28/10/2013 East Midlands Today

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

Tonight, the single punch that destroyed a man's life. Brian Hogan

is now blind and paralysed. One reckless act, one moment of

craziness. It is just not worth it. No way.

Also, the expats whose dream of a life in the sun is in ruins. I

worked for my pension, and it is all gone. Plus, with hundreds more

children skipping school, I am at a primary taking a tough stance on

truancy. And as the Princess Royal pops by,

and eager puppy steals the show. Good evening. Welcome to Monday's

programme. First tonight, the victim of a

drunken attack who was left blind and paralysed is supporting a police

campaign to tackle a rise in violent crime.

Brian Hogan was hit in the face with a single punch during a night out in

the city. He was in a coma for three months and, four years on, is still

living in a rehabilitation centre. The 36`year`old says that one moment

snatched his life away from him. And he is now backing

Nottinghamshire Police's Alliance Against Violence campaign. Sarah

Teale has the details. This campaign comes in the light of

new figures which show violence in the county is rising. In the 12

months up to this June it has gone up by 6%. And the numbers are large.

We are talking around 13,000 cases of violent crime committed in the

last year. Of those, almost half resulted in injury. Ironically, this

campaign comes after a weekend which saw three men stabbed during a fight

between a group of around 20 people. It happened outside the gate`crasher

nightclub in the city centre in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Police say it is exactly that sort of alcohol`fuelled violence they

want to stop. And one man who knows more than anyone the impact violent

crime can have is Brian Hogan. Brian Hogan was once fit and active,

with a promising future. He was on a normal night out with friends in

Nottingham in 2009 when a single unprovoked punch changed his life

forever. Today, I am a blind man. I cannot see at all today. I had to

learn how to walk, and how to talk again, a bit like a baby does. When

you have to learn those things all over again when you are an adult, it

is much, much more difficult, it is very hard. Just say when you have

had enough. You are doing well. Brian 0

had enough. You are doing well. Brian was in a coma for three

months. Now 36, he had to move back to Ireland to be near family, and

lives in a rehabilitation centre. When you go from being a very busy

professional person, very independent, fiercely independent,

very active, very sporty and fit, to being in a wheelchair in the dark,

you would do anything to get your life back on track, really.

Brian is not the only victim. Since 2001, eight people have died from

the force of one punch, including 19`year`old Liam, who was hit just

once outside the Halo club in 2009. His death was described in court as

another act of senseless city centre violence. Brian's attacker had drunk

around ten pints before he hit him. The damage you can cause to another

person, the way you can blow their lives apart, it is massive, really.

Through one reckless act, one moment of craziness. It's just not worth

it. No way. The consequences there of just one

single act of violence. What else will this campaign focus on? It

focuses on many things, and it runs for three weeks.

It will look at hate crime, domestic violence and robbery, but the main

push is to tackle this kind of violence at night, and that is all

tied in to do with alcohol, and police say a lot of the problem is

this culture of pre`loading, people who go out and get drunk before they

have even gone out. They are the people that are most likely to get

caught up in violence, even as `` either as a victim or an offender.

Police reckon half of 18 to 35`year`olds do that, get drunk

before they go out, and the police say a major part of the campaign is

to stop them from the in the city at all. In the towns and cities you may

see more officers on the streets, directing people to leave because

they are too drunk. You will see officers on transport stopping

people coming into towns and cities because they are already drunk, they

have brought and guile and drunk to access prior to their night out. We

have seen some occasional horrendous incidents where one punch has

destroyed the life of an individual and meant somebody else has got a

significant prison 0 and meant somebody else has got a

significant prison sentence. When people have drunk too much alcohol

they do not make rational decisions, and that can be the end result.

The police say they want the public's support for their Alliance

Against Violence. And they will be naming and shaming anyone charged

with alcohol`related or violent crime in the next few weeks.

A couple from Rutland whose dream retirement villa is about to be

demolished say their lives have been ruined.

