07/03/2017 Look North (North East and Cumbria)

In tonight's headlines - so it's goodbye from me.

a mother and grandmother died after a botched heart operation.

I couldn't believe that they were just keeping so many things from us

and lying to us and being so deceitful.

A life sentence for a man who murdered his former partner

In sport, tonight - Newcastle United could set a club

record for the number of away wins in a single season.

the Magpies' manager has already picked up a trophy.

Her family said she was the picture of health.

Sheila Hynes was 71 - a mother, grandmother

In 2015, she went into Newcastle's Freeman Hospital

But she died after a valve in her heart was inserted the wrong way.

Her family say her human rights were breached and they're

Our News Correspondent Mark Denten has Sheila's story.

Laughing and joking with her friends.

This is Sheila Hynes, the very picture of health.

She was a lovely woman, wonderful mother, wonderful grandmother.

But Sheila, who was 71, began to feel breathless, she was admitted

to the Freeman Hospital for an operation

A routine procedure, regarded as having just a 6% risk.

The response I got from the nurse when I phoned,

She started to say, "where'd you live?"

And she said, there's been complications in the surgery.

Sheila Hynes had her operation on March 26 2015

It emerged that during her surgery, a valve in her heart had been

When they checked her, her heart ballooned up on one side.

When they removed the valve, it forced a piece of equipment

The next time her heart ballooned up, it basically

The family say, while Sheila was fighting for her life,

they were treated with gross insensitivity.

We were told, it wasn't our choice to turn my

We said... We were told we had no say in that.

In the same meeting, the secretary who was taking notes

announced that she already had the coroner booked.

This is while your mother is still alive?

We applied to the coroner to have it look that as an Article II ninquest

and what that means is it a human rights consideration that Mrs Hynes

lost her right to life as a result of this.

This tragic event should never have occurred.

Newcastle Hospital Trust has admitted the error

and says its thoughts are with the family.

They say a full independent investigation has taken place.

An inquest into Sheila Hynes' death will take place in June.

Mark Denten, BBC look North, outside the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.

It was "a murder of quite unusual savagery and brutality."

That's how the judge sentencing a man to life in jail described

the attack which led to the death of a mum of two

Miklos Verebes will serve a minimum of 28 years after using used a sharp

stone to stab his former partner Melinda Korosi almost 30 times.

During sentencing the judge also raised concern about the contact

Cumbria Police had with Ms Korosi before her death.

Megan Paterson was in court, Megan this was an horrific attack.

Last September Miklos Verebes broke into the home of Melinda Korosi,

Neighbours called the police when the heard her screaming,

but when officers arrived just four minutes later she was already

dead with Miklos Verebes beside her covered in blood.

At the time he admitted killing her, but later in court tried to claim

In sentencing today the judge said that excuse was 'absurd'.

The police today welcomed the sentence given and also read

a statement from Melinda Korosi's father:

