02/03/2017 East Midlands Today

Franny Moyle 's mother and father were conned out of their life

savings and had to sell the family home.

Also there are fears that Leicester 's garment industry could lose jobs

because of alleged sweatshops in the city. Plus the scale of fly-tipping,

how it continues to blight our highways and byways. And birch is

back. Leicester city legend returns after the heart attack that nearly

killed him. I said I don't feel well, then I felt my legs go, and I

was gone until I was in the ambulance.

Welcome to Thursday's programme with Dominic Heale

First tonight, the daughter of a couple conned out of their life

savings by a Leicester sales rep says the company which received

Franny Moyle's parents were forced to sell their home

after the saleswoman pressured them into paying out more than ?70,000

to advertise a holiday home in Leicester-based Aspire Magazine.

Trading Standards have backed calls for the magazine

Franny Moyle won criminal justice for her parents in a court of law,

but now she's fighting for financial justice. Her parents,

John and Olga, were in their 80s when they were pressured into paying

out ?73,000 on advertising in Leicester-based Aspire

magazine by their sales rep, Barbara Stone.

Earlier this month, 62-year-old Stone received a suspended jail

sentence for two fraud offences, dating back to 2010.

Franny says now that Stone has admitted her guilt,

Aspire magazine should pay the money back.

If they had an inch of moral fibre, of course, Aspire magazine should,

I would hope, return the money to my father's estate.

It would be the only appropriate thing for them to do, in my view.

Franny's being backed by trading standards

at Nottinghamshire County Council, which successfully prosecuted stone

as part of a huge investigation into fraudulent trading

Stone was also convicted of fraud against a dogs

charity, which paid ?14,000 to aspire magazine.

charity, which paid ?14,000 to Aspire magazine.

Aspire magazine were never prosecuted as part of this

investigation, so legally, trading standards cannot force them

However, given the devastating impact that Barbara Stone's actions

had on the victims on their family, we feel that aspire magazine should

Aspire magazine have said they were totally unaware

that Stone was engaged in any criminal activity.

I have e-mailed them repeatedly, asking whether they will be prepared

to pay back the money that Stone fraudulently obtained.

But haven't yet received a direct answer.

Instead, they have released a statement, saying there would be

a full internal investigation, adding: went on Franny's

Franny's parents paid out so much money they were forced

Franny says she will continue fighting for

Sarah Teale, BBC East Midlands Today.

A garment manufacturer has told us that Leicester's

reputation for cheap labour, uncovered by a TV programme,

is putting-off high street retailers from making clothes in the city.

Mick Cheema says there are many sweatshops in the city where workers

are being paid as little as ?3 an hour for ten hour days,

He's now calling for the government to step in and help.

From catwalk to high Street in a matter of weeks.

Leicester is the place for fast fashion -

turning around an order from design to product and onto the shop floor

I feel as if we've got the tide against us.

All around us, 360 degrees, you've got operators that

It's common knowledge in Leicester that this kind of practice

Workers here are paid ?7.20 an hour, poving that factories can

be competitive and pay the minimum wage.

People here who mainly speak English as a second language told me

they would not work for as little as ?3 or ?4 an hour.

Today, the joint committee on human rights came to look at the reality

of working conditions at garment factories.

Leicester City Council has no regulatory power

Everybody says, it shouldn't be happening.

Everybody recognises it is happening.

I think one of the key things we need to do is make sure

that those people who are ultimately selling the goods to the consumer

Those who are at the very end of the supply chain.

We're not worried about overseas competition, we're more concerned

about the competition on our doorstep.

That is coming from the darkside operators.

Back at basic premier limited, the message is simple.

They've seen turnover rise by ?3 million and workers

But other factories in Leicester need change if the city

is going to see the true benefit of fast fashion.

Nisha Chopra, BBC East Midlands Today.

Several East Midlands police forces have been told to improve.

Government inspectors say Leicestershire Police isn't good

enough at investigating cases and reducing offending.

Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire Police all need

to do more to support victims and vulnerable people -

IT'S also been told to improve the way it tackles anti-social

But the Derbyshire force had one of the top ratings in the country -

classed as "outstanding" in dealing with serious crime.

