27/07/2016 BBC Wales Today

A four-year-old boy has died in a house fire in Pontardawe.

His mother and three siblings survive.

Police and the Fire Service are investigating.

A lovely little boy. Always happy, smiling. Always talkative, he had

everything going for him. A lovely boy.

The High Court hears claims a 21-year-old woman from Swansea

was taken to Saudi Arabia by her father and locked

The Ambulance Service hits it's target of reaching the most

life threatening calls, but the Health Secretary says

And risking their lives on the railway - there's a rise

in the number of young people trespassing on the track.

A four-year-old boy has died in a house fire in the village

Firefighters managed to rescue Jac Davies from an upstairs bedroom

in the early hours of this morning, but he died at the scene.

His mother and three siblings all escaped.

The cause of the blaze is being investigated

Our reporter, David Grundy, has the latest.

All day people have been leaving tributes outside the family's home.

Emergency services were called at 1:40am this morning.

The children's mother, Jennifer, managed to escape

with her six-year-old daughter and her 11-month-old son.

But her two other boys were still inside the house.

The fire broke out just after 1:30am this morning.

Jennifer Davies and her three children, two boys and a girl,

Neighbours using ladders had to rescue four-year-old Jac

While they were taken to hospital for treatment of the effects

of breathing in smoke, he sadly died already seen.

Too upset to speak, Jac's mother wrote her tribute calling him her

The note continues, "You're my life, my world, my everything.

Go ride your train up to heaven and wait for me."

Always talkative, had everything going for him.

But a joint investigation by the police and Fire

At this point in time, the fire investigation is ongoing.

Until we get the report from the officers we

But we will be a reassuring the statement as soon as we know

from the investigating officers what the possible causes.

It's believed the house was fitted with smoke detectors and they may

have raised the alarm to help Jac's mother, sister and baby

Without those alarms this tragic fire could have been even worse.

The High Court has heard a 21-year-old woman from Swansea

is feared to be in danger in Saudi Arabia and may, at times,

He's believed to have taken Amina al-Jeffery to the city of Jeddah

in the west of the country four years ago.

Ben Price has been following the story for us.

We know that Amina al-Jeffery is a 21-year-old woman currently around

4000 miles away in Saudi Arabia. Today in the High Court in London

barristers representing her said they had a fear that at times Ms

al-Jeffery had been locked up against her will by her father. We

also heard today that Amina al-Jeffery grew up here in Swansea.

She attended a local comprehensive school where she left at the age of

16. A short while ago I caught up with one of her fellow pupils, Adam

Williams. This is what he had to say.

She was a bubbly girl. She never kept herself to herself. She got

along with people. She had plenty of mates in school. Nothing out of the

ordinary, just a normal teenage girl. As far as parting ways at the

end of school, that was the normal thing. To find out today everything

that has gone on since we've left school is... You know, gobsmacking.

I had to double-check that it was the same person.

Then, does the job have -- judge have any powers to bring Amina back

to Wales? The court heard that your's father had objected in the

past to her returning to the UK. But the judge said he would have to

consider very carefully what borders he can actually make relating to

someone with a dual citizenship in a foreign country. He said the right

thing to do would be for him to order her to go to the British

Consulate. In the past hour we have had a statement from the Foreign

Office which says they are providing assistance to a woman in Saudi

Arabia which includes her visiting and speaking to her lawyers in the

UK as part of an ongoing legal process. It's been described as an

important and difficult case and it is expected to continue in the High

Court tomorrow. Thanks for the update, Ben.

The Ambulance Service in Wales has turned a corner

and is "getting better", but continues to face big challenges

That's according to Health Minister, Vaughan Gething.

The latest figures for June show the service responded

within eight minutes to over 77% of life-threatening 999 calls -

its best performance since new targets were

Our Health Correspondent, Owain Clarke, has more.

His years of experience means paramedic Mr Roberts knows

And that helps when a call like this comes in.

I've joined him in a rapid response car that can easily weave in and out

Tom, a former aircraft engineer, has fallen.

Right, are you more comfortable now that

She was worried he'd knocked his head.

After the checks, all agree Tom doesn't need to go to hospital.

I didn't call for back-up, so the emergency ambulance that

might have come is now at a higher priority call.

But had this happened last year, an ambulance or even several may

well have been sent in an effort to arrive within eight minutes.

But now that target's been scrapped for all but immediately

The Ambulance Service Director of Operations explains why.

We could have invested tens of millions of pounds in hitting

But it wouldn't have made any difference to patients

because we know that around 20% of our previous red patients weren't

Our system previously categorised calls as potentially

life-threatening and that was a very vague term.

