02/05/2012 East Midlands Today

This is East Midlands Today with Dominic Heale and me, Anne Davies.

Our top story tonight - the McCanns. More hopeful than ever of finding

Madeleine alive. Good evening. Welcome to Wednesday's programme.

Five years after Madeleine went missing, Kate and Gerry McCann have

spoken of their renewed hope of finding their daughter.

The couple, from the village of Rothley in Leicestershire, say the

Metropolitan Police review of the case which started a year ago has

lifted a massive burden from their shoulders. They believe new leads

identified by Scotland Yard detectives could result in the

inquiry being re-opened again in Portugal. Mike O'Sullivan's been to

a press conference held by the McCanns in London today. His report

contains some flash photography. Five years on, Kate and Gerry

McCann I'll still attracting huge media interest. An Age progressed

image of Madeleine, sharing her at 9 years old, is keeping her case in

the public eye. I felt really encouraged because I

could see her in the image so it didn't look unusual. It didn't

strike me as a child I didn't know and because of that, I feel this

could be in useful investigative tool.

Madeleine disappeared from her parents' holiday apartment in

Portugal five years ago tomorrow. We wanted a review to be conducted

and that is why the can paint for it for five years. -- campaigned.

As the review has highlighted, there are lots of opportunities and

new information emerging. I am more confident than ought than

at any point in the last four 1/2 years that we will actually find

Madeleine. The couple say they have been

through pain, sadness, anxiety, frustration and anger over the last

five years. They don't want Madeleine's younger twin brother

and sister to go through the same thing. I don't really want them to

have the burden of this, of having to keep looking and looking and

looking and not being able to stop. We need to find her now.

Five years on, the recants say they have renewed hope in the search for

that length thanks to the Metropolitan Police Review and this

Our reporter joins us from our Westminster studio. What are the

hopes now for this Metropolitan Police Review?

Kate and Gerry McCann said a massive burden had been lifted from

them knowing that the Metropolitan Police investigative review was

going on. They said they couldn't comment on the nature of the 195

Leeds that have been identified so far by the Scotland Yard detectives

but they have said that they were hoping it really could result in

them being able to identify who was responsible for taking Madeleine

and leading them to find her. Gerry McCann said he felt more confident

now, today, five years on, then he had in the last four and a half

years, that some sort of breakthrough could be made. It's

incredible to think that five years on, at the mechanics are feeling a

lot better about things than they were a few years ago. That will be

echoed where they come from in the village of roughly. What do they

say about the support they have had from the people at home?

The recants -- they spoke warmly about their home village. It is

where they tried to bring up the twin brother and sister of

Madeleine with as normal a life as they can because they are in the

media spotlight and it has been a difficult job for them but they say

that is where they do feel at home and the children have got fat --

have got friends and go to parties. They do the normal things that

children of that age do. They say that in their home village, that is

where they feel secured, safe and comfortable. It was the scene, of

course, of yellow ribbons around the village green, there. Very

emotional scene. The family say it is where they feel safe and

comfortable. The funeral of a Leicestershire

runner who died during the London Marathon has taken place today. 30-

year-old Claire Squires collapsed in the last mile of the event.

Since her death, people have donated more than a million pounds

to her chosen charity, the Samaritans. Today around 600 people

were at her funeral in Claire's home village in North Kilworth.

There was a red theme, it was her favourite colour. There were so

many people at the private ceremony that some had to listen through

speakers in the church grounds. Joining us now from St.Andrew's

Church at North Kilworth is the Reverend Emma Davies. Thank you for

joining us. This is a story that really has touched the nation's

heart. What was it about her that has made everyone respond in this

extraordinary way? Well, I think what came out of

today's service was just how generous-hearted Clare was and how

full of life she was. She was one of these rare people who was truly

a life giver. We heard stories from her family today and I spoke to

people outside afterwards who talked about how much she had

looked after them. It is that sort of generous-hearted and us that has

touched people. And how did people remember Claire

today? I understand red walls warned. There were red wristbands

handed out with her name on them to everybody who came to the church.

Lots of people for the Curragh -- the colour red and it brightened

the scene. What tributes were paid? It was a

private service today. It was private but it was a service

to which all of care's family and friends were invited. The 600

people we saw felt they knew her well and wanted to say goodbye to

her. Tributes were paid by her partner, Simon. It was a sad

service but it was also a hopeful service. There were tears but also

moments of laughter as anecdotes were told. We give thanks for

Clare's life and we entrusted her into God's safe hands and had a

sense of Christiane hope which will hopefully help people comfort one

another at this difficult time. An extraordinary day and very

moving, I am sure. Politicians are making their final

pitch before elections tomorrow that could shake-up how two of our

cities are run. In Derby, the Conservative-LibDem coalition faces

a strong challenge from Labour. And in Nottingham, there's a referendum

on whether its political leader should be replaced by a directly-

elected city mayor. Here's our Political Editor John

Hess. Good evening. Which councils have elections tomorrow?

