12/01/2012 East Midlands Today

Good evening. The top story tonight. The

motorists conned by a non-existent consumed -- insurers come beneath.

Thousands of drivers are thought to have been caught up in this scam,

which claimed to be a legitimate firm trading year.

Also tonight. How the system failed this schizophrenic patient. From

the very outside, when William Barnard was discharged from

hospital, he was totally let down for.

Plus, Derbyshire Fire Service have set fire to a house today, to

demonstrate how sprinklers could save lives.

And women Olympians. Does having a baby hold you back? It has been a

while since I have done these kind of exercise, it has been a struggle

Good evening. Welcome to the programme.

Thousands of motorists are thought to have been driving around without

insurance, after an online firm turned out to be a total fraud.

Most of the victims of the scam our young drivers, who paid for

premiums they thought were good value, which were actually

worthless. I many do not know it, but there

are driving around without insurance. The company they thought

had covered them has proved to be a conned. Aston Midshires's insurance,

they operated online, and targeted John and other higher-risk drivers.

I paid it over the phone, and they sent me the documents. They were

very professional in the way they did the insurance, and a fond and

e-mailed me. I thought of it in the was OK.

The website is no off-line, but we know it did advertise a sales line

with a Leicester No.. When you call it, this is the message you get.

Thank you for calling Aston Midshires insurance. The offices

are now closed. The firm had claimed to have

headquarters at this office complex. But the company which operates the

building has confirmed Aston Midshires has never been one of its

tenants. It appears the company's claim to

have been based here is as fake as the insurance documents it provided.

Leicestershire County Council trading standards started receiving

calls and e-mails about it, after drivers had been stopped by the

police, or even discovered they did not have insurance after being in

an accident. If you look on the Internet, there

is a forum talking about this -- there are forums all over the

country talking about this. We do not know the full scale.

Tonight the City of London police's insurance fraud department

confirmed that is investigating the company and its website, which is

thought to have links with Hong Kong and Canada.

Joining us his Imogen Cox, a solicitor who specialises in

motoring crime. This company targeted young drivers. Have they

any legal comeback for the money they have lost or for the fact they

are not insured as a result? There are two separate issues, and I need

to concentrate on the fact that if you are stopped and you

legitimately think you are insurance, -- you think you have

insurance, you are driving illegally, so you are committing a

criminal offence. They have done nothing wrong by applying for the

insurance. With the rise of Internet, it seems that companies -

- customers can be easily caught out. It is a very over-regulated

and regulated set of circumstances. The difficulty is, anyone can set

up a website and say they are run insurance company, and in this

climate where people are looking to save money, people will be tempted

by companies offering a discount. I wonder if they are wrong comparison

websites, there could be a duty for those websites to check them out.

The Government are looking at all sorts of restrictions as to when

youngsters can drive, for example not late at night. And people need

to build up their no-claims, so it is important for them to build a

no-claims bonus. I suspect that is why the company was successful,

because it was offering a discount that people took advantage of.

Indeed. Thank you very much. If you have been caught up in these

insurance problems, we would love to hear from you. We can be reached

on Twitter. Or by e-mail. An independent inquiry into the

care of a paranoid schizophrenic who stabbed his grandfather to

death has identified a series of failings. It says William Barnard's

mental health workers missed opportunities to have them say into

a secure hospital. The award -- the report also says

the psychiatric team was overworked William Barnard's mental-health

problems turned him into a killer. Psychiatric teams were worried, and

knew he was not taking medication, but they did not act in time to

stop them killing his grandfather. John McGrath died in a frenzied

knife attack tea at his home. -- knife attack at his home.

Today his grand mother came to hear the findings of an official NHS

report on his care. She was injured as she tried to protect her husband.

We are concerned the opportunities were missed. I have put myself in

the case of, it could be me or my family affected by this, and

therefore these reports are all was shopping. It -- they're always

shocking. In January 2009, he stopped seeing mental health

workers, and they did not see him again. Six months on, there were

growing concerns, and an assessment was ordered to see if he should be

forced back to hospital. Five days later, John McGrath said his

grandson's and Sears -- condition was getting worse. The police

decided that breaking his door down was not justified. By the same day,

John McGrath was dead. we would still have her father with us have

one of those missed opportunities had been acted upon. William is a

lot better, and obviously understands now, and has the inside

into what he did, and cannot understand how he did this to

someone he loved. He has to live without. The report says the

killing could not have been predicted, and recommends changes,

including more resources and better training. The bosses here say that

these changes are already in place. Hopefully it will be enough to make

sure a tragedy like this case will have to happen again.

We have been joined by Peter Millar, in charge of those changes. At the

end of the report, he said lessons had been learned and changes are in

place. But I guess this is something that should never have

happened. I would like to start by thanking you for this opportunity

to publicly apologise to the family. It should not have happened. The

family have shown enormous dignity over the past two years. I was able

to apologised privately to them this morning on behalf of the trust.

