10/01/2012 Look East - East

Welcome to Look East. Coming up: Surprise in Suffolk as

their American air force Tel's new recruits to live on base to save

money. It is the largest least Housing Unit in the United States

Air Force. We are wasting over $500,000 a month for rented homes

that trendy here. My life is devastated by a sex offender posing

as a taxi driver. I would say to others try to never be on your own.

Never put yourself in that situation. It has completely

destroyed me. A computer deal that left this

village primary school with a bill for �0.5 million.

And would you trust your money with this man? I talked to Sir Richard

Branson about his new bank. pressure on the American defence

budget could hit the economy of this region in a sign of the

difficult economic times. Some US personnel have been told to live on

based in service accommodation. It is estimated that the United

States Air Force comes have a billion pounds in the surrounding

economy. Much of that is due to the thousands of military personnel

will have around the bases. There are 7,800 personnel based here.

2,400 choose to live on base. But 5,400 prefer to live in the

surrounding towns and villages. Today's announcement means many

aircrews will not have the choice. Our reporter is at RAF Lakenheath.

I am up at a large space. There is a least some 600 houses here. A

third of them are simply empty. That is why there are not many

lights and the windows at been made. Hence the new policy.Coming into

the country will be encouraged to come here and not go out into the

community. Let me show you one of our units. Housing officer showing

me around a new house. With double glazing. American washer and drier.

With dozens of homes lying empty, something had to give. We have got

220 units not being occupied. We have a policy and an effort to see

if we can get our young airman to move into the sea and has angered

them filled up. We are wasting of a $500,000 a month for renting empty

units. According to figures, its bases but around a billion dollars

a year into the economy. In this town there is plenty of support for

what the Americans bring to the area. The like the experience of

something English in the country. work for the Americans. They give

you a living? Yes, it they do. daughter is married to one. I like

Americans. The only downfall is that it keeps prices up for renting

property which makes it harder for local people. What will be conveyed

it be like without them? I would dread to think to be honest. --

economy. I think it would be terrible to the local economy. It

would hit it hard. This man and his family now live on Lakenheath

airbase but they still like to explore. We love the location here.

I love the history of the locations. We like to get out every weekend to

see something new. He tells me he likes spending money

as well. About 8,000 military personnel in the three bases, about

5,000 live off base. The Air Force says this is about making the best

use of scarce resources at a difficult time. But the endgame as

far as they are concerned is to reduce its stock of housing. They

won more of the family still live in the community and the hope they

will continue to country but -- contribute in every way possible.

A woman who was the victim of a sexual assault on Christmas Eve has

been speaking about the ordeal. She is 30 years old and was attacked by

a man and Bedford who was posing as a taxi driver. We are using the

voice of an actor to protect the identity of the woman. I cannot go

out by myself at the moment. I went into a store myself and I had a

panic attack. Everywhere I go, I have to have someone with me. I

have not been back to my house yet. At the moment it has destroyed me.

It has ruined everything. This woman said she thought something

like this would never happen to her. After a night out she became

separated from her friend. With her handbag and mobile phone also lost,

she started to panic. It was that this fight that's -- that two men

decided to help her. The doctor or fatty railway station and called

her a taxi. A man pulled up and said taxi and she got in the car.

He pulled into a lay-by and at this point I went into panic. I almost

knew it was going to happen. Sorry. I just completely froze. I said to

him, what are you doing? I want to go home. He kept saying, sexy time.

He started getting more aggressive. He hit the steering wheel and

started shouting. It was then at that point that I was sexually

assaulted. She says her Christmas was completely ruined by this

attack and now she wants other women to learn from what happened

to her. I look back and I think how stupid I was to get into his car.

But I would say to others, try to never be on your own. Never

pictures of in that situation. Have a meeting point with your friends

and if you lose each other, at the end of the night meet there. If you

are stranded, make sure it is a taxi get -- you get into. Do not

get into a car 1 euros and if you're not sure it as a taxi,.

victim of that attack speaking. Bedfordshire Police want to talk to

anyone who can help with the investigation. You can call

Crimestoppers on 0800 555111. There is lots more to come: A

crucial night For the region's gymnasts. And Sir Richard Branson

promises to take on the high street banks with his latest business

feature. -- venture. Some late news: Suffolk police say

they have spoken to two boys in connection with the incidence of

stone-throwing on the A14. Objects are hold onto the main road at

Trimley St Mary 10 days before Christmas. Victoria Cook is in our

newsroom. What other policing? They have said that there are two

boys responsible for this are just eight years old. They are from the

Felixstowe area. They are below the age of legal responsibility. It

means they will not be punished as such and it means they will be

working with their parents and then to educate them about the dangers

of what they have done. At night it is completely dark. The area where

the rocks were thrown from his quite hidden so motorists driving

past have no chance of avoiding rocks being thrown at them. The

boys managed to damage a total of 13 cars from the spot, including an

ambulance. This all comes after the police launched a major

investigation into did -- in two incidents like this. At the

beginning of December a woman was badly injured when a bollard was

dropped on her car. The police are continuing to investigate this

incident to find out who was responsible.

