27/03/2014 Midlands Today

Hello and welcome to Midlands Today. The headlines tonight: Joshta

Ribera's killer found guiltx of murder.

Armani Mitchell's jailed for 18 years for stabbing the rap `rtist

The judge said knives were 'cripplingly dangerous" for young

people to carry. There is no justice but to dashboard Joshua bec`use he

was too special and amazing. He could have a hundred years hn prison

and it still wouldn't be justice. The judge shares knives werd

cripplingly dangerous the pdople to carry. Also tonight: After they were

all failed, a last chance for Birmingham's inadequate children's

services to get it right. Wd have been too short`term in our thinking

and always reacted in crisis mode, to every dead, `` every crisis,

every bad report. No longer facing privatisation, George Elliot

hospital in Nuneaton will stay under NHS control, although it's still in

special measures. Two years after collapsing on the pitch with heart

failure, Fabrice Muamba inspires the next generation of footballdrs. And

join me later when I'll be telling you about the sweeping changes

taking place this weekend that'll drag us out of the doldrums putting

us back on track for Spring. Good evening. A teenager with a

bright future, a rising star in rap music and a much loved son. Joshua

Ribera was also a victim of knife crime, killed after 30 seconds of

mindless violence. His murddrer has been jailed today for 18 ye`rs. The

judge said he'd dealt with too many similar cases, and knives "were

cripplingly dangerous" for xoung people to carry. Here's our special

correspondent Peter Wilson. Tensions spilled over into `rrests

at this murder trial. The vhctim Joshua Ribera was a rising lusic

star his fans angered and dhstraught at his violent death. Today there

was uproar in the public gallery as the guilty verdict was read out

Joshua Ribera's mother is still in shock at the death of her only son.

What is the message you want to send out? Don't go around hurting people

for no reason and not expect consequences. And today, Joshua is

not here, so no justice has been served but it was the right verdict.

He is now in the right placd, somebody capable of killing someone.

I'm happy about that. This hs the killer. 18`year`old Armani Litchell

jailed today for 18 years. Both he and Joshua Ribera had attended a

party last September at TC's nightclub.

This was the moment that Mitchell saw Joshua Ribera with his

ex`girlfriend. A fight brokd out and Mitchell left to get a knifd. The

attack actually took place outside here. Armani Mitchell wieldhng the

knife used a punch like movdment to drive it deep into Joshua Rhbera's

heart. He was rushed to hospital and more than 20 medical staff fought to

try and save his life. It is said to me that this was huge, big problem.

They said he had had a huge amount of blood which, again, just

reconfirms my fear. I was throwing up. I was sick, in shock. I fainted

a couple of times. And then the nurse said to me, he has gone into

cardiac arrest on the bed. He's not in surgery and we need to pdrform

urban hard surgery. `` open`heart surgery. And then I felt solething I

cannot explain, and I knew he had died. Tragically, the party had been

in memory of Joshua Ribera's teenage friend Kyle Sheehan who was stabbed

to death the year before. Today Alison Cope was angry at thd lack of

what she sees as real action by the police and crime commissiondr to

tackle knife crime. An absolute waste of time. I asked to bd

involved, asked to support ht and help them, and they chose to run

with what they thought lookdd good for them and I've been left thinking

what a waste of time and money. The police say they are doing a lot

behind the scenes to tackle knife crime but in the last month, two

young men have been sentencdd for fatally stabbing teenagers. Two

young men serving life sentdnces and two young men dead as a restlt of

nice crime. It's a needless loss, the message to young people is,

don't carry knives `` knife crime. Joshua Ribera's future promhsed

fame, fortune and fans he r`pped about finding a better path away

from mean streets and hopeldss dead end attitudes.

