18/07/2011 Midlands Today

Hello and welcome to Midlands Today with Nick Owen and Suzanne Virdee.

The headlines tonight: give yourself up: A relative's

impassioned plea to the suspected killer of a family of four.

How could you stab a night into an innocent girl's heart?

Good news for Stafford as it is announced two brigades of troops

will be moving to the MoD base. wanted a defence based remain in

Stafford and clearly any increase in the town is going to be welcome.

How doctors are using pioneering treatment to try to save five year-

old traversed. And what prompted men and women of

all ages half a century ago to leave the rural beauty of Jamaica

Good evening and welcome to Midlands Today from the BBC.

Tonight: Give you sell part - that is the plea from relatives of a

family found murdered in their home to a Coventry man suspected of

killing them. Jeff Ding, his wife and two daughters were found dead

at their home in Northampton. Police have named Anxiang Du as the

prime suspect. Theirs was a brutal end. Jeff Ding,

his wife Helen, their daughters Xing, aged 18, and Alice, 12,

stabbed to death in their home. want to ask him, how could you stab

a knife into an innocent girl's heart? Not once, but wise? Jee Shun

is Jeff Ding brother. His anguish and horror is focused on Anxiang Du

from Coventry. He ran a shop in Birmingham in which the family had

invested. The partnership soured and he is the prime suspect for the

murders. The problem is the trail has gone cold. It was able 29, the

day of the royal wedding, when Anxiang Du was seen at locking up

his business in the shopping centre here and heading for the train

station. Today's later, the bodies were found. -- two days later.

Since then, there has been no trace. CCTV images trailed him nearly

every step of his journey but still police are hoping for a break

through. They think either he has left the country or someone is

shielding him. This is Helen's sister-in-law. She does not want to

show their base - her words are spoken by an interpreter.

brutality has shocked the world. He has destroyed our happy family.

What is more, he has broken the peace and tranquillity for the rest

of our family. Much respected and missed, last week, more than 200

people attended a memorial service for the family. A �10,000 reward

remains on offer for information that brings their killer to justice.

Behind the Anxiang Du is being co- ordinated from Northampton police

headquarters. You can call them on this number.

Still ahead: Hereford and has the space race - could high-tech firms

be the key to the city's future? The future of the large military

base in stuff that looks secured tonight after Defence Secretary

Liam Fox announced a wide-ranging shake-up of the UK's military. MoD

Stafford has played a central part in Stafford like since the 1930s.

It employs 850 military personnel and 400 civilian workers. Now, it

two brigades of troops are heading to the base and the news has been

welcomed by the Town's MP. We were concerned to ensure they MoD

remained in Stafford. Clearly, any increase in their presence in the

town was going to be welcome. I am delighted it will be to this extent.

A final decision to confirm today's news will be made in 2013.

This is very good news. Among the 1,200 military and civilian staff

leaving to go home for dinner, lots of smiles. The relief is finally

arrived. Members of one of the Brigade in Germany, two regiments,

they hope to come here between 2015 and 2018. That is a bit later than

planned, but it is reassuring that the space is here to stay. Let us

talk to the leader of the county council here. First, your reaction?

This is good news for the town. And the whole of Staffordshire as well.

It safeguards MoD Stafford for the future. It brings certainty for the

troops and the town. This has been a very late afternoon decision.

Offices he were telling me they were still digesting the

information. -- officers here. have always said MoD Stafford has a

future. It is a good base with many facilities. We have been lobbying

hard about the things that are required, like the new school and

houses. We're talking about potentially 600 families moving

into the area. What sort of infrastructure is needed? Will you

be building schools at this time? We have looked at the demographics

across the town. There probably will be the need for a new primary

school here. In all plans that went forward, 1,000 houses would also be

needed. 50 % of all jobs in this town are public sector. We know

tonight that the public sector still has a pulse.

A man has been jailed for murdering a woman in one of the city's parks.