A primary school in Suffolk is facing a bill reported to be have a

billion pounds -- �0.5 million after it agreed to lease some

equipment. It adds up to almost the entire school budget for the year.

This afternoon there was shock and disbelief that -- as parents arrive

to collect their children. It is horrendous. Other kids going to

suffer? I heard they got the computers in. In 2010 the school

was approached by a company. Later it offered a deal. Free laptops.

After receiving reassurances that they were free, the school agreed

to take 100 of them. The company then asked to sign a lease

agreement. When the school challenge the need for a contract,

the company provided a convincing explanation. They cannot be seen to

be handing over laptops because large companies would all complain.

What they had to do, we had to sign an agreement that stated that we

were taking these laptops. It sounded very plausible. The company

went into administration last month leaving the school libel for a bill

running into hundreds of thousands of pounds. No one here at the

school was willing to be interviewed today but the local

education authority says the head teacher is feeling extremely

bruised by this affair. The Lea is working out how much the school

does and how that money might be repaid. The company has failed to

respond to calls from the BBC. Its administrators will not comment

either. The question and everyone sleeps tonight, how will the debt

be clear and will their children's education suffer as a result?

What can schools do to protect themselves? At Question For Russel

Hamblin- Boone from the Finance and Leasing Association. Ask some

difficult questions. What happens if the supplier goes out of

business? Who owns the equipment? Cut was money in that situation? If

a finance company is one of our members, not only will they be

meeting the statutory regulations but they will also be meeting the

high standards we set and a code of practice. We understand that this

could run into hundreds of thousands of pounds. But if I went

out and bought 100 laptops at �500 each, it would cost me �50,000.

Someone here is making a killing. That is why one of the things we

say is to decide if it is better to buy or to least. Local authorities

often combined deals were a number of schools by the same equipment

and therefore get some sort of discount. Is this very common? Will

we see more schools following into this kind of trap? We are about

preventing these kinds of situations happening. We have a

complaints process and over the last three or four years we have

seen about 100 cases. In the case of Glemsford Primary we have never

seen anything like that before. That is something that the school

and the bank that is dealing with it will come to some arrangement

about. If a bank knows that these computers are worth �50,000, and it

is chasing the School For hundreds of thousands of pounds, they must

know that that does not make sense. This is all about competitive

markets. At the end of the day the responsibility for getting the best

deal is down to the teacher having taken all the advice that is

available. It is normally for a bank to judge on how much of the

mark-up is being made. What they are judging on is that is this a

safe risk for me to finance and am I going to get my money back at the

end of it? Thank you very much. The Ipswich Town Paul Jewell says

he will turn the club's fortunes around. He was appointed a year ago

today. Ipswich are near the bottom of the table and out of the FA Cup.

It has been a hard time. At the end of the day there is no point in me

reading the internet. You have to have confidence. I am confident we

can turn it around. The future of an annual truckers event has was

secured after the organisers agreed new health and safety measures. The

East Coast Truckers convoy has taken thousands of disadvantaged

and disabled children to and from Norwich from 1985.

Lord Ashdown was in Essex today to see something that could be

important to military history. It thinks it has found a canoe from

one of their war's was daring commando raids. This life gets a

polish. Recover from late 1,400 to the present day. We cover the whole

This afternoon, the museum had a distinguished visitor, Lord Ashdown.

He was there to see this canoe, which may have been used by men who

paddled into France in 194229 chairmanships. 12 went, two

survived. -- into France to blow up German ships. It is still

outstanding today, even years later. Two paperclips hold this together.

They experts have been X-raying the canoe to try and read its name.

Lord Ashdown is now a patron of the museum and is fascinated by the

canoe because he is writing a book You are watching Look East from the

BBC. Coming up... What is the The business tycoon Sir Richard

Branson told Look East today he will take on the high street banks.

He said some greedy financiers had come close to bringing the country

to its knees and it was time for a change.

Sir Richard was on a flying visit to Norwich, where Virgin Money has

its headquarters. The company now owns the former Northern Rock bank.

After he had talked to staff about the new venture, I asked him why he

had decided to invest in high street banking. The banking

industry has been badly discredited, it almost brought the world to its

knees and almost created and 1929 crash. We felt that a brand that

has a good reputation, if it swept into the banking industry and

offered great products and did things with a bit more style and

panache, that we could bring a great competitor to the banking

industry. But you think people connected with money, trusting you

with me their money is a big step? We have years of experience with

investments, we have to be million customers. We have not let people

down in the last 45 years in business. People are willing to

trust us to fly them around the world. We know a few things about

money, so I think that people trusting as with their money, the

indications are positive. -- trusting us. As you say, people

have less confidence in banking in general. What will be different?

will have a range of their products. Older people coming into branches

like this get more than people using the -- get charge more than

people using the Internet. We want to get very transparent and honest

pride that's that people understand, people have choice, there are no

hidden charges that are not explained. You are are going to

have judges for things that other banks do not charge for. High-

walled you'd get people to come from other banks -- how will you

get people to come from other banks? I think that is slightly

misleading command as other banks have hidden charges that goal with

current accounts. We will also have current accounts with a small

charge and get rid of hidden charges, so it is completely

transparent. As far as bankers are concerned, now you are very much a

banker, how will you restore trust? Is it down to bonuses or products?

