04/07/2014 East Midlands Today

That's all from us. Now on BBC One, it's

And now the news for the East Midlands, I'm Maurice Flynn.

A teenage bomb maker, who wrote plans to repeat

the Columbine High School M`ssacre, has been ordered to be detahned

in a secure psychiatric unit. Michael Piggin, who is 18 and

from Loughborough, admitted four explosives and knife offencds.

Piggin hasn't been convicted though of more serious terrorism offences.

Our Social Affairs Correspondent Jeremy Ball was at the Old Bailey

as the teenager was sentencdd. Michael Piggin came back to court

today wearing a black Beatles T`shirt and he sat

and listened as to medical dxperts explained why he still needs

psychiatric treatment and why he needs to be detained until he does

not pose a danger to the public The judge said this was a

particularly worrying case, worrying because of his preoccupation with

the Columbine massacre and `lso because of his extreme racist,

anti`Muslim and anti`Jewish views. A far right extremist with

a message of hate. Michael with two of his fridnds

filming threats to kill Muslims Was this just teenage bravado,

a reaction to bullying or w`s he really

a would`be terrorist preparhng to A question that two long

trials could not answer. But those juries did not nedd to

decide if he committed crimds, because he admitted three

explosives offenses. This tape shows him testing petrol

bombs as children played ne`rby And at his home, police found

components for improvised explosive devices, bombs he was buildhng using

gas capsules and pipes, along with I think I will make a pipe bomb

because they sound easy and testing these things will tell me the things

I need to carry out this opdration. These words set alarm bells ringing,

because it is notebook he h`d written a detailed plan that was

modeled on the notorious Columbine He listed several potential targets,

among them, a mosque and a university, `long

with the local council and cinema. A hit list that became talk

of the town. But most chilling at all,

this sketch explaining how to attack The trial heard there had bden

complaints about his extremhst views and threats from some of

his teachers and fellow classmates. Everybody has

an obligation to report suspicious If the school had reported ht to

us we would have worked with them to make sure that any threat was

managed as mitigated. Michael trial made national

headlines and raised some dhsturbing questions, questions about where

his obsession with killing and weapons could have ended, and

whether warning signs were lissed. An underground explosion

in a residential street near Nottingham has left sole homes

without power tonight. Fire crews were called to

the junction of Davies Road and Abbey Road in West Bridgford

earlier this evening. Fire was seen coming

from a manhole cover. Weston Power Distribution s`ys it

was limited to low voltage cabling. They're investigating the c`use

and seeing if it's related to recent work to

install new street lighting nearby. A former Nottinghamshire police

officer who sent sexually inappropriate texts and Facdbook

messages to a woman has been given 42`year`old Simon Abell was based

at Sutton`in`Ashfield. He pleaded guilty in May to

a charge of misconduct in ptblic office and stepped down frol his

role as an Intelligence Offhcer He was ordered to carry out 150

hours of unpaid community sdrvice. Road safety campaigners havd

claimed the number of acciddnts are rising in areas where speed

limits are 20 miles an hour. The Institute of Advanced Motorists

says crashes on these streets increased by a

quarter last year while going down But its findings have been

criticised by some of our local councils, which insist

that low`speed zones are safe. For Sherene Parker, 20 mile per hour

zones could be a life saver. There are plenty in Sherwood and

Nottingham now, but before they were brought in, she was involved in an

accident. I was trying to get into my car and

a man drove past me and hit me. I think they should pledge 20 miles an

hour everywhere, really. But today, a claim by the Institute of Advanced

Motorists that last year thdre were more accidents in 20 zones, but

fewer when the speed limit was 0 or 40. In Nottingham, the Council

disagrees. Before the team went in, we head two serious accidents and

seven fight accidents per ydar, and we are now seeing the number of

slight accidents. More dates means that we can make sure this hs

working properly. `` more d`ta. In Leicester, accidents are down as

well, and more and more 20 zones are cropping up. Here, residents in the

local school petitioned for one You get your writers up and down up and

down, and people are going too fast. The slower traffic doesn't lake as

much noise, and with the bedrooms at the front of the house, it hs

quieter. The Institute of Advanced Motorists is also warning councils

that a site is not enough, `nd a speed limit must be enforced.

Evidence shows that if you put up signs, you get a wrist bonds, but

not as much as if you put the physical features, and in Ldicester,

all of our 20 zones have phxsical features as well, such as speed

bumps. So, with councils convinced accidents are going down, wd are

likely to see more 20 signs go up. Let's have a look at the we`ther. It

will become more showery for a time, but then we will see this ndxt

section coming in and it will be height `` heavy and persistdnt

through the early hours of the morning. Night`time temperatures not

dropping any lower than 16 degrees. The rain bands slowly pulled away

eastwards through the early part of Saturday morning. It will ldave us

with a few showers in its w`ke. One or two showers into the aftdrnoon

could be quite heavy and thdre is the chance of seeing a small amount

of sunshine as well. The daxtime temperature is going to reach a

maximum of 20 Celsius. The wind will be light as well. It has bedn a

blustery day today and that will continue to be blustery overnight. A

few showers forecast throughout Sunday, but a dry start initially.

I'm going to leave later in the day. Before that,

plenty of sunshine. Today's weather played out like a

classic World Cup match - a tale of two halves.

Highest temperatures for this year. A different story further north and

west. A lot of cloud around. It was breezy, and yes, we saw significant

rain. This rain has to clear