17/09/2012 BBC Wales Today

Good evening. The headlines: a year after four men died in Ecclesia pet,

their families tell us that they are still looking answers. --

lesion pet. I should be coping, but it is getting worse. They have said

that it is close to get better, but it is getting worse. Gleision Pet.

I asked their undertaker if I could walk the coffin to the grave. I

thought he would be there when he Darren Jackson is jailed for life

for the brutal rape and murder of a grandmother from Carmarthenshire.

Irene Lawless was attacked by her neighbour as she slept.

England is scrapping GCSEs - what does that mean for children in

Wales? Why slow internet access is holding

back the economy and costing jobs. I will have all tonight's sport,

including what are we to spend a weekend! As Wem, about right and

then a marathon, why it took an Ironman marathon to win in Tenby.

And we have the inside story from when Tom was still making -- still

learning the trade. Good evening. The families of the

four miners who were killed in the Gleision and Collier Bay --

Gleision Colliery are still looking answers. The men were killed when

the mine in Swansea Valley was flooded. Its licence has been

suspended and it is currently closed.

Today it is quiet, NT and closed. Gleision Colliery, now and for ever,

synonymous with tragedy. The men who died you were Garry

Jenkins, David Powell, Philip Hill and Charles Breslin. They were

trapped underground by flood water. When the news broke that they had

become trapped their families gathered at a nearby some -- nearby

community centre. At first there was hope. Hayley Phillips, any subs

Philip Hill talks about the moment when she was told by police that

his body had been found. The whole place has collapsed. There was

tears and hugs. People said, he is it? It was so unreal. Totally

unreal. The main's rescue service did

everything it could. The men they were trying to reach had many

years's experience between them. Charles Breslin was just two months

away from retirement. I didn't care, as long as I had him home. But no.

David Powell had just turned 50 and at his home his widow is still

struggling to come to terms with his death. The love of my life. I

have lost him for ever. And I don't know how to cope. I know it is a

year and I should be coping, but it is getting worse. They say that it

is supposed to get better, but it is getting worse.

The funeral has focused the grief and sent the All the whole

community. Alex Jenkins paid his own special tribute to his father,

Garry Jenkins. I asked they undertake refracted what the coffin

to the grave, because I thought I would be there when he is taken out.

One man escaped but was seriously injured when the mine flooded. He

has been questioned by police on suspicion of causing manslaughter

through gross negligence -- gross negligence. The case is being

reviewed. This has been a year-long investigation. We have transferred

a file to the Crown Prosecution Service, apparently considering

evidence that we have gathered. And we await a decision from the Crown

Prosecution Service as to what the future holds.

A public appeal raised more than �1 million for the families, but what

they want more than anything now is to find out exactly how and why the

men died. And to find out whether this tragedy could have been

prevented. There are still so many unanswered questions. How could

this possibly have happened and ruined four lights and four

families. Let us talk to Rosalyn Davies, a

local councillor. Use other rescuers arrived, 1 euros on how is

it community coping? -- in one year on. The community have coped pretty

well on the whole. Especially helping the families out. They have

done their very best, I can assure you. If there is any comfort to be

derived from this terrible tragedy, surely it must be the generosity of

that community that has so much been in evidence? It is not allay

the generosity of the community, but it seems to have been at the

generosity worldwide in the gifts and money that had been donated to

the fund. What are your memories of that night when you recall? -- won

the year ago. The actual day, when I found out in the morning that an

accident had happened, of course I spend the whole of the Thursday

looking over from my house what in the helicopter and looking at the

ambulances and police cars and hoping that they would be making,

but unfortunately it doesn't happen that way.

Thank you very much for talking to us this evening. You can see more

on the Gleision tragedy tonight at 8:30pm.

A man has been jailed for life for the brutal rape and murder of a

grandmother from Carmarthenshire. Irene Lawless was attacked in her

home in the village of Llanllwni by her next-door neighbour as she

slept. The Crown Court was told that her attacker, Darren Jackson,

had a warped and perverted mind. This CCTV per -- ft it shows Darren

Jackson within half-an-hour of the shockingly brutal times. He is

filling up a car with petrol in Carmarthen. It is a car that he has

stolen from a woman that he has just rate and killed. His it in his

Irene Lawless, a keen painter and guard dinner he lived alone in the

bungalow and has the misfortune of being Darren Jackson's neighbour.

