29/10/2013 Midlands Today

weekend. That's all from us. Now the news

where you Hello and welcome to Midlands Today.

The headlines tonight: New journey times revealed for the

high`speed rail network, as the Government announces a revised

business case. We could see an increase of around 50,000 jobs as a

consequence of HS2. That is economic growth we cannot do without.

But it's been revealed the new line won't generate as much money as

first thought. Eight arrested in early`morning

raids, as police investigate a suspected sham`marriage ring in

Wolverhampton. Join the Bone Marrow Register ` a

heartfelt plea from a leukaemia patient whose transplant failed.

There is no reason why it happened to me. Maybe if I were to give it a

reason it would be so why can spread the word now and get people to sign

up and save somebody else's life in the future.

And we'll tell you the tale of this 1,700`year`old coffin, a metal

dectector and a grave`digger. And for those of you who need to be

concerned, it's going to be colder than usual tonight, with the

likelihood of some frost. All the details later.

Good evening. New detail emerged today from the Government on

estimated journey times for passengers using HS2 trains from

stations around the Midlands. The information was released in a new

business case for the proposed line. The first part of the high`speed

rail link will cost more than ?21 billion to build, the line would run

between London and Birmingham. The benefit to the West Midlands economy

would be between ?1.5 and ?3 billion a year, according to a recent report

by accountants KPMG. But it'll be another 13 years before the first

trains run between the two cities. But with a brewing political row,

will the project ever get going? In a moment, we'll hear from our

political editor, but first, this report from our transport

correspondent, Peter Plisner. Back in the driving seat on HS2?

Well, that's where the Government wants to be. Today's publication of

the new business case should move the high`speed rail debate up a

gear. If you look at the moment where the first line runs from and

develop and happening around King's Cross St Pancras, that is the result

of Britain being connected to Europe with a high`speed rail `` railway.

We've known for some time that journey times between London and

Birmingham are expected to be cut from an hour and 21 minutes to just

49 minutes. Now the Government has published figures for other parts of

the region too. A journey from Stafford to London that currently

takes an hour and a quarter is expected to be reduced to 53

minutes. And it's estimated the trip from Cheltenham to Leeds would be

reduced by almost an hour from two hours and 50 minutes to just one

hour 55 mins. In addition to faster journey times, the case today also

rests on the need for more capacity on the rail network. The West Coast

Main Line to London is already incredibly busy but predictions are

by mid`2020, it will be fuller. Today, opening a new logistic depot

in Coventry, Network Rail was adament that HS2 was the only way of

providing the capacity that's needed. If you try to cannibalise

and keep rebuilding things that almost 200 years old, the original

part, that would be a huge mistake. It is much better to leave that for

more local commuter services and freight, and to build a brand`new

long`distance line next to it. Those opposed to HS2 maintain that more

can be done and they say that even today, the new business case is

fundementally flawed. The Government and HS2 have got this thing wrong

and it is disgraceful that they should apply voodoo economics to try

to justify HS2 and purport that this nation needs a high`speed rail and

that without it, the nation will suffer economically. Today there

also was more political debate on HS2 following Labour's threat to

withdraw support from the scheme. In Birmingham, the City Council's

Labour Leader maintains that the party is still behind it. The Labour

front bench are not saying that they are against HS2. In fact, I think

the economic arguments for it are overwhelming. Overwelming or not,

many are still sceptical about merits of HS2, and the publication

of yet another new business case clearly hasn't changed their view.