Since the new system came into force in October, far fewer 999 calls have

been classified as needing an eight minute response.

In June last year under the old system, the target applied

In June this year it was for just over 1,500 incidents.

For all other calls the Ambulance Service is given more

The smaller number of calls that you have to get

to within eight minutes, theoretically, the easier

However, it's really, really important that we do get

What we've been able to demonstrate it we can get to a lot more

of the calls for those people that have immediately life-threatening

conditions than we were ever able to before.

Critics have previously described all of this

as a dangerous experiment - an attempt by the Welsh Government

But supporters claim the new system gives far more information

not just about speed, but also about quality of care.

For example, between January and March ambulance crews spent

22,000 hours stuck outside A departments waiting

And there are differences across the country in how many 999

calls end up with patients being treated in hospital.

But, overall, the Health Secretary argues that the Ambulance Service,

so often in the news for the wrong reasons, is now firmly

I'm really encouraged by the fact there's been

lots of honesty in the data about what the Ambulance Service

does well and what it doesn't do so well.

And also to see quality and improvement acting

Not just to say, "Here challenges, don't blame us."

But, "Here are challenges and this is what we will do about them."

Back the rapid response, we hear a child has been injured

This is an eight minute call and we pull out

But before we arrive it turns out to be a false alarm.

For some emergencies, speed is critical.

But according to this paramedic, the trick is to know when.

The cost of covering overtime payments for consultants at Welsh

hospitals has gone up by over 60% in the last three years.

An investigation by the BBC, shows that the total bill went

from more than ?5 million in 2013-14 to more than ?8 million

The Welsh Government says it's working to recruit more

consultants, and is addressing specialist shortages.

It's a large amount of money, let's be honest about this.

But what these figures do reflect is the lack of consultants able

We know, for instance, that in May 2016 just gone,

the demand for new referrals to outpatients and clinics has gone

up by about 4% compared to just one year ago.

BBC Wales understands that the Welsh Government has been

in talks to buy one of the most high-profile former industrial sites

in the south Wales valleys - the old Hoover factory

More from our Poltiical Editor, Nick Servini.

You are invited to visit the Hoover television home. The new Hoover

washing machine just out, it heats the water, too. It's part of the

industrial history of Britain. At its peak, 5000 people made washing

machine that the Hoover factory in Merthyr Tydfil. Production began

soon after the end of the Second World War. But in one of the most

symbolic closures of the recession six years ago, it came to an end

with the loss of more than 300 jobs. Hoover still has a warehouse here.

But most of this enormous site now stands empty. The Welsh government

and company are giving little away, but I understand no price has been

agreed yet. It's unclear what it would be used for, but there's the

potential and the space new housing, offices and factories. The council

has even spoken of linking it with a new Metro transport scheme. Phil is

a prominent local businessman and like many in the town started his

working life as a hoover apprentice. Everybody can see that it's falling

apart and it would be nice to have some vision of what's going to

happen here and to put something back that young people can look

forward to some employment. We're gearing up to leave the European

Union. This is a part of the UK that's received more by way of EU

funds and just about anywhere else. So there will be pressure on the

Welsh government to get as much bang for its part as possible in relation

to economic development. And this would be a big-ticket purchase. Post

Brexit there is a lot less certainty about funding and the availability

of funding. The Welsh government have got to take a strategic

approach to economic development making sure that projects they

invest in don't happen in isolation but are actually planned to be

integrated to get as much out of that development as they possibly

can. The Welsh government has a track record of buying assets from

its headline grabbing purchase of Cardiff Airport, to land for city

centre office blocks, two former industrial units. All have had

various degrees of success. At the same rationale, to stimulate private

sector interest. Merthyr Tydfil will be no exception. The history of

Hoover in the town is well-documented. The question is

what kind of future lies ahead for this famous old site.

We're at the Newport gym that's bred a long line of boxing stars,

including Joe Cordina who tells us he's hoping for Olympic Gold.

And we'll take a look at the 2,000-year-old Iron Age

farmstead that's been rebuilt at the National History Museum.

The number of young people trespassing on the railways in Wales

has increased by almost 20% over the past year according

They say the problem is at its worst in the summer months when days

are longer and children are off school.

These shocking pictures reveal a number of close calls for people

trespassing on the tracks, including the following

They were lucky - Victoria Swift wasn't.

The 14-year-old from Rhosllanerchrugog, near Wrexham,

died after being hit by a train near a pedestrian rail crossing

Her family can't understand why anyone would risk their

When we lost Victoria it took a long, long time to just...

Well, I wouldn't even say we still normal today.

Still today we have days where we wonder why.

You see her friends having babies, getting married.

We just think what would she be doing now?