When detectives came to tell me the news, I thought the earth had been

removed from under my feet and everything became empty and

meaningless. I couldn't believe in something this terrible. If I see a

mother walking with their child down a street, I have tears in my eyes. I

have a very deep pain in my heart. Melinda Korosi died in September

but the relationship had been That's right, the couple originally

from Hungary moved to Carlisle in 2012 between then and 2016

Miklos Verebes raped Just two days before

he murdered her he was released from prison on license

for attacking her in July. The judge described Verebes

as 'a domineering and controlling' who expected 'unquestionable

obedience from his partner' and when that didn't

happen he was violent. There was criticism from the judge

about how the rape allegations Yes, while Verebes was in prison

Melinda Korosi came forward to police and told them she'd been

raped, and just hours after his release in September

he was arrested in relation to those allegations but he wasn't charged

and today in court the judge said he could not 'begin to understand

whey he was released'. That matter is now being

investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission

and we're told Cumbria Constabulary is fully

cooperating with that matter. Detectives are still hunting two men

who abducted a woman and a toddler from a busy street

in broad daylight, before subjecting The attack happened on a popular

seafront in Redcar on Friday lunchtime, prompting

a huge police investigation. Earlier today, officers made

an arrest - but that man's been Our reporter Jim Knight

is at the scene now. As you say, I'm sure the police were

hoping that when they made that arrest today it was going to

actually begin to bring some fruition to the long investigation

they've mounted ever since that violent attack on Friday night. At

lunchtime when they released a statement saying that a local man

had been arrested on suspicion of rape, hopes were raised. That man

was still being questioned. We found out a short time ago that he has

been released without charge so it could be back to square one. To

remind you about the attack. It happened in broad daylight on the

Redcar seafront here. The woman who was with a toddler was dragged,

screaming, into a dark coloured saloon car by two men and driven to

a secluded area in a nearby village. There she was raped and subjected to

a six-hour ordeal. Then the men dumped the woman and the toddler on

the outskirts of Reading. Police say that the toddler was unharmed. You

may have seen the crime reported on TV last night. It's not clear

whether information from the programme last night has led to this

arrest. Because this abduction happened in broad daylight in the

middle of the day, police are hopeful that more people will come

forward. Two people who were jailed

for their part in the murder of a Newcastle man with learning

difficulties have had James Wheatley was jailed for life

in December last year But prosecutors argued

that the sentences handed to Wheatley's girlfriend,

his mother - and another man - This afternoon the Court of Appeal

agreed on two counts. Julie Mills, James Wheatley's

mother, had her sentence for causing or allowing the death of Lee Irving,

increased from 8 years to 10 years and Nicole Lawrence, his girlfriend,

had her sentence increased from Barry Imray's sentence

of three years was unchanged. A short time ago I spoke

to the Solicitor General Robert Buckland and asked him if he felt

the sentences now reflect Well, no sentence can

bring back the life lost but the Court of Appeal,

I think, have considered the cases very carefully and have decided

to increase them because they, like me, view offences like this

with great seriousness and I'm satisfied that as a result of this

hearing today, a higher degree There was an awful lot of local

feeling about this crime. I'm aware that the local Newcastle,

indeed the whole north-east by what happened and I think

it was right that I looked carefully at this case and then decided

to bring it forward to the judges who today have independently decided

that the sentences should go up. A 19 year old man's been charged

with a murder in York. The dead man has been named

as Shaun Skelton who was 53 and lived in Holgate Road

in the city. Daniel Thomas Reed, who's 19

and of no fixed abode, appeared before the city magistrates

and was remaned in custody Plans to build a school,

a retail park and hundreds of homes on the site of the current

Northumberland County Council Protestors outside County Hall

in Morpeth said the proposals would destroy the town's

historic character. But Labour councillors insist

redeveloping the 37 acres of land, and moving the headquarters

to Ashington, will save money The prisons watchdog

has raised concerns Inspectors say it's "unacceptable"

