24/01/2012 BBC Points West

Good evening and welcome to BBC Points West. Our headlines tonight:

On trial for abusing scouts. A former leader from Somerset appears

in court accused of dozens of charges.

Bullied for having ginger hair. A mother withdraws her son from class.

Though a couple of times I had to walk home any fear, thinking

something really bad was going to happen.

Also tonight: The magic mushrooms that could

chase away depression. How Bristol scientists have found a medicine

inside an illegal drug. And Master Minded is improving in

horse hospital, but his Somerset The trial of a former scoutmaster

accused of abusing children in Somerset has been hearing from one

of his alleged victims. The man, now in his late 30s, told the jury

how David Burland had sexually assaulted him.

Mr Burland faces 33 charges, all of which he denies. Our reporter

Clinton Rogers is following the case at Taunton Crown Court.

David Burland hid his face beneath an umbrella as he arrived for day

two of his trial at Taunton Crown Court, where he came face to face

with one of the four people he is accused of abusing over a period of

more than 20 years. The man, now in his late 30s, recalled his days as

a 14-year-old scout in the Highbridge. -- Highbridge area. And

of one night in particularly when after a scout meeting he was taken

back to David Burland's home and forced to watch a pornographic

movie. He says it was that evening that David Burland sexually

assaulted him. In the witness box here at Taunton Crown Court, the

man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told about the sense

of revulsion he felt at the time. "I had never felt anything like it

before," he said, "And I have not felt anything like it since." He

told the jury how Mr Burland had tried to convince him what they

were doing was perfectly normal. Under cross examination, he was

accused of making up the whole story. He replied, "That's not

true." David Burland, seen here at a previous hearing, denies 33

charges of abuse, including serious sexual assaults and gross indecency,

all said to have taken place while he was working in the scout

movement, ending up as a scout leader in Burnham on Sea. Some of

the alleged offences go back to 1987. The charges name four victims,

three boys and a girl. In opening this case, the prosecution accused

Mr Burland of being a sexual predator who hid behind a cloak of

respectability, exploiting and manipulating his victims. He was,

argued the prosecution, adept and skilled at choosing his victims. Mr

Burland again hid his face as he left court today. Tomorrow, the

jury will hear from another of his alleged victims, now in his 20s.

In other news tonight, a mother has withdrawn her son from school in

South Gloucestershire, after he was bullied about the colour of his

hair. 12-year-old Tyler Walsh says he has been attacked and lived in

fear of walking home after class. His school in Yate says they have

tackled the problem, but his mother disagrees. Sabet Choudhury reports.

This one I got on my last day, this one took six Thames to get Gandhis

are the hardest. -- six terms to get and is the hardest. Tyler Walsh

is proud of his achievements at school. A year eight student who

has been the victim of bullying, all because of the colour of his

hair. For a couple of months, had to walk home in fear, thinking

something very bad was going to happen. By have two sisters with

the same here collar. I do not want them to go through what I have gone

through. Last week, Tyler was taken out of school by his mother to be

taught at home, after an attack by some older students. He was chased

into a toilet by the year 10 and a love and. He became distressed and

it threatened to kill himself. Like any parent, I acted, I chose to

take him out of school. The school were not dealing with it. Their way

of dealing at -- and dealing with it was punishing one child with a

day off school. They said that Tyler was safe at school. Tyler's

mother has so far only spoken to head of her son's house and is now

waiting to speak to the principal of Yate International Academy. The

principle did not want to speak to us on camera today, instead he sent

us that this statement. He said that having taken account of all

that dues in this matter, the academy has managed at the issues

raised in accordance with their clearly-defined policies and

protocols and that they are continuing to do so. He added that

they had been seeking clarification from external bodies, such as the

education welfare service. As for Tyler, he is now going to start at

a new school next week with just one simple wish. I would like it to

go well and could not have the need to walk home in fear of being

beaten up on my way home. Julie Oakley, set up the charity

Bullywatch 11 years ago when her daughter tried to take her own life

after being bullied at school. She joins me now from their offices in

South Gloucestershire. This Boyce seems to have been delayed because

he has a ginger hair. The something as minor is that often a trigger

for this behaviour? Unfortunately, yes. It does happen. Young people

can get bothered for her collar, quite often for simple things.

