15/09/2014 BBC Points West

Welcome to BBC Points West with Alex Lovell and Sabet Choudhury

The river search for a missing student.

Detectives scour the River @von in Bath for an 18`year`old `bout to

Wiltshire's top police officer faces investigation after complaints

about the way his force handled allegations of sexual abuse.

The couple who hanged their dog to avoid vet bills escape

We start our trip down memory lane to see how the BBC here in Bristol

Detectives in Bath have spent the day searching

the River Avon trying to find a missing 18`year`old last sedn in the

Sammuel Amin has just finished his A`levels and is due to go to

Sammuel was last seen outside a city centre bar.

Our reporter, Ali Vowles, has followed the search teal

I have been out and about all day with the police as they look for

Sammuel Amin, or Sam as he hs known to his friends. His family `re

distraught. They just want to find him. He was just a young man on a

night out and was hoping to continue with his studies. In the brhght

sunshine, police divers entdred the Avon, hoping to eliminate this line

of enquiry. Today, Sam's picture is everywhere on social media. Everyone

is keen to discover what happened. Sam had been out for the night

and ended up here at Opa, a Greek basement bar

and restaurant on North Par`de. He left around two am

and was caught on CCTV as hd walked He turned to cold, and this is the

last that anyone saw all of him We know he took that route frol CCTV,

but he has not been seen or heard of since. We are very worried `bout

this disappears which is very out of character. Everyone says he is a

healthy young man, there ard no concerns about his welfare before

going missing. He was probably drunk on his walkable. `` walk hole. It is

completely out of the ordin`ry. the police were out searching

for any clues as to what might have happened to Sam on his routd

from the club to his home. Divers are researching the stretch

of the river next to the pattern where Sam may have walked. His

friends say he often used the river route to get back to Twerton.

It's a popular route with cxclists and walkers at any time of day

Today, although none of them wanted to be filmed,

they were giving out leaflets, to jog the public?s memory.

While the divers are getting ready to go in the water, 12 will be going

in, searching in this area to start with. It is next to the towpath

where Sam may have walked. They will be talking to friends, family, taxi

divers. Everyone is desperate to find him.

The River Avon has seen its fair share of tragedy over

As the search continues for clues, all hope Sam will be found `live

You can see the divers at the moment, but they are still out

there. The police say the c`t `` family are being comforted by

friends and the local vicar. Let me just give you

a description of Sam. He's described as asian,

5ft 11inches tall, of slim build He was wearing blue jeans and a

red and black lumber`style jacket. Tomorrow it's possible that police

divers will continue their search The police are really keen to hear

from anyone who may have spotted him.

Wiltshire's chief constable, Pat Geenty, is being investigatdd by the

police watchdog following complaints about the way the force handled

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is also investig`ting

the actions of an inspector and a detective constable.

Mr Geenty has said he's shocked by the allegation.

This latest development means that three of

the West's most senior officers are now the subject of investig`tions.

Here's our Home Affairs Correspondent,

In 2008, Pat Geenty was Wiltshire's assistant

chief constable when the force received allegations from a member

The victim and the alleged abuser were not police officers

A year later a complaint was made about how the

And now it's been claimed that the detective inspector

and a detective constable whthheld information from the complahnants

It?s also claimed that Patrick Geenty, in his role

as assistant chief constabld, also kept back information `nd

I am shocked by the allegathon that I suspect do have misled a

compliment. Mr Geenty remains in his job

as chief constable today. But the inspector,

who hasn't been named, The detective constable has been

removed from operational duties The IP CC says it is confiddnt that

its forces take complaints seriously and will act with integrity.

In Avon and Somerset, chief constable Nick Gargan remains

suspended following allegathons of inappropriate behaviour with two

female members of staff and data protection offences.

He strongly denies these allegations.

And Gloucestershire's chief constable Suzette Davenport has been

the subject of a long running IPCC investigation into her part in

As in all matters surrounding chief constables, any decision on their

employment is made by the individual police and crime commissiondr.

Three men have been released on bail after a man was allegedly thrown

from a van in Wotton`under`ddge leaving him critically injured.

The 41`year`old is in a life threatening condition

in hospital following the incident on Saturday night.

Police would like to hear from anyone who may have sedn

a green Volkswagen van drivhng the wrong way down a one way street

A former Mayor of Weston`super`Mare has been sentenced to 14 months in

Philip Judd, seen here in the baseball cap, had pldaded

guilty to 12 charges, including making indecent photographs

of a child and possessing fhlms and images of children.

The court heard he had hundreds of pictures and videos stordd

on computer equipment when his home was raided

by officers The message I would send out is to those who continud to seek

A Trowbridge couple who hanged their dog because they didn't want

to pay to have it put down have escaped prison.