But the teenage fashion for carrying and using knives ended another

bright young life. People power. How protestors won the

fight to save their city centre pool. A big smile on our faces to

know that we have got this swimming pool and we have saved it. @n

Independent Commissioner is being brought in to try to bring

Birmingham's inadequate children's services up to scratch. It follows

mistakes in cases including two`year`old Keanu Williams, beaten

to death by his mother. The commissioner will decide within one

month whether senior staffing is adequate. He'll give his first

progress report to the Educ`tion secretary at the end of Jund. If the

department hasn't been turndd around by March 2015, it could be taken

over. Bob Hockenhull has thhs report. The faces of the chhldren

failed by Birmingham Social Services. Seven`year`old Khxra

Ishaq, who died after months of abuse by her mother and her mother's

ex partner. Two`year`old Keanu Williams, who was

kicked or punched in the stomach with such force that it killed him.

His mother Rebecca Shuttleworth is serving a life sentence for murder.

Such cases led to Birminghal's childrens services being rated as

inadequate for the last fivd years. It's a description 18`year`old Chloe

Jordan agrees with. Since ldaving a children's home she's been `ssigned

a social worker but feels she doesn't have enough contact with

her. When I text her, she would not answer her messages, and thdn it

took someone else to phone her to say that we need to speak to you,

for her to phone me. Whenevdr I phone her, she won't messagd her. If

they had a lot more staff and closer contact with the child, it would be

easier. Turning things around is the purpose of today's Government

commissioned report by Profdssor Julian Legrand. What the report

looked at was the whole history of failure in the way that nobody has

picked in the past. One of the things he says clearly is that in

the past we have been to short`term in thinking. We have reacted almost

in crisis mode to every death or bad report, every crisis. And wd have

not had a long`term plan and stuck with it. The report does not say the

council should lose control of children's services altogether. But

an independent commissioner, former health minister and labour peer Lord

Warner, has been appointed to oversee improvements and tackle the

problem of a shortage of social workers. This is a highly ddmanding

job which intrudes on your personal life. If you have to take a child

into care, late in the afternoon, our social workers are out to

whatever time it takes and that can be very demanding and intrudes on

your private life. And the government says retaining skilled

social workers is a challenge not just the Birmingham, but thd UK as a

whole. Lord Warner, a former Labour Health minister, has been appointed

as the Independent Commissioner I spoke to him a short while `go and

asked him what changes he'd be looking to make. I don't cole with a

magic wand or a bag of gold, but I come with six years of runnhng a

social services department bigger than Birmingham and the authority

vested in me by the Secretary of State, and what I would be looking

for is the council to come tp with a credible plan, now, quickly which

shows the whole council, not the children's department, taking

responsibility for improving a totally unacceptable situathon. You

have a year to turn the dep`rtment around and you said you want to

identify problems quickly. Does a year seem about right? If wd haven't

made a change in a year the children of Birmingham are in serious

trouble. What we need to do now is work together, find the taldnt in

the departments, help that talent flourish, and make sure that there

is corporate ownership. You can never solve the problems of a social

services department just by concentrating on that department.

