02/04/2014 Look East - East

Care Hello, I'm Simon Newton. The mother of an Essex man found stabbed

to death in a park has appe`led for the public's help to catch his

killer. James Attfield was found in Castle Park in Colchester on

Saturday morning. The father of five, who was 33 and was living with

a brain injury, had been st`bbed more than 100 times.

Flanked by her partner and two daughters, Julie Finch appe`led for

help in finding out who brutally ended the life of her son Jhm, a

young man who suffered severe brain damage after being hit by a car four

years ago. I would ask the public for any information they max have

that could help the police with their enquiries. This to me seems a

senseless and horrendous attack on a gentle, vulnerable young man. So

please, if anyone saw my son on Friday, please come forward.

Somebody somewhere knows solething. No matter how insignificant you may

think it is, please inform the police. The maniac is still out

there. Meanwhile, a large area of parkland

around the river in Colchester remains sealed off. A tent still

covering the spot close to Castle Park where Jim Attfield lay dying

early on Saturday morning. He had 102 separate knife wounds to his

body. If it's a person. It would do that. No normal human being would do

something like that to anybody, let alone somebody as vulnerabld as Jim.

There is no excuse for that sort of violence at all. I just can't take

it in, really. To go through all that, and he was starting to get his

life back together and enjoxing his life. So far, there is no clear

motive for the murder, and police are unsure whether they are

searching for a killer or khllers. Tonight, a 38`year`old man from

Colchester has been arrested in connection with the investigation,

but police have stressed information from the public is key to

discovering who killed Jim @ttfield. This is a map of Britain showing

today's pollution levels. The east, in purple, had the highest of

anywhere in the country. Thhs evening in one part of Essex, the

level has risen from six to seven, which is classified as high.

Ipswich docks this morning, the town cloaked in a murky mist, and this is

why. A perfect recipe for vdry high air pollution. Fine dust whhpped up

in the Sahara was carried into the atmosphere, and mixed with

industrial pollution from cdntral Europe. Both were carried across the

sea on light winds, the high levels of pollution first hitting the

Anglian coast yesterday. It has been building ever since. That, `long

with our own pollution, has caused issues with the air quality over the

last few days. It is a perfdct storm in a sense, with the wind so alike,

there is nothing to dispersd the pollution, so that will sit there

until either the winds pick up and we get fresh air from the Atlantic.

On the DEFRA website, the hhghest alert possible. This GP practice has

seen a sharp rise in the nulber of patients with breathing

difficulties, so votes and stinging eyes. There are a riot gear things

in the pollution, which cause irritation in the lungs, whhch mean

that the small airways closd up and left air gets into the lungs, less

oxygen gets into our bodies. In recent days, scientists in Norwich

have seen levels of nitrogen oxide rise steadily, but a repeat of 952,

this is not. London experienced pollution with particle levdls about

100 times higher than they currently are in these conditions tod`y. There

is respite in sight. Tomorrow, pollution levels are forecast to

fall from very high to hide. By Friday, a change in wind direction

should clear the remaining pollution away.

Firearms officers surrounded a flat in Southend this afternoon `fter

concerns were raised for a lan's safety. Nearby residents were

evacuated from their homes for a time. A 36`year`old man was later

arrested on suspicion of growing cannabis and criminal damagd.

After a five`year battle, former workers at a car parts comp`ny in

Basildon are being offered compensation. The Visteon plant

closed in 2009, leaving hundreds of staff without their full pensions.

Ford, Visteon's parent comp`ny, has spent years denying it was

responsible for the loss of pensions. Today it agreed to pay the

outstanding claims. As you may have seen, Nick Clegg and

Nigel Farage went head to hdad again tonight, debating the UK's place in

Europe. This region does more trade with Europe than anywhere else, and

if we believe the polls, we are the most Eurosceptic part of thd

country. Our political corrdspondent This is the Titchwell Naturd Reserve

in north Norfolk. They recently spent ?1.2 million here on ` new

hide and raising the wall to protect the freshwater marshes from the sea.

Two thirds of the money camd from Europe. The new Ipswich frehght line

which opened this week was part funded by the EU. In the last seven

years, more than ?600 million has been given to universities `nd

companies in the region for research and development. To most people here

at the European Parliament, it makes complete sense for us to be part of

Europe. It benefits each falily in the East of England by ?3,000 a

year. That is the value of the extra trade that we bring. Not Labour

saying that, not even a polhtician saying that. That's what Brhtish

business, the CBI says. But critics point out we pay far more to hear in

tax than we ever get back. The political commentator Simon Heffer,

he lives in Essex, says it has all gone too far. I drive around bits of

Britain and see signs up saxing "paid for by the European

Community". Well, we could have paid for it ourselves. I'd rather have

that money spent here, and H'd rather the people I elect to govern

me decided how to spend it. And even here in Brussels, there are people

who agree with him. I think we could do a lot better outside the EU with

a suitable trade agreement. But wouldn't we lose out? No, I don t

think we would. We would have full access to the EU single market.

Remember, we import far mord cars or wine or goods from the EU than we

actually export to it. Not surprisingly, most people hdre want

us to stay in Europe. But opponents believe the argument is going their

way. Well, that's all the news from me.

Alex is here now with all the weather. Alex.

Alex is here now with all the Thank you. It is quite cloudy across

the region with some light rain and Rizal, but the rest of the night

looked largely dry. Some missed out there, and we may well develop some

frost by the end of the night, but it will not get particularlx cold.

Mist and fog to clear first thing, but there should be some long spells

of hazy # into the middle of the day, and certainly feeling puite

warm inland. Temperatures could get to 18 degrees, maybe a degrde or two

higher, with a southeasterlx wind continuing. It will be cooldr on the

coast. Allowed in the afternoon may produce isolated showers, btt for

most places, it looked like it will stay dry across the East. In a

moment, the National forecast, but I will leave you with our outlook and

a change of wind direction to a south`westerly will bring a cooler,

fresher air flow for Friday. It will be cloudy at times, and the air

quality is improving slowly. be dry. The air pollution has been

hitting the headlines today. For more information on that, here is my

colleague. Good evening. Very hazy skies in

London today and many other towns and cities across the UK. On

Thursday there is the chance of some pretty high pollution in the

south-east and East Anglia but by the time we get towards the end of

the week, we will see clearer Atlantique air coming in and we

should get rid of the Saharan dust which has been making services

grubby in the last few days. You can see the pattern across the

Atlantic. We also have a weather front.