I'm joined now by our political editor, Patrick Burns. There have

been a number of negative stories surrounding HS2 lately. Do you think

today's announcement is about the Government taking control of the

project? That is certainly what they are trying to do and we have heard

there one of several strong statements from the Transport

Secretary. That is what they are trying to do. And allied to a

recognition that, yes, bringing down the business case lightly and

accepting that speed is not the be all and end all of it. That is a

recognition. The Government did over it the case on speed at the

beginning and not so much the case on capacity, which is the real

issue. That is why the opposition leaders are accusing ministers of

delay and dither on this project. Ed Balls told us on this programme he

would be keeping a close eye on the project costs. Do you think

opposition to HS2 is growing within the Labour Party? A few days after

Ed Balls said that to you, Ed Miliband said to me he was fully in

support of high`speed rail. He understood why his Shadow Chancellor

wanted to keep a close eye on the numbers. I think he was really

saying, I am fiscally prudent, as well as striking a chord with the

anti`HS2 campaigners. The voices raised again this amongst Labour

have been Alistair Darling, John Prescott and Peter Mandelson, and

none of them are directly involved in Labour's decision`making on

this. Labour will soon come to the end of their re`examination of this

project and the Parliamentary Marathon will begin. We will then

see who stands where on this and we hope a bit of clarity on numbers

will show the costs stack up. What about Sir Albert Bore's comments

today ` how significant are they? Very significant. He has written to

the Transport Secretary warning of open warfare is senior figures keep

on speaking sceptically about this, so there is a calculation and this

is what David Cameron was getting at when he said the whole project would

fall if Labour pulled out their support. He is saying, you would

have to blame your own party if this whole thing falls down.

Coming up later in the programme, more than local pride at stake as

Birmingham City and Stoke City go head`to`head in the League Cup.

We'll be live at St Andrews. Eight people have been arrested in

early`morning raids in Wolverhampton as part of an investigation into a

suspected sham`marriage ring. The Government is trying to tighten up

the rules on immigration applications, thousands of which

they believe are based on fake`marriage or civil`partnership.

Our special correspondent, Peter Wilson, has the story.

As dawn broke, a specialist team of 60 police, immigration and National

Crime Agency officers set out for addresses across Wolverhampton. They

were targetting a suspected sham marriage ring involving Eastern

European women and Asian men. An early arrest included one man

suspected of being a fixer. The people we've arrested today are the

Eastern European brides and grooms we suspect of enacting sham

marriages to Pakistani nationals so they can stay in the UK. So, what is

a sham marriage? Usually a ceremony involving a non`European national

marrying someone from the European Economic Area. It enables people to

stay in the UK and work and claim benefits. It's also big business.

?10,000 is often paid to the organisers to fix a sham marriage.

Between ?2,000 and ?3,000 is paid for a European Union bride or groom.

Our previous experience of investigating this sort of

criminality always shows there is an organised element behind this with

an organised crime gang making thousands of pounds from arranging

sham marriages to enable people who would ordinary sleet ordinarily not

the allowed to stay in the UK to stay in the UK. `` ordinarily. The

investigaters have been working closely with the local registrar.

The West Midlands is second only to London for the highest number of

sham marriages in the country. It is very difficult for us as registrars

to take these marriages because they are making a mockery of the

immigration laws and of the marriage act, and that is something we are

very frustrated about. Two men from Wolverhampton went up to Scotland

for a civil partnership ceremony just recently but they, too, have

now been arrested and are now being questioned about sham marriages.

A woman has appeared in court charged with the murder of a man in

Wolverhampton. 53`year`old John Fletcher was found at a flat in the

Market Square on Sunday afternoon. He'd been stabbed. 49`year`old

Caroline Loweth, who is unemployed, has been remanded into custody and

will appear at Wolverhampton Crown Court tomorrow.

A prisoner serving two life sentences for the murder and kidnap

of a teenage boy has escaped from a prison in Worcestershire.

56`year`old Alan John Giles was in an open part of Hewell Prison near

Redditch when he absconded yesterday. He'd been in jail since

killing 16`year`old Quinton student Kevin Ricketts in 1995.

A badger cull in Gloucestershire may not reach its target, even though

it's been extended for another two months. A report by the Government

agency Natural England suggests some badgers may have caused new

outbreaks of TB in cattle, as they were escaping marksmen.

