14/09/2011 Look East - East

In the programme tonight: This police constable walks free after

being accused of dangerous driving. And the judge says he should never

have been charged. Hello and welcome to Look East.

Also tonight: Dale Farm latest: more travellers are pulling out. A

former UN advisor condemns the plans, and eviction preparations

continue. We've had actresses, we've had bishops, anarchists, the

UN and the EU. The bottom line is that this is not about human rights

- this is about planning regulations that have been broken.

Why so many teenagers end up in hospital suffering from eating

disorders. And how an old Norfolk airfield

could save the world from global First tonight, a Crown Court judge

has slammed the authorities for the way they treated a police officer

accused of dangerous driving. PC Kerry Smith was on an emergency

call when he collided with another vehicle in Luton, killing two

pedestrians who were walking nearby. Today Judge Gullick criticised the

Independent Police Complaints Commission for what he called an

"inept" investigation. The Crown Prosecution Service was also in the

firing line. Jo Black was in court, and is in St Albans. Jo.

Yes, more on the judge's extraordinary comments in a moment.

First, there have been emotional scenes here today at the court as

PC Kerry Smith was cleared of all charges of death by dangerous

driving. He put his head in his hands and wept. After the verdict,

he looked across to the jury and said thank you.

Leaving court today cleared of all charges. In June last year Pc Kelly

Smith was an officer and a 999 call. He was going at around 56 mph with

his blue lights flashing and his siren sounding. After a crash with

another vehicle, his car knocked down two pedestrians who had been

walking home after a night out. PC Smith was travelling from that

direction, but when he got to this part of the road, waiting and

indicating to turn right was a silver car. A police officer

thought that the driver had seen him so he began to overtake. The

driver started to turn right and, when the two vehicles collided, the

police car mounted the pavement, killing the pedestrians. The driver

of that silver car was this man, a chef on his way home from work. He

told the court he had looked into his mirror before starting to turn

right but had not seen anything and thought it was safe to go. During

the trial, he exercised his right not to answer questions about

whether he was on his mobile phone at the time. PC Terry Smith gave

his reaction today. My thoughts and sympathies remain with the families

of the men who died that night. I wanted the family is to know the

exact circumstances of how their loved ones died. Two young men have

lost their lives and I will live with the consequences. Nothing I

can say will help the families but I do hope now that they have heard

the evidence that this will help them in some small measure.

The cousin of one of the victims was there at the time of the

reaction. A representative spoke on his behalf. He could not believe

the verdict. How could he not be guilty for anything?