It is easier to say which councils have got elections rather than

those who haven't because most of us won't be going to the polls

tomorrow. Derby City, Amber Valley. In

Nottingham we have the mayoral Nottingham we have the mayoral

referendum. If you want to test the political mood of the East Midlands,

it's to Derby you should go. The city council is a Conservative-led

coalition with the Lib Dems. The current make-up is Labour 22,

Conservatives 16 and the Lib Dems, on 12. One third of seats, that's

17, are being contested. Labour needs just four additional seats to

take overall control. That is why I suspect all the political leaders

will be keeping an eye on the Derby result because that will give a

real test on where Middle England is going. What will be the question

on the ballot paper in Nottingham? It is quite convoluted language. I

will give you an example. If you want to maintain the status quo the

question you will be asked is reduce support the current system

in which an leader is an elected councillor chosen by a vote of

other elected councillors? So you vote for the status quo?

Yes. An elected -- and elected councillor. If you want to vote for

a city mayor, this is option two, it will save on the form, by a

mayor who is elected by voters. There are certain similarities

between the questions. It has taken a while for this to

get going but it has been Electa hide by some of the propaganda. One

of the questions being asked by the anti- camp is, who has been paying

for the adverts that have appeared in the Nottingham post? Turn inside.

Look at page two and page 3. Those adverts are not cheap.

We have to ended here but the big question is how the vote will turn

out. It's emerged that a British soldier

who was killed in Afghanistan on Friday had lived in Nottingham.

Michael Roland was shot while on patrol in Helmand province. His

family says he was proud to be part of the Queen's company Grenadier

Guards. He's been described by his commanding officer as a terrific

soldier with a bright future who will be missed hugely.

Detectives investigating the killing of Malakai McKenzie have

made four more arrests. The 19- year-old was shot dead outside this

pub at Sherwood in Nottingham, a week and a half ago. Today three

men were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. The fourth man's

suspected of assisting an offender. The police are still appealing for

Police are appealing for witnesses after a 93-year-old man was injured

in a road traffic collision in Sandiacre. The pensioner was

knocked down by a light coloured van as he crossed Derby road on

Monday afternoon. The van failed to stop and drove away from the scene.

The pensioner suffered injuries to his leg and was taken to Nottingham

City Hospital. Next, a university Engineer who was

left for dead in Nottinghamshire is backing a campaign to make streets

safer score cyclists. He suffered fractures to his neck,

back and ribs. Our reporter has been to meet him. What happened?

I think I landed in my head. A car hit me from behind. It threw me off

my bike and on to the road. This is what happened to the spine

when it he was hit by a car. You can see it was fractured.

Three there to break, three fractures, any one of which could

have caused paralysis or death. He has been studying the effect of

traffic collisions for a decade. This is what happens when a cyclist

is hit from behind. If you are hit by a car, it makes a

difference in terms of resistance when you get hit by the car itself

but also it affects how far and high you are thrown.

He is backing a campaign from Break to introduce 20 mph speed limits in

For an employment tribunal has said that Boots acted unlawfully when

they cut overtime pay. Boots said they were disappointed with the

outcome and claimed that the vast majority of employees had accepted

the changes. Now we uncover a hidden gem that is

steeped in history. It is fairly unlikely that you will have visited

Ellis Manor House, but tonight we broke under the spotlight. -- we

have the right under the spotlight. Centuries-old paintings had been

discovered there, some of them had been called the most important of

their kind in the country. Familiar faces of our heritage.

Many, instantly recognisable. My little gem is West -- is less well

known. Tucked away here is somewhere we have not seen before.

It is called Ellis Manor House. It is certainly steeped in history. It

started life as the home of Anthony Ellis, a rich merchant back in

early Tudor times. Today's Lord of the manor is Clive. This house

takes in all of early European British history. For much of the

last century it was a wet to read. -- Rectory. What do these walls

show? It is looking out into way pleasure garden. When they were

done the Merchant was seeing things around the world, and he wanted to

bring them back there. More than 500 years later, they are described

as the most important domestic paintings of their date in the

country. This is night. A rather splendid dear. The rest of it is

covered over. What can you do? have been in touch with people, and

they have done a complete survey. It has shown that it will take 500

hours, and �100,000 to conserve. Is this going to be your lifetime's

work? It probably is. I would rather not think a bit like that! -

- think of it like that! He is hoping that this hidden gem will

not be done any more. Still to come, news of a special

programme on the continuing drought in the region.

The story of Houdini the hamster, he has already escaped twice,

causing hundreds of pounds worth of damage.

We do have a lot of soft toys. It is all about the Olympics. You

might have seen in the shops, they are everywhere.

This is the one for 2012. He is a funny little thing. He only has got

one eye! This one was from Beijing. We are looking for people who have

Olympics memorabilia. Get in touch, send us your picture. Thank you

very much for this little fellow. Thank you for lending him. We will

Thank you for lending him. We will Thank you for lending him. We will

take great care. Time for the sport.

