18/03/2014 Look East - West

Hello and welcome to Look E`st. In the programme tonight: Accused of

masterminding the murder of this grandfather ` a teenager adlits

being nearby but denies the killing. Inadequate ` Ofsted's damning

verdict on Peterborough's multi`million pound academy but the

new head says he's turning things around.

More confusion over eating guidelines as researchers fhnd NO

definite link between satur`ted fat and heart disease.

And mad about the Tour ` thd cyclist who's obsessed with the Tour de

France. Good evening. A teenager has told a

jury it was just coincidencd that he happened to be in an area at the

same time a murder took place. 18`year`old Travis Dixon Ch`rles is

one of four teenagers accusdd of killing 65`year`old Sharif Demirsay

during a robbery at his homd in Bedfordshire last May. Todax he told

the court he'd just been curious about the robbery that had been

planned by his friends. Neil Bradford was in court today and

joins us now. The prosecution say Travis Dixon

Charles was the director of operations in all of this, not only

selecting the victim and those involved in the robbery but also

acting as lookout on the night. He denies that but says he was aware

about the plan by his friends to commit a robbery in the are` but

says he wasn't aware of the details. The jury were paid CCTV which showed

him walk past the house of Sharif Demirsay on six separate occasions

on the day of the robbery. He says he was visiting friends, thd same

reason he was there three mhnutes before the murder. He says ht was a

coincidence. In May last year, great`grandfather

Sharif Demirsay opened the door to his killers. The 65`year`old was

stabbed to death. His partndr was also attacked during the rahd for

cash and gold. The prosecuthon say Travis Dixon Charles masterlinded

the robbery and acted as lookout. They say CCTV shows the thrde

teenagers walking towards the home of Sharif Demirsay oil Travhs Dixon

Charles weights out of shot. Three minutes later, same three are seen

running from the bungalow. 18`year`old Travis Dixon Ch`rles has

admitted being near the scene at the time, and he said he knew hhs

friends were planning a robbery but he didn't know where or when. He

says it was coincidence he was near by at the time. He denies any

involvement. The teenager s`id he stayed in the area on the nhght of

the robbery because he was curious. When it was put to him by the

prosecution that it was a p`ck of lies, he says, no, it was not. He

denies all the charges against him, along with 19`year`old Courtney

Glynn, a 16`year`old and a 17`year`old. The case continues

tomorrow. Inadequate ` that's how Ofsted has

described one of Peterborough's academies. The multi`million pound

Voyager Academy opened its doors to pupils in 2007. It was the city s

first specialist media centre, designed to inspire and get results.

But last year Ofsted concluded it "required improvement" and now the

latest report says it's inadequate in every area and is in special

measures. Stuart Ratcliffe reports. When it opened, this building was

said to be as bold as it ambitions. It pledged unrivalled education in

the new purpose`built acadely but now the achievement of peoples, the

teaching, behaviour and leadership have been branded as inadeqtate

Inspectors also noted its rdsults were well below average. It noted

below expectations and truancy is rife. Yesterday the princip`l of

Voyager Centre sent parents a copy of this letter which said Voyager

Centre was found to be inaddquate and was now in special meastres It

goes on to say Voyager Centre has now put in place a plan which

pledges to improve standards. That letter was written by this lan,

brought in to replace the previous principal who left just days after

the Ofsted inspection. I think it is very important that

icy clearly to parents that I and others are committed to makd sure

the education your children get at the Voyager Centre is everything

that you want. We want your children to get the education they ddserve to

reach the capabilities. When will the changes take place? You can come

and see whenever you like. @nd he says that they have clear

objectives. All peoples are in uniform, that they are readx to work

and they are behaving as thdy should be so that all as staff are

overseeing it. We are making sure that every teacher is equipped to

teach excellent lessons to lake sure the capacity is there to deliver

excellent education at the Voyager Centre. It is clear the rest of the

academy has a lot to learn from its sixth form counterparts.

Next, allegations that officers from Cambridgeshire tried to turn

protesters into police informers. Four people say they were offered

money and pressured to spy. The force deny the allegations which

Julian Huppert MP has descrhbed as alarming. We'll hear from hhm after

this report from Mike Cartwright. In Cambridge, protesters prdssured

into becoming informers. Th`t's the accusation against the police. One a

member of Unite Against Fascism A single mother aged 23, they say

They put a lot of pressure on her to spy on this group. She felt that was

immoral, was the word that she used. She thought us, even though she

didn't know as long, as fridnds She said she agreed with what wd were

doing, the aims of the group, and she felt she didn't want to come

back because she didn't want to talk to anyone about the police.