After six years fighting leukaemia, 22`year`old Kathryn Cartwright from

Sutton Coldfield has just months left to live. But she's hoping to

leave a lasting legacy by appealing to everyone to consider donating

bone marrow. Around 325,000 people are currently on the British Bone

Marrow Register. To join, you have to be over the age of 18 and under

49. Once on the register, the chances of being a suitable match

for someone are about one in 100. Sadly, it's too late for Kathryn. No

bone marrow will save her now, as she's suffering with complications

from a liver transplant she had four years ago. She's been speaking to

Sarah Falkland. Her days may be numbered but she

hasn't lost her sense of humour. I've started the day on the front

page of the Sunday Mercury. Next to a picture of a woman in a bikini.

Because, clearly, our stories tie together! Kathryn Cartwright is

blogging about what are likely to be the last weeks of her life. I'm not

scared to die because they won't know. I will be gone. And it will be

fine for me. I don't have to then... Go through what I've seen other

families go through when their children have died. It doesn't scare

me. It just makes me sad. Here in the middle, before she was

diagnosed, Kathryn had always wanted to be a photographer. She never

imagined her own life being told in pictures like this. There have been

more operations than she can remember, pain that she can never

forget. And now she's getting infections her body can't fight.

They can keep treating them but eventually it will get to a stage

where I go in with the temperature and they won't be able to get it to

come back down, and that is when they will know I have only got a few

weeks left. If the quality of her bone marrow transplants had been

better, things may have turned out differently. And it's her dying wish

that others will have more of a chance than she did. Bone marrow

donation is so much easier than people think because they hear the

word transplant and think it means surgery, and my hairdresser thought

it meant it would take somebody saying, how long does it take to

recover? About six months? And they said, it is about a day. `` and ice

said. Bone marrow donation is so much easier than people think. Her

bucket list is getting shorter. A virtual hug from Stephen Fry,

instead of the real one she'd hoped for. A stranger has made her a

glorious cake. What would make her most happy, though, would be if you

signed up to the Bone Marrow Register.

I'm joined now by Simon Bramhall, a transplant surgeon at the Queen

Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham. How difficult is it to find the

right donor for bone marrow? Bone marrow donation is difficult. The

process to go through to match donor and recipient is much more complex

than it is with other transplants. For example, the liver transplant

she had. So it is quite difficult. There is a perception that donating

bone marrow is a painful process. Is that the case? I think it can be. I

think doctors do their best to make sure it is relatively pain`free but

it is very short lived and the patient recovers extremely quickly

from it, and in fact, they are back to normal the next day and have a

small plaster on, which is not the same as all transplant procedures,

of course! We have had quite a lot of response on Twitter and the

general consensus is that there is a lack of information, especially

about bone marrow donation. They cite Germany as having one of the

highest registers because children are made aware of it. How important

is donation of organs? It is incredibly important. At least have

the conversation with one of your loved ones and about what your

wishes would be. Whether it be bone marrow or another organ, in the

unfortunate circumstances that could happen where you were going to die.

It is that conversation in the family home that will make all the

difference. Would you support an opt`out rather than opt`in donor

system? I think when you look at it superficially, the path that the

Welsh are going down, in other words, the opt out half, would seem

to be sensible. However, there are a lot of complexities that people

don't realise. So, the legal aspect, the logistic aspects, because you

would have to contact every single person in the country and ask their

permission. You would have to have a very, very good database that is

very secure and I am not sure that in the UK we are particularly good

at keeping national databases particularly secure. So all those

things are very complex. As it currently stands, the system we have

in England and Scotland is probably the right one, although it would be

very interesting to see over the course of the next five years what

the effect of the change in law in Wales will be. Thank you very much

indeed. Our top story tonight ` new journey

times revealed for the high`speed rail network, as the Government

announces a revised business case. Shefali's here with your detailed

weather forecast in just a moment. Also ahead, the volunteers sprucing

up Cannock Chase...ready for Christmas 2017.

If you have a story you think we should be covering on Midlands

Today, we'd like to hear from you. Please get in touch.