As you can see, this has been a tragic case for all involved. The

telephone of the driver of the silver car was seized and it was

shown that there was an incoming call at around the time of the

collision. With concern about his evidence and how that piece of

information was used, the judge said that the IPCC investigation

had been inept and the CPS had missed the glaringly obvious. He is

going to take it up with the chairman of the IPCC and the

Director of Public Prosecutions. Some breaking news now. We have

just learnt that Lord Hanningfield has been arrested today and then

released on police bail. We understand detectives are

investigating expenses claims he made when he was Leader of Essex

County Council. Lord Hanningfield was arrested at

his home near Chelmsford by police this morning and was taken to

Braintree police station for questioning about his expenses when

he was leader of Essex County Council. He has been questioned by

members of the Serious crime Directorate, who then released him

on police bail. That Valens on 18th January next year. He was only

released early from prison last week after serving just nine weeks

of a nine-month sentence imposed upon him on the 1st July for his

expenses fiddling at the House of Lords. A few minutes ago I spoke to

a London-based solicitor who represents Lord Hanningfield. He

had this to save a study was quite outspoken. He said that, at the

first trial, there was no criticism of his Clyde's expenses. He did not

understand now why his client was arrested. He said, "This is hitting

a man when he is down. His arrest is shocking. Why was he not

interviewed when he was in prison?" On now to the preparations for

evictions at the Dale Farm travellers' site in Basildon. It's

now just five days until the bailiffs are due to move in. And

that means the countdown has very much begun. Yesterday security

contractors started to build a control centre in the field next

door. Today, as we will hear, a UN party visited the site. Tomorrow

the eviction will be discussed at an emergency debate in Vienna. On

Friday the travellers say they will seek another injunction from the

Court ofAppeal. Over the weekend more temporary buildings for

contractors will be installed on the control centre field. And on

Monday we expect the eviction to begin. Alex Dunlop has spent the

day at the site. Five days before the eviction, the

pressure has been racked up on both sides. Firstly, by Basildon Council,

who continued to bring in the infrastructure needed before the

bailiffs moved in in five days. But also by the travellers behind the

at Dale Farm, who have continued to lobby ever harder for the right to

stay. They brought in an adviser to the United Nations to help argue

their case. More activists arrive today, some less keen to be

identified, others more cryptic about why they appear. What has

brought here today? Cheeses. I am the avenger of blood. -- Jesus

Christ. This man feels that the British

government has broken into national law. What are the rights that had

been violated? The right to be defended against forced eviction

and the right to non-discrimination. They said they would respect the

law and they're not doing it. Doing what we do today, we hope to

influence public opinion. The 400 travellers in the illegal

half of Dale Farm admit they have broken planning law but maintain

they have been given no alternative, nowhere else to pitch their

caravans. This is very distressing. It is tearing my life apart.

Realistically, do you think you will be moving out next week?

willing to fight, to die for it. Today Basildon Council gave police

a tour of their build-up to next week on land next to Dale Farm to

stop even now, a last-gasp attempt from travellers to have the Court

of Appeal quashed the eviction. We're taking fresh action in the

Court of Appeal on Friday. It is based on new medical evidence to

show that some residents here on Dale Farm, very frail people, would

not survive an eviction. A mobile chalet was taking out

today, apparently being sold by one of the travellers. Eight caravans

are also left within the last 24 RAS. Basildon Council maintains

that any solution must be one which upholds the laws of this country.

It also points out that it has more approve travellers' sites than any

other local authority in Essex, and more than many in other parts of

the country. The Prime Minister says the Government is doing

""everything we possibly can" to ensure the safe release of Judith

Tebbutt, the woman kidnapped in Kenya on Sunday. Her husband, David,

was killed in the raid. Nikki Jenkins has been following

developments today. Mr Cameron a told MPs that the

emergency committee met yesterday to discuss the case and that,

although it would be wrong to raise all the issues in public, he wanted

to reassure the family that everything possible will be done to

help. He also revealed that William Hague had met with the family in

person this morning. It has been more than three days since Mrs

Tebbit was taken and her husband, David, murdered. It is believed

that she may now have been moved to a city in southern Somalia up. It

is a stronghold of Al-Shabaab, an extremist group. It has been

suggested that she would be paraded in front of the cameras in a press

conference this afternoon. Reuters news agency has said that no-one

has accepted responsibility. There is no evidence of her whereabouts

or well-being. Later in the programme: Ambitious

plans to help deal with climate change. And we have also been

speaking to four young people who have all had to spend time in

hospital after suffering from There has been a small increase in

unemployment in the region. The total most fans at 192,000, a rise

of 1,000 on a month ago. 6.3 % of the workforce is unemployed,

compared with 7.9 % nationally. But the figures out today also show

that the employment rate in the east is higher than in any other

part of the country. 74.4 % of the workforce here has a job. So where

might new jobs be coming from? Some experts say the future is in lots

of small companies employing a few more people each. Companies,

perhaps, like the jewellers Robert Gatward in Ipswich. Louise Holmes

has this report. Based in the centre of town, this family run

business used to specialise in high end jewellery. New trade means new

premises and three new members of staff. If I can get the tray out,

you can have a look and see what you like.

Laura started working here about a month ago. The story is expanding

and I am really excited about the future of the business growing,

really. By the end of the month a new store next door will have 900

square feet of extra retail space. This, they say, is the reason for

the company's expansion - fashion jewellery. These small charms

certainly mean big business. At a starting price of around �30, these

new ranges have meant a massive increase in customers. We used to

see clients a few times a year, now people shop every week. That is a

huge change since I started in this industry 15 years of bottles of it

is hoped that success can be replicated across the town,

bringing in new shoppers and ideas. We are finding that companies are

looking at apprentices now to help get the business to grow. It is

coming together in a positive way. So, bit by bit, job by job, small

businesses like this could breathe life back into our town centres.