that most inmates at the city centre jail had to eat their meals

in their cells by an They also found that 60%

of prisoners felt unsafe. The city's MP today raised those

concerns in parliament and said matters were made worse

by a reduction in the Does the Secretary of State agree

with be that it's hard for prison staff to keep themselves and

prisoners safe with numbers being so reduced and what she going to do

to improve prisoner safety now? The honourable lady

is absolutely right about the concerning report about

HMP Durham and we are addressing issues about recruitment in that

prison, along with prisons What we have done is created

2000 new positions at a more senior grade for experienced

officers with mental health training, with other types of

training and those positions will be available in Durham which will help

us retain some of our experienced Few hospitals in England have been

plagued with as many troubles as the West Cumberland Hospital

in Whitehaven. And after months of protest, worry

and consultation, tomorrow is D-Day. Health bosses are to

announce radical proposals They include the possibility

of moving consultant-led maternity care to Carlisle,

along with urgent children's care, It was the first hospital

built in England But the West Cumberland Hospital

in Whitehaven, has been plagued with problems for decades,

Initially major financial woes, and then increasing

problems around recruitment After a report revealing

worryingly high high death rates in 2013 saw North

Cumbria University Hospitals Trust - Infirmary in Carlisle put

into special measures. Inspection teams went into hospitals

with worrying death rates... That same year,

patients suffering trauma, needing emergency or complex high

risk surgery, alongwith cardiac care would be transferred

from Whitehaven to Carlisle's In 2014 thousands protested

against losing services, and over fears the hospital

could more - including We want to keep the services we have

here. In 2105,

the Care Quality Commission announced the trust would have

to remain in special measures. A specialist government team,

the Success Regime was brought Well, controversially it

includes changes to: maternity services -

and the possibility of moving Consultant-led maternity

From Whitehaven to Carlisle Potentially also moving emergency

children's care across to Carlisle And possibly centralising

stroke care at Carlisle The decision on what happens will be

announced tomorrow. The decision will be made tomorrow by health

bosses and that is rubber-stamped by the council, we understand, on the

27th March. They'll so have the option of referring it back to the

government. It was a big issue in the Copeland by-election. Didn't all

the candidates promised to fight to maintain services? It was really

essential. As you said, all the candidates made a commitment to

fight for services, to fight for accident and emergency, consultant

led maternity, when we talk about consultant led maternity, we're

talking about a senior doctor on hand should there be convocations

during delivery. The Conservative's winning Caribbean -- candidate won

support from Theresa May when she promised a review of recruitment

before decisions were made. She spoke to Sunday politics before the

by-election. I've been speaking with the health minister and we have

agreed in writing that there will be a professionally, government backed

review, before any decision is made. Trudy Harrison has now told the BBC

that she made a promise for a review before any decision was made but

she's been told that the community don't want a halt to the process and

now she is saying that she will have a review of the situation after the

decision has been implemented. She will look at retention of staff as

well. There are no details about that review. This time tomorrow, we

will have the decision. Thank you. A new 19 million pound

hospital will, it's claimed, be the first phase of a major health

village planned for Teesside. It's being built at Acklam Hall

in Middlesbrough, and will be run by a private health company

which is expanding Taking shape, a new ?19 million

hospital. This is what it will look like. It will have 90 beds, three

operating theatres and will treat private and NHS patients. Over the

past ten years, we've led up to delivering health care to about

27,000 patients per year, outpatients and day case procedures.

In the new facility, will be increasing that by another 30%.

Middlesbrough Council had been criticised for selling off the land

and above all too cheaply but the owners say they have spent ?4

million repairing the grade one listed building and has invested

heavily in the building which will create new jobs. It's a massive new

scheme. It's pretty daunting and significant. We've always planned to

have a health village of some sort. This is the first stage of this. The

hospital is expected to be completed and opened by the end of this year.

Fifty years ago this week, the North Yorkshire city of Ripon

lost what many regarded as a vital service.

Its railway closed, leaving it the only city in Yorkshire

to have no direct link to Britain's rail network.

It's a loss which campaigners continue to challenge and still hope

It's an historic city where many still mourn the loss

Until 1967, the people of Ripon had this.

It's exactly 50 years since trains were last seen in Ripon

and for 30 of those years, the present mayor has been

A rail link really would make all the difference.

Over a million visitors come to Ripon annually,

And we know that 200,000 people a year would come to Ripon by rail.

All the proposals are directed towards making the railways do those

Richard Beeching's controversial recommendations in the 1960s that

With the line to Ripon one of many closed on his advice.

Today, the rail lines to Ripon have gone and the station here has been

After 50 years without trains, though, would the residents of Ripon

Yes. It would be ideal to have it back.

I personally think the money could be spent more wisely in other areas.

We've got a good bus service but it would be nice to have the option

A new feasibility study into reopening the line to Ripon has

With the quoting journey times between Ripon and leads of 36

It claims demand for the service would be high.

When the line closed, the population of Ripon was 8000.

By 2025, the population of Ripon will be 20 5000.

And 65% of those, we know, will commute out of Ripon each day.