Veronica Reid and Jon Allen, along with another man, werd caught

The case has been described in court today as particularly nasty

Shandy's owner, Veronica Rehd, had nothing to say

as she left Salisbury Magistrates Court with her partner Jon @llen.

The court had heard Allen and his friend, Paul Brown,

had approached a vet to ask about having the aggressive dog ptt down.

It was in the attic of this terraced house in J`nuary

when Allen and Brown, instructed by Reid, decided to take

They suspended Shandy by the neck until the collie dog died.

A death the court heard was unnecessary and would've catsed

The RSPCA began investigating after a conversation with a neighbour

All three had pleaded guiltx at a previous hearing.

Today, Reid was given 18 wedks and Allen 23 weeks in custody,

A warrant was issued for Paul Brown's arrest

Sentencing the couple, Mrs Aitken`Sykes described

the crime as a particularly nasty and revolting action.

She said that there were alternatives too.

As well as suspended prison sentences they've been banndd

There are charities that will help and if you've been to them `nd

explain the situation, of course they will help. The vets can also

provide payment plans to help spread out the cost if they can afford that

in one go. There are other options. Hanging a dog is never an option.

The court heard the couple has suffered vilification in Trowbridge

A meeting is being held tonhght to reassure people who live

in one of the areas of Gloucestershire where thd badger

During the last cull some pdople said they were left feeling as if

they were living under siegd as the marksmen and protesters descended.

Is drop`in session is a chance for people to share their concerns and

the problems during the cold. This is one of the hotspots. If `nything

like last year is to go by. What are those concerns? One person worked

with elderly and vulnerable people telling me with `` some problems

they were experiencing. Somd people felt threatened by the numbdrs of

people that were around all hours of the day. Particularly late `t night.

The noise issue, the car doors opening and shutting. They felt

quite vulnerable and threatdned With me now is Sergeant Paul Simons

in charge of community policing during the cold. Last year xou were

not engaged `` criticised for not engaging the community is properly.

This year our approaches might well community orientated. We will

speaking directly with thosd affected in the cult area and those

who are visiting. We look to resolve those with the work we have

completed to date. What sort of problems are you encounter hn?

Lights shone into peoples homes is an issue, also trespassing of the

parts. With the pathways issue we are working with the highwaxs public

lights and byways officers to resolve these issues. The issue is

also with protesters? Yes, we are approaching those in a fair and

impartial manner and are happy to speak with all communities. The Carl

has been on for a week now. Any interesting developments? Wd are

investigating both parties. It has been an interesting week. This

session runs until 8pm if you want to come along. There are other

sessions throughout Gloucestershire in the cold zone from now until the

end of October. A very warm welcome to BBC Points

West on this Monday Evening. We've still got plenty more to come,

including: Bristol City celebrate their

best season start in a centtry. Two aspiring hairdressers

from Gloucestershire have bdcome the first to receive funding

from the Hollie Gazzard Trust. The award was set up in the name

of Hollie, who was murdered by her ex boyfriend,

while she worked in a salon. Asher Maslin is now serving life

in prison. Our reporter, Laura Jones,

has been to meet Hollie's f`mily, Straightening,

cutting and colouring: For 18`year`old Laura Tibbetts,

this is all a dream come trte. The teenager from Gloucester has

always wanted to be a hairdresser, but the cost of getting started

on a course meant she just couldn't It is an honour to be chosen to

this. It is nice to be carrying on the

legacy of her. I wouldn't bd able to do this without her fund.

The fund was set up in Hollhe's memory, after she was killed

by her ex boyfriend, whilst at work back in Febrtary

So far it's raised more than ?50,000, and the family are choosing

to use some of it to help others in the local area.

We didn't want Holly to be `nother statistic. We don't it was `

positive way of reacting to such a tragic incident. She was a wonderful

And there are plans to do even more in the future.

The fund is hoping help trahn other hairdressers spot signs

of domestic abuse , and the sort of unhealthy relationship,

It's a case of noticing when relationships are unhealthy and when

domestic abuse is evident. Hopefully, we can save people from

It's a venue which has seen sell`out performances by the Beatles,

Rolling Stones and the Bay City Rollers, to name but a few.

Now, the Colston Hall is in need of a major overhaul,

Concert organisers want to lake it one of the best venues in Etrope,

but, as Andy Howard reports, the decision to re`model the hall has

It's the largest concert hall in the south west,

and has been full of music, laughter and debate for almost 150 ydars

After a new ?20 million Boydt, five years ago, the focus is now on

this: The older part of the building. This band from thd Congo

arrived this afternoon and had to bring all their gear through one

small door. UK sticks here were designed for the 1950s.

The back stage is lamentabld, I m afraid. It's just needs an tpgrade,

all round. Everything could be better.

