22/12/2016 Look East (West)

Prisoners won't return to Bedford prison

until more staff are recruited - that's the assurance given

Part of the issue here is the enormous stress that prison officers

are under the kids they don't have the right numbers to look after the

number of prisoners. The unseasonal thieves targeting

butchers in the run to Christmas - one business loses ?15,000

worth of meat. Stand by for the man dash,

the retailers hoping for a last And after yesterday's delay,

the Queen and Prince Philip arrive at Sandringham

to start their Christmas break. Prison wings closed after a riot

at Bedford prison won't re-open That's according to the local MP

who visited the prison today. Richard Fuller says he was reassured

that prisoners won't be moved back A riot last month left much

of the prison unusable - with under-staffing and overcrowding

blamed as the cause. Our Home Affairs correspondent

Sally Chidzoy reports. The riot at Bedford

jail last month will go down as a key date

in the crisis afflicting jails

across the country. Hundreds of inmates took control

of two wings and used images of their rampage

to social media sites. Privately, many governors

and prison officers have said that incident finally

made the governments sit up and listen,

as they'd been warning

that staffing levels were so low, prisoners

and There are now 200 fewer

prisoners at Bedford. They were shipped out

after the troubles. Today, MP Richard Fuller met

the governor and the head of the national offender

management service. The focus was on safety

of prisoners and offices. You lack a lowly prison might be OK

from prisoners to be returned, I think it would be a mistake to bring

prisoners back until the issue of prison officer numbers increase.

The prison is trying to attract more staff but many officers are leaving

because of the unsafe working conditions.

Bedford jail is being designated a so-called red site,

that means more benefits can be offered to drive recruitment.

our new staff and officers on new terms and conditions to receive a

It is only temporary but it could help bring

new staff and prisoners on a par with Milton Keynes, who have been

offering increased pay for a long period, which has brought staff away

The local MP said he plans to closely monitor prison movement at

This will involve regular meetings with the governor.

We have a right to know that the prisoners working safely for the

prisoners, the prison officers and the population as a whole. The

element is keeping the option open of more prisoners returning to

Bedford but said the damaged wings will not open any time soon unless

there is an absolute emergency. Now, the long and significant

decline in prison officers is at the heart of what is going on in the

prison establishment. There are more mock ups of prisoners, more tension,

more frustration. It's a vicious cycle. -- lock ups. A pension

package was also unpaid. This means prison guards could go on protests.