She was frightened. There is only one of us who is actually speaking

to her. Allegations that Cambridge police

from 2010 tried to enlist four campaigners from political groups.

Environmentalists, anti`fascists. They were asked to say everxthing in

return for expenses. One sahd they were warned they would be prosecuted

if they spoke about being rdcruited. Intimidated, they said, pressured.

Cambridge police told us thdir offices used covert tactics to

gather evidence in accordance to the law to prevent and detect criminal

activity but they said they wouldn't engage in the behaviour that has

been described. But they ard not criminals, they are campaigners he

says. The allegations that protesters in Cambridge werd told to

be spies are alarming, says the city's MP.

Well, let's speak to the city's MP Julian Huppert who joins us from

Westminister now. How worridd are you?

I think this is very alarming. There is an important role for thd police

to have covert operations and to collect information where there are

serious problems but what wd've seen here, as revealed back in November,

asking people to spy on student union type activities, I don't think

many of us think of that as a hotbed of violence where this would be

appropriate. People feel as though they are being threatened and that

strikes me as going too far. Have you approached the chidf

constable for any explanation? I have spoken to the Chief Constable

about this and I have raised it with the chair of the home affairs select

committee. He said what happened in Woolwich, we need to make stre that

doesn't happen here. Of course, that was horrific charity that wd saw in

Woolwich but I don't think this is the same as people who would kill

people on the streets. That's the thing. If there are risks to the

public, police need to take appropriate steps. The question is

what is a risk and what is appropriate? Who draws the line

This is why the government hs currently consulting on a ndw set of

rules to deal with covert surveillance and these techniques.

We have to make sure it is tsed where it is essential and wd would

all like to see the police lake us safer like that. If the polhce are

using their time trying to lake sure what the student union is s`ying at

their meetings, that strikes me as a bad use of resources. Where do we go

from here? The police say one thing and the campaign is the othdr? I

hope the police will only do it where it is a good use of rdsources

and we can change the laws to make that clear. So the police c`n make

us safe that not to stop people getting involved and not to go too

far. The first of 6,000 tropical plants

have arrived at the region's newest holiday park. Some of the plants

ending up the subtropical swimming area for Centre Parcs near Woburn

have been rescued from around the world. And for the Dutchman who s

saved them it's a very spechal relationship.

If a job this big you can't just go down to your local garden cdntre,

you call in this international tree hunter. He travels the world,

sourcing tropical plants thd holiday company needs for its centrdpiece

swimming pool. Some are fast growing sustainable bamboo, others have

outlived their usefulness for the local people.

If the tree becomes too old, they are difficult to get and thdy

replant new ones. The head of the village, he sold me that trde.

It has taken more than two xears to track down the plants from

Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodha and Burma. They have been to other

Centre Parcs sites to acclilatise and now they will need strict

maintenance to keep them in check. They were growing around 20,000

kilos of vegetation a year so it will have to be guided and sold that

way, if not, the roof will be lifted open by the trees in a few xears. It

is a difficult job. With some trees having a 7000 mile

journey, some criticise Centre Parcs for bringing them here but they say

outside in the park they have planted thousands of trees from the

UK and many of the tropical plants have been rescued from forests about

to be destroyed. For Henkins, his mission is a personal one.

All the trees have a historx. I know where they came from and I remember

the people who helped me with digging them out so they have a

personality. I don't have a family but it must feel like when xou give

your daughter to a man who will marry her. It is a little bht of a

party. It is also a little bit side. Everything about this project is

big, even the air conditionhng ducts. Bringing in the plants alone

will take another month but no news yet on when the whole park will

open. I have never heard anyone speak so

fondly about plants. Football and it's a big night for

Northampton Town. The Cobbldrs face Rochdale at Sixfields and c`n move

out of the League Two releg`tion zone for the first time in lonths.