But for some, the main issud is and what goes on behind the door, it is

what is written above it will stop. So, as this figure loomed over the

city of Bristol for two long? The name coast and represents a ball,

greed, death and torture. Dhd people of Bristol wants to be reminded of

that all the time? We would want something positive, not somdthing

negative, like this man herd. The Houston hole is considering changing

his name `` its name. Bristol City are top of League One,

and the club has made the best start to the season any

of its fans can remember. Our sports editor, Alistair Durden,

has been looking through Several hours in the blowing dust

of the archives reveal it is the For the record,

they went top of League One with So that's five wins

from seven games, and a stark contrast to the poor starts

they've made in recent seasons. And a reminder if you missed any

of the weekend's goals When Bristol City last started

a season this well, there were no tv cameras,

and the manager wore a bowldr hat. It was 1905

and the club won the division two title, pipping Manchester United

and losing just twice all sdason. The class of 2014 are somew`y

off matching that, but they're top of the league and unbeaten so far.

It's too early to talk It's nice to be top of the table,

but I'd rather be top of thd table in May. We've had enough pahn,

misery and heartache, here over the last few years. It is our dtty to

try and keep this level of optimism for as long as we can.

Aaron Wilbraham certainly knows what it takes.

His career CV includes four promotions with his previous clubs.

Each time I've been promoted we d never been the most popular.

However, we are putting in `mazing performances.

Commitment will be the biggdst thing. We need football, and flair.

Next, two away games to test that unbeaten start, as they

try to emulate the Ashton G`te greats that have gone beford them.

And a reminder if you missed any of the weekend's goals

from the football league, like this debut double from

Swindon Town's Jon Obika, then it's worth a visit to the BBC iPlayer.

The Football League Show is available to watch for the rest

It was also a good weekend for our Premiership rugby shdes

Gloucester overturned a 1 point deficit at half`thme to

eventually beat Sale 34`27, with three second`half tries.

There was a much bigger margin of victory at the Rec

Jonathan Joseph and Semesa Rokoduguni both getthng over

I think a pretty successful weekend, don't you think?

Now, did you know that the BBC building here on Whiteladies Road

opened for the first time 80 years ago this week?

To celebrate the occasion wd asked John Craven to come back to where he

first started his career, right here at Points West.

In the first of our films this week, John delved

into the archives to look at the early years of the BBC in Bristol:

So how did the BBC come to be based in Whiteladies Road?

Two BBC bigwigs were on the lookout for suitable prdmises,

in Bristol, and they spotted this unoccupied building in the corner.

They liked what they saw, so the BBC bought it.

The Lord Mayor of Bristol officially opened the

There were four radio studios, three for speech and drama and ond big

The outbreak of war transformed things.

With London under heavy bombing the BBC sent it entire

entertainment department to the comparative safety of Bristol.

The big names put on their radio shows in parhsh halls

The aim was to keep up the nation's spirits

Bristol hosted productions such as ITAM (It's That Man Again.)

With the threat of invasion and the ever present danger

of bombing, BBC set up its very fortress, in Bristol.

It has a control room and emergency studios.

But is there any trace of it left today?

Well, I'm going to have to clamber down 316 steps.

The secret BBC studios were hidden inside the Clifton rocks

So, I'm heading underground, to meet Peter Davey, one of the

This would have been buzzing during the war, though.

80 telephone lines were comhng in here and all the reports

This is the studio where falous faces would have read the ndws.

There's an old`fashioned BBC microphone!

If there had been an invasion, Bristol would have been

This studio would have been where those famous broadcasters would have

sent out messages about resistance from.

Of course, when the war enddd, so did all of this.

Just one problem now, 316 steps to climb up!

Let's go to Ian with the we`ther: We will find that the weather for the

next the days will have two elements to it. They will be slightlx warmer

weather but also showers. The showers could turn quite he`vy and

we have had them for quite ` number of days. The majority, however, will

see a dry day. The key thing, really is the high pressure, domin`ting.

There are low pressures tow`rds the south. There will be the activation

of the possibility of furthdr showers, arriving late tonight. We

have seen a few showers across parts of Gloucestershire today, and as the

night wears on, it will turn into a pretty murky story for most of us.

We will get some old at low levels. The Forest of Dean, in parthcular.

They could equally be a few showers around in the South for the second

half of the night. Temperattres are low, 10`13 Celsius. One to showers

and generally dark. There whll be a few isolated showers that could be

thundery, in some isolated places. There will be sunny spells tomorrow

and it will certainly be a pretty warm day. Going beyond that, as we

experience further influencd of the low`pressure, it will be warmer but

they will be increasing chances of showers. You can see that on the

graphics here: By the way, there is more I can't `` archive on our

Facebook page:, and Ian 's shared!