Two metal`detector enthusiasts have unearthed an unusual find in

Warwickshire. A rare Roman child's coffin, believed to be

1,700`years`old, was discovered in a field near Atherstone. It's being

called a significant archeological discovery and is now being studied

by experts in Warwick. It was a particularly poignant find for one

of the detectors who's a grave`digger, as Ben Sidwell

reports. It may not look that exciting but

this lead coffin is believed to be one of the earliest Christian

burials anywhere in the Midlands. It is definitely archaeologically

significant because it is unusual for the region and certainly from my

experience, it is quite rare. The coffin is thought to contain the

remains of a young child from a wealthy Roman family who lived in

third`century Britain. Archaeologists in Warwick studying

this rare find say it could answer many questions. There's a lot we can

tell from the technology in the actual coughing construction. There

is a lock that the pathology of the bones can tell us. `` a lot. And it

also tells us something about the way people were behaving at that

time. So what has this cemetery in Nottingham got to do with a coughing

found on the Warwickshire border? Well, for one of the archaeologists

it had more than a small connection to his Dave `` day job. Steve

Waterall works as a grave`digger, although his passion is

metal`detecting. But when he and a fellow enthusiast picked up a signal

in a field near Atherstone, they had no idea they'd just come across the

most significant find of their lives. What a surprise! We knew it

was on a Roman site but, yeah, it was the pinnacle of the day. And as

things have unfolded, this is far greater than we initially thought.

In the village of Witherley, close to where the lead coffin was

discovered, there's plenty of excitement, but also a hope it'll

eventually be returned. I think the general feeling of people I have

spoken to is that they would like it to be returned to the village.

Obviously that is where the child lived. Otherwise they wouldn't have

been buried here in the first place. Archaeologists say it'll be next

week before the coffin is opened to find out what's inside. Only then

will its future be decided. It's a big night for Birmingham City

and Stoke City. They meet in the League Cup and Dan Pallett's live at

St Andrew's right now. There's more than local pride at stake tonight,

isn't there? You are right. Both could do with a win to their mood.

Birmingham City, 20th in the Championship, against Stoke City,

17th in the Premier League. Stoke haven't won since August in the

league. Their problem is a lack of goals but Birmingham City's problem

is even bigger, a lack of money. Here's Ian Winter.

The Midlands storm that never happened yesterday will kick off at

St Andrew's in less than an hour. So, wear thick gloves if you're

planning on staying out late. Like the Birmingham goalkeeper, Colin

Doyle. And if it all comes down to penalties, are you prepared? Yeah!

It is the pressure on the goalkeeper to take that and naughty and you are

not expected to save from 12 yards. They are expected to score. When

they last met in the Premier League three years ago, Nikola Zigic scored

the only goal for Birmingham. But earlier, Ricardo Fuller helped Stoke

win the game 3`2. So tonight, who knows? Between them, Birmingham and

Stoke have taken just 19 points from 22 games in the championship and the

Premier League. No wonder both clubs fancy a good cup run to kick`start

their season. We know it is going to be tough but we are looking forward

to it. It is exciting to have a home tie between these Premier League

teams. We know they will give everything they have got because

their crowd is passionate. So it is not an easy fixture for us by any

stretch of the imagination. Reporters and supporters alike could

be in for a late night if all comes down to penalties. And if it does,

don't nip off early to beat the traffic. Let's speak to someone with

very happy memories of the League Cup. You reach the final in 2001.

How these two clubs would dearly love to get that far. Yes. They

might be able to capitalise later down the line on other teams by

playing a weaker team, so it is a good opportunity for both of them.

Stoke nearly got a good result at Old Trafford last week. That doesn't

bode well for Birmingham? But Birmingham had a great result at

Derby so it is setup for a terrific cup tie. Stoke favourites but so was

Swansea City in the previous round and they lost 3`1. Well, it should

be an electric atmosphere and you never know which way it might. The

Blues won this competition three seasons ago. It is an opportunity

for the clubs away from the top end to go a long way. Yes, it is a great

opportunity to go into Europe, get good funding from this cup.

