malmo to find out Malmo, one of the biggest and most

successful clubs in Sweden, but they have had issues with violence from

fans. The football authorities always had a view that you could

fans. The football authorities punish, and the same when you were

talking to the police for example, so there was a growing conflict

between big fan groups and the authorities. Four years ago, the

stand-up for football project began in Sweden, since then attendances

are up and football related crime and violence is down, so what

changes have been made to make the football experience better for the

Swedish supporters? Employing this month and others like him is partly

responsible for the change. My duty is to be a bridge for the supporters

to the club and the club to the supporters. If there is an issue

with the police and they want to talk to the supporters, the police

can talk to me and I can explain to them. We can understand each other

and maybe that lowers the risk for conflict. They deal with designated

full-time support the police, such direct lines of communication appear

to benefit the authorities too. Recently we have the problem is that

supporters from the stands are throwing bottles onto the pitch, and

for this game the supporters themselves had said that nobody can

do that. If somebody does this, we will take them out from the crowd so

do that. If somebody does this, we it is perfect. That is what we call

self policing and we hope for more and more. The issues at Swedish

football may be different from those in Scotland, and no one here

believes the approach is perfect, but the spirit of collaboration

appears to be having a positive effect.

Two Scottish-born scientists have won the 2016

Professor David Thouless - who was born in Bearsden -

shares it with another Scottish-American,

Michael Kosterlitz of Brown University.

Together with the third recipient, Duncan Haldane, they've been

recognised for their work in condensed matter physics.

At the announcement in Stockholm, a member of the Nobel Prize

organisation attempted to explain the phenomenon by tearing a hole

The jury in the trial of a man accused of the murder of a waiter

in Lanarkshire nearly 18 years ago has been sent home

after considering its verdict for a second day.

48-year-old Ronnie Coulter denies killing Surjit Singh Chhokar

The jury will resume its deliberations tomorrow.

Scotland's Finance Secretary has been accused by the opposition of

Derek Mackay is involved in a row about how much information MSPs can

receive ahead of the Scottish Government's draft budget.

Well, our political correspondent, Andrew Kerr, has been

following the story and joins me now from Holyrood.

Andrew, opposition MSPs feel they're being kept in the dark about

Yes, they feel they are not allowed to scrutinise the

Government's plans adequately. This issue may not be the talk over the

dinner table in many homes tonight but they want to keep track of where

every pound and Penny is going. All the opposition MSPs backed a motion

from Patrick Harvie, calling for more information saying it was

unacceptable the level of information they had. It's not just

the opposition, the finance committee convener also wrote to the

finance secretary, saying the information they had was

unacceptable. The Chancellor has his Autumn Statement on the 23rd of

November, the finance secretary will publish his budget on the 15th of

December. Crucial statement with lots of Brexit economic information

there so the finance secretary does not want to give bad information I

suppose. But Derek Mackay came to Parliament today with a con session.

What Parliament asked for was high-level scenario planning. I will

provide that within the time scale. I'm happen where you to write to the

Finance Committee and he will take a great interest in that. I've

repeatedly said I won't publish a draft budget. He could offer

concessions, offer to meet parliament and the Finance Committee

halfway or try to brazen it out. I regret very much he decided to take

the latter part. The opposition Jackie not hugely impressed with

what he was offering. They say he's being coy about what might, what

information he might be offering. They will keep an eye on him.