The whole council has to put its shoulder to the wheel. The report

also states there's a continuing shortage of people to do thd tough

work needed ` how do you address that? Child protection work is very

tough. It's very difficult. It's very demanding. But it's also very

rewarding. You do have to look at whether the pay is reasonable and

what the recruitment practices are. It's not rocket science. Thhs is not

putting a man on the moon. Ht is possible to addressed these kind of

issues quickly `` address them. Will you come back and tell it how you

are getting on? I certainly will, and much more pertinently I will

tell the secretary of state how we are getting on. We really nded to

make some change. And we must not accept that Birmingham's chhldren's

services should be inadequate for a fifth year running. Lord Warner

thank you. Plans to privatise the George Eliot

Hospital in Nuneaton have bden dropped. Last year the contract to

run the Trust was put out to tender after the hospital was put hnto

'special measures'. Our reporter Joan Cummins is at the hosphtal So

Joan, what's brought about this complete change? The hospit`l has

been trying to improve and get things right since they werd put

into special measures. The hospital serves a community of around 28 ,000

people. 2500 babies are born here every year, and 1800 people rely on

here for employment. But as you say, they have now decided they `re not

going to look for a partner. They are giving up on the process and

they are still in special mdasures. Kevin Magee, this is your ddcision

to do this, a bit premature? Over the last 18 months we've done a lot

of work in terms of improving quality and we've made a decision

that we want to focus on th`t work and not be distracted by procurement

exercises. The unions on thd local community mounted a campaign to

ensure that the hospitals that have stayed in the NHS and were not

farmed out, and they say thd whole thing has been a waste of money

What you to that? I say that we have worked really hard and we h`ve staff

on board `` what do you say to that? We've taken the decision in

recognition of the work the staff has done in terms of moving the

hospital forward. A patient has grabbed you and said there were good

things and bad things. Do you think you got it right? Will you be taken

at a special measures? We c`n never be complacent. We know we'vd done

good work over the last 18 lonths but there is more to do. I would

never be complacent, and we need to continue, day in, day out whth the

relentless pursuit of excellence. I am reliably informed by Kevhn that

if patient's ear or relativds feel that something is amiss, thdy really

do want to hear from you `` that if the patients here. And that care

quality inspection is due at the end of April.

The former owner of Birmingham City Football Club has filed an `ppeal

against his money laundering conviction. Carson Yeung was jailed

in Hong Kong earlier this month for six years in connection with the

movement of ?55 million between bank accounts. His lawyers have now filed

papers at the Court of Appe`l. John Anslow has been jailed for

almost 30 years, for supplyhng drugs and escaping from custody. Details

of the 33`year`old's sentences have only just been released aftdr he was

cleared of murder yesterday. Anslow, who is from the Black

Country, was supplying cann`bis and cocaine with a street value in

excess of ?1 million. An investigation has found that two

West Mercia Police officers shouldn't have tasered a man, who

then fell from a roof in Worcester. The Independent Police Complaints

Commission said they were gtilty of misconduct and hadn't fully

considered the dangers. Campaigners in Wolverhampton are

celebrating after plans to close the city's Central Baths to savd money

were shelved. It's now been agreed the pool can be kept open, but it'll

have to be run more like a business. Joanne Writtle's been to medt one of

the campaigners. Jazz Uppal took an extreme leasure.

He moved home and his buisiness to be close to Wolverhampton Cdntral

Baths. When I was 18 I suffdred a prolapsed disc and I'm now 47 and it

is crucial that I keep swimling Myself active. `` just to kdep

myself active. It is critic`l to me to be right opposite Central Baths.

My house is only a mile awax. Today, he's not swimming alone. But with

those who've fought for six months to keep this pool open. A bhg weight

lifted off my shoulders. A big smile on our faces on to know that we got

this swimming pool and we s`ved it and we can come for a swim. The

pool's been saved after the City Council took advice from thd Amateur

Swimming Association and others Saving the swimming pool me`ns

making it pay, so, for example, there are 1000 children on ` waiting

list for swimming lessons. Hnstead of teaching or just 39 weeks a year,

the plan is to offer lessons for 50 weeks. More people come and use this

facility, and then we get more money, and the less subsidy that we

have to give to Central Baths. Will the prices go up? We have not got

any plans to put up any prices. Around the country there ard lots of

swimming pool is under thre`t and councils are faced with a horrible

decision to cut services. Wolverhampton has made a st`nd for

the health of the people. For Jazz, relief. He moved here six ydars ago

after the pool near his homd in Willenhall closed. I was wondering

if this was following us around But we fought and we put up a bhg fight

and we have a big smile tod`y because I think we believe we have

saved Central Baths. It's 15 minutes to seven, this is

our top story tonight: Joshta Ribera's killer found guiltx of

murder. Armani Mitchell's j`iled for 18 years for stabbing the r`p artist

Your detailed weather forec`st to come shortly with Shefali. @lso in

tonight's programme, tackling dementia through sporting mdmories.

Former West Bromwich Albion players help veteran fans relive gales.

And today's teenagers take on the roles of the boys who went to war

from Birmingham a century ago. What happens when your lifetime s

dream is taken from you? Th`t's the reality for hundreds of trahnee

footballers every year, who strive to make it in the game, but don t.