Peter and Margaret Hegarty used their life savings of ?150,000 to

buy the villa. But, to their horror, they discovered it had been built

illegally. They are now waiting for it to be

bulldozed and want to warn others about what has happened. Helen Astle

reports. For Peter and Margaret Hegarty, it

was their dream home. A villa in Andalusia, where they could spend

their retirement. Only a year after they moved in, they were told their

villa had been built illegally, and it would have to be demolished. For

Margaret, the stress was too much. It took me through to the hospital,

and they said I had a heart attack. I was in intensive care for a little

while, and then it happened again. About a year, ten months, later, it

happened again. After a legal battle the couple moved back to the UK.

They now live in a rented flat, and they are waiting for their villa to

be demolished. It has made a difference. Our social life... To

live in a villa with a big heart and then come back here... It just

changes everything. You don't have the same money as you had before. We

don't have any savings now. That makes a big difference as well. The

couple have lost around ?150,000. Last day, a Spanish court ruled

their builder should pay them compensation. They are still

waiting. I worked 30 odd years for my pension, my redundancy money, and

now it is all gone. Very devastating. It is. In what we? They

have ruined our life. We have got nothing. This has been hanging over

us for eight years and it is still dragging on, it does not seem to be

going away. You see television, people going over to buy cheap

properties. They are mad. Absolutely mad. Peter and Margaret say they

don't know what the future holds, but they will never return to Spain.

Still to come: We heeded the warnings, we battened down the

hatches, but the wind stayed away. I think I have got some explaining

to do! It was closer than you think, we can count ourselves lucky. Find

out what happened with me later on in the programme.

More details from Kaye later, but, yes, we were lucky. The great storm

steered away from the East Midlands and we were spared much of the

anticipated flooding and damage. But we didn't get away scot`free.

Train services were badly affected and are only now beginning to

recover. Our chief news reporter Quentin Rayner is outside Nottingham

station with the latest. 0 Good evening, Quentin. Good evening.

Tonight, East Midlands Trains is still unable to get any services in

and out of St Pancras and won't be for the rest of the day. The Midland

Mainline remains closed between Luton and London in both directions

while damage is repaired in Hertfordshire. As you can see here,

trees have fallen onto overhead power lines, and mains power lines

from pylons have also fallen onto the track. In the last couple of

hours, the East Coast Mainline has started to get trains in and out of

Kings Cross. They will be travelling slower between Stevenage and London

on a reduced timetable. Flooding and fallen trees disrupted commuters

this morning, including these travelling from Grantham.

I brought my wife down to catch the 5:44am to London King's Cross. That

was cancelled. They said to get on the 6:17am to go to Peterborough.

That would catch the 7am to London. That was cancelled. I have just

heard it will be four hours before any trains get to London. My husband

is heading to London, I was just ringing him, so we will see how the

trains. My train has been cancelled, I have got to wait an hour, so I

will be late for work. I checked the website this morning but it was

off`line. The servers have probably crashed through overload.

So what about tomorrow? East Coast Mainline plan to run as near normal

a service as possible from tomorrow morning. They do expect some

retiming but the frequency of trains should be the same. East Midlands

trains says it is reliant on network rail completing repairs. They say

they will have teams out all night and are confident there will be a

full service tomorrow morning on the Midland mainline. Check for updates

before travelling tomorrow. If you do have a ticket waited for today,

it will be valid or two days on East Midlands trains and will be valid

just for tomorrow on the East Coast mainline. Thank you.

Derbyshire Police have dropped two allegations of rape against

convicted killer Mick Philpott. It is believed two women who made the

historic allegations have told police they no longer want to pursue

their claims. Officers say there is insufficient evidence to put to the

Crown Prosecution Service. In April, Philpott was found guilty of the

manslaughter of his six children in a house fire in Derby.

