21/03/2017 Look North (Yorkshire)

Good evening and welcome to the late Look North.

The Leeds mum accused of spying in Rwanda.

Her young sons campaign to get her out of jail.

Bradford demands better rail services, has the city been shunted

I'm settled 24 hours of weather. I will have the details, join me

later. -- unssettled 24 hours. The sons of a mother from Leeds,

who's been imprisoned in Rwanda, to ask for help in

securing her release. Violette Uwamahoro,

who is five months pregnant, was arrested after returning

to the East African She's been charged with

sharing state secrets. Her family say she's been arrested

because of her husband's political activities and she's not

committed any crime. Eight-year-old Samuel

and ten-year-old David write Mother's Day cards for the mum

they've not seen for over a month. I miss her lots, because she helps

us around the house a lot and whenever we are stuck,

she will always help us. Youth worker Violette

was arrested on Valentine's Day, after travelling to Rwanda

for a family funeral. She's been charged with

sharing state secrets She's lived in Leeds with husband

Faustin for 12 years. I believe she was just taken

because of what I do, Which shouldn't be a problem,

because what I do is Which does not involve any

violence or anything. So she has just been taken,

if I may tell, as a hostage. After years of civil war

and genocide in Rwanda, the country is now run

by President Paul Kagame. He's been criticised for building

the army to assert his authority and using anti-genocide legislation

against political opponents. Violette's young sons are now

campaigning for her release. I've wrote a letter to Theresa May

saying that she is innocent, how much we miss her,

and my brother, Samuel, has written a letter

to the President of Rwanda, Faustin, who works as a lab

technician in Leeds is using his savings to pay for a Rwandan lawyer

to represent his wife but he's concerned the lawyer

can't act independently. The Foreign Office say

they are assisting, but Faustin wants the British authorities

to offer more legal support. They have arrested Violette because

they want to change their life. And they want to punish

all of us, as a family. David and Samuel just

want their mum home. Next tonight, more

on high speed rail. But for a change, we're not talking

about the controversial HS2. Instead, it's a plan to link

the cities of the north Today, Bradford has launched

a campaign Journey times between

Bradford and other cities A train from Bradford to Manchester

currently takes around an hour. With Bradford on the Northern

Powerhouse rail line, that journey time would be

slashed to 20 minutes. that journey time would be

slashed to 20 minutes. To go from Bradford Interchange

to Leeds it takes 20 minutes. But if Bradford gets

this new train stop, that journey would be

just seven minutes. While the actual line might be

years away from opening, city leaders say it's vital

to start planning, now. A little earlier, I asked the leader

of Bradford Council, Susan Hinchcliffe, why she believes

the city should be on the route. It's really important for Bradford

to be connected to the North, not just for Bradford's sake,

but for the North's sake. It would be 1.3 billion added

to our GVA, if Bradford gets put on the mainline train line,

which it needs to be. We know very little about

the Northern Powerhouse rail line. So, why is now the right time to

campaign for a station in Bradford? Well, we need to start

now because actually Transport for the North have been

listening, as have government. But it's really important that we

make sure the case is made now. We're the biggest city

in the country not on a mainline. If we need to make the most

of the opportunities for the North, then Bradford, and its people,

need to be connected What kind of opportunities do you

think it could bring to Bradford? Well, first of all, of course,

it's the increased trade, 85% of the small businesses

in Bradford export. Therefore, they need

access to the ports, east and west connectivity is really

important for the North. We're right in the heart of

the North, so we need to be on that. So, it really makes sense

for Bradford and its people to be connected and it makes sense

for the whole of the North. And what would be

the preferred location? Would it be suburb or city

centre for the station? For us, it would be the city centre

because, obviously, that is the hub, And we also have an interchange site

that could be looked at, to make sure that becomes the centre

of the station, for the future. So, for us, it's the city centre,

because it's already well-connected As as council, what can you do

to make sure that Bradford is seriously considered to be one

of these stations? Well, I think this is a really

important time for us It's not a quick fix,

isn't this campaign. But I'd look back at

the past and see that, actually, our forefathers,