Children can be very cruel, cant they? Is to anything that can be

done about that? There is lots of things that can be done. A working

one-to-one with the way young person that is being bullied, you

can provide peer support where older students support younger

students, you can advise on friendship groups were young people

can get together and walk-on supporting one another. You can

also challenge the behaviour of those doing the bullying and do

some work with them. The key, it seems to me, is it needs to be

drawn about. -- known about. To get anything done, you need to talk

about it. It is not always easy, but to admit you were being bullied.

Of course not. Young people are worried that they will be known as

a grass, or things will get worse. What been to do is that there are

things in place -- make sure that there are things in place to make

sure that people can talk about it and children can get the support

that they need. The school should be watching out for things like

this like a hawk, especially with an 11-year-old starting a new

school. A absolutely. Every school will have an element of billion.

Every school should have an anti- bullying policy that it here too,

that a cheque every year to make sure it is up to date. -- are that

they checked every year. Very quickly, I must ask you this. If

I'd child watching this has had a difficult day at school today, what

should they do? They should talk to an adult they can trust, they

should get somebody to doctor the school for them -- to talk to the

school for them. Make sure some body knows about it, because they

should not suffer in silence. They are a Class A drug, banned by

the Government, but magic mushrooms could soon be used to treat people

with depression. A ground-breaking study in Bristol has found that the

active ingredient in them appears to shut down areas of the brain

responsible for causing the illness. It could lead to clinical trials

within a year. This is a brain scan of someone who

has taken magic mushrooms. You might expect it to be working

overtime but actually the blue shows areas of reduced activity. It

has left scientists on a high as it could help treat depression. There

is a network in the brain associated with the equal, and that

seems to be overactive in a depression. -- the ego. We found

with magic mushrooms that it effects of that. It could be a

treatment for depression. People in the study were injected with a low

dose of psilocybin, the active chemical, then their brains

monitored. People have a psychedelic experiences, a

connection to consciousness or something like that. Nobody has had

adverse reactions at all. People have only experience these things

in a positive light. We have had no negative responses. Magic mushrooms

are naturally occurring. They have been used by man for hundreds of

years, and really came to popular consciousness in the 1960s along

with other psychedelic drugs. But since all or most were made illegal,

it has been difficult to carry out studies like this one to explore

the benefits. We need to remember that when these drugs were first

discovered in the 40s and 50s, there was a huge amount of research

done on them to try to use them for psychotherapy, to help people deal

with problems like depression, anxiety, cancer. Then that the

governments of the West banned them and for the last 40 years, no one

has been able to resist the urge these fields. It is a huge loss to

society. -- nobody has been able to research in these fields.

Scientists say this is not a green light for people to experiment at

home. These trials are being carried out under strictly

controlled conditions. It is early days, but there is great excitement

that what they may lead to is a new generation of medicines.

You're watching BBC Points West, your regional news programme.

Yes, and stay with us as there's much more to bring you tonight.

Including: It's a world first. Find out more

about magnetic soap, invented in Bristol.

And a city for the day. Bradford- on-Avon celebrates winning a

national competition. Charities in the West say

fundraising is being hard hit by the downturn in the economy, with

more people asking for help and less money available to spend. One

organisation has told Points West that its collections are down by

11% and another that they are being forced to cherry-pick the type of

people they can help. Whether it's chugging or running,

raising money for charities has never been easy. But as economic

belts are tightened, it is increasingly tough. St Peter's

Hospice is a very successful Bristol charity that raises �6.5

million a year, but donations are down. Where people would have put

�1 in, they are putting 50p in. We're seeing that. It is about

another of an % a drop of an hour fund-raising, which is significant.

Our shops are doing well, which you would expect, it is a lot of volume

and fast turnover. Platform 51 helps women and girls and says some

charities are under pressure to choose easier, cheaper cases rather

than people with more complex needs. The women that really need the

support, who were caught in the poverty circle and unable to escape

from that, they will continue to be there because there is no funding

to support what would be the effective -- hectic lives. What can

charities and a volunteer groups to? My advice is to be serious

about a collaboration and potentially merge with other

organisations. Do not pitch ahead in the sand, confront the financial

position, look ahead. As the economy struggles, charities and

volunteers will be asked to do more More concerns have been raised

about a new computer system being used to book in patients at two

Bristol hospitals. We first reported on the problems at

Frenchay and Southmead two weeks ago, but now more people have

expressed their worries about patient safety, prompting one MP to

call for the roll-out of the system to be scrapped nationally. The

hospitals have apologised and say they hope all will be sorted within

a fortnight. Here's our health correspondent, Matthew Hill.