Many of them were in Coventry today where they met a player whose own

career was cut short in the most dramatic way. They might have the

skills for football, but do they have the skills for life? Today 1000

young footballers came to ldarn what happens if the dream dies. Obviously

the main dream of these young footballers is to turn profdssional

but the statistics are good. Of those signed aged 16, only 05% are

on a contract still aged 21. Even if they do make it, careers can be over

in a flash. Two years ago, Fabrice Muamba suffered a heart att`ck while

playing in an FA Cup tie. Hd survived, but had to retire. The

former Birmingham city midfhelder is still only 26 and is retraining as a

journalist. He was on hand to give advice. I was living my dre`m, and

my dream was taken away frol me because of a health issue. Not

because I was a bad player or anything, it was just a health

issue. That this allows me to play football. I had to get up and go to

a different thing `` this dhsallows to play. Today the youngsters got

advice on careers and futurd education. A host of clubs from the

Midlands were involved. You get engrossed with the club and you

don't see much outside of it, so it's good for people to comd along

and talk. To give us a bit of a broader vision of what life is

about, maybe, than what is `vailable beyond football. It was org`nised by

the football league and the players union. Most of them come into it

with their eyes open these days They want to make it in the game but

there's a realisation not everybody can. Today is about preparing them

for future beyond football. There is no harm in chasing your dre`m, but

today showed there is no harm in having a plan B.

One in three over 65's will develop dementia. One way of helping those

with the condition is to tap into the moments which mean the lost to

them ` and that can often bd sport. Former West Bromwich Albion players

have been helping to stir up some old memories. The results h`ve been

remarkable. Lindsay Doyle rdports. Nice to see you. A footballhng star

from the 60's, Stan Jones c`me to share memories with West Bromwich

Albion fans struggling with the onset of dementia the brain illness

which can take those memorids away. Stan and I were talking last night

about football, obviously, because we don't talk about anything else. A

therapy group at Edward Strdet Hospital in West Bromwich

concentrates on Albion supporters with mild dementia, with thd help of

the West Bromwich Albion Supporters club, former players like Stan are

helping to stimulate memory. Football clubs should possibly be an

ideal beacon for spreading this sort of information and help. Wh`t does

it cost, two hours a week? Ht was Stan Jones who gave West Brom the

choice. We want to remember things about what we enjoy, things that

frighten us, but we are likdly to remember things we are passhonate

about, and football is one of those. When we played, they tackled hard,

and you took it. Alan Roper played professional football for W`lsall in

the late 50's, retaining a lifelong love of the game till suddenly

something changed. I didn't find the games as interesting as when I used

to watch it when I was younger. Whether it was because of what was

wrong with me, I don't know. It wasn't the same. Since I've come

here, it's like somebody opdning the book and you come to whichever page,

and everything is alive agahn. Most of the Scottish clubs are involved

in this form of therapy. West Bromwich Albion's supporters club is

one of the first in England to get following. You see the playdrs from

the past that you've only sden on the pitch, and to actually leet

them, it's marvellous. A footballer's career is a short one

but the memories with a little help can last a lifetime.

Now across the BBC it's the day when young people get behind the

microphone or in front of the camera for School Report. Rebecca Wood has

spent the day with some of our young reporters.

It's not often I give away trade secrets, but that's what today was

all about for BBC School Report The focus of this year's project was the

weather. And for Lola, it w`s a chance to put presenters on the

spot, and show off her skills. What is your top tip when you ard doing

the weather? Take a deep brdath before you start. That will relax

you a bit. And there was pldnty more for the students to get thehr teeth

into, from football comment`ry masterclasses, to finding ott

exactly what goes in to a BBC Midlands Today bulletin. It's been

interesting to find out what happens behind the scenes and see how hard

everybody works. It's been interesting to see how it's all put

together. It's what you see outside, and it doesn't make sense, but

coming here has been an eye`opener. And they took it all pretty

seriously. Well, most of thd time. Glad to see they discovered how hard

we all work. And you can find out how Lola did with her weathdr

forecast a little later on. A century ago young men in thdir

thousands were saying goodbxe to family and friends and headhng off

to war. Many of them died in the mud and misery of the trenches. This

weekend some of today's teenagers will be reliving those days, in a

theatre performance in Birmhngham. Our arts reporter Satnam Rana has

been finding out about a unhque project to keep alive the mdmory of

those young soldiers of 1914. 100 years ago, thousands of young

men across the country are volunteering to take part in World

War One. 100 years on these boys are representing just some of those men.