The latest feasibility study will be conflict by September

with campaigners confident this bygone era can be

My mum and dad lived in Ripon at the time. I bet they missed the train

link. Great old pictures. Now the sport.

It's almost a year since Rafa Benitez first arrived on Tyneside,

taking Steve McClaren's place as manager of Newcastle United.

The Spaniard couldn't prevent the Magpies from dropping out

But he looks almost certain to take them straight back up,

And - ahead of tonight's trip to Reading - he's already

collected his first trophy of the season.

He couldn't be at last night's black tie dinner

at Newcastle Civic Centre - the small matter of another

And, if all goes well, another step on the road to promotion.

So the Sport Newcastle organisation arranged their own

pre-match presentation, naming Rafa Benitez their

It gives me tremendous honour to give you this because you have

brought back pride to the club, to the city, and the area and we

appreciate it so much because it's been a rough time. I know you're

going to succeed. Thank you very much. It's a great honour for me to

receive this award. On behalf of myself and my staff, the players,

everyone. When the manager receives this kind of award it means that a

lot of people have been helping him to achieve.

The rest of the Championship has spent much of the season

With an 11-point cushion between the leaders and third-placed

Huddersfield, who they beat at the weekend, it's hard

But Benitez is taking nothing for granted.

In one week, everything changed for us. In one week, it can change. We

have to be sure that every single player, every single member of the

staff and every single fan has the same feeling that nothing is won or

done and we have to carry on. The odds are, though,

this won't be the last trophy the Newcastle boss will be

holding this season. And there'll be radio commentary,

as ever, on BBC Newcastle, with the match kicking off

at eight o'clock. Elsewhere this evening,

in Scottish League Two, Berwick Rangers could close the gap

on sixth-placed Stirling Albion if The Cumbernauld side are just

one point and one place below them. Staying with football,

England's women could win A line-up peppered with

North East players stunned World Champions USA on Saturday -

with a late winner, set up Her shot ricocheted off

the bar, before being put England - captained

by Wearside's Steph Houghton - have to beat Germany in Washington

DC tonight, and hope the USA and France draw their game -

which takes place three hours later. Winning the invitational tournament

would be the perfect preparation They are obviously ranked

number one, the world champions, So it's a big result for us

and our lot of confidence going into the Euros this year

and going to compete We love playing against

the Germans and, hopefully, we can get a win there and see

how the second result pans out. We want to beat them

and it puts us in a really good position

to win the tournament. You can follow the match online and

on the BBC the bottom. -- on the red button. Doesn't that she believes

cup sound nice. Some blue skies on the north-east

coast there. Also, in York. The daffodils just about coming into

bloom. Tomorrow looks like a decent day, bright and breezy for most of

us. But there's some weather to in between. Rain spreading in from the

West as we had through the night. That rain does spread through the

region. A little bit of snow on the tops of the hills. By morning, many

places try again. Temperatures dipped down to four or five Celsius.

The winds turning more westerly by the end of the night. Tomorrow

morning, a fine dry day. 20 of blue sky and sunshine. A bit warmer than

it's been. Temperatures in many places into double figures.

Somewhere like Redcar 12 Celsius. It will be quite brisk and gusty in the

east. Tomorrow, low pressure up to the north. Keeping relatively clear

of the weather fronts for the next couple of days at least. Come the

tail end, this weather system comes in. The cold front follows an

Saturday bringing more rain with it. Breezy as we head into the weekend.

Wednesday and Thursday not a lot to choose between them. Dry days,

bright days. Some showers on Wednesday night. Daylight hours are

essentially set fair. Into the weekend, a lot more cloud around.

Friday and Saturday likely to see some rain. Patchy rain moving

further east. Maybe a bit cooler. 11 Celsius at best. We'll keep you

up-to-date on your local radio station and on the BBC weather app.

Very soon, a full update on the winner of the February weather

picture competition. More rain to come. That's a bit

worrying. The ground is absolutely sodden. At least it'll be through

the night, though. That said from ours.