David Searle is one of many victims of the new new computer booking

system. Twice he has had appointments cancelled because

clinics have not been set up correctly with the new system.

6:30pm I was met by a nurse who has me if I was for the clinic. She

said, no, not another one! Behind her were another six people all in

the same situation is me to find that the clinic had been cancelled.

The computer have got it wrong. -- had got it wrong. This is root of

the problem, the Cerner Millenium computer system. It was introduced

in December in one of the biggest operational changes ever undertaken

in one of the biggest hospital trusts in the country. The company

say it already delivers high quality care to 20 British

hospitals, but, as we have reported already, the transition has been

very problematic. This new system has cost the NHS �15 million, and

the North Bristol Trust a further �3.9 million. One member of the

Public Accounts Committee says its introduction in Bristol and in

Oxford has been so chaotic it should not be rolled out anywhere

else. The trust has apologised to patients and staff. It says one of

the issues has been training the all the staff about how to use it.

For the employees it has been a very difficult time. One worker,

who wants to remain anonymous, has told me patients are being lost in

the system and staff are walking out because they are so stressed.

There will be separate records for all the patients, but we need to

understand what those concerns are from the patient's story juniors

can support them. It is through their professionalism and hard work

that we have maintained the functioning and safety of the

organisation. I very much apologise for the problems they have had at

work. The hospital said that they have already sold all the problems

with operations and a two-thirds of the way there in terms of general

appointments and hope to have this problem sorted out that the middle

of February. Of February. -- by the middle of February.

But while these problems are sorted, patients like David, will have to

wait. Scientists in Bristol have

developed the world's first magnetic soap, which could lead to

the creation of more environmentally friendly cleaning

products. The soap, which is mixed with magnetic particles, may also

be a great help when it comes to clearing up disasters like oil

slicks because, put simply, the magnetic properties would allow the

oily particles to be skimmed from the water and easily removed.

Joining us now is one its creators, Professor Julian Eastoe. Where did

the idea come from? At the University we are always

researching to improve chemicals, product and the environment. This

idea came to us after we developed some soaps there were sensitive to

light. The next step was to see if we could make soaps that were

sensitive to a magnet. We have got some pictures of it. Take us

through what is happening? You can see a magnet being lowered into did

beaker and collecting up the magnetic soap. You can see a

droplet being attracted to the magnets. The magnet is tiny,

smaller than the size of the 50 p piece. So, what kind of

applications could this have? potential does exist for having

clean-up applications, such as spills and remediation of souls.

Whether or not we will see these soaps in our homes remains an open

question. We are continuing to research. We will be working again

to improve the chemicals so they might reach the market place sooner

rather than later. In terms of using it domestically, it is all to

do with through moving it from the water supply afterwards, am I

right? That is right. It is being able to control were soaps go. It

simply gets flushed down to sink normally, but now we have a means

of stopping were goes. It might be finding out a way to get it back

from hard to reach areas. It takes brilliant minds light years to come

up with Magnetics soap! We are very glad that you did.

Some sports news now and Bristol City's top striker Nicky Maynard

could be about to leave for Wigan. Maynard was put on the transfer

list after declining a new contract. His current deal runs out at the

end of the season. Now Bristol City have given Wigan permission to open

talks with the player and the two clubs are close to agreeing a fee.