This year's sugar beet harvest could be affected by industrial

action by workers at British Sugar. The Unite union is balloting its

members over pay after rejecting a 3.5% offer. The union wants 5.2 per

cent, equal to the retail price index. British Sugar says its pay

offer is fair and reasonable. The wife of one of our MPs has

spent part of her summer holiday filming the work of a charity in

Tanzania. Victoria Bacon made the video diary with her husband,

Richard, the MP for South Norfolk. Her charity raises money to buy

prosthetic limbs for amputees. You may find some of the images in this

report upsetting. This is a school in north-west

Tanzania. It is one of the poorest regions in a very poor country.

Some children are able bodied and the walk miles to come here every

day. Others live here because they are disabled. That is often because

they live in a very dangerous country. A few months ago, Sharif

was with his mates on the shore of the lake, washing his clothes. He

was the last to jump and got caught by a crocodile. It had already

taken his leg. I was sent to go and buy tomatoes -- this boy was sent

to buy to matters that the market when he was hit by a truck. He was

shot by bandits. That is how he lost his leg.

Some are disabled not by accident but by design. The school has

become overcrowded because of an influx of albino children who are

brought here for their own safety after which doctors were massacring

these poor children to get their limbs because they believe that

grinding their bones they could create life saving remedies.

Emmanuel is a case in point. They cut his fingers off and dropped his

hands off with a machete. They removed four teeth with a hammer.

This charity was set up in memory of one of the founder's' mothers.

The money the charity raises goes towards giving these amputees

prosthetic limbs and it will help to set up a specialist centre here

in the near future. And you can see more on that story, in the form of

a video diary from Victoria Bacon, on the Politics Show this Sunday at

the later than usual time of 1.35. The MP for North Norfolk says he's

been told there could be a decision on the future of RAF Coltishall by

next month. There's been uncertainty over the former air

base after an aviation company pulled out of plans to develop the

site. Norman Lamb raised the issue with the Justice Minister today. He

says the uncertainty is destabilising for local people. The

airbase, which closed in 2006, could be used for green energy,

aviation or returned to agricultural land.

The Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service opened its new training facility at

Wattisham Airfield today. Already home to the army's Apache

helicopter and the RAF's search- and-rescue Sea Kings, Wattisham now

provides the Fire Service with what they believe are some of the best

facilities in the country. An RAF search and rescue helicopter hovers

over a train crash in Suffolk. It is there to take casualties to a

nearby hospital. They take training very seriously here. Training is

absolutely fundamental. The reality is that firefighters often work in

inherently dangerous environments and we cannot make them safe. A

building that is on fire cannot be made safe. We need to train

firefighters to be safe people in those environments so that they are

able to take quick decisions in fast-moving circumstances, very

often on the basis of very limited information. The new centre

includes what they call live fire area of where firefighters can

tackle the closest thing to a real blaze. They can experience a back

draft, when a fire can cause sudden violent explosions. When the

incident commanders and breathing apparatus teams turn up to these

incidents they need to be able to recognise the signs and symptoms

that everyone recognised here today. Failure to do so can have

disastrous consequences. Suffolk Fire and Rescue believe their new

training facility is among the best in the country. The casualty was

airlifted to safety with the But 28-year-old woman has been

arrested in Luton as part of the ongoing investigation into a

suicide bombing in Sweden last year. It later emerged that the

perpetrator had lived in Luton for several years with his wife and

three children. It has emerged that nearly half of

all patients admitted to hospital for an eating disorder in our

region are under the age of 18. Treating anorexia for children and

teenagers can often be a difficult and long drawn-out process.

Tonight's special report from Fatima Manji comes from the Phoenix

Centre at Fulbourn in Cambridgeshire.

I feel like I missed a certain amount of my childhood. It makes me

angry that a lot of people think it is like extreme dieting. It is so

much more than that. Ever since coming here I realise how bad I was.

If you think about it rationally you'd do not think it is bad. But

then you feel it and you react to that. You react to how you feel.

