06/02/2014 Look North (Yorkshire)

taken ill at a dance event tonight. There is also a first

Good evening. Our top story: A children's assistant has been

cleared of all blame for the death of a three`year`old girl on her

first day at a nursery. Sophee Redhead was found not guilty of the

manslaughter of Lydia Bishop by gross negligence and not guilty of

failing to take care of her. But tonight police have strongly

criticised York College, where the incident happened. A jury found they

had failed to ensure the safety of children in their care. Our Crime

Correspondent John Cundy reports. Sophie Redhead, hurrying from court

with her parents this afternoon, after a jury had cleared her of

charges which it had faced for the last 18 months. You must be very

relieved. But still the tragedy of three`year`old Lydia Bishop, the

little girl excited before her first day at nursery had said, love you,

money, see you later. Hours later the little girl was dead, strangled

by a rope on a slide. She should have been supervised but she was

not. It was 20 minutes before staff knew she was missing. Today a jury

decided that the York College had failed Lydia, their health and saved

the precautions had tragically fallen short. The rope should never

have been left on the slide. It took the jury less than four hours to

clear Sophie Redhead of any blame in connection with the death of Lydia

Bishop at the York College nursery. Sophie Redhead was in tears on

hearing the verdict by the college itself has been found guilty of

failing to insure the health and is a eel children at its nursery.

Tonight the senior investigating officer in the case said in a

statement: York College will be sentenced next

Friday for their failings and they said in their statement:

Sophie Redhead made no comment as she left court and Lydia Bishop's

family hurried away as well. In everybody's minds, the memory of

what happened to Lydia that terrible September day.

A further ?15 million is to be spent on flood defences in Yorkshire this

year, as the government gave the go`ahead to eight new schemes. Most

of the money is being used to improve defences in Whitby, with

smaller schemes in the Calder Valley, North Yorkshire and

Doncaster. Joe Inwood has the details. Front `` from Todmorden to

Whitby in recent years floods have devastated communities all across

Yorkshire. Each time residents have called for action. Today some of

them had their call is answered. We are announcing 42 new flood defence

schemes for 2014 to 2015. Eight of those schemes will be in our region.

The biggest in Whitby will cost eight 5p. The totally is ?14.6

million. When finished they will protect 852 homes. We know they will

make a real benefit to local residents, economically and in terms

of protection for local homes. That is why we are putting extra money

into delivering these schemes. The government will be investing ?2.3

billion in terms of capital and expending review period but in this

spending period we are glad we can move forward with things like

Todmorden. And you flood dispense scheme for Leeds is on the way.

These new banks and walls are part of a wider plan to protect thousands

of homes and businesses. We have had an issue of nearly flooding several

times in the last decade or so so flood alleviation is a big issue for

the city and we need to tackle it now. As it has been for so many

parts of Yorkshire in recent years. Two for residents it could finally

be `` today for residents of Yorkshire it is finally good news.

South Yorkshire Police have applied to the government for a grant to

cover some of the costs of the Hillsborough inquests. The force's

commissioner is asking for special grant funding to meet legal,

insurance, compensation and other costs. The inquests are due to start

at the end of March. 96 Liverpool fans lost their lives

in the Hillsborough stadium disaster in 1989. Fresh inquests into their

deaths were ordered following a panel report which quashed the

original verdicts. Council tax in Leeds will go up by

nearly 2% next year, the biggest possible rise without needing a

local referendum. As the council set out its spending plans for the next

year, it also announced another 200 jobs will go and council house rents

will go up by nearly 6%. The council says it's regrettable but necessary

given the scale of funding cuts from central government. We can assure

people that the money that we raise we will put to their priorities of

looking after the vulnerable young, the old, disabled and those people

struggling with welfare changes in our city.

Bradford snowboarder Jamie Nicholls gave Great Britain a tremendous

start to the Winter Olympics. The 20`year`old had the ride of his life

in qualification in Sochi. It was so good he automatically earned a place

in Saturday's final, without the need to compete in the semi finals.

Nicholls managed a to complete one jump he'd never managed before.

It is actually the first time I landed that so it is a new trick

today for me. It is pretty crazy. I tried it once last season and it did

not work out too well. The jumps are really big here so it makes it

easier to do stuff like that. People are not holding back. They were

going for it, all out. I can see you were one of those. I would love to

see a bit of snow, I don't know about you I am sick of the rain.

We have no snow forecast in the coming weeks but I have been proved

wrong in the past. This is the summary for tomorrow. A

damp start soon brightening up from the West. Not too bad a day because

we are in between bad weather systems so the high pressure will

settle things down for a time. Very wet out there with longer outbreaks

of rain and a little bittersweet over the high`level routes. The rain

will tend to ease off later tonight and the lowest temperatures are

three or four degrees. Cloudy and damp tomorrow with patchy rain in

places. The improvement comes through from the West. A few showers

will follow and we should see some sunshine and an improved data come.

`` and improved day to come. That is it from me and Harry and the look

North team. This is the summary for tomorrow.

Hello. I think the impact of this wet weather could be felt more

widely as time goes on, even in areas which have been unscathed up

until now. For now, the focus is on southern England. We have amber

weather warnings right through until Saturday. We have another storm

heading in. They are queueing up in the Atlantic. The storms will take

place of this one which is giving a current spell of what weather this

evening and overnight. Wet