Looking at this problem in the future a budget review group has

been set up to try to ensure there is perhaps a new timetable to see

that MSPs have adequate time to look at the budget. Jackie. Thank you

very much, Andrew. A look at other stories

from across the country... An ECG examination couldn't

be done on an inmate suffering chest pains,

in Dumfries prison because there wasn't any paper

in the machine to send a fax A Fatal Accident Inquiry found that

spare paper was locked in a cupboard The prisoner, Andrew Hamilton,

died later that day although he had an appeal for information

after a nineteen year old woman was attacked

in the city early on Sunday. She fought off her attacker

after the indecent assault Six foot told, haefy build, wearing

a dark coloured kilt and wearing brown dark coloured thigh length

boots. More than 200 young people,

many from Oban High School, registered as stem cell donors

through the Anthony Nolan The action followed an awareness

campaign at Oban fire station arranged by teenager,

Lauren Campbell. She was diagnosed with leukaemia

for the third time since childhood. The age perimeters are between the

ages of 16-30 that's because people The age perimeters are between the

in the younger age band have more stem cells that can be release into

their bloodstream that allows better stem cells that can be release into

opportunity to fight infection. A protest meeting's to be held

in Inverness tonight over fears that a road link between the A9 and A96

will result in 17 mature oak Community leaders and politicians

have joined the fight Transport Scotland insists there's

no final decision on the new route. We go from a small nice, rural road,

to an enlarged road with the trees gone, basically. They have been here

for 150 years. The Scotland assistant manager,

Mark McGhee, says he'd back Fifa proposals aimed at expanding

the World Cup from 32 teams to 48. As the squad prepares to face

Lithuania this weekend in the latest World Cup qualifier,

he says the success of nations like Wales and Iceland at this

year's European Championships proves Not just the players, the supporters

of these teams made it a spectacle. Really fantastic. I know the Tartan

Army would anyway. I think there is a place for countries like that. I

think if there is a route to make it more manageable to get there, then,

yeah, I'm all for it. The former Scotland captain,

Barry Ferguson, says he believes Scotland can qualify

from this current campaign. His international career ended

after the notorious Boozegate He has told BBC Scotland,

that since then, he has been too embarrassed to return to Hampden

to watch the national team in action, saying his

behaviour was a disgrace. The now infamous pictures in the

aftermath of Boozegate. Rangers team-mates were dropped to the bench

for Scotland v Iceland. Just three days before they had been drinking

until the early hours after Scotland's loss in the World Cup

qualifier against Holland. Already in disgrace they made matters worse

with V signs in deviance. I was a disgrace. That was embarrassing what

I'd done. It was embarrassing because it ended my career. To do

what I did and not think about the consequence it is would have on

family and even my team-mates at Scotland. You know what I mean? It

was a sir suss. -- circus. Ferguson was banned from the Scotland team.

It's only now, seven years later, he thinks he is face and support the

team he once captained. I was sceptical in the past to watch

Scotland. I think that is now put to bed and I'd like to go back as a

fan. I was pan, at the end of the day. To be honest with you, it does

hurt me when people say that I didn't care. Ferguson says he cares

for the fate of the current crop and believes in Strachan and this World

Cup campaign. Do you know what, I believe we have the players to do

Cup campaign. Do you know what, I it. The first three games are

critical. We need to get seven points out of the first three games.

We haven't got world-class players. But we have got good players. We've

got good players that I think can do a job and get us to a major

championship. The man who once rebelled now looking for

redemptions. In the grounds of the Palace

of Holyrood, they stand 100 feet tall and are passed by hundreds

of thousands of visitors each year. So how did two trees turn out to be

a variety thought to be The Wentworth Elms were only

discovered when scientists at the Royal Botanical Gardens went

to carry out a survey. We have been looking at elm trees

for over 20 years. It's a large tree and a weeping habit. We are standing

underneath the canopy. It reaches quite close to the ground. If it was

left untrimmed by the gardens here it would reach the ground and sweep

the floor. The Palace gardens are land scaped with two trees over 100

years old, beautiful features, attracting many an admirer. It's

lovely. Beautiful. The other feature about this tree that helps us to

know it's a Wentworth Elm it has large leaves. They are nearly as big

as my hand. That is unusual for elm trees. It begs the question - why it

took so long to spot that these trees were a rare breed? Colleagues

had been to collect samples of the elm trees with the few of propgating

them. They took cuttings. They couldn't identify the trees. I was

asked to come along and figure out what the identity of the various

trees was. There was a theory they survived Dutch elm disease while a

third succumbed. Subsequent records in our archive refer to a single

tree. We haven't the proof. It's tempting to think maybe these two

trees in Holyrood are two donated to tempting to think maybe these two

the Palace by the royal botanical garden Edinburgh. It might be time

to get the cuttings to the potting shed and secure a new building for

the Wentworth Elm. It's nice to see them with space to breathe and to

kind of frame the landscape. It would be a great pity if we didn't

plant elms for the future. Now, here's Laura McIver

with details of Scotland 2016. We will have today's news from the

Conservative Party conference in Birmingham and the latest pro

general elections on the global economy. And we report from the

headquarters of Scottish ballet who have been live streaming

performances. Time to look at what the weather has

in store, over to Kawser. Good evening. Many of us have ended

the day on a lovely note. Lots of sunshine today and, let's cast our

mind back to earlier this morning, this the sunrise. I couldn't resist

showing you weather watcher pictures from early this morning. This is

from Voxpopbob in the highlands and in the Western Isles glorious

colours. As we head through to the evening it looks to be largely dry

and rather breezy, especially for coastal areas. There is more in the

way of cloud across Aberdeenshire for Angus, eastern borders and the

risk of one or wo showers. For most it will be dry with clear spells

developing. For the north-west temperatures could dip to four or

five Celsius. For most holding up to nine to 11 shell suss. Coastal areas

will be breezy. Tomorrow we will stay with the fairly strong

south-easterly winds especially for t northern isles. There will be more

cloud around tomorrow than there has been today. The best of the sunshine

once again across the north-west of the country. Further towards the

north-east more cloud. It looks as if most of us will stay largely dry.

Temperatures 14 to maybe 16 degrees. A shade cooler than today. Today we

reached 17 and 18 Celsius for many of us across the north-west of the

country. This area of high pressure across Scandinavia keeping weather

systems at bay in the Atlantic. For most of us across the UK it's fine,

dry and settled and will remain that way all the way into the weekend and

maybe even the start of next week as well. It does mean it's breezy. The

winds are still breezy for Thursday, too. They will tend to ease as we

look ahead to the end of the week. Up over the hills and the summit we

have strong gusts, especially for tomorrow, 60-70mph. They will ease

by Thursday. Temperatures 13 to 14 degrees. That's your forecast for

now. Even a nice skyline behind me this evening. Hope it's nice where

you are. We are back with the late bulletin, 10.25pm. Good evening.

expected. Any cloud will be broken up by the breeze with good spells