There were feelings happened between April and July, in 2009. We

had opportunities where we could have acted on a more or -- in a

more assertive fashion for. A lot of opportunities that were missed.

We went to see him, but he would not allow us to access him. What

about the warnings, not just from the family, but from the health

professionals, that were not taken up? He was certainly becoming more

poorly, and the family were telling us this. Professionals were telling

us he was becoming more neglectful of himself. Was there a nurse on

the day that the killing took place, who warned that things were not

right question markets, one of our nurses went round with a junior

doctor on that morning, and try to axis him. -- he tried to access him.

The local MP said he had feelings that he was going to be attacked.

They were all indicative of the fact that things were getting worse

and he needed to go to was the door. That happened to several years

previously. But again, the risks were about self-neglect, not about

his family. They have agreed with that. On the day that those people

went out, the staff went to see him. They did not have all the

information before that. Hopefully changes have taken place that mean

this home not happen again. Thank you.

Making life a little easier for people on dialysis. And you centre

opens, with the very latest facilities that will benefit

hundreds of kidney Patient. You're watching the BBC. A former

Nottinghamshire police officer has appeared in court, to appeal

against his conviction for assaulting a suspect whilst on duty.

Timothy Allatt was sentenced to eight weeks in jail, after being

found guilty of using excessive force against a man who was trying

-- he was trying to arrest in Nottingham, two years ago. Our

reporter was in court today. Good evening. Today was the first

of the two Day appeal hearing of the 33-year-old police officer,

Timothy Allatt. He was found guilty of assaulting a suspect whilst on

duty in Nottingham two years ago. Today, Mr Allatt once again denied

using excessive caught on and night, in July, 2010. -- excessive force

on that night. Today he arrived at court with

another chance to clear his name. He is accused of assaulting a

fellow officer Ron 5th July, two years ago. PC Moss had been rigged

-- running after a car thief, and reports today heard that he reached

come first, drag him to the floor and arrested him. PC Moss then

complained about the level of force Mr Allatt had used, saying he

struck him in the face with his hand, and kicked him in the chest.

The suspect was subsequently taken to the Queen's Medical Centre.

Today, Mr Allatt said the takedown was a justified police technique,

and denied kicking this suspect. The case centres on the

disagreement between PC Moss, and Mr Timothy Allatt. PC Moss said the

suspect was not resisting arrest, but Mr Allatt told the court to

that he felt threatened, and took the appropriate action to arrest

him. The court must decide if any force used was justified, and if

the conviction of Mr Allatt should stand or be quashed. The hearing

continues tomorrow. Derbyshire police are hunting an

armed robber who threatened a shop assistant with what they called a

stun device. It happened this morning. The robber wore a dark

tracksuit but covered his face. He managed to steal cash after holding

the electrical device to the worker's neck.

It is very concerning. The manager has been employed by Sainsbury's

for 28 years, and never experienced such an incident. We are keen to

get the community's help, to find Last year, almost 400 people were

killed in house fires across the country. Derbyshire has the third

worst record for deaths. In the past 18 months, 18 men, women and

children have died. That is the reason that fire

fighters set fire to two houses today. In a dramatic demonstration

they showed how sprinklers can stop ablaze before it spreads.

You can see that has gone past the point of no return.

Fire destroys this child's rim. Just 12 minutes in, you can see

there is no chance of survival for a child in sight that room.

Then look at this - the same room but the crucial difference,

sprinklers. Derbyshire Fire Service wants to make it mandatory for all

new homes to have sprinklers installed. By fitting sprinklers

into the home, it is like having a fire fighter in every room in your

house. Immediately available to respond should there be a fire.

Amongst those killed in Derbyshire in the past year, these four

children. Their deaths prompted the fire chief into action.

As soon as that happened, and what a tragedy that was, I'd put pen to

paper and wrote to the Fire Minister. There is a solution

available. Sprinklers also have the backing of for more Crimewatch

presenter Nick Ross. Firefighters asked me if I would

help them with a campaign five years ago, and I knew nothing about

it so I did some research. The obvious thing was that we should be

fitting sprinklers into people's Homs. Each year, 300 or 400 people

have died. Back inside the two houses, you can

see the difference. This is the room with the sprinkler before and

after. Little evidence of a fire. This is the room without one. The

Fire Service says that a sprinkler Bailey could be the difference

between life and death. Dramatic pictures there but there

are myths around sprinklers like, that they can go off when they are

not meant to. They cannot actually. The usual

temperature they should reaches 68 degrees Celsius, and not all of the

sprinklers in the home go off, only the one in the them with the fire.

And it is not mandatory for new homes to have them?

That is correct. But it is what the fire service once. It is now

mandatory in Wales. Derbyshire has also been pushing for everyone to

have working smoke alarms in their homes. I will have a lot more on

all of this in a special Inside Out investigation later this month.

It was not a very sweet Christmas. Not for the chocolate maker,

Thorntons. The firm says that since September, sales have fallen by

more than 4% compared to the previous year. Last month, the

company warned they might not make any profit at all in 2011. They

also announced plans last summer to close one third of their stores.