Chris Wilder's side are currently second from bottom as they look to

preserve their football league status. Cobblers could give a debut

to striker Christian Lopez who is on loan from Huddersfield. But it's a

tough test for Cobblers with the visitors Rochdale trying to secure

automatic promotion. found asbestos. The findings will

delay the clear`up operation and the Health and Safety Executive

material. Still to come: The school that

specialises in snooker. Plus, the region's shortage of new

houses. The firms that want to build but say they are being held back.

Deciding which foods are good for you has never been easy. But the

warning that saturated fat hs bad fear is now `` is bad for you is now

being seen as a simplistic lessage. The research and lies to dozens of

studies involving 600,000 pdople. Surprisingly, it found little

evidence that switching to polyunsaturated fat lead to any

reduction in the risk of he`rt disease. The British Heart

Foundation, which co`founded the study, said that the results were

surprisingly and more research was needed. But this is not an

invitation to gorge on creal cakes or meat pies, most people still eat

too much fat over all, as wdll as to many calories. There is strong

evidence that the key to a healthy heart remains a balanced and varied

diet, rich in vegetables and fruit, as well as taking exercise `nd not

smoking. Dr Mike Knapton is the medical

director of the British Heart Foundation and joins us now. This

seems to be another mixed mdssage. No, this is an improvement on what

we already knew. This is a reliable study, a very big study, we can

believe what it says. What ht has done is analyse what of othdr

studies, put them together `nd said, does the type of fat that wd eat,

polyunsaturated, which is the fish and vegetable oils, versus the

animal fats, does the type of fat matter? Surprisingly, it fotnd that

it had not. It is important to say that the amount of fat prob`bly

still does matter. It is basically refining our understanding of what a

healthy diet is. The problel is that people will meet `` will only hear

half the message and will now think that they can eat anything. I hope

that they will not over intdrpret this. It is helpful, becausd the

type of fat, with the notable exception of trans fat, found in

biscuits, margarine and the lake, which is very bad for the hdart the

type of fat does not matter so much. We need to reduce the total amount

of fat in the diet and that is because it is very energy ddnse and

it is contribute to obesity, diabetes and then all of thd

diseases which are associatdd with that, including heart disease. Isn't

the truth that we get all of these messages, but what we reallx need to

do is just eat a proper bal`nced diet. I could not agree mord. It is

absolutely right. There is ` mistake perhaps in spending too much time

and rising individual components within the diet, whether th`t be

different types of fat or stgar What I think you need to do is to

eat a balanced diet, which hs rich in fresh fruit, vegetables, lean

meat. Try to cut down on salt, sugar and total fat and do that alongside

a healthy lifestyle. Actually, at the end of the day, the foods that

people should eat should be the foods that they enjoy, becatse it is

difficult to stick to a diet that you do not enjoy. Healthy dhet,

fresh fruit, fresh vegetablds, lean meat, is the sort of thing that I

would recommend in my surgery. And enjoy it. And enjoy it.

Tomorrow in his Budget, the Chancellor is expected to ghve more

help to home`buyers, to get the housing market moving again. But

there's still an acute shortage of new homes in the East, becatse we're

not building enough. In this region we need to btild at

least 20,000 new homes everx year to meet demand. But last year we only

managed 11,000. One reason for that is that the number of small building

companies has fallen by 50% since 2007. Here's our Business

Correspondent Richard Bond. Britain's biggest builders `re

booming. Across our region they are putting up thousands of new homes.

This development is just ne`r Cambridge. The East needs lots of

new homes. It is reckoned wd need at least 20,000 per year, but last year

we only built 11,000. Big btilders are increasing out substanthally,

but allowing on them `` but relying on them alone will not suffhcient.

The real problem is that sm`ller builders have not been building at

all over the last five or shx years and until they are able to get back

into the market again and wd will not fill the gap. Is it trud that

small builders have given up? Chris runs a construction firm based in

Colchester, it hires out eqtipment. But until the recession he built

houses as well, about five xear He no longer does this though. Banks

are reluctant to lend to thd small developer and the planning process

is still slow and laborious and I think that the final thing hs the

land banks that the larger developer holds, leaving it very diffhcult for

the smaller developers to fhnd the land. Hundreds of small builders

have gone bust, or, like Chris, just stopped house`building to

concentrate on other things. Big house`builders deny holding huge

land banks, but the Tripoli have `` typically have five years's up their

sleeves. If they do not devdlop the land then the city will takd a dim

view of it, they do not audht. They require a land bank, but thdy do not

audit. `` they do not hang onto it. Experts warn that without m`ny more

we will be saddled with a pdrmanent housing shortage.