And all because she went on a railway track.

If she'd have just not on there should still be here.

-- if she'd have just not gone there, she would still be here.

"Do we really want to put my family through that?"

Victoria Swift died in 2007, but it wasn't until last

year that this crossing was finally closed.

This will protect young people living in this area,

but there are fears the message isn't getting across everywhere.

British Transport Police say there's been a 19% rise in trespass

incidents in the summer months with longer days and warmer

There were 128 reported cases of trespass last summer

in Wales alone, 20 more than the previous year.

Make sure that your child knows the dangers of going

That they understand the dangers of going onto railway tracks.

And if, for example, they're playing nearby

and a football went on to the lines by accident, would they know

Would they go running on the tracks to retrieve their football,

or would they know to stand back and to contact British

Most of those caught on the railways tell police

But as many families are painfully aware,

The team behind the management buy-out of Tata Steel's UK

operation, which includes the Port Talbot works,

have confirmed they're continuing with their bid for the company.

That's despite Tata confirming earlier this month

Our Business Correspondent, Brian Meechan, is here.

We were going through the process with Tata watching them, selling up

their UK operation including Port Talbot and the Welsh site. Suddenly

they said they were in merger talks with a German steel-maker. And those

bits that have been there were suddenly parked and they weren't

going to look at them because they were quite disappointed with those

level of beard. Now we have heard from Excalibur that it will continue

with the bidding process, led by Stuart Wilkie, a very senior figure

who runs Port Talbot for Tata. He is on paid leave to be the head of

Excalibur, the management buyout team. If this was a done deal with

the German steel-maker is, as many people thought it was, and you would

have expected potentially for them to retail Stuart Wilkie if this bid

was over. -- for them to recall Stuart Wilkie. I think it is now

potentially back on the table. The Welsh Government may have

to force councils into providing better facilities for Gypsies

and Travellers because That's according to a charity

who has represented them It's a view that's been marred in

recent days by this... Controversial camping

without permission. This group has moved

from Gower to the border The roadblock, though,

is symbolic of the message of opposition facing any sort

of gypsy site in this area. 1984, and opponents of a permanent

gypsy site in Swansea also This week an unauthorised camp

near Newport has resulted in legal But is there a better

solution to this issue? Bethan works for a charity which has

represented gypsies and travellers She says there simply isn't enough

permanent sites for the population, and there aren't any transit sites

where families can stay for up to three months -

apart from when the Royal Local authority should develop sites

where there is an identified need. I think that is the stick that

will have to be used. There is funding there

to develop new sites. As of this afternoon the caravans

are still parked outside the velodrome here in Newport

on private land. The body that represents local

councils in Wales says that local authorities will continue to work

with gypsy and traveller households to provide appropriate sites

for them to live - where possible. The question some are asking,

though, is whether the political world amongst elected politicians

both here and elsewhere in Wales will provide the kind of provision

the gypsy and traveller communities, that some suggest might reduce

the number of unauthorised encampments that we've

seen him recently. To the Olympics now,

and there's little over a week to go until they begin

and Welsh boxer Joe Cordina has said he's good enough

to win gold at the Games. His gym, St Joseph's in Newport,

certainly has the right pedigree, They say people are a product

of their environment. And if the environment

is St Joseph's Gym, there's a fair chance you're

going to be an Olympian, like Cardiff lightweight

Joe Cordina. I've been dreaming

about it, picturing it. Finding out I'm going to be

in the final Olympic Games, That's where all these tournaments

have built to. I believe I'm going to go home

with a gold medal. COMMENTATOR: Centre ring,

David Joyce on the canvas... The bout that led to

qualification for the Rio games. Sweet retribution -

beating David Joyce, a man who blocked his

route to London 2012. Only complete dedication,

self-sacrifice and And if there's ever any doubt

where that gets you, you only have to look

at the portraits on the wall. These sons of St Joe's

learned their craft in Newport, They honed it at Olympic

camps like this. Both competed at the London games,

with Evans producing a silver medal To make a championship boxer you've

got to have certain attributes. Whether it's skill or footwork,

speed or ability to land a punch or take a punch, as well as

commitment and dedication. He's got all the ingredients needed

to be a champion boxer. Cordina knows what it's like to win

the hard way. This bruising encounter in Bulgaria

saw him take the European amateur And if you want to know how much

the sport means to him, ask his daughter in

a few years, Sofia. Named after the city

in which he won the title. I hear Rio is also

fashionable these days! Derek's here, and we saw