People living in Loughborough are being asked for their views on plans

to allow buses through the town centre. A portion of the A6 in the

town will be pedestrianised as part of a transport scheme costing ?19

million. Over the next six weeks, Leicestershire County Council wants

feedback on whether buses should be allowed in the pedestrian area or

routed away from the town centre. Next, could a railway line axed by

Dr Beeching in the 1960s provide a much cheaper alternative to HS2? The

Great Central Railway used to link Nottingham and Leicester with

London. The idea of re`opening the line has

been put forward ahead of an updated Government report on HS2, which is

due out tomorrow. Mike O'Sullivan reports.

Could the great Central line become great again? These days in our

region, the great Central line is a ten mile Heritage route between

Loughborough and Leicester. Axed by Dr Beeching in the 1960s, it once

ran between Nottingham and London. Now there is an idea that much of

the great central should become operational once more. It would not

affect the Heritage line, but the boss says the rest could become an

alternative to HS2. That is currently costing ?50 billion. The

government said all parties have got to agree and, if they agree, they

would support HS2. If that failed and there was then another

alternative, this looks like a good alternative. The disused great

Central line would become part of the freight line between the Channel

Tunnel and Glasgow. The cost, ?6 billion. Services could then be

carried on upgraded existing passenger routes, says the Labour MP

behind the plan. I think HS2 is not sensible, personally. I think there

are all sorts of sensible alternatives. It is not necessary,

expensive, and we should invest the money in other schemes, including

the GB frequent. This retired railway worker started as an

apprentice on the great central. He believes it can be rebuilt. South of

Leicester, you could use that very well. It would be good for freight

macro everything. If it did make a comeback, it would be one of the

great return journeys in railway history. I wonder if that idea will

fly. Still to come: Notts County looking

for their eighth manager in the space of just four years.

Chris Kiwomya departed after Saturday's home defeat at Meadow

Lane. We'll be talking to Magpies' chief executive Jim Rodwell.

There has been a marked rise in the number of children skipping school

here in the East Midlands. Latest figures suggest an extra 2,500

pupils missed lessons in the past year alone.

But schools are taking action against truancy. Some are now

informing parents straightaway, via texts and emails, that their

children have not turned up. Jo Healey reports.

If you are the parent of a child here at hillocks primary and your

child does not turn up for school or skipped lessons, you will instantly

get a text or an e`mail to let you know. Because they miss school, they

won't learn anything. When the teacher asks you a question, you

won't know what to do. You don't really know anything. I think it is

bad because you won't learn anything and get a good job. Just how bad is

truancy here in the East Midlands? Recently it went up from 5% to 5.4%.

That .4% might not sound very much, but, in real terms, that is more

than 2400 pupils, extra pupils, missing school. But does this really

help? They see the texts, access their e`mails, see we are continuing

to raise attendance issues so they know it is a high priority for us as

a school. Does it work? I think it definitely works. I have just done a

trail of attendance for the last half term and there were a lot of

children who have improved their attendance based on the work we have

done. Many schools have taken up the advantage that this offers and it

means they can get in touch with parents quickly, find out reasons

for the absence, and do something about it. And they are doing plenty

here to try to tackle truancy head`on.

Of course, everyone here had an exemplary attendance record.

Including Colin, who is here with the sport.

Absolutely. Notts County's chief executive, Jim

Rodwell, has admitted the club's board have not been good at choosing

managers. Saturday's home defeat was followed by Chris Kiwomya becoming

the seventh manager to leave in just four years. And today Jim Rodwell

told me it was all because of results.

