09/02/2017 BBC Wales Today

They're being blamed for an increase in violence and more ambulance call

Concern over the easy access to so-called

A dog breeder who left puppies "close to death"

is banned from keeping the animals for four years.

And Wales and England name their sides, but despite

Rob Howley's request for the roof to be shut,

An influx of new drugs is creating a serious problem in Welsh prisons.

That's according to the Prison Officers Association.

It says violent behaviour in prisons is increasing

and blames new psycho-active substances, which used to be

classed as "legal highs", until the law changed last year.

It comes as new figures show the number of ambulance

call-outs to prisons, has doubled over a four year period.

Gareth Bryer has this special report.

Riots last year in Birmingham prison, ?2 million of damage

caused in just 12 hours with inmates even posing in helmets stolen from

It's just one of a string of serious incidents in our prisons

One of the things fuelling the problems is the

influx of psychoactive substances, or so-called

influx of psychoactive substances, or so-called legal highs, into the

Now though they were outlawed last year they are still

It's kind of like a sledgehammer blow, if you

It's just knocked the prison system sideways.

Steve Masterman served several prison sentences

He now helps people with drug problems.

It's quite common for people to be in prison

addiction and if you like, a dependency upon these new and

emerging psychoactive substances, whereas before they may not have

even heard of it in prison it is easy, readily available, and it's

the drug of choice at the moment in prisons.

People across the prison service have said access to these

drugs, combined with a shortage of staff,

has led to a violent and

And it's not just the prison service that is

Because security measures means it takes longer to

reach patients in prison, ambulance staff are often tied up for longer

And paramedics have told me that can have a significant

impact on the service's ability to deal with other emergencies.

calls from Welsh prisons which required ambulances doubled, from

around 220 in 2012 to 420 in 2015-16.

Now the figures don't show the reason for

each call but most people with experience

of the prison system say

it is due in part to more prisoners taking these substances.

Now there are calls for more to be done before

the largest prison in the UK opens in Wrexham later this month.

I think we've got real problems within the

Welsh prison system in relation to the staffing

levels, we are going to

have a new prison that will be open shortly,

it's going to have a major problem, 2000 prisoners, all

of those are huge, all of that requires a major investment,

within society, whether prisons are based we feel we

are not getting the resources required and we call upon the

The Ministry of Justice says it has taken immediate action to deal with

problems like drugs and it says it is also going to spend an extra

?100 million a year on 2500 extra front-line staff but it points out

that the issue the prison service faces are long-standing ones which

won't be resolved in weeks or months.

South Wales Police have warned people to consider the impact

of social media messages following the death

Although her death is not being treated as suspicious

officers have asked anyone with information to contact them.

The force says action will be taken against anyone who posts

abusive, threatening or insulting messages online.

Five drug dealers have been jailed for a total of 12 years

after they were arrested in separate raids in Llanelli.

Samuel Thorne, Phillip Williams, Debbie Wood, David Williams

and Darren Polverino all admitted drugs supply offences

They were caught as part of Dyfed Powys Police's Operation

Panther last summer, which was prompted by a rise

It's been confirmed tonight that the Neath Labour MP

Christina Rees has been appointed Shadow Welsh Secretary

in a reshuffle by the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn.

She replaces Jo Stevens, who resigned in protest

at an instruction that Labour MPs should back the bill

Christina Rees is the fifth appointment to the role

Parents who oppose Welsh medium education for their children should

That's the suggestion of a co-ordinator of the campaign

group, RhAG, or Parents for Welsh Education.

Michael Jones, was responding to the recent decision

by Carmarthenshire Council, to remove the English

language stream at Ysgol Llangennech, near Llanelli.

He told the Newyddion Naw programme, his message to parents

who opposed the plan, was that people who "cannot

stand" the language should "move somewhere else".

An illegal dog breeder from Ceredigion who left

puppies "close to death" has been banned from keeping

31-year-old Richard Jones from Llanwnnen near Lampeter

was convicted of two counts of illegal dog breeding

and 21 counts of causing unnecessary suffering to dogs,

Left to go blind and close to death, these dogs were suffering with

chronic skin conditions and were described in court as mentally

stressed as they were left in the dark without exercise.

Today Richard Jones was banned from keeping dogs

for four years and given a nine-week suspended prison sentence after

being convicted of two counts of illegal dog

breeding and 21 counts of causing unnecessary suffering.

Jones had been running a licensed premises near Lampeter with over 70

dogs breeding 40 litters a year up until 2015,

when the local authorities decided not to renew his licence.

But he carried on breeding until it was raided by the police

and council officers in June last year.

They found 113 dogs suffering in two different locations and the bodies

of dead dogs discovered an old fertiliser bags.