an improvement today. I wish. It is all change again on

the weather front. The farmers could do with a long, dry spell of weather

for haymaking, but our weather remains changeable thanks to the jet

stream. Tomorrow it'll be right over Wales with low pressure bringing

more rain and showers. At the moment though it's nice and dry with broken

cloud and sunshine in the Brecon Beacons today. Sunshine and blue sky

in the Wye Valley with a high of 23 Celsius in Usk. A fine evening

ahead. Dry overnight. Later, Cloud will increase. A few spots of rain

in the far north and west towards dawn. Here is the picture at 8am. At

this stage, Wrexham and the far south-east of Wales are still dry,

but it won't last. Elsewhere looking cloudy and damp. Outbreaks of rain

and drizzle. The cloud will be lower with mist and hill fog. Quite murky

for a while. Breezy on the coast. During the day the rain will

continue to spread eastwards. Through the afternoon, it will start

to turn drier and brighter. The sun breaking through. A sprinkling of

showers. It will feel muggy tomorrow and breezy on the south and west

coast. Highs of 19 Celsius. Up to 21 Celsius in Monmouthshire. In

Denbighshire, a little rain. It should turn drier and brighter in

the afternoon. Further south in Caerphilly, a little rain. Brighter

in the afternoon. Highs of 19 Celsius. In the afternoon, tomorrow,

dry and bright weather. Showers in places. Later in the night, more in

the way of rain and drizzle as expected. They never murky night

with lows 15-16dC. -- another murky night. Friday morning does not look

great, but any drizzle and murkiness will drift away and it will become

dry and brighter with sunshine on the north coast. It will become

fresher. Into the weekend, the wind will turn more into the West or

north West bringing cooler, fresh air our way from the North Atlantic.

On Saturday, a mix of cloud and sunny spells. A few showers will

brew up. Otherwise a lot of dry weather. Temperature is not that

high. But feeling pleasantly warm with a light breeze. A similar story

on Sunday, too. You may catch a shower, but a lot of places will be

dry. It's taken five years to build using

a team of 1,500 workers. And, today, an Iron Age farmstead

was officially unveiled at the National History Museum

at St Fagans. The thatched roundhouses originally

stood on Anglesey 2,000 years ago, and could once have housed a tribal

chieftan and his family. Carwyn Jones is there

for us tonight. Anyone who's ever visited this

museum will know the wood --. What staff do here is relocated historic

buildings all across Wales and place them on this site. There is a wealth

of industrial heritage, terraced houses, a Victorian shop. But this

building unveiled earlier today takes us right back to our ancient

past. Five years ago staff at St Fagans

began work on their most ambitious It was something no-one else

in the UK had ever attempted - a complete reconsruction

of an Iron Age farmstead, of a type uniquely found

in North West Wales 2,000 years ago. Today, that farmstead, Bryn Eryr,

was finally unveiled It's thatched roundhouses,

complete with conical rooves, represent the typical home

of an iron age farming household. Inside, it's deceptively spacious

and that provides a clue as to who might of lived

here in around 47 AD. It would have been quite an

important family. Very powerful. It still would have been a fairly hard

existence for the people. They would have focused mainly on what they

could grow and breed on the farm, that they would have traded with

other tribes, possibly even overseas.

This farmstead is something of a departure for St Fagans.

Experts didn't really know what the original buildings looked

like, so they employed a method called experimental archaeology -

recreating the past using modern research but traditional

The original inhabitants of this farm said would have used spelt, an

early type of wheat to thatched roofs. When it came to

reconstructing, archaeologists grew their own spelt. About five football

pitches on fields just behind the museum. -- five football pitches

worth. Elsewhere, they used timber

from the surrounding trees and clay And that material proved

the biggest challenge of all. Most Iron Age round houses have a

very thin wooden Wattel walls to them. These walls are about 1.5

metres thick and made of clay. There were a lot of challenges about how

to make the structure stable and also how to put on a roof that would

stay in place. This Iron Age farmstead is a milestone for St

Fagans. It is the first building to be opened as part of the ?25 million

project to redevelop the museum, opening up more of our past to

visitors and bringing history to life.

And there's plenty more where that came from because just a few hundred

yards away from here they're rebuilding a 13th century Royal

court but was originally built for a prince. That is due to open in 2018.

Everywhere you look at this museum there really is history in the

making. A reminder of our top story tonight.

An investigation is underway after a four-year-old boy died in a house

fire. Firefighters managed to rescue Jack Davies from an upstairs bedroom

in the early hours of this morning, but he died at the scene. His mother

and three siblings all escaped. Economic growth across the UK sped

up a head of the vote to leave the EU. Official figures show an

increase of 0.6% in the three months to the end of June.

I'll be back with a quick update at 8:00, and a full round up

That's Wales Today - from everyone on the team,