I'll be talking about the Olympics in just a moment time. We will

start with football, none of our Championship sides can make the

play-offs, there is one team in action tonight, Mansfield Town,

they have been in amazing form this year. They are away at York City,

in their semi-final first leg, as they look to make a return to the

Football League. They were relegated to the

conference four years ago, despite dreams of a great escape. He

claimed at a turbulent time -- it came at a turbulent time. The owner

sold up, he was still the landlord of the stadium, and at one point

lock the team out in a dispute over rent. All of that is behind them,

with John Radford owning the club. The fans are the leading again.

They have done very well. We are excited about it. Hoping we are

going to get back in the Football League. A massive credit to the

chairman, the backroom staff, the players, they have done prettily in

the last 12 months. You got to believe, don't you? That is one of

the biggest things we have managed to achieve, but some believe back

into the city, and the football club. -- belief. It works two ways,

you want them to be the top man. They go into tonight's semi-final

as favourites. They have won 13 out of their last 15 games. We have

hunger, desire, it has been immense. In the last 15 games, when people

started questioning us, I think the one thing about these boys, they

have come back get people. It's going to be an interesting scenario

in the play-offs. We are looking very hungry. If everything goes

well, and we perform, it will be a proud moment to lead the boys out

at Wembley, but we know we have a lot of work to do before then, and

we are focused on Wednesday. Good luck to them.

We will let you how they get on tomorrow night.

If cricket, and Nottinghamshire's new chief executive says she is

proud to be leading the way in the male-dominated sport. Lisa

Pursehouse takes over from Derek Brewer, after seven years as his

deputy. She was speaking today after becoming the first woman to

take up the position in first class cricket. Having all this fuss is

taking a little time to get used to. On the other hand, I am aware if

there are women out there who feel that this is impossible, I am

really pleased that I dispel that myth. Nottinghamshire have been in

action today, not a great start to their County Championship match

with Lancashire. Despite Stuart Broad and Graham swan being in the

team, they're all 165 out for 169. Derbyshire are continuing their

early season form, they are 362-9. Leicestershire have a slow start,

with Yorkshire making 329-5. Back to the Olympics, if you are

looking where Britain's medals are going to come from, cycling has to

be right up there. There are hopes that Dhabi will become a leading

light in the sport. A ballet drome is set to open in 2014, and a

pioneering project is trying to encourage more youngsters into the

saddle. We are not professionals. We are

doing it for fun. Fun is not something usually taught in schools.

These students at Brookfield Primary School are having a field

day learning to cycle. It is part of a scheme tried to get people in

the City more active. The long-term aim is to get more healthy kids, to

get the opportunity to get them out of the house, away from the

PlayStation. Since the scheme started in 2007, the number of

students cycling into school has risen to 6.7%. That equates to 2000

journeys into class every day. healthy child is not about them

being held the mind, it is about a healthy body, about developing the

expertise, and the creativity of the whole child. It is very

important. I think I cycle more, because I enjoyed more. It is quite

fun having races. I really enjoy it. We drive around the track in the

relay race. Derby his fortune enough to have -- Dhabi is

fortunate enough that it is the only place in the country provides

this training programme. David Brown spoke said that -- it is said

that Dhabi will produce a world champion in the next ten years

because of all of these things that are happening.

That is your sport. What price a new pet? Well, for the

Cooper family, it proved quite high. All they wanted was a hamster, but

the aptly named Houdini stage an escape from his box. He chewed his

way through the car causing hundreds of pounds worth of damage.

Victoria's car is playing up, it is only doing around 45 mph. It became

faulty after an animal went on the ban Page and queued up some wires -

- run. He was the culprit, Houdini the hamster, his owners have only

just bought him when he carried out his first escape. My mum went to

the supermarket, I stayed in the car to look after him. He started

biting his way through the box, to try and get out. He eventually made

a big hole, and he bit my finger. My mum was coming back, and I was

trying to keep him in the back, he bit my finger again, and I dropped

in on the floor. He climbed up behind the dashboard. The RAC were

called out, and spent two hours looking bore him. -- looking for

him. The man was laughing when he got out the car. He said, we are

going to have to take the holiday - poured out to get the hamster.

was not his only escape, it happened again at home. This time

he had an -- he had a brush with death, after encountering the cat!

He is safely in this ball, that perhaps he is planning his next

great escape. -- but perhaps. News of a special programme tonight,

News of a special programme tonight, it is all about the drought in the

region. Even though it has been the wettest April on record, and

withers have risen, the water is still low. -- be with there are

rivers. More details on that later. We

should get some rain tomorrow. Some of the rain will be on the heavy

side. We have a breather from a today. We had some sunshine this

afternoon. -- we have a breather. That rain is going to pounce on us

later. It is all linked to this weather front. The exact location

is subject to change. It could go north, it could go south. It looks

like it may cut us into tonight. The cloud will be increasing, we

will see the Rana rearing its ugly head. -- the rain. We could see any

extra 20 mm of rain in Leicestershire. Further north, it

should stay dry, quite cloudy, 4-5 degrees. Tomorrow morning, not a

very pleasant rush hour. The Rana get it wriggle on -- be Rana is

widespread. Temperatures dented, down to a 11-a 13 degrees. Friday,

bad weather front worked its way southwards. At the moment it is