This is a blow to the governments. They had hoped a deal could have

meant more stability in our prisons. As said in the report, it's not just

about page comments about safety. Then Bedford, a number of prison

officers are haemorrhaging out of the jail because of receiving it to

be a difficult and dangerous place to work. They are quitting the

service altogether are going elsewhere. It means there are more

leaving than their are being recruited. That is a big problem for

the governments and it's up to the governments to get it right. Right

now, it's getting it wrong. Back to you, James, any Judeo. Thank you,

Sally. -- in the studio. Police are warning business

owners who sell meat and poultry that they may be

vulnerable to theft. This comes after over

?30,000 worth was stolen Most recently, thieves targeted

a butchers in Fulbourn. Much of the haul

was Christmas orders. Staff in this Fulbourn had been

working round the clock to prep On Tuesday night, ?15,000 worth

of that meat was stolen. My first thought was actually,

have one of the guys been Because the lock sticks

and we've had 20 minutes And so, it was like, no, no,

none of us have done this. So, I thought, oh,

I better check the fridge. I opened the fridge

and the contents were Security is now being tightened up

and every effort is being made to ensure people's orders are met,

if a little later than planned. A nice big rib of beef I was going

to serve on Christmas Eve, I trust that they will get

some more in but, yeah, it means added shopping at this time

of year, which is not good, really. When I came in this morning to pick

up a whole gammon for Christmas, because we are going to family

and I was bring it with me I was just very sad and sorry

for them to discover they had been It is the third meat theft

in South Cambridgeshire this month. The following week, ?12,000 of meat,

including turkey, was taken Rogue traders tend to approach

people in pub and supermarket car But trading standards is warning

people not to be tempted by offers of cheap meat,

which won't have been The risks are really high

for contamination with pathogens Some of those microorganisms can't

be killed by cooking. If you don't cook things

sufficiently, you end up with some For the very old and very

young, they can be fatal. For anyone in between,

it would ruin Christmas and it's Police are urging butchers and farm

shops to be vigilant, and customers may have

to be patient. Police are still investigating

the cause of a large fire at a cleaning products firm

in Northamptonshire yesterday. Eight fire engines and two aerial

platforms were called to the blaze at Multy UK

on the Earlstree Industrial At its height, 70 firefighters

tackled the flames which created plumes of black smoke that

were visible for miles. Firearms officers are carrying

out additional patrols in Northamptonshire

following events in Berlin. The operation began this morning

with armed police officers Police say there is no

specific threat but patrols Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire

and Hertfordshire Police, who share armed response units, will be

carrying out "routine patrols". The leader of Cambridgeshire County

Council says he wants to be Steve Count is seeking the backing

of the conservation party The new mayor will have

enhanced powers over housing and transport

across all of Cambridgeshire I'll be talking to Councillor Count

in a moment but first Louise Hubball has been looking at those hoping

to be the all power elected mayor. Most of the councils

in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough The party has yet to

choose their candidates. We've already heard from Heidi

Allen, the South Cambridgeshire MP, Today, the leader of

Cambridgeshire County Council, Recently, James Palmer, the leader

of Cambridgeshire District Council, who has a farming and business

background, has also I have a great deal of knowledge

of leadership, running a council successfully,

making sure that services are kept Also, I understand business,

I understand what it's East Cambs alone has had 12%

business growth in the last year. There's things I can bring

to the table that I don't think any And we found today Labour has short

listed its contenders. Fiona Onasanya, a Cambridgeshire

county councillor, and Kevin Price, The party will hold its

hustings next month. Despite opposing the new position

of mayor, the Lib Dems have also Ukip has no official hopeful

yet, the party said it won't be announcing

one until February. The only definite candidate

in Cambridgeshire businessmen Peter Daw, who will be standing

as an independent. So, at the moment, there's a lot

of manoeuvring for position, but the actual election

with the final candidates Well, a short time ago the leader

of Cambridgeshire County Council Steve Count came into the studio

and I asked him why he thought The reason I want to stand as

because I believe I have the right skill set to be there and do a good

job being there. I've been driving this for three years, I've jailed

boards and I now chair the shadow authority and I will be the chairman

of till May. -- chair. I looked at the skill set needed to make this

the right thing and I believe I hold those. But what would actually do?