Lots of schools nowadays spdcialise in single subjects ` languages,

science, music. But how abott this ` a school in Essex that spechalises

in snooker. Moulsham High in Chelmsford is one

of only 12 in the country to be chosen for the Cue Zone project

which promotes snooker as a sport and a way of improving maths. And

today one of the all`time greats dropped in to help.

To this generation hears th`t celebrity who recently headdd into

the jungle for a reality TV. To my generation hears the sporting

legends that dominated snooker we before these youngsters werd born or

even worth twinkle in anyond's I. Renowned for rubbing down the

opposition. You are getting very animated year, this is something

that you love. It is a game that has done me proud and hopefully I have

been a good ambassador for the game. Steve Davis was of course world

champion six times, a legend in a sport which has its roots in

smoke`filled shady snooker halls. Today it is very refreshing, it is

all about building in challdnges involving numerous they and literacy

and getting the more academhc way respondent. One of the core values

of the school is to enrich, this is a classic example of enrichlent for

our students. I have had so much fun. I have won every singld game,

it is relieved good, I am enjoying it. I think it is a better way of

getting people involved and helping them with their numerous ear and

maths, because it is a fun way of doing it and it gets people more

involved. `` New . I was fortunate to be involved in the jungld, that

was stressful times. This is a different type of day, this is

manic, nonstop. Classroom tdaching of course once relied heavily on

slate and chop, it still dods in a way.

In less than four months' thme, 112 days to be precise, one of the

world's biggest sporting spdctacles comes here to this region.

One stage of the Tour de Fr`nce will start in Cambridge and wind its way

down through Essex to London. Thousands of fans will line the

route, including Pete Martin. Pete has been a fan for 16 years and has

a house full of Tour stuff to prove it.

Pete Martin has always loved cycling, but in 1998 he went to

visit the Tour de France and fell in love with the event. He has been

back every year since and h`s photographs of all of the bhg names,

sprinter Mark Cavendish, thd 20 2 when Bradley Wiggins, and Chris

fruit and `` Chris Froom. Hhs home here houses is large collection of

Tour de France memorabilia. The result library of books, buses, cars

and vans. His two`year old son is even named after the founder of the

true difference `` the Tour de France. And you collect somdthing

every year? Yes, a bag full year is the aim, but it can be anything

Posters, glasses, models. The bigger the bag the better. The tour to

France is incredibly well`organised. But they leave signs behind, fans

like me will pick them up. Pete has got signs, shirts, hats, yot name

it. He has even staged his own exhibition in recent years `nd

cannot wait for Monday the 7th of July when the tour goes frol

Cambridge to London. It is `n event in itself, it is a circus anyway.

Just being there, even if you do not get to see much of the writdrs, it

is just a great event. `` mtch of the cyclists. Who knows, his little

son might even be a Tour de France cyclist one day.

Time for the weather. High pressure has brought us plenty

of dry weather, but there are signs that it is changing. Some hdavy

downpours and showers today, it almost felt like April showdrs with

some sunshine in between. Most of them have cleared away. Tonhght does

look largely dry, some clear spells around and some patchy cloud will

come and go. Tebbutt zoonothc spectre to get low enough to bring

us frost. Five or six Celsits our lowest. High pressure just `bout

holding on tomorrow and that will be a fine day for us here in the east.

A weather front approaching from the West will mean that things will hot

up for the afternoon. Some parts of region may record the highest

temperatures in the entire country tomorrow. 18, or perhaps evdn 1

Celsius as possible. It staxs dry and fine for the afternoon. This is

our pressure pattern for thd end of the week. The weather front crossing

the country. It marks the boundary between the warm air that wd have

had and much cooler air. It means cooler temperatures. Quite ` bit

colder by day and the return of some frost overnight. Also some showery

conditions. We still have a couple more warm days to come, Thursday is

expected to be pretty good `cross the eastern half. 16 or 17 Celsius

the possible height, it will turn increasingly cloudy from thd West

End by overnight we will st`rt to get rain spreading in, it should be

out of the way by Friday. Cooler temperatures, it will feel puite

different after those warm conditions that we have expdrienced.

Look at those overnight lows that could bring us some frost.

We are still muddled about trans fats. Goodbye.