He strangled a 34-year-old woman in October last year. He then left her

body in a brook in a park. The leader of deadly council has

defended plans to cut the wages of more than 1,000 staff. Talks began

with 14 % of the authority's workforce affected by changes

making men and women's pay the same. Although many will get their pay

cut, more than a third will see their pay increased. We must

recognise the people that will lose are doing so not because they are

not doing a good job, but because the iniquity of the system has to

be addressed. That is a shame for them but it is the right thing to

do for public services. The Crown Prosecution Service says

there is not enough evidence to prosecute lawyers for perverting

the course of justice over a death at Stafford Hospital. John Moore-

Robinson bled to death with a ruptured spleen. A doctor was asked

by the hospital's solicitor, Kate Levy, to take out criticism about

poor cat from his report. Another solicitor did not mention the

report at all during the inquest. Hereford is hoping to attract new

high-tech businesses into the city as part of ambitious plans for in

the enterprise zone. Hereford has joined Coventry and Staffordshire

and Stoke-on-Trent in the scramble for zones which provide firms with

business tax breaks and simpler planning rules. But only 10 more

regions of the UK will win such status and there are at least 28

bits. It is not paved with gold yet, but

this road could lead to the future of horror fit and 6,500 jobs.

aim is to create an exciting at high quality business park that

will transform our local economy. That will be done by turning this

164 acre site into an enterprise zone with the tax breaks to entice

tomorrow's world. Cutting edge technology - this is the kind of

industry they hope to attract. If you want to know what workers at

ETL Systems in Herefordshire are doing, take a look at this. A live

broadcast on today's lunchtime news is made possible through satellite

signal Engineering, the kind this company specialising. An enterprise

zone on their doorstep would bring benefits. We have a recruitment

problem as well as a supply chains problem. So having similar

companies in the area would help to put Hereford and Herefordshire on

the map when it comes to recruiting high-quality people into the area.

This may also be a chance for Herefordshire to update its image.

You think a caricature and you probably think of agriculture or

even the SAS. But the new buzzword is high-tech. The focus initially

is to focus on defence. We have a reputation for special forces. But

we have many successful companies in the area and this will create

the sort of centre of excellence in that field. This former Army

captain is already on site supplying the defence industry. But

one thing is still missing. There is a lot of high-tech

communications here. They can provide services as well. They can

only provide services at a higher level of internet, which will be

fibre-optic. Super-fast broadband is on the way but Hereford will

have to wait until August to hear from the government regarding their

enterprise zone status. Shropshire council has and �96,000

relocating its management team to new offices within its headquarters.

The figures were released after a Freedom of Information request. The

council said moving the chief executive and his team that made

more efficient use of space and allowed for better teamwork. The

move has been criticised by the union Unison which is fighting

plans to cut staff pay. The use of fake IDs at pubs and

clubs has been tackled throughout Stoke on Trent. The operation

includes businesses and agencies such as the police and City Council.

Fake IDs will be seized. Doctors are using pioneering

treatment on a little boy who would almost certainly be turned away

from any other hospital in the world. Five year-old Travis Rogers

is in desperate need of a heart transplant but the risk of his body

rejecting a new organ is too great after previous surgery.

Travers is only five. He has already died twice and then brought

back to life. On another occasion, he was given just one hour to live.

He was fitted with a pacemaker in Birmingham when he was six months

old. Recently, he went into heart failure and was going to Newcastle.

We came up here because they said in Birmingham we could change his

pacemaker. So we thought we were coming up here to have it changed.

We thought we would be easier for three days. There when we got here,

the doctor had a look and said there is no point putting it in. We

cannot do anything. He needs a transplant. But there was another

problem. He was not suitable for transplant. He was clearly

extremely sick. We were working him up for transplant and discovered he

had lots of antibodies in his bloodstream. Because he has had

surgeries and blood transfusions in the past, he cannot have a

transplant. Rather than give up, doctors here are pioneering a

solution. Those antibodies will attack his new heart if we put one

in straight away. So the exceptional treatment he has had

his eyes to try to remove these antibodies so that he will be able

to accept a heart without rejecting it. Hospitals around the world are

keeping a close eye. His plight has not been washed 10 times through

the night. Now, he is on that People have been helping to raise

money. This staff at the electrical firm are raising money by going up

the Wreckin. They are starting this Sunday. Good luck to them.