hundreds of years ago, perhaps, didn't actually put Bradford

on the map when it came I don't want us to make

the same mistake, now. It's really important that we make

the right decisions, not just for today,

but for decades to come. So this is a decision now

for Bradford but also for the future and we have

to put our best foot forward. Councillor Susan

Hinchcliffe, thank you. The Kaiser Chiefs are backing

Leeds's bid to become European The band lent their support

to the campaign at Y17 in York, Leeds is competing against bids

from Milton Keynes, A final decision will

be made next year. We would love to see, you know,

more great bands come through Leeds and have places to play,

and places to rehearse. And we think the bid's

quite important for that. And that's what it's

all about, Simon, isn't it? Putting Leeds on a different map,

to a certain extent? I think Leeds, all through our

lives, has been growing I still think it's got loads

and loads of potential to succeed. And I think everyone from Leeds

is so proud of Leeds. Like, when we go round the world,

there's always someone from Leeds and they always

want to tell you, they're desperate Workers on Northern Rail

are to strike for a second day Members of the RMT union took part

in strike action last week over plans by the company to introduce

driver-only trains from 2018. It resulted in 60% of

services being cancelled. Finally, more than 30

Roman skeletons, as well as thousands of other

artefacts, have been found It's thought to be the largest

rural Roman burial ground The remains were discovered

amid preparations to build To most people, this

will look like a muddy building site and until now,

it was just that. But hiding beneath the dust

and dirt is a secret world. The stories from our Roman

ancestors who lived here more We've a burial of probably someone

who was living on a farmstead in the Roman period,

about 1,700 years. It's very exciting, because it's

a unique find for West Yorkshire. The number of burials

is very unusual. And it gives us a great opportunity

to look at a big population. To find this many human remains

in a small farmstead is unique and tells us a lot about the people

that lived here. We've got ovens, suggesting maybe

we've got bread-making. And then to find the cemetery site

with possibly 30 graves or so suggests that we've got

a settlement close by, as well. As well as 30 skeletons,

archaeologists found more than 1,000 pieces of Roman pottery,

animal bones and jewellery. Within one of the inhumations

that we had on-site, And we've got these are rather nice

copper alloy bracelets and bangles. There's a little bit

of decoration on this one. There was also some glass beads

as well within the burial. Whoever that person was,

they were quite important. This spot will forever be marked

on Yorkshire's archaeological map. The hope is that further exciting

discoveries can be made here, unlocking more stories

from our Roman past. Ali Fortescue, BBC

Look North, Pontefract. Fascinating stuff. That's it from

us, you are fully up-to-date with the latest news. I will leave you

with the weather. Good night. It is unsettled unsettled.

Divided by low pressure. This pressure will build on Thursday, by

the time we reached the weekend, something will be more settled with

more sunshine. For the time being overnight, some showers. Those

showers will turn into something more persistent, spreading from the

south west. Persistent rain for lower levels but as we head higher,

we could see some sleet and snow. There is a warning from North

Yorkshire and part of the Pennines. Temperatures dropping to single

figures. Some ground frost tomorrow first thing. Watch out on your

commute. At West Yorkshire, we could see some rain first thing. Looking

brighter and drier. It will head further north-east, leaving us with

a pretty miserable afternoon. Some heavy and persistent rain with

temperatures around 8-10 C. Ten is 50 in Fahrenheit. Thursday, a

miserable start but very quickly, things should improve. We should see

some nice sunshine by the afternoon. Friday and Saturday looking lovely,

temperatures in double figures for most. Ten, 11 Celsius and feeling

mild in the lovely sunshine. Sunday, we should still see plenty of

sunshine but we may see a bit of rain Sunday afternoon. That's it

from the team as Look North, I will leave you with your summary followed

gradually improve through Friday and the weekend isn't looking bad.

Heavy rain, snow and ice are all in the forecast once again. It was

quite a wintry scene today, especially in Scotland. Some very

cold looking winter skies here, and we had some snow falling at times in

West Lothian. For a while earlier today, there were quite a few

showers running through central Scotland, all in that cold air.

Right now, we have two areas of cloud, one in northern Scotland and

this deepening area bringing heavy rain into south-west England and

Wales overnight, with snow over the