A woman's been injured during an armed robbery in Leicestershire.

It happened at a convenience store on Craven Street in Melton

The woman suffered a head injury before her attacker,

who was wielding an axe, fled with cash.

A few minutes earlier police had been called to a nearby

shop on Grange Drive, after an attempted

Officers are appealing for witnesses.

More than 50 reports of lasers being pointed

at aircraft were recorded at East Midlands Airport last year.

That's according to the Civil Aviation Authority,

which says there were at least 54 incidents at Castle

The pilots' association, BALPA, wants tougher prison

It's warning that the effect of lasers on pilots puts lives at risk.

Still to come: Leicester City legend Alan Birchenall thanks

This was the Birch's first public appearance since he collapsed

with a heart attack at an awards ceremony - and was saved

Vulnerable people who benefit from a community self-help scheme

are also saving tax payers hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.

That's the claim in Derby, where a 5% council tax rise

will still leave the authority needing to save almost ?30 million

The city council believes a pilot scheme called

Local Area Co-ordinators could be part of the answer.

They want Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to support it,

and roll it out across the country, as Ed Collard reports.

First stop, a quick visit to Mary, whose sight is failing.

I know your nose is about in the middle...

Mary's husband was her eyes, but he died last summer.

Since then, Roger has introduced her to a neighbour who reads her post

I found a new friend, yes, definitely.

Roger's taking him to meet people at a lunch club

In Edward's Street, as in many others around here,

Roger can point to dozens of other connections he's made.

There's three people down there, there's another who lives

right at the end, there's somebody here on the corner.

There's a chap here, there's four people on this side.

There's about another five or six along that way.

Roger Teague is one of ten local area coordinators

His brief is very simple: help people to help themselves.

Everyone's had a life, everyone's got skills,

It's lovely when you focus on that with people, and in doing that,

it helps people become more resilient and helps them to get more

Not surprisingly, the people Roger helps feel he's

If you need anything doing, he'd do it for you.

It's really good to have that community feeling.

It's good to see you out and about...

What's less obvious, is that according to

Derbyshire City Council, Roger and his colleagues are saving

hundreds of thousands of pounds a year, simply by nipping problems

LACS are funded jointly, by the City Council and the NHS,

to the tune of half ?1 million a year.

But according to an independent audit by Derby University,

every ?1 spent on them saves other services ?4.

Last month, the council sent a letter to Health

Secretary Jeremy Hunt, urging him to give more support

to the scheme and roll it out across the country.

Parliamentarians for all political parties want a cross-party

agreement, and strategy to deal with this problem.

That needs to be done sooner rather than later,

It's such a shame people have lost touch with communities,

It doesn't take a lot to help people reconnect

Ed Collard, BBC East Midlands Today, Derby.

A Nottingham woman has had a lucky escape, after her car dramatically

Lucie Barker was on her way to work at Newark hospital when the vehicle

It burst into flames just moments later.

The 22-year-old also sent us these photos of the damage, describing

Dashcam footage has captured the moment a mobility scooter

was spotted driving along Derby's busy inner ring road.

Motorist Linda Miller sent this video to police

questioning what could be done about this 'dangerous situation'.

Describing the section of the A6 as 'horrendous',

Mrs Miller said the scooter had no licence plate and was

travelling much slower than the road's 40mph speed limit.

Derbyshire Police say they can't investigate

New figures show that a Nottinghamshire bus lane is making

The cut-through between Nottingham Road and the A610

in Nuttall is closed to other vehicles between 4pm

The County Council's revealed it caught almost 10,000

drivers using it last year, racking up more than

It says every penny is being reinvested in highways.

A pledge to investigate all assaults against officers and staff has been

The seven point pledge states that being assaulted isn't

In the last financial year, more than 180 officers and staff

Stand back, put your arm down, otherwise you're going to get CS.

Body cam footage showing PC Tom Andrews being

The Nottinghamshire Police officer says the man changed

from cooperative to violent, eventually attempting to choke him.

At the time, your instincts and your training take over,

and you do not necessarily think about it.

But it's only when you watch the footage back again that you

It makes the hairs on your arm stand up, and get goose bumps.