Still ahead here on Midlands Today, ready to welcome their 2012 Olympic

heroes, the Jamaicans who already call Birmingham home. And after a

weekend washout for some of us, the next few days aren't looking much

better. Join me for a look ahead to yet another unsettled week, in just

The war in Afghanistan has claimed another British victim with the

death confirmed today of Lance Corporal Paul Watkins, of The 9th

12th Royal Lancers. He was killed in Central Helmand province, which

is home to the biggest British military base to be built overseas

in modern times. Camp Bastion in Afghanistan has a population of 20

thousand - the size of a small town. And, as Louise Brierley now reports,

people from across the Midlands are doing many different jobs there.

Set in the middle of the desert, this is Britain's biggest military

base in Afghanistan. If it's airfield was in the UK it would be

the third busiest in the country. It's field hospital is state of the

art. Craig McDoogal, usually works as a radiographer at the Queen

Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham but is out here for two months.

level of trauma is more extreme. We have things we have to deal with

that we would not see back in the UK. We are training, working with

civilians, it is working very well. Hundreds of vehicles come in and

out of Camp Bastion everyday. Sam Plant from Sutton Coldfield is a

dog handler in charge of searching for explosives. I have told these

dogs they are searching for bombs. They think they are the king foray

doorway. Service personnel work seven day

weeks here and long hours. But away from work there's the chance to go

to the gym or even to play some rounders. And there are no rations

here with three canteens to choose from

And for these two neighbours from Rubery in Worcestershire it was

here at Camp Bastion that they renewed their friendship after

finding each other on facebook. realised we were both out here, we

said we had to meet up. She found me in the galley. I was in the

cookhouse. I saw you later on in his stories. A small world.

A small world but home to 20,000 people. Louise Brierley, BBC

Midlands Today, Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. That is amazing, such

And you can watch all Louise's films from Camp Bastion in

Afghanistan on our Facebook page. A Birmingham based charity just

back from drought stricken Kenya is appealing for more donations to

help prevent millions from starving. Islamic Relief is working in the

region to try and provide water, food and medical help. The Disaster

Emergencies Committee East Africa Crisis Appeal has already received

�20m in donations. But Islamic Relief says much more help is

needed to avert catastrophe. Bob Hockenhull is at the charity's

depot in Birmingham now. Islamic Relief is used to dealing

with disasters all over the world. The charity admits it is shocked

with the scale of the crisis in East Africa. So much so, the

charity's committee agreed to donate a further �100,000, that his

money from they have received from the sale of clothes that were

donated here. Aid workers returned with striking footage of the

suffering that people are having to endure.

Eight month old Mamood Humbradeen, severely malnourished and close to

death. Charity workers from Birmingham helped save his life,

taking him to hospital nearly 40 miles away Back in the Midlands

after a 9 day trip to Kenya, Islamic Relief's Assed Baig was

part of the team that rescued the boy. You see children of the age of

three-year-old, they are malnourished, there is not enough

water or food, you look around and there is plenty of food here, what

is wrong? More harrowing footage filmed by

the Birmingham aid workers, a boy struggles after walking miles to

get water for his family in Somalia. This weekend International

Development Secretary and Sutton Coldfield MP Andrew Mitchell

witnessed the effects of the worst drought in sixty years for himself.

Or areas and emergency developing of profound proportions. We need

the whole of the international community to bend every muscle to

help these poor people here, they are in desperate conditions. It is

a world away from the comfort at Islamic Relief's offices in

Birmingham. They are looking to provide a vital supply is.

The charity is already established in remote parts of Somalia, areas

considered too dangerous to go to by many other organisations. It's

been distributing food, creating water wells and providing medical

help but admits the task ahead is huge. To reach people is very

difficult. We hope to get to people. The British Government has pledged

�52m, but the hope is ordinary people will also be able to dig

deep Bob Hockenhull BBC Midlands Today.