Jones's barn is extremely remote, in this

field in the middle of nowhere, there isn't anything around for

miles, but it is here that officers from Ceredigion Council found

dogs in complete darkness and some close to death.

But now months after that operation, and Jones being

convicted of causing unnecessary suffering, you can still hear

animals being kept inside this barn today.

It was ruled today that the 23 dogs remaining here will be

Linda Goodman is the founder of the animal welfare

She described it is heartbreaking that the animals were

still at the premises and expressed disappointment with the sentence

That's no justice for the dogs that are still there and it is

no justice for all the dogs that have suffered and died in the whole

time that Ceredigion Council have known we had concerns about this

As I say that up to 70 dogs being bred from, he was selling them

through puppy dealers, licensed pet shops so no one

ever really came here, nobody knew this place

But as West Wales has been labelled the puppy farm capital of

the UK campaigners feel more still needs to be done to stop this

Wales' finance secretary says, a new bank should be created to fund

big building projects if the UK loses access to EU loans.

Mark Drakeford met representatives of the European Investment Bank

earlier, which has lent billions of pounds to schemes in Wales.

If it is not possible, then there is a substantial investment that the UK

makes in the bank that would return to the United Kingdom and we would

have to look to see whether we could create a different institution that

would do something of the work that the EIB Daz but does it simply on a

UK basis. Rugby, and Rob Howley has made just

two changes from the side Although Dan Biggar and George North

are named in the starting XV, there's still a question mark

over their fitness. It's no secret that Wales

wanted the roof shut, So it'll be open to the elements

on Saturday afternoon. Both took knocks in Rome, and Dan

Biggar and George North are named but not guaranteed to start

on Saturday, Rob Howley says he will Go to the day of the game, I think

it's pretty important, it is a big game, both players

want to be part of it as you would expect,

so we're giving them every

opportunity to be fit. So this is how Wales line-up, Rob

Evans and Thomas Francis both props coming into the side after

impressing from the bench in Rome. They join Ken Owens and the front

row, Jake Ball and captain Alun Wyn Jones in the second row, Sam

Warburton, Justin Tipuric and Ross Moriarty in the back row. An

unchanged back line with Dan Biggar partnering Rhys Webb at hardback and

the Scarlets players Scott Williams and Jonathan Davies in midfield with

Lee Williams, George North and Leigh Halfpenny making up the back three.

And the bench sees a welcome return to

Taulupe Faletau, back in the 23 and Rob Howley knows he will need

experience, we also need to be at their best. England have gone 15

games without being beaten, they are playing with confidence, huge amount

of self belief, and I have no doubt that they will be ready for this

game. Wales have made no secret of their desire to play under the shed

roof, in the past it has served them well and made for an intimidating

atmosphere yet England have struck the first blow insisting that the

roof remain open. Protocol says there has to be an agreement between

the sides and Eddie Jones has won the first battle. His mate two

changes to the side that narrowly beat France and is out to unsubtle

Wales anywhere he can. He was in a playful mood today. We are prepared

to win, prepared for any shenanigans that might go on, and we are looking

forward to it. Bloody excited about playing, to be honest, they are a

cunning lot, the Welsh, they always have been! They've got daffodils,

they've got everything! Who knows! The defending champions arrive in

Cardiff aiming to extend their unbeaten record to 16 matches, Wales

will be out to stop them in their tracks and pull the wheels of their

chariot. Not long to wait now. Absolutely, Lucy, and East West

split, across Wales today, cold and grey in the east and more of the

same tomorrow. Overnight remaining cold variable cloud, blustery with

wintry showers in the hills, dry for most, clear skies and widespread

frost with temperatures falling below freezing for many. High

pressure over Scandinavia tomorrow, called Continental air pushed in by

easterly winds picking up moisture as it crosses the North Sea, thicker

cloud to the east of the UK, the air turning drier as it moves across the

land, brighter that the West. Tomorrow early frost, and the

bitterly cold day, often cloudy especially in the east, across the

UK that feed of cold air bringing thicker cloud across eastern

England, some showers across North Sea coasts, some wintry high ground,

brightest and crossed South West England, Northern Ireland and most

of Scotland, coldest year, top temperatures just six for the South

of England. For Wales the odd snow flurry, nothing significant,

brighter spells more likely to the west of high ground, top

temperatures four in the West, called tonight, subtle changes in to

Saturday, more of a trough coming from the North Sea bringing thicker

cloud and snow to the east of the UK. Widespread frost on Saturday,

largely dry, thicker cloud for most, strong North easterly winds making

it feel very cold, the cloud could be thick enough for the occasional

wintry flurry further east, sunny spells more likely in the West, top

temperatures in three and five Celsius, less cold on Sunday and

Monday, signs of something springlike for the middle of next

week, Lucy. That sounds welcome, thank you.

We're back in Breakfast with updates from 6.25.