These are the voices of those who often struggled to be heard. In

trying to deal with personal problems they became excessive --

obsessive about their weight and isolated in their illness. They are

getting treatment but are still struggling to understand the

reasons behind their anorexia. fear of gaining weight and becoming

fat. That is how I would describe it. Why did it scare you? I don't

know. Lots of people talk about magazines, celebrities and TV

making people want to be thin. Is that something that you think

influence issue? I do not really agree with planing magazines and

stuff and having skinning models. That is just the society we live in

now. Most of the population see the people and those magazines, and not

all of them have anorexia. I am quite clear that this is not

something that people choose. It afflicts them and controls their

behaviour and ruins their lives. For me it is quite clear it is an

illness. Treating that illness involves three stages: Help

restoring weight by eating properly, understanding the psychological

factors and getting back to normal life. At her worst, this girl was

admitted to Addenbrooke's Hospital. Her heart rate reduced to half of

what it should be at its worst. do not know how I got there. It is

scary that you can get to that stage. I have had a nurse following

me around at one stage. That is really hard because, in the end, I

am a 15-year-old girl. And that is the hope for all four of these

girls - that one day they will be able to return to normal teenage

life without the worry of trying to control what the eat. -- what they

eat. A possible solution to global

warming now, with a bit of help from an academic at Cambridge

University and a deserted airfield in Norfolk. Dr Hugh Hunt is a

specialist in what they call geo- engineering, in other words,

deliberately changing the Earth's climate for our own benefit. And Dr

Hunt is here now. He has a pressure washer, a long piece of whores and

a balloon. What are you going to be doing? It is part of a bigger

project and it is about seeing if we can cool the planet by emulating

the effects of volcanic eruptions, getting particles into the

stratosphere. We do not plan to do that, that might be 20 years away,

but we are thinking about the engineering difficulties. We have

to put a balloon up at 20 kilometres. We have to pump high

pressure liquids and we're going to use this pressure washer just to

pump water up to one, to just to get used to the idea. Then we will

look at how that balloon behaves in strong wind. How will you go about

rectifying global warming from doing something like this in a big

scale? We do not know the answers to that. The debate has to carry on

over the next few decades. We are looking at some of the engineering

questions - can we do it? Is it feasible? The pressures we have to

pump had a very high, the balloons are very large, we need amazingly

strong pipe to go 20 kilometres up. We need to start thinking about

these questions. Our tests at Scunthorpe are really about looking

at how balloons behave in high wind. Will the people in the rear notice

anything? No. It is a big airfield and no-one will notice. It will not

affect them but say this does happen in the future - how does the

science work? How do you reduce the temperature of the planet by having

these balloons in the stratosphere? The theory is that we put tiny dust

particles, like what happened in 1991 in a huge volcanic eruption.

It cooled the planet by about half of one Celsius. It is a bit like

putting sunscreen on the planet, it might reflect some of the Sun's

rays. How many would you need? do not know the answers for sure.

That is why we're doing the research. We think that perhaps 20

to 40 of these balloons around the planet might be enough. Hopefully

they will not have to be as big as Wembley Stadium, but they will have

to be over 100 metres in diameter. They are the biggest balloons that

anyone has ever put at that altitude at the end of a piece of

rope. So it releases the particles and that cools the weather?

There was not room for me in the studio tonight so I have come here

to enjoy the last of the sunshine. We have high pressure building from

the south. There has been a weak weather front that has moved from

north to south through the day. It has made things slightly more

cloudy. There has been plenty of sunshine, however. A fine end to

today. There will be long clear spells over night. Temperatures at

their lowest expected to get to around seven Celsius. The winds

will be light and north-westerly. The wind speed will be a little

higher on the Norfolk and Suffolk coasts. Tomorrow will be fined but

-- fine but Chile. It will be a little cloudy at times. The top

temperature could be 19 Celsius. A change of wind direction for

tomorrow - light south-easterly winds. There will be plenty of

sunshine to end the day. For the rest of the week, back to the

pressure job, you will see we have a weather system coming in from the

West. The weather front will turn it a bit cloudy and bring some rain

towards the end of the day on Friday. That area of low pressure

brings wet and windy conditions at the end of the week. It will be wet

and windy over the weekend with showers or longer spells of rain.