It is money that they want donated, cloves can also be donated, that

can be turned into cash. You should see the EC website below me. Go on

there and help them. It's every footballers dream to

play in a World Cup final. And today, the Birmingham City and

England striker Karen Carney set her sights on Zimbabwe in four

years time. Karen, from Solihull, flew home from Germany today, after

watching Japan win the trophy in a penalty shoot-out. Ian Winter has

been to meet her. Lunchtime today, Birmingham airport

was very busy. They were coming to meet and international coming home

from Frankfurt. Instead I saw a four-man -- a former England

manager. I was at the Bob Karen Carney, she gave me the slip. She

sat down to reflect on the women's World Cup finals. It was a

fantastic show. The games were unbelievable. For the USA to go out

on penalties, I know how that feels. We know all about penalty shoot-

outs. She showed plenty of bottle by burying her kick from 12 yards.

England lost 4-3. Some of the players seemed reluctant to follow

her example. You're not really connected with your emotions. We

hung on would probably nine fit players on the field. To get two

penalties, and to sit there knowing we are going home the next day,

that was it for four years. could not wait four years for the

next World Cup in Canada, she returned to watch the final, Japan

beat the USA to lift the World Cup for the first time. She is now

focused on her next challenge, helping him at Birmingham City

Ladies when they play their next match.

I hate Penalties! In just over a year, the Jamaican

track and field team will be using Birmingham as their training base

for the London 2012 Olympics. It strengthens ties with the region,

where thousands of Jamaicans have chosen to make their homes. In the

first of three special reports on Jamaican Connections, our Arts &

Culture reporter Satnam Rana speaks to one man who's become a leading

figure in the Jamaican community. And you can join Joe Aldred on Chat

Back on BBC West Midlands this Wednesday from 10pm when he'll be

talking about the impact of On the West Midlands and what the

2012 Olympics means for the Citizens of the British Empire,

coming to help out. Hundreds of their countrymen followed.

Birmingham's industrial might was an attraction. Jobs were plentiful,

they began to settle in the community. Among them was the BBC

presenter Joe Aldred. He left the sunny skies of Jamaica to settle

here in 1968. The first thing I did when I got here was to strip off

and run outside, it was so much colder, I was not used to it. The

people were different to. Back then there were lots of white people

around, it was interesting getting to know them. Jesus, I am coming

Sunday. This may have been home for Joe, his spiritual to home was here.

-- his spiritual home was here. had not seen my father for all my

life. When I came to church, it was like, I am back home again. It was

interesting, and strange, and exhilarating. 28,000 a Jamaican-

born people live in the West Midlands. You only have to take a

look at the places of worship, culture to get a sense of their

contribution. How are the next generation of Jamaican scene

themselves, especially in light of Birmingham hosting the Jamaican

athletics team at the next Olympics. I asked his daughter BBC weather

presenter Genelle Aldred. There are many Jamaicans here, people of

Jamaican heritage. There is a lot of Jamaican in my life, the food, I

still cook the food, I feel very Jamaican, part of me feel very

British as well. It is that bridge culture which makes Birmingham and

the West Midlands home to show my - - so many nationalities, a place to

celebrate diversity. You can join in Joe Aldred tonight

on chat back from 10pm. He'll be talking about the Jamaican

immigration, and its impact on the West Midlands.

After a dismal, and depressing weekend, what has the weather in

weekend, what has the weather in store for Russ? -- what has it in

store for us? It is going to stay quite unsettled.

It was a miserable weekend. We saw 60 mm of rain. Things are not

getting much better in the week ahead. The reason is low pressure,

he Ritter's. It is coming up to the East Midlands. Bands of cloud are

spiralling around it. It will bring some outbreaks are showers, some of

those showers will continue to three tonight. It will stay quite

cloudy. It means things are going to stay fairly mild, temperatures

no lower than 11-12 degrees. Tomorrow, and mostly cloudy day.

There will be some showers. The focus of the showers will be across

the eastern half of the region. In the afternoon a things in the

western areas are not looking too bad. We will see some dry

conditions, the sheltered from the hills may bring some brightness.

Further east we will bump into them showers. They could be quite heavy.

In evening, the showers will keep going, a lot of cloud in the sky.

Another showery day on Wednesday. Showers will break out everywhere.

It will feel cool, temperatures around the 19 degrees. Thursday,

showers will turn quite heavy, the odd rumble of thunder. Friday may

be slightly drier. A look at tonight's main headlines,

Metropolitan police in chaos, Assistant Commissioner John Yates,

the man in charge of counter terrorism, quits in the phone