07/02/2014 Look North (North East and Cumbria)

50 years on, it is still being felt. That's all from

Good evening. Police investigating alleged sexual exploitation of girls

and young women on Tyneside say they now need to speak to 80 women. At

least 15 of them, they say, are the victims of sexual assault.

Detectives working on Operation Sanctuary have arrested 30 people on

suspicion of conspiracy to rape ` 28 men and two women ` at addresses in

Newcastle, Gateshead and South Tyneside. Earlier I spoke to our

news correspondent Adrian Pitches, and he explained the latest

developments. Initially, we were told there were

30 potential victims or witnesses, but today the police told us that

figure is actually 80, three times as many almost. Not all of them will

be victims, some will be witnesses, but at least 15 seem to be victims

of sexual assault, and what links them all is their vulnerability.

What is consistent so far in this investigation is that there is a

common factor in the victims, and that is their vulnerability, by

virtue of their age in some cases, and in many cases because of their

susceptibility to grooming, their addiction to alcohol or other

substances. From the start of the investigation, Northumbria Police

said that no single group is responsible for these crimes. Is

that still the case? Indeed. No particular community is

implicated in these crimes, in fact it goes across communities. What

links them is their appalling behaviour. They are from a priority

of backgrounds and nationalities from right across the force area, so

it is difficult to pinpoint one factor which binds them altogether

except their appalling conduct towards vulnerable women and girls.

And there was police activity this evening, with police and listing

taxi drivers and business owners to help with this investigation?

That's right. They are leafleting this evening in Newcastle city

centre because they want to raise awareness of this investigation.

They are saying that if it looks wrong, it feels wrong, it probably

is wrong. If you are seeing young girls with older men, if they are

drunk or under the influence of drugs, being taken into houses where

parties are going on, if you see something you feel is going on, ring

101. Adrian, thank you very much.

A care worker has pleaded guilty to abusing elderly residents at a

Cumbrian nursing home. Claire Strong, who's 20 and from Penrith,

admitted three charges of ill`treatment and wilful neglect

when she appeared at Carlisle Magistrates Court. Mark McAlindon

reports. Claire Strong pleaded guilty to

three charges of ill`treatment or neglect of residents at the Beacon

Edge Nursing Home in Penrith. They happened on three separate occasions

between January and June last year. It was revealed in court that Strong

had taken pictures of residents in humiliating circumstances. Speaking

on her behalf, Strong's solicitor said she was highly immature and

that her mother, also a care worker, was appalled by her behaviour. It

comes after an investigation was carried out into behaviour at the

nursing home last year. Two other people are also facing a total of 18

charges between them. Chevonne Benson, who's 22 and also from

Penrith, faces seven counts of ill`treatment or neglect of

residents at Beacon Edge. And William Bowman, who's 21 and also

from Penrith, faces ten charges of ill`treatment or neglect of

residents at Beacon Edge. He's also charged with carrying out a sexual

offence against a woman in the Penrith area. Claire Strong will

next appear at Carlisle Crown Court in March, while Chevonne Benson and

William Bowman face a plea and management hearing at the crown

court in May. Mark McAlindon, BBC Look North, Carlisle Magistrates

Court. There are calls for York College to

apologise for the mistakes which led to the death of a three`year`old

girl at its nursery. Yesterday, nursery assistant Sophee Redhead was

cleared of all blame for the death, but the jury found the college had

failed to ensure the safety of children in its care. John Cundy

reports. Claire gives children were at the nursery the day Lydia Bishop

tragically died, strangled a rope wrongly left on a slide. She said

parents were kept in the dark. We had a message to say, come and

collect your belongings from reception, and there was a carrier

bag for each of my kids, and that was it. The nursery shut immediately

after the tragedy, and will never reopen, and the college could face

fines of tens of thousands of pounds after the jury found that the

nursery had failed to ensure the safety of children in their daily

care. There is no apology to Lydia's family, to the staff, to the

parents and children. Nursing assistant Sophee Redhead was cleared

yesterday by a jury of any blame in connection with the death. I don't

think Sophee Redhead should have been held accountable. Somebody else

didn't do their job properly, and a little girl lost her life as a

result. In a statement today, York College said:

A man accused of his wife's murder has told a jury he developed tunnel

vision after his wife told him she was having an affair and wanted to

leave him. Heather Arthur was stabbed at the couple's home in

Gosforth in Newcastle last April. Her husband, Mark Arthur, who's 50,

told Newcastle Crown Court his whole world collapsed in a second. He

admits manslaughter but denies murder. The trial continues.

That's all from me tonight. Have a great weekend. The national weather

forecast is coming up, but first, here's Paul Mooney with the region's

weekend forecast. After quite a pleasant day to day,

things turning much more unsettled over the weekend. The reason is this

big low`pressure area that takes charge of the weather through

Saturday and Sunday. The rain will reach right across the north`east

and North Yorkshire. Temperatures down to two or three Celsius, and a

strong southerly wind picking up. Tomorrow, one to blustery spells,

but then the tail end of that weather system comes back around and

brings some sustained rain. Perhaps a little hill snow. A much stronger

wind. As we head through Sunday, one or two blustery showers, the wind

not as light. Most places dry for Monday.

Hello again. Nelson's flag ship HMS victory, was launched in 1765 and

you can still see it today in Portsmouth Harbour. But through the

whole of that history, you will struggle to find a wetter winter

than this one across southern England. Scotland has already been

in the record books. Their December was the wettest since standardised

records began about 100 years ago. There's plenty more where that came

from. Another storm is knocking on the door and will affect the whole

of Western Europe, steaming in from the Atlantic. Giving us a steady

stream of rain in most places. Severe gales ahead of that rain

gusts up to 60 mph. Battering the coasts once again. For the North,

across the Scottish mountains yet more snow. It's really piling up

here at the moment. A cold night for northern Scotland, elsewhere the

temperature is holding up quite