Assaults on a police officer, I feel, aren't treated as seriously

currently as assaults on anybody else, or taken with the seriousness

Recent figures from Nottinghamshire Police show that in a year,

there were reports of 160 assaults on police officers

The force are backing a campaign to tackle the problem and to provide

The Chief Constable, along with the Police Federation

and two unions, have signed a pledge to tackle violence against officers.

In my experience, it's always been an aspect of the job.

But I want to say quite unequivocally, it is unacceptable,

completely unacceptable, and what we are here to do is not

From my position as Chief Constable, I want to make sure I send the right

message to the staff about the fact that the organisation

The force says it wants to raise awareness about the dangers officers

face and the need to ensure that those officers

"Keep Britain Tidy" has been a rallying cry for decades, and it's

Fly-tipping is on the rise and continues to blight open spaces.

Newly released government figures reveal our councils are having

to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds to sort out the mess,

Despite the threat of an unlimited fine and or five years in prison,

fly-tipping still blights, as enforcement officers

This is a marine paint, used for the underneath of boats,

and also for concrete posts within water to stop them

Discarded tires, along with cables stripped of their copper,

have also been dumped on these bridleways near Mount Sorel

Latest government figures show that total numbers of fly-tipping

instances in the East Midlands exceeded 30,000 last year, up more

It cost councils ?1.43 million to clear it up.

Derby and Bester accounted for a third of that.

More than 5000 black bags had to be disposed of,

along with 1800 white goods and 178 animal carcasses.

We obviously need the evidence, we rely on the public to support us.

Having said that, we have had 11 prosecutions and issued 80 tickets

Council say if they had more cash to spend on CCTV,

But could Leicestershire's decision to reduce tip opening times be

It could, but having said that, our fly-tips

It's no excuse if the tips are closed, when there are other

If you're tempted by a quote from a man in a van, beware.

If you haven't checked their license is valid, and the waste

is traced back to you, you are the one who

Quentin Rayner, BBC East Midlands Today.

Still to come - the plight of homeless gnomes.

A local council wants to remove the suburban tree stump these

But they're not going without a fight.

And Leicester City have admitted they're in a legal fight over

whether they broke financial rules three years.

With more on that - and the rest of the day's

Yes - some really interesting stuff from Leicester's

This fight with the Football League is about "Financial Fair Play".

Leicester have always insisted their loss of nearly

?21 million in their promotion season included ?13 million

It turns out the league disagrees and have charged them.

If they lose, it could result in a multi-million pound fine.

Well, wages went up by nearly ?23 million.

And that's before the summer contracts.

Profits down to ?16 million - unsurprisingly player bonuses

The title winning squad was valued at - brace yourself -

They also did some very high profile charity giving, you may remember.

A lot of the money is headed towards Leicester's hospitals

Today, captain Wes Morgan was opening a newly designed

Children's Outpatients department at the Leicester Royal Infirmary.

?2.3 million given to charity last season.

Now, how do you say thank you for saving my life?

Plenty of emotion last night as Leicester legend Alan Birchenall

It was his first public appearance since he collapsed at an awards

ceremony and was saved by people from the audience after a massive

cardiac arrest that very nearly killed him.

Then I just felt my legs go, and that was it until I

I did think I was a goner then, I didn't know I had

Seven weeks ago, he died for seven minutes.

Last night, a chance to say thank you to the people in the crowd that

Alan is so grateful to you, and you are typical of the great

medical people in this country, and you happened to be there.

APPLAUSE I've got a signed shirt here, but you don't have to have it

LAUGHTER If I had died last year, it would be worth something.

Tears and laughter for the much loved man known simply as the Birch.

There's thousands out there who have heart attacks,

then there's the few who have cardiacs like me.

For me, every day is unreal, because I was gone.

For years, he's offered his support and help raise funds to provide

heart defibrillators around Leicestershire.

Not knowing one day it would be him that would need it.

Those defibrillators were literally life-savers.

Without them, you would possibly still be here, but you would not be

If he hadn't been there, and we hadn't been there,

Loved by the Leicester faithful and eager to get back to work,

One of the players goes up for a meeting, bangs on my door

every day when they have a meeting, "how you getting on, coffin dodger?"