We are very disappointed to see Chris go, he has worked hard and

been diligent, but at the end of the day we are a result driven industry

and we have to win games of football. If we don't, it affects

the business and we have to do something about it. Ultimately, the

manager becomes the fall guy. Do you have questions to and they hear? If

we look at your record, no one can blame the club for hands back and

Steve Cotterell going, they volunteered. And you had Craig Short

for 4.5 months, Paul Ince for five months, three managers in succession

all of whom got less than a year. Surely you have got to look at

yourselves? Without any shadow of a doubt there is a lot of

soul`searching this weekend. Absolutely right, ie, we as a board

of directors, choose the managers, and clearly we have not been very

good at it or we would not be having this conversation again. If you

listen to a lot of fans, they felt the performance was poor on

Saturday. Obviously the result was poor. How do you find someone to

pick that up and turn it around now? I think the players are better

than they are proving at the moment. There is a lack of confidence. But

we have got to stick together and try to move forward, to do something

about it. Fundamentally, will this not be about finding someone and

giving them two years, no matter what, just letting them do it? You

can look at it both ways, absolutely. You could give Chris as

long as you like, but could we also argue that we offered ling while

Rome burns? We are bottom of the league, we have to do something

about it. If you change for changes sake? Only time will tell.

There's no stopping Leicester City at the moment. The Foxes have now

won their last six Championship games at home and they're up to

second in the table. Saturday was a special day all round for the club

as it was their fifth annual Respect day. Kirsty Edwards was there.

A date for the players to keep their run going, and to promote a cause

close to the club's heart. Leicester have had at the forefront of

promoting the FA's Respect campaign, which aims to make names as safe and

enjoyable for fans as possible. It's all a special mixed zone set up for

you and Leicester supporters to sit and watch the game alongside

Bournemouth once. It adds to the sort of integration, if you like.

They can have some friendly banter, that is what it is about. And there

is loads going on today, not just the mixed fans but stuff going on

outside as well? Plenty going on around the place today. Outside the

stadium, inside, before the game we had presentations, 30`something

Junior teams parading around, proud as punch. A special day for this

football club and the kids. If you see the kids now, they are smiling,

happy. It is just brilliant, it really is. Plenty of respect amongst

the fans today, and now the players will be hoping to earn it on the

pitch. The foxes looked bright from the start, lots of early pressure

saw David Nugent bag his eighth goal of the season. As the half went on,

Bournemouth got back into the game. By the break, it was all square.

Leicester are a team high on confidence, though, and fully

deserved this second`half winner. It lifted them into the automatic

motion places. Promotion is always the aim, and in previous seasons we

have not quite gone on to retain that but we will keep working hard,

and the players are enjoying themselves.

Elsewhere, Derby County are continue to watch Kalifa Cisse. The Malian

international is on trial at Pride Park. On the field, Derby failed to

make it three wins in a row in front of their biggest crowd of the

season, whilst Nottingham Forest were blown away as the storm came in

at Yeovil. Mark Shardlow reports. More than 27,000 fans at Derby, but

it was to be a frustrating afternoon. This mess was followed by

a lovely chip, and this shot cleared off the line. Ward found the net

before half`time but it was Derby's only goal. A defensive lapse in the

second half saw Novak equalised for Birmingham. We had enough

opportunities and chances to win the game. We didn't. That is football.

Nottingham Forest were hit by two wonder goals, but in the end a key

penalty miss cost them dearly at bottom club Yeovil. Simon Cox, the

man brought down, went on to take the kick. It produced a

straightforward save from penalty, followed by a marvellous reaction

from the first rebound and excellent defending for the second. Dobson

scored his second long`range goal in the frantic end to the first half.

But two minutes later Forrester on the scoresheet. Within a minute,

Yeovil extended their lead to 3`1, and that is how it stayed, their

first home win of the season ending forest's run without defeat. The

second half, we came up against an outstanding goalkeeper, one man of

the match. That is what happens in football.

Meanwhile in League Two, Mansfield lost out to a late`winning goal as

they hosted Plymouth. The Stags will regret a series of missed chances,

with Sam Clucas going close in the first half. But deep into the

second, Plymouth headed past second`choice keeper Liam Mitchell

to secure the three points. Mansfield, who are five games

without a win, are 11th in the table.

