13/02/2017 East Midlands Today

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

A gang which staged dozens of road accidents so they could make false

insurance claims have been found guilty.

The scam involved deliberately crashing cars across Derby

and Derbyshire, and saw them making hundreds of thousands

Trying to hide their faces, these five men today finally had to face

They were part of a so-called crash for cash scam,

deliberately causing collisions to make fraudulent claims

for injuries received and damage caused to the vehicles.

In total, they staged 41 crashes across Derby and Derbyshire,

targeting older and lone women drivers.

One of the most common schemes was to have two cars driven

by the scammers ahead of a target car.

The lead car would swerve suddenly, causing the second to

brake hard, the target car behind would crash into the back of the

That innocent third party would always

admit liability as they had driven into the back of the second car.

Ten of the 41 crashes took place here.

The scammers also used stolen or fake identities as part of their

The claims were then managed by one of two companies

One of them was Derby Enterprise Solutions.

The director's brother was the secretary, the two men

and their accomplice were all found guilty of conspiracy to defraud.

Another man, seen here in the green coat, was

His brother in the black coat was found not guilty.

Meanwhile, Adam Stark from Long Eaton was found guilty

of fraud as well as perverting the course of justice.

And seven other people had already pleaded guilty to their part

In a statement today, Derbyshire Police has said it hopes

this trial sends out the clear message that this type of crime will

be treated seriously, investigated thoroughly and will not

The five men found guilty have been released on bail but

will be back in court in April for sentencing.

Controversial plans to move hospital treatment into the community have

been watered down after fierce criticism from patients

But health bosses are still pushing ahead with proposals to transfer

five different services away from major medical centres.

Our health correspondent Rob Sissons has the details.

Managing change is never easy in the NHS.

One of the buzz phrases is "moving care closer to home".

In Nottingham, the original plan was to move all

these services, seven of them, out of Nottingham's main

hospitals and into the community to places like medical centres.

The services range from one for chronic fatigue

The brain injury service and the management of renal patients

The people behind the change say it'll mean better care.

We've really been able to listen to the feedback we've received

and that has allowed us to change the

specifications, so we are really confident

real best services meeting patients' needs.

This campaigner is really happy that the brain injury service isn't

Heather is 24 and suffered a brain injury after losing

At home in West Bridgeford today, she told us she is

glad that, when it comes to her service, the clinical commissioning

I think it will be good for everyone, for the

outpatients, for the future ones, for the staff.

It will just all remain in one place, that will be

Other patients, though, are not happy.

Gilly in Blidworth is furious the pain management service

We're told the changes will save ?2 million pounds

on today's prices, but the main motivation isn't savings

but to deliver better care, the NHS says.

The commissioners will go before Nottinghamshire's health scrutiny

committee next month to argue their case,

but for now the changes are on track to come in July.

But expect more arguments before then.

Tributes have been paid to a 22-year-old man killed

Lauric Lebato, from London, was found with a stab wound

in Albion Street early on Saturday morning, but died in hospital.

Lauric's father said today he was the centre of his life

and has urged anyone with information to contact police.

Figures released by the NSPCC show the charity receives hundreds

of calls each year from people concerned with drink and drug abuse

In the East Midlands there were 620 such calls to them in 2013/14,

The service centre team manager for the NSPCC in Nottingham joins

Who are the people who are making these

reports and what sort of things are they telling you?

Well, we get calls mainly from neighbours, because they

are the ones that are closest to what is happening on the ground, and

they are telling us that they are concerned

about children because they are aware that people are

having parties and using drugs and alcohol next door,

and they are concerned about the welfare of the children.

And what do you do when you get a report like that?

What we would do is advise the people about

what they can do themselves, and reassure them about what we're going

to do with the information, but in most cases, in about 90%

of cases, we will make a referral, either to the police

or to the local authority for children's social care.

And in those referrals, what dangers are

We would say that a lot of the problems that

arise are around neglect of the children, because if the parents

are using substances in the home

or they're using alcohol frequently and consistently, then the

children's needs are likely to be being neglected.

That is the main concern, that they are not keeping

their children safe if they are abusing substances on a

What about the trends with this, you've seen them rising,

Generally speaking, this is a big concern,

and we are aware that it takes quite a lot of courage for

neighbours to pick up the phone and ring us to ask, so we know that

Now, those behind the new Enterprise Zone being developed

in Leicestershire say it could create tens of

thousands of jobs, some of them in the UK's growing

The zone, the second in the county, will be based across sites

in Loughborough and Leicester, as Quentin Rayner reports.

Leicestershire is no stranger to the interstellar, but this plot could

end up being dubbed the starship enterprise zone. In the 80 hectare

to Loughborough University may look barren now, but new buildings will

soon spring up. It is just one of these sites making up the new zone.

Another part will be situated on child with cap is focusing on life

science. The third site will be in Leicester 's Waterside, adjacent to

the proposed National space part, especially Isaac and space

technology. The minister responsible for promoting the Midlands engine

caught up with companies which intend to expand into the enterprise

zone. Enterprise zones are an extremely

important part of our strategy. The eight enterprise zones

across the Midlands have so far created 9,000 jobs and brought

in over ?1 million of Just up the road in Leicestershire,

the Mira technology park, there were companies from around

the world who come to base themselves on that technology park,

and that is exactly what we want to achieve here

on this side as well. The new enterprise

zone promises much. 6500 jobs in ten years, rising

to 21,000 into the local economy Leicester's first enterprise

zone opened about five The technology Park has attracted

many companies and It is the busiest one

so far in the country. This has the potential

to do even better because of its location by the M1 and 5,000

houses across the road. The new enterprise

zone can't come soon enough, the university's innovation

Centre is already 90% full. As I leave you tonight,

we're hearing the A1 is closed Northbound

near the Rutland Water turn off. Not clear on what's happened yet,

but if it's on your route in the morning,

check before you set off. Now Lucy's here, and would that have

been sunshine we felt earlier? It might have been. Bit of a distant

memory for some of us. Especially after the weekend read was a whole

lot more wintry. This photo was headed by weather watcher in

Derbyshire. Acting easterly wind and some snow as well. As we move

through this week, they will be a bit of a the weather, milder

temperatures, mid week we're going to touch into the double figures.

There will be plenty of cloud but also brighter spells in the mix as

well. One to shout shatters the week. In the bigger picture, high

pressure out to the north-east, low pressure on the south-west, the

cloud will rotate has moved to the next couple of days, so the easterly

wind will attend a quest in the, and one draw and some less cold air and

that is where we'll see milder temperatures. Overnight, some patchy

cloud around, clear spells, largely dry, temperatures fighter and

overnight low of two or three Celsius, city is likely... Crueller

in the countryside. Tomorrow there will be bright this first thing,

particularly farther east, getting the best, but it will turn

increasingly cloudy. Temperatures creep up to a maximum of nine

Celsius, and that's south-easterly breeze. There's a chance of 12

patches of rain has removed through the evening, said you're heading

out, taken on Bella. It Wednesday, it is the potential to the rain, but

uncertainty as to where it will be, so don't take the picture to

literally. They will be cloud as well, temperatures of easing a

maximum of 11 Celsius. BB is coming up from the south. Thursday, not too

dry, some cloud around, the odd spot of drizzle. Temperatures still in

the double figures. A similar story into Friday, plenty of cloud around

and the chance of brighter intervals.

In a few moments we'll have a full national forecast,

but for now I'll leave you with a look at the outlook.

at the weekend it will be mild. Largely dry, perhaps a wind -- windy