02/03/2017 Look North (Yorkshire)

Good evening and welcome to the late Look North.

More criticism of South Yorkshire Police.

Inspectors say the force is failing vulnerable victims and must improve.

And the extraordinary claims that the legendary Yorkshire TV

presenter Richard Whiteley was a spy for MI5!

Some very unsettled weather to come over the next few days.

Join me for the live updated forecast.

Tonight - more criticism of South Yorkshire Police.

The force has been told it must make substantial improvements,

by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary.

The forces in North and West Yorkshire,

In a minute, we'll hear from South Yorkshire's Police

and Crime Commissioner, but first this report

from our home affairs correspondent Spencer Stokes.

South Yorkshire Police is a force under pressure.

The Hillsborough disaster, Orgreave during the miner's strike,

all areas where the service has faced severe criticism.

On top of that, a Chief Constable forced out of his job.

But this latest report is about the force as a whole.

Neighbourhood policing in towns like Penistone

Here, the number of police officers has fallen.

We don't really see that many police, no.

But generally, I would say it's still a relatively safe place.

I don't like the fact that there may be an increase in

That is my biggest worry, that if there is no presence there,

We are still paying the same rates for the police, aren't we?

As anyone else is getting the police service.

We'd like to get some value for money for it, yeah.

The report says local officers are often taken out of

their area and that reduces community engagement.

They also don't get the chance to carry out problem-solving work

in individual communities and South Yorkshire Police

should be doing more to protect committee support officers

to allow them to get on with their job.

Every police force has been given an overall rating.

Outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate.

South Yorkshire Police was told it requires improvement.

And there are three areas in particular -

preventing crime, investigating crime and protecting people.

But the force did get a good rating

For many in South Yorkshire, the requires improvement tag

attached to the police force won't come as a surprise.

how long until that improvement takes place?

The force has said it understands where it urgently needs to improve

and is working hard to introduce a renewed, targeted

and reinvigorated approach to neighbourhood policing

South Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner

Earlier I asked him if he agreed that policing

is in a "potentially perilous" state.

This is policing nationally, of course,

but I think what the inspectors or report as saying that there are

really serious issues now because I think what's happening

is that the demand that is coming on the police service

is becoming almost overwhelming and the police are

finding it difficult to prioritise and that is a serious situation.

Now, the South Yorkshire force has been criticised for its safeguarding

vulnerable people and its approach to neighbourhood policing.

Do you agree that these are problem areas?

Overall, the report is saying that South Yorkshire Police need

It's saying within the report that some things they do very well like

tackling serious and organised crime, but there are some areas

of weakness and one of them is the neighbourhood policing.

When I appointed the new Chief Constable in December last

year, I said to him that the first priority has got

to be to restore neighbourhood policing, difficult though that is,

because the resources are not what they were few years ago.

And then there are some areas around vulnerability,

Now, that's a growing area of crime and the police have got to

get better at understanding that and knowing how to deal with people

But what can the force actually do to improve

as it's been told if it's not getting any more money?

Well, money's not the only issue, although

it is an issue and every year the Government go

This year, they cut the grant but said we could make up

the difference in cash terms by putting the precept up.

After years of telling us not to put the precepts up,

they are now telling us to put them up.

That only gives you the same amount of cash as last year

whereas in fact inflation, wage increases and all the rest of it

So they've got to find savings and that's very difficult.

The way they can improve in other ways, of course,

is to understand, demand better and manage the situation better

and be more efficient about what they do,

but I agree with the report.

It's saying that's getting more and more difficult to do.

The family of a girl from Hull who died 11 years

after a botched operation by a Leeds heart surgeon has been given more

Carrie Wright's brain was starved of oxygen

during the procedure at Leeds General Infirmary in 2003.

Her surgeon Nihal Weerasena, seen here on the left,

was struck off in January because of failings

Words cannot describe how much I miss that girl.

Nine Rugby League players have been charged with a number offences

The RFL is investigating after a brawl between Fryston Warriors

and Keighley Cougars at Featherstone on Saturday.

Two players were sent off and two others sin-binned

during an altercation involving a number of players

in the second half of the Challenge Cup match,

Yorkshire's Olympic boxing champion Nicola Adams has been awarded an OBE

by the Duke of Cambridge at Buckingham Palace.

Nicola has been honoured for her glittering career

inside the ring, which has also seen her win World,

She'll contest her debut professional fight later this month.

Next tonight extraordinary claims that the late Yorkshire TV presenter

We all remember Richard as the presenter of Calendar

and Countdown but now the actor Ricky Tomlinson claims

he worked for the security services in the 1970s.

That's something his partner says is ridiculous.

Could Richard Whiteley, game show host and presenter

known for his bumbling persona, really have worked for MI5?

He accuses Whiteley of helping to put him in jail.

Tomlinson's known for his role as Jim Royle, but in the 1970s,

he was a young union activist, accused of inciting violence

Tomlinson now says there was a Government conspiracy against him.

He claims a Yorkshire Television documentary about the strike,

fronted by Richard Whiteley, helped convict him and that Whiteley

A suggestion described as ridiculous by his partner.

He was the worst person in the world who could be...

Although, maybe he would have been a fantastic spy.

I don't understand what Ricky Tomlinson's motives are

And all I can think is that he's up there with Terry Wogan

and David Frost and they're laughing their heads off.

Before he died, Richard Whiteley was known for his reporting

on a full range of stories both silly and serious.

Which one this story turns out to be,

In rugby league tonight, Leeds Rhinos suffered

a heavy defeat away to Castleford Tigers.

A barrage of tries in the first half put the Tigers

in a very good place at the half way mark.

And despite a number of attempts in the second half, the Rhinos

struggled to make headway in a very one-sided match.

Greg Minikin and Greg Eden both scoring hat-tricks for Castleford.

The match finished Castleford Tigers - 66,

Meanwhile, in tonight's other Superleague game it ended

Now, very unusual tonight, altering Hull FC - 48.

Now, very unusual tonight, altering the weather.

Bad weather to come, I'm afraid. Let me show you a beautiful picture that

was taken this morning from Cook Reg. That was sunrise, a stunning

picture. If you have any pictures, tweet me. Quite a bit of rain to

come over the next few days. There is the headline, mostly cloudy with

rain later. Certainly more developing into a wreck date when

this weather front pushes up from the south. Low pressure in charge.

It may be that we get a clearance pushing through on Saturday. Having

said that, we will be left with a legacy of low cloud, patchy rain and

drizzle particularly on Saturday morning but perhaps an improvement

through the afternoon and Sunday should be brighter. A little bit of

patchy rain on the radar picture across the Pennines. That will

fizzle out. The rest of us try with clear spells. Just a ground frost in

rural areas with lows of one or two Celsius. Two Celsius is 36 in

Fahrenheit. For tomorrow then, a mostly dry start. Brightness in the

east of our region but cloud will thicken. Patchy rain into the North

Midlands, South Yorkshire late in the morning and as you can see, that

rain spread northwards through the afternoon. Temperatures by that time

around seven Celsius, 45 Fahrenheit. Barry White into Friday evening. --

very wet into Friday evening. Showery outbreaks of rain from the

south-west. Dry and damp, especially at first on Saturday. That is it

from Lara and me. I will leave you weekend, we have more rain in the

forecast. Rain at times this weekend, not