Irony involved in the decision-making and the

decision-making in this involves and touches on people's lives. -- I

would be involved. We would be looking at the money invested in a

housing, delivering the right places. ?600 million of

infrastructure with the need to prioritise and with the right

projects off as quickly as possible. I have been heavily involved with

governments, the city deals. Part of this is liaising with governments

and actually asking for more expansion on the panel is we need

and then something I want to move forward with. What is the biggest

priority in Cambridgeshire right now? And Peterborough? Housing and

infrastructure are the two biggest issues we have. Are you worried

about the turnout? At the moment, it doesn't seem to be excitingly public

very much. Potentially, you could be elected on a low turnout. One of my

jobs moving forward is to start engaging with the public. The

combined anthology actually have to go out and explain to the public

even more than it has today about why it's important to them. --

authority. And why they should think about the mail. This booklet on

people's lives. -- mayor. What why do we need a mayor? Is this a good

use of taxpayer money? I believe it is. We have spoken the Government

and to get actually wind decision-making. With the mayor in

place the combined authority, we will be able to make decisions much

bigger than we ever have done before. That's one of the hold-ups

with why they are getting on with things, I think. This will certainly

help that. The Newmarket-based jockey

Freddy Tylicki has been moved out of hospital

to a specialist spinal unit. The 30-year-old fell

from his horse seven weeks ago. He's paralysed from the waist down

after a four-horse pile-up He is now at a specialist

clinic in Middlesex. The Hertfordshire police dog

who was stabbed while on duty earlier this year has caught

a suspect on his first PD Finn was on his first working

shift when he found the suspect hiding in a stable block

following a road traffic collision. Right, I'll be back at 10:25pm. Time

to hand you over to Stuart and Susie, Alex has the weather. Goodbye

for now. We're at the races in Chelmsford

as Great Leighs celebrates And the amazing voice of 14-year-old

Breeze Redwine with her version As I'm sure you're aware

there are just two more shopping days until Christmas and tonight

is the last late night Of course, some people deliberately

leave their shopping until the very last moment,

hoping to pick up Our business correspondent

Richard Bond is with shoppers Did you know that these days we do a

quarter of our Christmas shopping online, but actually it is now too

late to place orders that way with most retailers, so what can you do?

All you can do is shop in person which is what people here have the

option to do tonight. Mike has been in Milton Keynes. Christmas Day now

just around the corner. Only two shopping days to go. As the UK's

largest single story shopping centre, this year pattern. Started

with Black Friday, the majority of online shopping takes place then, it

follows into December. We see significant increases and we expect

about 80% of shoppers to shop in the last two weeks of this month. Today,

long lines outside some shops. What they are calling here the man-.

Last-minute shopping by men. I have a list here. Take everything off and

then I can go home. Last-minute trip. 200 shops, one million square

feet. This year some retailers really busy. Sometimes you cannot

move in the store and this week it has been that way. Sales slowing

down for others. It has been unusual this year. Over the last eight

years, there has been steady growth. This year it has gone backwards.

There are a lot of people about, however full four has been down.

More than 2 million shoppers are expected in the run-up to Christmas,

around 600,000 in the last week, 100,000 on Christmas eve alone. Have

you done most of the shopping online? Online. We are just getting

a view last bits now. Note online. -- loads online. I like looking

around, I love the atmosphere and the decorations. A perfect present

for retailers, a late surge in sales. In this centre, that would

make it a magical Christmas. Here, they monitor shopping numbers using

their cameras and last week, a year ago, there were 195,000 people here.

The same week this year, 208,000. Colin is general manager. More

shoppers, are they spending more? Definitely. All of the managers have

been very happy with Christmas this year. Our people deliberately

leaving their shop late in order to catch bargains? I think it is very

much a man thing. We all tend to leave it a little bit late. Many of

the ladies have been shopping early. Christmas this year probably started

in the middle of November and carried through. Christmas Eve for

the on a Saturday. What difference will that make? Last time this

happened was 2011 and then we had 45,000 visitors on that Saturday

alone. A lot of experts are predicting it will be panic

Saturday. Thank you. The message from shopping centres like this is

if you have not done your shopping for Christmas this year, get a move

on but there is still time. As you have probably seen,

the Queen and Prince Philip have arrived at Sandringham in Norfolk

for their Christmas break. They should have travelled

yesterday, but they both They travelled by helicopter

and landed this afternoon. I spoke to the BBC's royal

correspondent Peter Hunt and put it him that there'd been quite

a change of plan. Very much so. The plan yesterday was

that the train would take the strain but as the Palace later revealed,

they have heavy colds so they could not go on the train, then this

afternoon, a helicopter whisked them away from London to Norfolk and now

they can start their delayed Christmas break at Sandringham. Has

the Palace given any update on their health? No. Once they are talking

about the Private health of these elderly monarchs, they believe they

are entitled to protect some of the information about them. It was

earlier this week that the Queen announced she would be stepping down

from some of her charity roles. How significant was that? What was

significant was that it reminded us that she is a 90-year-old head of

state who does not intend to resign, abdicate and so something has to

happen to insure her workload is eased and so that is why she has

given up these patronage is and you see she has not done any long-haul

travel outside of Europe in five years, and when she does invest a

chirpy 111 more of those are done by Prince William and Prince Charles.

