11/04/2014 East Midlands Today

age of 68. That is all from us. There is a

first look at And now the news for the East

Midlands. I'm Maurice Flynn. A teenager from Loughborough has

denied preparing a terrorist attack in his own home town. Today, Michael

Piggin told the Old Bailey he was influenced by the Columbine High

School killers. But he only wrote about repeating the attack `s a way

to cope with bullying. Our social affairs correspondent, Jerely Ball,

was in court. Michael Piggin was giving evidence

for the first time in this trial. He went into the witness box wdaring an

Arctic Monkeys t`shirt and puietly took the jury through his shde of

the story, led by questions from his barrister. The central plank of

Michael Piggin's defence ` that he was simply a bullied teenagdr who

fantasised about killing as a coping mechanism but who never intdnded to

go through with it. He said he was influenced by the Columbine killers

and admitted that he felt sorry for them because, like him, thex'd been

bullied. And he talked about a central piece of evidence in this

case. Those detailed notes he wrote called Plans And Tactics For

Operation: The New Columbind. His barrister, Ali Bajwa QC, asked, "Is

this a genuine plan?" Michadl Piggin replied, "Of course not". And he was

asked, "Did you approve of what they did?" The teenager said, "Of course

not, no". He was also asked about this evidence ` a petrol bolb test.

He said that was something he did with his friends, simply for

entertainment. He said he collected air guns and knives because it was

cool. Finally we heard about videos where he made threats on behalf of

the Urban Revolutionary Armx. Michael Piggin suggested th`t was

just teenage bravado. Next week he faces questions from the

prosecution. The Leicestershire`based Rosemary

Conley Food And Fitness company is terminating contracts with `ll

franchisees across the country. The business is already in

administration but a lack of cash coming in has prompted the love

Simon Ward has more. It's a famous brand that is getting

into difficulties. Already hn administration, parts of thd company

are up for sale. Now it has been revealed more than 120 franchisees

who run Rosemary Conley Food And Fitness clubs are having thdir

contracts terminated becausd some were not paying regular fees. The

business requires an income from management services fees paxable by

the individual franchisees. A number have not been able to pay for one

reason or another. That means the company cannot continue providing

support to franchisees. Sharon Perdue is one of the franchhsees in

Nottingham. She has operated for 19 years. We have been going to classes

for the last ten weeks, tryhng to keep the smile on our face. The last

week, Rosemary told us on Monday that we would be able to walk away

from our contract. Yesterdax, we knew the date, which will bd the

17th of April. That was a bht of a relief because we had been hn limbo.

Then it was a little scary `s well. Rosemary Conley herself is

travelling out of the UK but spoke on the phone. Discussions are

ongoing with a number of parties who are interested in taking thd

franchise operation forward. If that doesn't work out, there is ` real

opportunity for franchisees to be able to use my name under lhcence.

Administrators hope the company founder is right and someond steps

in to rescue the business. A man's appeared in court, charged

with the murder of a woman hn the Normanton area of Derby. Yvdtte

Hallsworth was found dead on Sunday morning at the back of housds on

Hartington Street. The 36`ydar`old died of stab wounds. 18`year`old

Mateusz Kosecki appeared before magistrates in the city tod`y. He'll

appear again at Nottingham Crown Court on Monday.

Police have released CCTV c`ptured in the weeks before the

disappearance of a Nottingh`m man who's been missing now for over

three months. 22`year`old Bogdan Nawrocki was last seen in J`nuary in

the Radford area of the citx. Detectives want to hear frol anyone

who may have seen him. At a press conference last week his sister made

an emotional plea for his rdturn. Now, she was as proud of Lehcester

as Leicester was of her. Today a host of tributes have been paid to

Sue Townsend, who's died agdd 6 . Born and raised in the East

Midlands, Sue used the region for the setting of her most famous work

` the Adrian Mole series. Aly Harris reports.

Hapless hero Adrian Mole brought to life on TV. He is the creathon of

Leicester's Sue Townsend, whose hugely popular diary series follows

him from adolescence to mattrity, all set in and around her home

city. She charted social history in an ordinary town that wasn't London

over the course of 30 years, and all the changes. And also, she hs

without a doubt a national treasure. Adrian Mole made Sue Townsend's name

but her hero was originally called something else. And at the

University of Leicester's lhbrary lies the evidence. This is one of

our prize possessions, actu`lly One of our star items. This is the only

draft manuscript of The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole although you will

notice at the top here that it is actually headed The Secret Diary Of

Mole Maul Aged 14 And Three Quarters. `` Nigel Mole. Shd

originally wrote the character as Nigel. Born in 1936, Sue achieved

worldwide success following the publication of Adrian Mole books but

she had suffered from ill hdalth for some time. She was left blind due to

diabetes and died at home after a stroke. She was able to touch

people's hearts through her storytelling because she was witty,

funny and she represented rdal people. She was such a real person.

Her honesty came across in her books, which have entertaindd,

enchanted and inspired millhons of readers. She will go down in history

as the South Wigston schoolgirl who gave Adrian Mole to the world.

Newsnight's over on BBC Two now asking if the Pistorius tri`l makes

TV cameras more or less likdly in British courts. Here though, that's

your news, so goodbye for now from me. Here's Anna with your wdekend's

weather. We have had a lovely spring day

today and we expect more sunshine this weekend. It should be largely

drive. Overnight tonight we have clear skies. Maybe some missed in

sheltered spots `` mist. In rural spots it could be as low as to Max

Celsius. `` two. Tomorrow wd will see some high clouds turning

sunshine hazy and then some light patchy rain in the early afternoon.

Still a good deal of dry we`ther on Saturday. A south`westerly breeze.

Sunday looks like a dry day and we will probably see the best of

sunshine then. Here's your outlook for

UK, Alex Deakin has the National forecast for you. Good night.

Good evening. This weekend should be a little brighter than last weekend.

Most of us will see spells of sunshine. Across northern Britain as

well as any sunshine there will be a brisk breeze developing some rain.

In the south, generally it should stay dry with spells of sunshine. In

the South at the moment we have largely clear skies. Hence another

cold night. Further north, the wind is increasing and the cloud bringing

persistent rain across western Scotland. The breeze, rain and cloud

keeping it miles. In the south again, five - six, in towns and

cities. In rural areas, not far off freezing. A chilly start to the

weekend. Generally sunny across the south. It will cloud over through

the day but we should hang on to sunny spells across East Anglia and

the south-east. The sun has got some power in it, it will start