One of the busiest roads in the region is to be closed for nearly a

month. The M543 is to be close to while it is resurfaced. The

resurfacing work is due to start next Sunday with diversions in

place. A new, state-of-the-art kidney

dialysis unit was officially opened today in the East land. Hundreds of

patients are expected to benefit. Our health correspondent has more.

Imagine what these patients have to go through, wired up to a machine

virtually every other day because their kidneys do not work. July and

still does not know why. They do not know if it was when I

was first born on a bit is just recently. It was only when I came

to the daughters of a blood test that they find out.

What comes out of the patient and goes through the artificial kidney,

removing fluid that the patient's own kidney cannot get rid of.

The treatment is not easy but these spacious new surroundings have been

designed to make life for people on dialysis as comfortable as possible.

Sometimes it is a difficult life for patients when they are in a

hospital three or four times a week, for three or four hours a time.

There are now more or distractions to keep patients occupied. Everyone

has a TV, there is wi-fi, and there are plenty of nurses on hand.

The new places wonderful, much nicer than the old one. If you do

not feel well on that machine, you press your alarm button and nurses

are surrounding you. These people are some of the 400

patients who use the centre every week. There are even a few tourists

every year. It is like family. It is nice to

think we are doing a service to help the patients.

Some dream of a kidney past transplant but there are 800 people

waiting for a kidney in our region. It was a very special day at the

office for medical researchers in Nottingham. They played host to a

trial at Matt -- royal visitor. Princess Anne met patients ranging

from stroke victims two young children.

Arriving this afternoon to huge excitement, the Princess Royal made

a special visit to the University of Nottingham's Medical School.

This year marks 25 years of research into occupational therapy.

The team evaluate current technologies with those with

mobility problems, with the idea of helping them.

This game is meant to help stroke victims regain movement in their

fingers. And for this man, using a mobile

arm support has changed his life. He has muscular dystrophy which

limits movement. We need this team of people evaluating and looking at

things to make them better. For boys like Brandon, living with the

condition, so that they have independence and can do things for

themselves. We are delighted that the

Princess's visiting today because it is rewarding to know that our

research efforts are appreciated, and if we also hope that the

findings of or various studies will attract the attention of a larger

audience. It is a big moment for the team,

and they hope that gaining a royal seal of approval will ensure that

there is more research in the years to come.

Still to come, why Our weather girl's stress caused a stir on last

night's programme. -- dress. There The weather that now -- the sport

There are talks on going, and negotiations, so we hope this can

be resolved quickly. The Leicester Tigers have named

their team to play Ulster in the Heineken Cup tomorrow night.

What is it like trying to get a place in the London Olympics? Helen

Barnes has been reporting for us on the Olympics for the last year. In

this film, she tells us about her attempt to get into the Olympics,

I have competed internationally for 20 years and this will be my last

shot. My preparation has been different to most. I am now a new

mum. In my sport, not many have competed again after having skipped.

It is very demanding juggling the two. To train at the highest level

I need help with child care from my mum, friends and the creche. This

allows me to do nine or ten Paula Radcliffe, who has had two

kits, is a great inspiration to me. She gave me training advice when I

was pregnant and it really helped me return to full fitness

relatively quickly. My friends from my antenatal group

think I am crazy. When you are Armagh man to have a baby to look

after, it is very difficult to get to the gym. To get up and go

training every morning when you have been up every night with a

teething baby, it is amazing. I do not have to time to dwell.

am under no illusion, I know it will not be easy to be selected as

a mum and at my age but I will give it my best shot so it would just be

Helen, who actually paddles for Ireland, will find out in May if

she has made the team. It will be cold and frosty

overnight. Temperatures are starting to planet across the East

Midlands after what was a glorious sunset. Thank you if you send in

your weather photo. We might show them on the raid Pillaton later on.

-- on the late bulletin. This is the cold front which crossed over

LA12 day. The temperatures through the afternoon and have been

steadily dropping. Keeping the clear skies through this evening

and overnight tonight. You can see all of the blue on the map depicts

the frosty conditions. As temperatures dipped down to

freezing, but will spots will seek spots of ice on the roads as well.

A glorious, summer's day, -- winter's day, temperatures almost

half of what we have seen no. Did, sunny spells and light winds during

the course of the day. -- good. The best sunshine looks like being on

Saturday but temperatures will struggle to get above five Celsius.

Sunday, a little more in the way of cloud but that should allow some

breaks. A little brightness coming through at times. Light wind, but

the temperatures are still bitterly cold for Sunday struggling to get

above five Celsius. That is the case going into next week. It will

remain cold so hopefully your We do come and join us on the so

far. We asked due to do this last night's and tour appearance on this

so far attracted a bit of hilarity on Twitter. -- UN appearance. It

does look extraordinary. It looks like that was deliberate but that

was here dress. I normally don't sit on the so far

for very long. So somebody described you as cannot