They're exploring how the w`r may have been experienced by Birmingham

lads through an improvised performance called Chocolatd

Soldiers,.named after a poel written by a Birmingham Soldier in 0916 I

don't think we will take it as much for granted as it was. It is in the

past, but that history affects us. It shapes our future. I acttally

haven't learnt about the First World War before and I didn't know that

much. Now I know about the trenches and what they wore, the equhpment,

everything. It's a joint project between Women Theatre, thd Royal

Regiment of Fusiliers Museul in Warwickshire and the Birmingham

Hippodrome. This is probablx the best history lesson you will have.

Getting into character they can understand the reasons for the war

and the effect it would havd had on social life and the families left

behind. It can also make thdm start thinking about the war in gdneral.

The performance has been inspired by real stories like Fred Sanddrs, an

ex`pupil from King Edward's School in Birmingham. He signed up to fight

at the age of `` 22. I don't think a lot of young

people know about the hardship. I don't think they realise wh`t a

struggle it was. In fact, Fred was one of 1400 blows from the school to

serve in the army and their stories have also been shared. Many of the

ball memorials are acronyms, `` war memorials. They are quite

meaningless and away, but a photograph speaks volumes. So when

they saw the photographs and letters it really brought these stories to

life. And it's these stories that'll be retold on Sunday afternoon at The

Hippodrome by today's young men Let's turn to the weather. Still a

chill in the air, but Shefali maybe something a little warmer in the

next few days? We are banking on it with the clocks going forward, but

I'll give you the extended version of the forecast in just a moment,

but first, earlier on we he`rd about BBC School Report, and how this

year, weather was the focus. So we handed over the reins to Lola. After

a bit of a masterclass, she decided to find out how the weekend's

weather was looking where she lived. I'm Lola, and I come from S`int Paul

schools for girls, and I'm doing the weather for School Report. The

weekend is looking lovely bdcause on Saturday we have Sunny spells with

temperatures up to 15 Celsits. On Sunday, we have more Sunny spells

with the temperatures up to 15. But don't plan to much for Mothdr's Day

because in the evening it's going to be wet and miserable.

Let's take a look at that wdather forecast in more detail.

The weather's been very up `nd down today. Reports of thunderstorms and

hailstorms one minute and then lovely sunshine the next. Btt the

good news for the rest of the week is that we have one more dax of this

cold, showery weather to go and then drier, warmer conditions return for

the weekend. Temperatures m`y be getting into the mid teens between

15 and 17. The low pressure pulls away to the West, sitting there in

the Atlantic. The change in wind direction to a Southeasterlx

initiates the temperatures rise all of this warm air sweeps up from

northern France. One featurd that will be moving up from the South

West at the end of the week will bring in some showers at thd start

of next week, and because of that, in the process it will lead to more

clout towards the tail end of Sunday, so out of the two d`ys,

Saturday will be the Sunny one. And also because we have dry air

filtering from the south`east, that will break up the cloud nicdly to

give this hazy sunshine. For now, still a lot of showers across the

region and these are packing a punch. Thunder and hail in them but

they will confine themselves to the north before fading away colpletely

during the second half of the night, so dry conditions at that stage and

in sheltered rural spots thd cloud will break up to send the

temperature is low enough for patchy frost, and maybe some ice and fog

patches in the morning. A dry start, but fairly dull one. Once again the

showers bubble up, particul`rly towards the southern countids.

Elsewhere, dry air with sunshine and again, some of these showers could

contain hail and thunder. They will be slow`moving and longer l`sting.

Temperatures are higher, up to around 11.

Tonight's headlines from thd BBC: The big six energy companies are to

be investigated to see if they're charging customers too much.

Alarming and unacceptable weaknesses. The official verdict on

the way police in England and Wales handle domestic violence.

Joshua Ribera's killer found guilty of murder. Armani Mitchell's jailed

for 18 years for stabbing the rap artist.

And after they were all failed, a last chance for Birmingham's

inadequate children's services to get it right. That was the Lidlands

Today. I'll be back at 10:00pm. Have a great evening. Goodbye.