The court heard that he had a perverted interest in sexual

violence towards the elderly woman. He had visited websites have a

disturbing nature. He broke into Irene Lawless's house

to her front window. For at least two hours he subjected her to an

horrific sexual attack before strangling her. Pictures show him

with a deep scratch on his face, inflicted by Irene Lawless in her

desperate struggle to fight him off. He drove a stolen car to Kent,

where he is originally from, but until the next day. Irene Lawless's

family had to listen to harrowing evidence in court, which the judge

described as nothing short of depravity. The minimum sentence of

28 years was welcomed. Their actions of this man have shocked

the family, the community of Llanllwni and the investigating

team. Although tinged with sadness, their verdict today has been

welcomed because we believe that the public is much safer as a

result of Darren Jackson being publically -- being firmly put

behind bars. Irene Lawless has been described as

a down-to-earth helpful lady he was a support others. Her murder has

left the community appalled. Although Darren Jackson will spend

a minimum of 28 years in prison, his crimes show up at -- showed a

perversion of mind and it is likely he may never be released.

Anglesey County Council says that it will reconsider the future of

residential care homes on the island. A consultation process will

be under taking to remodel the community services.

The family of Aamir Siddiqi, the 17-year-old from Cardiff he was

that to death in his home, has told Swansea Crown Court how he tried to

tackle the killers. His Faber, who was recovering from surgery at the

time, said that he used all his energy to pin one of them against

the wall and his wife jumped on the shoulders of another man. The trial

continues. Wheels's education minister

Leighton Andrews -- Wales's education minister, has described

England's plans to introduce any exam system as a backward step.

Speaking in the Commons earlier this afternoon, Michael Gove

renewed his attack on Wales's educational performance. As someone

match -- as someone married to a Welsh girl it grieves me that the

Welsh education system under Labour has gone backwards, and it shows

that education in England has improved more quickly and more

effectively. The Welsh government has said

tonight that it will wait for a consultation report on the future

of education reforms before rushing into anything. Parents and pupils

watching are going to be wondering what this means for them in Wales.

This new system has not been introduced here in Wales. The Welsh

government are holding qualifications consultation on the

future of qualifications here in Wales for high school students.

Leighton Andrews has made it clear that he will wait for the report

which is jet in November before he makes any decision on the future of

GCSEs here in Wales. He has made it clear that even though England will

discarded GCSEs over the border, we could still keep the GCSEs here in

Wales, even whatever happens with the qualification review, he says

that we will not be introducing and all levels del exam here. All this

is happening on the eve of the regrading. The yes, you remember

that the English language GCSE has been regraded to, and it is ready

now to be published. They will be sending these results to the

centres, schools and colleges by 5pm tomorrow afternoon. Most

students will be receiving their results on Wednesday mining. Every

pupil has left school than they need to get in touch with the

Much more to come before 7.00pm... Reporting the story of all of our

lives - Wales Today celebrates 50 Slow internet access in parts of

Wales is still holding back the economy and costing jobs in rural

areas. That's the conclusion of a study by a group of MPs. It also

says Wales is still behind the rest of the UK when it comes to

broadband coverage. Chris Dearden has been to one part of Gwynedd to

see the effect on businesses there. Back to the drawing board.

Literally. This woman is an architect who works from home. She

cannot use the computer to do her design work because her internet

link is not good enough to send big files. It really is a genuine break

on the expansion of businesses in the rural area. We are being

encouraged to work from home because it cuts down on road travel.

If we have not got decent broadband links to houses in the rural area,

how can people run businesses from home?

Francis isn't the only one asking that question. She has even looked

at getting her internet over a satellite but find that trees and

wind would be an obstacle. A few minutes down the road, this man

runs a business helping people set up websites and e-mail. Jobs are

becoming more on line, if you like. You cannot run a business without

the internet. Not every business needs a fast connection, but they

do need a connection. There are still places for you cannot get a

connection. Today's report says the only way you can get broadband

connections to all of Rural Wales is to get creative. The UK

Government needs to speed up improvements to the mobile phone

network so people could use that to get decent internet access. The UK

Government says it is continuing to the Gatt solutions. Francis says

she intends to retire in a few years. She just hopes it will not

take that long before her connection is up to speed.