Meanwhile, the club have defended Yannick Bolasie after a challenge

during Saturday's game with Doncaster. Bolasie collided with

James Coppinger. The referee awarded a free kick and Coppinger

went off with a fractured cheekbone. The Doncaster manager, Dean

Saunders, said it was a head-butt and the chairman says he is taking

legal advice on the matter. Britain's rhythmic gymnasts have

lodged an appeal against their exclusion from the Olympics. The

team, who are based at the University of Bath, narrowly missed

a qualifying score at last week's test event. However, they exceeded

the same target the following day and are arguing that score should

count. More than 2,000 people have also signed an online petition to

get the girls to the games. Now, it was an injury which could

have been fatal, but Masterminded, the champion racehorse trained by

Paul Nicholls in Somerset, is making a good recovery. He is being

treated at one of the top equine hospitals in the country in

Newmarket, after emergency surgery on a tendon on Boxing Day. But,

while he is likely to walk again, the surgeon who operated on him

says he's very unlikely ever to race again. David Passmore went to

see how the recovery is progressing. The model patient. So far,

Masterminded's recovery could not have gone better. He is an absolute

angel. He is so nice to do anything with. Far better behaved than our

horses out in the field. That is the experience of a champion.

Master Minded twice won the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham.

With nine Grade One victories in all and prize money of more than �1

million. But on Boxing Day at Kempton he mistimed a jump in the

King George VI chase and his back hoof managed to slice into a tendon

on his front leg. This is where he was rushed for surgery that very

evening, the Newmarket Equine Hospital, a specialist unit in the

heart of flat racing country. is very important in these injuries

because the whole of the time that tenting is an upended the worst the

damages going to be and how difficult it will be to control the

infection. You want to interfere surgically as it is due possibly

can because that makes a big difference to the prognosis.

being well, Masterminded will return to the stables of Paul

Nicholls in the next few weeks and start walking soon after. What

chance is there of him racing again? Very small. The injury was

sufficiently severe that the odds are against him racing again. Our

main goal is to get the best quality of life for him that we can.

Whenever it comes, thanks to the efforts of Ian Wright and his team,

Master Minded is now assured of a comfortable retirement. No life at

stud as he is a gelding, but assured forever of a place in

racing history. As part of this year's jubilee

celebrations, the Queen will grant city status to one lucky town

somewhere in the country. The winner will be announced later in

the year. But not wanting to wait for any official announcement, BBC

Radio 5 Live went ahead and held a poll among their listeners. And

from the top five nominations, the winner was the Wiltshire town of

Bradford on Avon. Laura Jones has been to visit Britain's newest city.

Bradford on Avon, population 11,000, nestled in the Wiltshire hills.

Today thanks to BBC radio, this pretty little town for just one day

has officially become a city, in name at least. Admittedly, it is

not a huge place and you might think it is missing some of that

features of a larger city, but don't be fooled. Bradford on Avon

has a lot to offer, according to the man who nominated it for the

award. It is a lovely place. It has the old Saxon church. All kinds of

architecture. It has a load of fantastic pubs, restaurants, walks.

There was a lot to do in this town and it is a good place to live.

Local shops are making good most of the city's new found fame. It is

all going down rather well with the locals. It is quite a surprise, but

a good thing as it puts us on the map. It is going to bring lots of

tourism to the town. We had such fun getting everyone enthusiastic

about it. We go from strength to strength, hopefully. Although it

will not really become a city, one lucky town somewhere in the UK will

as part of the diamond jubilee celebrations. Bradford upon Avon,

for it, it turns out that one day is a city was just enough.

-- one day as a city. The celebrations aren't over yet.

Tonight, Tony Livesey's show on BBC 5 Live will be coming from Bradford

on Avon. That's from 10.30pm tonight. Well, it looked a bit

misty there in Bradford today. Ian, It will be a similar story tomorrow.

Tomorrow scenes like this will be fairly typical, as well patchy rain

and a windier story as well, particularly later in the day when

you will have heavier rain as well. By the end of tomorrow, there is

this cold front coming in from the West. Once that front comes through

late tomorrow evening it ushers in colder air behind it. With the time

being, it is very much steady as she goes with patchy light rain,

particularly in the West, hill fog also. By tomorrow morning, it will

have been mild through the night, there will be some patchy light

rain about, low cloud. The breeze will pick up as the day goes on.

Baby and will become a bit more steady later on in the evening. It

looks at about 9 o'clock this cold front will move over us. It will be

as squally feature with spells of heavier rain. It will turn colder

because of this front. Tomorrow will be the last day there will see

double-figure temperatures for some time to come. High pressure will

then building on Friday, so it will be a crisp winter day, a frosty

start. By Sunday into Monday, looking at these temperatures,

you'll see her gradually as we get to Sunday the wind now shifts round

to an easterly. That will bring in cold air. Between now and Monday,