Hopefully tonight we will see two goods teams and a great top `` cup

tie and a great match. And tonight's game is live on both BBC WM and BBC

Radio Stoke. It's a 7:45pm kick`off. And we're guaranteed a Midlands side

in the quarterfinals. It might seem a bit early to be

thinking about Christmas trees this year, but on Cannock Chase rangers

are already preparing trees for Christmas 2017. Forestry managers

have introduced the traditional pines as a possible source of future

revenue. They're being tended by some of the hundreds of volunteers

who work on the Chase, as Holly Lewis reports.

It started off as a way of filling in gaps where trees had been felled,

but now Staffordshire County Council hopes these Christmas trees on

Cannock Chase might be sold at festive events in the future. We are

always looking at commercial opportunities but what we have to

remember is, Cannock Chase is a nature site, an area of natural

beauty, and the last thing we want to do is spoil it with

commercialism. 2,000 trees have been planted across the Chase and are

being nurtured by volunteers. Over the past four years, more than 500

people have regularly given up their time to help out, from school groups

to pensioners in their nineties. 27`year`old Gavin Evans has been

volunteering every week for the past four years since he saw an advert in

the newspaper. My mother spotted it and I thought I would respond to it,

and I thought, that is the sort of job I have always wanted to do.

Outdoor work, meeting friends, using different tools. Growing Christmas

trees is a labour`intensive business. These small trees were

planted three to four years ago. But it will be even longer before they

are ready to be taken indoors and decorated. Volunteers are essential

to projects like this one. Without the volunteers, this would not be

happening because the county council don't have the money for this sort

of project. Christmas trees will be on sale at the visitors centre from

the end of November. They're bought in every year from Warwickshire but

rangers hope it won't be long before these trees will be lighting up the

windows of local homes and businesses.

It looked a lovely day out there but it was so windy where rivals, tiny

`` I nearly got blown off my bike. `` where I was.

We have a ridge of high pressure building from the south responsible

for that and this is where the winds will be lighter, but those together

with the clearest skies tonight and the drop in temperatures will be to

a touch of Frost, more particularly in the countryside. So we will see

this ridge of high pressure killing off any remaining showers, leaving

us with a dry night and largely clear skies, which will lead to

temperatures dropping as low as one degree in rural spots, and sheltered

areas, which is where we will get the frost. For towns and cities,

those of six to eight degrees. So, a crisp, autumnal start, and chilly

but lots of sunshine to start with, with cloud thickening up from the

West. This will introduce some rain towards the tail end of the day and

two northern parts of the region. This could be quite heavy but for

the vast majority, a dry day, just turning cloudier. It is during

tomorrow evening and night that the and starts to cross the region

towards the East, and as it does, it becomes patchy and lighter, but then

again it ends up dry, clear and cold, so the potential for some

frost in rural spots. On Thursday, we start dry and sunny once again

but we have showers developing through the afternoon with rain for

Friday. This is what I want to draw your attention to. It is Friday that

opens up the door to this weather at the weekend. You will notice a

couple of areas of low pressure moving in from the Atlantic, so

quite an active scene for the weekend. These areas of low pressure

are not going to be as fierce as the ones we had on Monday but they could

be fairly intense, so, all in all, looking at some gusty wind over the

weekend and heavy, blustery showers. But Friday itself, there will be

heavy rain but I think it should clear by the evening and overnight

as we head into the start of Saturday.

Tonight's headlines from the BBC: Bosses from the big energy companies

face MPs' questions about their profits.

New journey times revealed for the high`speed rail network, as the

Government announces a revised business case.

That was Midlands Today. Before we go, a warning that rail services in

and out of Birmingham Snow Hill are severely disrupted tonight following

an incident at Small Heath, so the advice is to check with your train

operator before travelling. I'll be back at 10pm, when we'll be live at

St Andrew's with details of the Cup game between Birmingham City and

Stoke. Have a great evening. Goodbye.