Let's talk to the chairman of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee,

David Davies. David Davies, its still a postcode

lottery in wales when it comes to broadband.

Yes. Obviously, coverage is getting better and it is getting

significantly faster. I think the point of the report was that we

were looking at particular at those areas that still have no broadband

access whatsoever. What we are hoping will come out of this is

that there will be a renewed emphasis on this areas, because

whilst we work on the progress that is going on in the urban

conurbations, we cannot have a situation where some people are

completely left out of the lip. should pay for it? Government or

customers? It will always be a combination. There are always

limited funds. Those funds are being used to upgrade the broadband

connections of those who have already got it. We should be

prioritising those who have none at all. But despite what came out of

that report, there are alternatives to using fibreoptic cable that have

been shown to work already another remote parts of the UK. Satellite

is one of them. I appreciate the person you're speaking to said they

could not get a connection because of trees, but we have heard

compelling evidence that the vast majority of places could get a

satellite connection. But it is not that fast. While I was doing this

report, I helped to set up a satellite connection on an

experimental basis with the Post Office. That has been working out

very well. Thank you.

Craig Bellamy settled any doubts about his desire to keep playing

football with a stunning goal for Cardiff City at the weekend, but he

may not start in tomorrow's match at Millwall. In the Premier League,

Swansea lost their unbeaten record at Aston Villa. But manager Michael

Laudrup seemed to take it all in wrong time for Swansea, putting the

brakes on their early season momentum. But despite a 2-0 defeat

at Aston Villa, their first loss of the season, the Swans manager is

Every game will be better. Sometimes it is good to lose, to

substitute Craig Bellamy did not look like a man who was thinking of

quitting. His stunning second half strike,

and Peter Whittingham's penalty, secured a 2-1 against Leeds. But

after two-week injury layoff, Bellamy could be on the bench again

He has not done a lot of training and we have to be cautious. We have

two away games coming up and we have to be cautious of how he is

playing. In the Conference, Newport County

are back on top after a 3-0 win at Barrow. Wrexham are only a point

behind after their goaless draw in Luton.

In other news, Wales manager Chris Coleman has received the full

backing of the FAW's chief executive. But Jonathan Ford says

he expects some changes in the team to face Scotland after the 6-1

thrashing in Serbia. We want to make sure that we take every

opportunity to learn from our mistakes, to understand what went

wrong. I have every faith that this will happen.

And disappointment for Wales' women - they lost 2-1 to Scotland, ending

their hopes of qualifying for next year's European Championships.

1,600 athletes were competing in the Ironman triathlon. It involved

before, just when followed by a 180, the bike ride and then in marathon.

As dawn broke, they set off in the hundreds. Wave after wave of

competitors entered the sea knowing what they faced over the hours

ahead would push mind and body to the limit. It is your own personal

battle and everybody here has their own reason for being here. It is

really exciting to see everyone from all over the world.

favourite part is the pipe. You were on it for seven hours cycling

round the National Park. What is not a lot about that? I started 10

years ago when someone told me I was too old and too that!

The first challenge, a swim of nearly four kilometres.

Next, a 180 km bikeride, followed by a full marathon, all in front of

thousands of cheering supporters. And then after 8 hours and 52

minutes, Sylvain Rota of France crossed the line first. Paul

Hawkins from Wrexham was the first Welshman to finish. It was

brilliant. It is a massive event worldwide. There is such a brutal

course here. It says it all about wheels! This is probably the rock

this course in the world. We have got a pretty good place here.

In truth, anyone who completed this extraordinary race can consider

themselves a winner. All those still out on the course at midnight

had to admit defeat. Until next time, perhaps.

On this day in 1962, Wales Today went on air for the very first time.

To celebrate our 50th birthday, we're bringing you special reports

all this week looking back at five decades of news broadcasting.

From the stories that shaped our lives to the reporters and

presenters who brought the news into our homes. Tonight, Carwyn

Jones reports on the 1960s and It may have been the beginning of

this is its -- sophisticated 1960s, but television broadcasting was

still pretty basic. Wales Today's was the studio -- first home was a

studio here in this Church in Cardiff and it was from here that

the first programme was broadcast on the 17th of some temper, 1962.

Hollow and good evening to you on this most important day in history.