What she will see is that she will continue to delegate some of her

duty is which she -- while she continues to reign. What more do we

know of her plans for Christmas at Sandringham? Christmas Day we will

be able to establish the nature of the recovery of the Queen and Prince

Philip. The Queen is normally driven to church and Prince Philip, he

always tended to favour walking the short distance to the church. Thank

you. I'm sure lots of you

remember the Great Leighs It opened in a blaze of publicity

and closed soon after. It re-opened a couple of years ago

as the Chelmsford City Racecourse and now it's celebrating

it's second birthday. And business at the new all-weather

circuit is booming. It's had more than 250,000

racegoers, lots of fixtures and prize money has also

been going up. Tom Williams has spent

the day at the races. What a difference two years can

make. Chelmsford city racecourse today in all its glory. Still

looking shiny and new and a festive feel for its final fixture of the

year on its second anniversary. We have raced 120 times since we

opened. We also trade seven days a week. Christmas parties have gone

fantastic and the investment, we have put a lot of money into this.

It is an independent West Coast. They have transformed the venue

which now makes money on no -- non-race days. In two years, over a

quarter of a million people have gone racing. We have ?100,000 in

prize money today. It is superb. We have a champion jockey here, all the

trainers, the big training centre is good, the best racing surface in the

world. It is quite buzzing today, really busy. Everyone seems in well

festive spirit. We are here for a good laugh. What a lovely day. Great

please closed in January in 2009. It went into administration less than a

year after launching. It was a sorry sight. I'm not but now cherished

again. It is improving all the time. One or two problems with the service

because it had been dormant for a long time. But they have done a

great lot of work on it and it is much better now. First race and a

winner for this year 's champion jockey and by some distance. Best

start in a new job so great to get a winner. The racecourse has only been

open for two years. What is it like? A good track. The prize money is

critically important. We attract competitive racing and good horses.

They plan to build a new grandstand, grass track and on-site training

facilities to make Chelmsford not only one of the finest racecourses

in the country but in Europe also. Now the weather. If you are hoping

for a white Christmas, you will be disappointed. It will be

exceptionally mild and quite windy. Some cold weather today but

beautiful weather as well. A frosty start for many of us this morning.

Quite chilly out there at the moment with clear skies across much of the

reason -- region. High-pressure does mean we will be in for another

chilly night tonight. Right overnight with long, clear spells.

Temperatures for many getting down to freezing. We are expecting a

force to form and these are the sorts of temperatures we will record

in towns and cities. A chilly start tomorrow. The big feature of

tomorrow's whether his storm Barbra, heading to the north of Scotland.

What it will mean for us is it will get increasingly windy but it is

expected to stay dry through the day with that Wayne arriving later on.

Mist and fog. These winds whipping up from the south-west, so by the

afternoon, these are our average wind speeds. As this rain band comes

through, and those winds pick up even more, it will be through the

evening very windy. We could record gusts of around 40 mph. That rain

clears and we are into a dry forecast for Christmas Eve and for

Christmas Day, they get this push very mild air. We may set some

records for Christmas Day, but before then, Christmas eve is a

little chilly. Temperatures around eight Celsius and then into the

mid-teens for Christmas Day. He wins he is a little bit for Christmas Eve

but then pick up again for Christmas day. Next week some fine days and

cold nights. Tonight and tomorrow,

we're ending the programme Tomorrow, it's the choir

of Norwich Cathedral singing Ding Dong Merrily On High,

but tonight, something It's a song made famous

by Greg Lake, who died So here is 14-year-old

Breeze Redwine, who was discovered by BBC Introducing, accompanied

on guitar by Lisa Redford # They said there'll

be snow at Christmas # They said there'll be peace

on earth # But instead it

just kept on raining # A veil of tears for

the virgin birth # The winter's light

and a distant choir # And that Christmas tree

smell # And their eyes full

of tinsel and fire # And I remember one

Christmas morning # And I looked to the sky

with excited eyes # 'Till I woke with a yawn

in the first light of dawn # And I saw him and

through his disguise # I wish you a hopeful

Christmas # I wish you a brave

new year # All anguish, pain

and sadness # Leave your heart,

let your road the clear # They said there'd

be snow at Christmas # They said there'd

be peace on earth