Did he know that I have dodged it this time?

A wonderful interview, you can catch more of it on the BBC sport page.

Quick line from Nottingham Forest today - the club's longest serving

player, Chris Cohen, says he's eager to sign

Cohen's only just returning from another injury and is out

He says its down to him to win the chance to stay with Forest.

If you take the emotion out of it, I haven't played enough games

But I can't just keep saying I know I can stay fit

The club have a decision to make, they know that whatever

I'm really hopeful that I can carry on.

And Notts County Ladies' Jade Moore and Rachel Williams were both

in action last night in England's last minute defeat to France

England led the French until the final ten minutes.

The tournament, in America, features the four best sides in the World.

England games are live on the BBC Sport Website.

They are building up to major championships and looking very good

indeed. Good to see birch's sense of humour

Stillwell intact. We all know there's no place

like gnome, but one of our little folk may soon need to find

a new place to live. Yes, a Nottinghamshire woman

who turned the tree stump outside her house into a home

for a garden gnome says the council is planning to remove it -

despite its popularity It's really nice and

jolly in the street. Amazon the gnome is

pretty popular here. When the council cut down

the tree outside Geraldine's house in West Bridgeford,

she decided to use the stump I hit on the idea, I had

heard about a tree house, and I thought let's see if we can

make it into a tree house. The kids love it, I've been

going out to the car, and I've had people walk past

and ask me if I'd done it, and say they come past especially

to have a look at it. Geraldine decorates Amazon's

house for every occasion. Earlier this week,

he was celebrating pancake day. But now, the gnome

home is under threat. Nottinghamshire County Council's

contractor says it will remove the stump for safety reasons,

and replace it with a new tree. It all started because a dustbin

lorry banged the branches I'm thinking, would the council

please like to leave it, and will make a really good job

of making it into How would you feel if his

home was taken away? Because it's the only

decoration in the street. There's no point in taking it down

because there's no harm. I think it would be nice to keep

it, it's a nice thing, Earlier today, we did

try to talk to is on the gnome about what he made of the situation,

but understandably perhaps, In a statement, the contractor,

Via East Midlands, has said: "There will not be a Spring eviction

by our lumberjacks until the replacement planting takes place

in October 2017 and March 2018. We hope that by then Amazon

and Gnorma's children would have settled at school and the family

will be happy to move Happy ending, almost. I wouldn't

want to be moving out of anywhere at the moment, it's a bit chilly. It's

also quite unsettled as we move through the next couple of days.

Some outbreaks of rain, but today wasn't too bad through the

afternoon. We did see some sunny spells as you can see here. Not a

bad afternoon. We finished with a lovely sunset, this photo sent in

from a weather watcher. Thank you. This evening and overnight, it will

be largely dry, quite a calm night. One of two showers, particularly in

the north. Variable amounts of cloud and if you clear spells as well.

Overnight lows of around 45 degrees, slightly cooler in the countryside.

Tomorrow morning, we start with a bit of brightness if you are up

busting, but quickly will see a band of cloud and rain coming up from the

south. That will be with us through much of the day and could be heavy

at points. Temperatures reaching a maximum between six and nine. This

is the bigger picture, this weather front coming up from the South will

bring the rain tomorrow. It does look like it should have cleared by

the time we move into Saturday. A bit of uncertainty as the placement

of that rain in the east, but looks like it should be a largely cloudy

day on Saturday with few outbreaks of rain. An easterly, sorry, a

westerly wind. The further west you are, the more in the way of

brightness. But a fairly cloudy day with outbreaks of rain, a similar

story as we move into Sunday. Largely cloudy, one or two showers,

those temperatures struggling slightly. Maximum 8 degrees. Really

quite unsettled picture as we move through the next couple of days. You

will want your envelope tomorrow. Not brilliant, is it? I'm still

getting over the gnomes. Amazon, strange name for a gnome.

WHISTLING: Blue Danube by Johann Strauss II

the gap between the richest and everyone else

And while the funding for our schools and hospitals is being cut,

many of the largest companies and wealthiest individuals

And the tax dodgers are getting away with it