05/05/2014 Look East - West

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