The first time the music came on for Wales Today, you butterflies

started going. They were the days when technology was not as it is

night. There was no autocue, so you have to remember what you were

doing. We had limited experience. Prior to that, we had had a five-

minute blitz and. It was simply reading the news to camera. The

first news reader ever was Michael Aspull. Whatever happened to him?

Wales Today had only been on air a few months when the country was

brought to a standstill in the extremes of 1963. Lorries struggle

to get vital supplies to homes and journalists struggle to get that

footage. Everything had to be brought back to the studio. It was

all on film. You had to allow time for the film editor to do his work.

I can remember, oh dear, many a stressful seen. As the embraced the

Swinging 60s, Wales Today was there to capture the mood. It reported on

the Beatles' visit to Binder, the emergence of a singer from Tiger

Bay and a deep and policy on Tom Jones as the record of one of his

early hits. White you think you peel to middle-aged women as much

as teenagers? A lot of middle-aged people write to the fan club and

they say they'd like it because I have a good voice. I'm very pleased

about that. That is what they say! The 1960s was the decade of

revolution. In Wales, the tinder box of change was large point The

decision to flood the valley to provide water for Liverpool Bulwark

a new mood of political protest. our own community is our own

responsibility! On the streets, protests turned to direct action

and the rise of the Free Wales Army. On top of a slurry is a few men

chain. Wales Today's reporters were often first on the scene. That

proved the case on Friday 21st October, 1966. The young Peter

Walker was one of the first journalists to have a ban.

started to ask the residents about what had happened. I suddenly

thought I was at Goole. This is an awful tragedy and I'm trying to

talk to people about how they view. So much so that I put my recorder a

way. I put it down on the steps of one of the terraced houses and I

went and helped the miners who were coming of shift to use their bare

hands to try and pull this she'll ancillary a way to see if anyone

was there. It was hopeless. By the close of the decade, the eyes of

the world had turned two wheels once again, but in happier

circumstances. The investiture of Prince Charles. In 1969, Wales

Today reported on how we might be living in the future. Most of the

predictions failed to country, but one of them was spot on. In the

year 2000, there will still be news bulletins, of we in Wales tomorrow,

they will not exactly sound as they do in Wales Today.

Well, tomorrow, flares and the long hot summer of '76, but back in 1962,

Wales Today didn't have it's own weather presenter. How times have

changed. Now we couldn't do without you!

I feel part of the furniture! I haven't been here quite as long as

Jean, though! Some of you will remember the

Winter of 1962 to 1963, which was the coldest of the century! There's

no sign of any really cold weather yet but we are in for some chilly

nights this week. Showers and some Hopefully a few lovely sunsets, too.

Like this one taken in Llanelli by Jason Dale. Tonight, some dry,

clear weather but also some cloud and showers as well. Most of the

showers in mid Wales and the north. Drier in Monmouthshire. Windy on

Anglesey with temperatures in Torfaen dropping to eight Celsius.

Tomorrow's chart shows low pressure over Norway. A high over the

Atlantic and that means cool north- westerly winds for Britain. Here's

the picture for eight in the morning. A few showers in the north

and feeling cool. The wind strong on Anglesey and the Lleyn Peninsula.

Windy on the Cardigan Bay coast with a few showers in Pembrokeshire,

Ceredigion and Powys as well. Parts of the south dry and bright with

sunshine in Newport. So a mixture of sunshine and showers tomorrow

but not everywhere will have showers. Most of them in the north

with a chance of hail. Some places dry will stay dry, especially in

the south. There will be a noticeable breeze tomorrow. Blowing

from the northwest. Making it feel cool. Top temperatures 12 to 15

Celsius. In the Vale of Glamorgan tomorrow, it should stay dry with

broken clouds and sunshine. Temperatures in Penarth rising to

15 Celsius. Tomorrow night, a few more showers. Mainly in Mid Wales

and the north. Elsewhere, dry, clear and chilly. Temperatures in

Monmouth falling as low as five Celsius with perhaps a touch of

ground frost in rural spots. So a chilly start to Wednesday but not a

bad day. A few light showers in the north otherwise dry with some

sunshine. On Thursday a front may bring rain to the north. The south

staying dry. On Friday, rain first thing will clear followed by drier,

brighter weather. At the moment, it looks like the weekend will start

dry but the signs are it won't last. So autumn is upon us but if you're