05/05/2014 Look East - East

There is more throughout the evening on the BBC News Channel. We are back

with the on the BBC News Channel. We are back

Hello, good evening. Insurance companies have been criticised for

delays in helping the victims of a gas explosion, which wrecked homes

in Essex. It's three months today since the blast tore through a house

in Clacton. It left two people badly injured, and dozens of other homes

damaged. Sharon Partridge and her family

lived just two doors down from the scene of the blast.

This is our conservatory at the back. The roof was blown off.

Luckily, her husband was already at work, she was on her way to work.

Son Jack, 11, had left for school and daughter Emily, eight, had been

dropped off at a breakfast club. The only injury was to the family's pet

cat, who is still recovering from an injured leg. The damage to their

home was extensive and ever since they have been living in a rented

house. It is very difficult to settle in a house that is not your

own. We know it is only temporary. We are living out of boxes. We have

lost contents in the explosion and to water damage afterwards. All

those small things sort of make life difficult. The explosion happened on

February fifth and left a scene of devastation across a wide area with

homes damaged and debris strewn across roads and gardens. Locals

could not believe what they had seen. It sounded like the roof had

come off the building. I made some quick enquiries to see if it was

anything in the kitchen or boiler room. As I came out the front of the

school, I could see, just up the road, there were big flames coming

out of the house. This is the site today. The two homes which bore the

brunt now cleared. This is Sharon and her family's home. The windows

have been replaced, the conservatory rebuilt, but they still have not

been told when they can return. To them, obviously, we are a job, a

policy number. To us, it is our lives, our home. I do not think they

understand. She desperately wants the insurance company to speed

things along, but fears they could be renting for some months yet.

People living in Brentwood have welcomed the news that a

Conservative election candidate has stood down. David Bishop has quit in

a row over homophobic and anti`Islamic tweets. He was standing

in the Local Council elections, but he's now quit the Tory party, saying

it's to "avoid any further embarrassment". Banners in the town

centre say what make redwood proud. Cummins posted by the Conservative

party ``... Comments were nothing to be proud about. On his Twitter site,

he posted Islam was the religion of peace and rape after former them men

were found guilty of the offence. Other tweets were homophobic. In a

letter he apologised to the real offence that he had caused. He said

he let himself and his party down. He said he hoped people from the

south Brentwood would forgive him that his lack of judgement. As the

local party here, they said they acted swiftly and conclusively and

in the interest of the Conservative party. The resignation comes only

weeks after David Bishop was selected as the Conservative

candidate for Brentwood South. Those I spoke to in the town centre that

standing down with the correct thing to do.

How can you represent people if you are being prejudiced to a group of

people in that community? He said things that can be to ``

misinterpreted. He must take the consequences of how a joke is

interpreted. He is not very caring. The resignation means there will not

be a concerted standing in the local elections for Brentwood South later

this month `` Conservative standing. Labour and UKIP will test

the board. 5,000 people have been running

through the streets of Milton Keynes today.

The town's annual marathon has been voted one of the best in Britain, by

marathon runners themselves. And today many thousands more turned out

to watch. The thousands today in Milton

Keynes, a relaxing bank holiday was not on the agenda. How you feeling?

A little nervous. Very nervous. I am only doing a half marathon. It is

the first I have done in many years. You are not running with this surely

you? Yes! We are a bit mad. We need new members. Organisers, delighted

with the turnout, were concentrating on safety. Their only 40,000 bottles

of water on the course. We have Saint Johns everywhere. We medical

cover. It was a fun run which saw the biggest smiles of the day.

Finally, the pop star Ed Sheeran played what he called a secret gig

at a pub in Ipswich today. The audience were only told shortly

beforehand exactly where in the town it was being staged.

All 50 tickets for the event sold out last week in one minute.

We drove from Faversham in Kent and turned up here, looked at the venue,

and thought, how many people are going to be able to fit inside? It

will be lovely to have 40 people inside there with him. It is awesome

to have an intimate venue. You feel quite emotional. Wow, it is so

surreal. We have some rain waiting in the

wings. A dry start to the evening. The rain is moving eastwards and

some could be heavy. By 5am oh 6am most should have cleared. It will

not be a cold night because of the cloud and rain. Many of us in double

figures. Tomorrow, the last of the overnight rain clears and then we

had a few showers. Lots of fine dry weather with some spells of

sunshine. Temperatures around 80 Celsius or 16 Fahrenheit. Light to

moderate south`westerly winds. Some showers, but not for everybody.

Wednesday is looking similar. Thursday, a few more showers then

some rain in the night. Rain gone by Friday, but Friday will be windy

with heavy showers. At least the overnight frost will be gone. Have a

good evening. The sunshine today for the bank

holiday produced the highest temperature of the long weekend in

eastern England today, at 20 Celsius. But to the west, the cloud

has been gathering. We have seen a bit of rain in Northern Ireland and

western Scotland, but the thicker cloud now pushing into the

south-west of England is delivering more rain. It will become more

extensive over the next few hours. A ragged area of rainfall will move

east as the night goes on. If you have yet to make your journey home

from the bank holiday weekend, you may encounter sums are a. -- some

spray. Temperatures are not too bad . The good news is that most of the

rain has gone by the morning. Some may be lingering in the north-east

of Scotland and into the Northern Ireland -- the northern