I think it is a mixture of things. I do not think people should get

big bonuses unless they are delivering fantastic growth and

profits for shareholders. I do not think bonuses should be given

unless customers are looked after extremely well. Those are very

important items. But bankers became very greedy. Bankers nearly brought

the world to its knees. Bankers should make a fair return but not

an exorbitant returned. Just talking about the brand of Virgin

general it, do you think you are spreading itself too thinly? Bebo I

used to accompany specialising in one area, but this is a life brand.

It is a brand that has given as matching. If we were still in

record shops, we would be bankrupt today, but because we went in and

tackled a number of different industries, I think it has made us

a much stronger brand. You talk about making things transparent,

easy and straightforward. What drives you as a businessman? At an

Divx like sick and I know being dyslexic helps you in your life. --

I am dyslexic. And if I understand what it means, most likely the

public will understand. We have a reasonably simple way of getting

messages across, which has appealed to a lot of the public. We do not

use the jargon that financial services industries like to use in

the past. We have tried to simplify things and not hide things. Sir Reg

a Branson speaking to me earlier. - Richard Branson.

They have spent years in training. But tonight is the night the

region's gymnasts will find out if they are going to the London

Olympics. Louis Smith and Daniel Keatings are both from the

Huntingdon Gymnastics Club. Both are part of the Great Britain team

at a test event at the O2 Arena. Jonathan Park is also there.

Is is a huge competition for Louis met, at Daniel Keatings and the

major British team. What is at stake is to finish in the top four.

-- a huge event for Louis Smith and Daniel Keatings. If they are not

successful, only one gymnast could go to London. There is a huge fan

base from Huntingdonshire, including Louis Smith's mother. I

am not so nervous right now, but will be in a while. I will be

nervous for all of the boys, all need to qualify. We need all of

them to do well to qualify. I as a mother, you are there to

congratulate or console. Yeah SMAC, I am therefore be good or bad, but

I believe the will qualify. -- yes. You are hoping to be an athlete,

what is it like being here? It to his inspirational, hopefully I can

do this one day. I think they can do it. You coach them. Sum up what

it is like to be here? Its great to see them compete, inspirational for

their careers to see what they are working towards.

We will see what happens at 7pm. Daniel Keatings has been trained

all over Christmas. He is confident they can do the business tonight.

We're confident going into this competition as a team. We have come

together bigger and stronger as a team and looking forward to going

into the Test event. This is what I have been training for all my life.

18-19 years, all the sacrifice is my mother, coaches have made. The

support of all my friends. It all comes down to this one moment. I

would be silly to think it is just fun, there is an element of serious

involvement. We will find out later on if Team GB will send a meal team

and we will tell you all about it during the late bulletin at 10:25pm.

Thank you. Let us start with the drought. Just

before Christmas, there was concern the lack of rainfall would lead to

drought conditions continuing this year. We still need plenty of rain.

These are the areas worst-affected. Cambridgeshire, parts of

Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and West Norfolk. Those are officially

in drought conditions. One reason is that last year was the driest

So what do we need? Steady rainfall over the next three months. I spoke

to the Environment Agency. What we can do is work with water companies

to make sure they do all we can to plan ahead. Prepare themselves to

fill reservoirs now. Make sure they are tackling leakage and to help

customers save water where they can. We are also working with farmers,

another big water user in the region. They can take water where

it is available and are prepared for another dry spell if that does

Take a look at these snowdrops at Anglesey Abbey. Gardeners have told

us those are out two weeks early because of the mild conditions. If

you have seen spring flowers in your garden early, please e-mail us

at this address. The mild conditions continue today and

tomorrow. By the end of the week, it will be colder. We have high

pressure to the South which has set up a south-westerly floor of my the

air, keeping things mild but cloudy. -- floor of milder air. Although we

had some sunshine in the North, almost we had a fair bit of cloud.

We start tonight with cloud and some clear intervals. The tendency

is to turn more cloudy by the end of the night. That might produce

light rain or drizzle in the North. But it is very mild. Temperatures

not expected to be low than six degrees Celsius. Winds will be

south-westerly, picking up to moderate by the end of the night. A

similar day tomorrow. A reversal of fortune, the North seen more cloud,

the South Seymour brightness and sunshine. It stays mild but

temperatures widely into double figures. A little breezy tomorrow

with a moderate south-westerly. A fair bit of cloud around in the

afternoon, almost staying fine and dry -- all boasting fine and dry

for the rest of the day. For Thursday, a cold front heads

steadily across the region, right across the country. It will not be

very active with rainfall, but producing much cooler air on north-

westerly winds. A dramatic change in temperatures. Two more mild days

on the way. More cloud on Thursday, but staying dry for most. Maybe

some more drizzle. Much cooler temperatures on Friday and Saturday.

That is surely from Thursday afternoon onwards. We will see some

more brightness, perhaps even sunnier, even if considerably

cooler off during the day and overnight. Temperatures down