Leicester Tigers continued their poor record at London Wasps, going

down 22`12 yesterday. Tigers boss Richard Cockerill was without lots

of first`team regulars due to injury and international duty, and it

showed as the Wasps went over early on. Owen Williams' four penalties

were not enough for Leicester and they are now six years without a win

at Adams Park. They stay fifth in the Premiership.

And the Nottingham Panthers also lost at the weekend, twice. First to

Belfast on Friday, then at home to Coventry on Saturday. The Panthers

had come back from 1`0 down to level the scores through Matt Francis. By

the end of the second period, they had powered to a 4`2 lead with goals

from Steve Lee and this belter from Bob Wren. But a lacklustre final

session allowed Blaze to draw level and force overtime. No goals in

overtime and the Panthers lost 5`4 on penalty shots.

And that is it, after a very busy weekend.

Finally, before the weather, one of our military bases hosted a royal

visit today. The Princess Royal braved the

blustery conditions to visit the Defence Animal Centre near Melton

Mowbray in Leicestershire. Paul Bradshaw went along to find out why.

The Princess Royal officially opening the new military dog kennels

at the Defence Animal Centre earlier today. The newly built block now

comprise the National Centre for military canine training. It boasts

facilities such as central heating, air conditioning, and an acoustic

roof that reduces noise. It can accommodate up to 200 talks. It

makes the conditions for success a lot easier to achieve. The dogs are

kept healthier because they are in better conditions, the days they

lose due to owners are reduced to a minimum. There is staff morale, the

staff are indoors in an easy to keep clean Cannell complex and it can

only be good news. We know that they will have a good welfare for them,

so it makes the handler a lot happier. The centre trains dogs and

handlers for a range of duties from searching for explosives to

security. It is a crucial role in an ever`changing world. If they do not

get the correct training here, then on operations if they do not do the

job correctly it could cost lives. The better training here, the better

handlers they are on operations. Today, they were thereby will

demand, tomorrow they will follow different commands. `` they work

their by Royal demand. Lucky dogs with central heating and air

conditioning! Time now for the weather. I asked

and down the hatches and took away my wheelie bins. I am pleased to

hear it! We got away with it. The storm

tracked further south than we were forecasting. It took the strong

winds with it. I am sure you have seen the footage of the southern

half of the UK, but for us we were under the centre of the low, the eye

of the storm, for much of the night. That is where the wind is

actually dropped out, so for much of it we had quite light winds, but it

was not far off, just 50 to 100 miles away. That, in forecast terms,

is not far at all, so I think we can say we should count ourselves lucky.

We saw heavy rain, though, over an inch in parts of Leicestershire.

More autumnal weather to come for the rest of the week. A breezy week,

for sure, but it will be cooler than recent days. It has been quite

mild, and there will be some dry weather and perhaps some sunshine to

cheer things up as well. For the rest of the evening and from tonight

the showers will fade away. We are dry for a time, with clear skies,

but the winds are turning more north`westerly through the night,

with some shallow speeding in on those bruises. Under clearer skies

tonight we will be a little bit cooler. Tomorrow morning, there will

be a fuchsia was from the word go. They will continue to spread

eastwards, but there will not be many of them and there will be

drier, brighter weather in between them. Feeling cooler, quite a brisk

wind. Into Wednesday, we have another weather front lurking in the

wings on Wednesday, which will sweep on later in the day. It starts

drier, a cool start to the day, but the cloud increasing and the wind

will pick up and we will see more rain later on Wednesday. Other than

that, not too bad. Not too bad at all, thank you.

Very mobile at the moment. We were very lucky.

We will see you for the late news. Goodbye.

that's going to present us with the ten grand. When we win it.

You've just got to make it as bearable

Here we are in the PR nerve centre of Iceland

at the end of 96 hours of total hell.

But we haven't tested for dog or cat either.

Is this the warmest supermarket around?

Iceland Foods - Life in the Freezer Cabinet.