16/02/2017 Midlands Today

what it says about the president and his administration.

A puppy farmer's been jailed for six months after dozens of dogs

were rescued from filthy conditions on a farm near Solihull.

A judge described Sean Kerr as devious and said he'd been

A warning: you may find some of the pictures in Bob Hockenhull's

Kept in the darkness - undernourished, covered

37 puppies - many cross-bred so-called designer dogs -

seized by horrified RSPCA inspectors at Pastures Farm in Bickenhill.

One puppy was found dead in a plastic bag.

Customer Anita D'Souza paid ?350 for Riley.

It turned from a joyous moment, getting a puppy, and all excited, to

a bit of a risk that would risk. It was horrible, and in her last few

moments, she was looking at me. It still gives me a real lump in my

throat. It still makes my stomach churn.

Jailed for six months, the puppy farm owner Sean Kerr

was also banned from keeping dogs for life.

Many of the puppies he sold, like Riley,

had contracted parvovirus, a highly contagious disease.

The district judge told Kerr was sad to see someone who had once cared

for horses and had been a jockey had now turned to this horrible trade.

He said he believed Kerr had made a substantial fortune from dealing in

puppies, and he ordered him to pay ?30,000 towards prosecution costs.

The puppies were many different breeds, some

The trade in puppies is huge. If you look on the internet, you will see

thousands and thousands of dogs for sale, and that is why it is

extremely important for the public to be vigilant about where they

purchase a puppy from. For one charity, today's prison

sentence was not long enough. Six months for this amount of

would like to see sentencing would like to see sentencing

increased so that the punishments are fitting the crime is committed.

One of the seized dogs, he's now being looked

after by veterinary nurse Jemma Jennings.

He was subdued, quiet, not really interacting

From when he came, he's a lot more outgoing,

Nine of the seized animals were pregnant.

27 puppies have since been born, leaving 64 dogs

But at least this operation has brought one unscrupulous

More than 500 black cabs and nearly 1,500 private hire taxis could be

forced off Birmingham's roads by the end of the year.

The City Council says it's part of their efforts

Amy Cole is in Birmingham city centre.

So the council's facing pressure from the EU, Amy?

The European Union has told the City Council that they must

improve Birmingham's air quality or else they'll be slapped with a

Now the council is pointing the finger at black cab drivers

and private hire taxis whose vehicles are old and

I'm joined now by Raja Amin from the RMT Union.

How do your members feel about this? Why can't they get a green are

vehicles? First of all, the proposal they have

put forward such a radical one that we totally object to it. And

secondly, for the prices they have to pay, 40- ?50,000 for each

vehicle, there is no incentive there, there is no grant as such.

What they are offered a 7500, a pebble in the ocean.

The City Council says there are 900 deaths a year linked to poor air

quality. That is not good. We all sympathise with that, and I

firmly believe in having an emission zone in this city, but that's not

just target these people who are working hard to earn their living.

Surely, there are buses, trucks, lorries and others, which are using

the same fuel and causing emissions, not just taxi drivers.

Birmingham City Council was looking into leasing system where drivers

could lease greener cars. That could work, couldn't it?

That will tie them down to another burden on them. I believe they

should give a grant like these to give back in the 1970s and 80s. They

could save a lot of money. If they don't get a ?60 million fine, surely

they can afford to give them a they can afford to give them

grant. Thank you for joining us to night.

Clearly, the City Council is facing a huge amount of pressure. They are

looking at launching a 12 week public consultation.

Thank you. A 15-year-old boy and a man aged 21

have been arrested in connection They happened in

Birmingham last week. Among the victims, a woman jogger

who suffered burns as Police say the arrests early

this morning are significant. Extra police patrols are continuing

in Moseley and Kings Heath. Two West Midlands Police officers

have been charged with drug offences, conspiracy to steal

and misconduct in public office. The constables, who are based

at Perry Barr, were immediately Six other people arrested

in early morning raids across the West Midlands on Tuesday

morning have also been charged. Plans for a Legoland Discovery

Centre in Birmingham, like the one in Manchester,

have been approved. It will be the second

in the country. It'll be aimed at children under

eight and as many as 2,500 people a day are expected

to visit in peak season. The Worcestershire batsman

Daryl Mitchell says it's a huge honour to have been elected chairman

of the players union, the The 33-year-old will link up again

with his former county chief executive David Leatherdale who now

has the same role at the PCA Mitchell says one of the big

issues for players is Hopefully, we can get a good idea of

what our views are and then get them across to influence the ECB and get

a great deal for the players, and obviously, it is not an easy task

for the ECB, with so many stakeholders in cricket, the media,

County clubs, counties are porters and members, but I do believe the

players have a very important role to play.

Hundreds of secret wartime letters have come to light telling the story

of two gay soldiers who risked everything for the sake of love.

The letters were sent by infantryman Gordon Bowsher to his lover

Gunner Gilbert Bradley, who was stationed in Shropshire

at a time when gay relationships were still illegal.

Darling, I feel sometimes that I shall burst. I am so full of pent-up

love for you. Illicit letters between two men when

their love would have been illegal. Gunner Gilbert Bradley, former BBC

studio assistant from Cheltenham, was stationed in Oswestry from 1939.

Again, darling, I love you for ever and ever.

The letters are from Infantryman The letters are from Infantryman

Gordon Bowsher from Devon, but no picture of him has yet been found.

Most letters like this would have been burned, but they were found in

a house clearance and bought online by Oswestry Town Museum.

It stunned us, to start with, because we had assumed all letters

were from a girlfriend fiance, because of what they talked about,

and then the realisation that we had actually uncovered a gold mine of

correspondent between the two man. By contrast, Jeff Hardy and Peter

Roscoe from Shrewsbury hit headlines 11 years ago, among the first to

helping to organise and LGBT history helping to organise and LGBT history

festival in Shrewsbury this weekend whether letters will be read.

Who would have thought, from 1939, despite Gordon saying, darling,

please do one thing for me, destroy all these letters, silly old

Gilbert, or good old Gilbert, took no notice, and kept them all.

Here we are looking at something so personal, so loving, and so caring,

between two guys in the Second World War.

Jeff and Peter's relationship was formed in tricky times.

Well, we have been together coming up for 38 years, and it was a very

different world. 38 actually a! Even for us, back in

the late 70s, very different world. You know, still very restrictive,

and it was very hard to find a partner for life.

1940s Britain was a different place to live, and Gordon and Gilbert did

not stay together, but Pete and Geoff feel their letters are

priceless. One of them says, one day, maybe we

will live in more enlightened times. We won't have to keep hiding and

running. It took a long time, but here we are, and in a way, we are

the fulfilment of their wishes and dreams.

The weather now with Rebecca. From me, goodnight.

Good evening. It has been another cloudy day to day. Some breaks in

the cloud, particularly through the first half of the day. Temperatures

responded nicely to the sunshine. We saw them up to 12 Celsius in parts

of the region. Into tomorrow, they will continue to stay mild. Also, so

more bright spells, and perhaps some more cloud around. It is thick

enough to squeeze out the odd spot of rain. Over the tops of the

highest hills, we could see a touch of mist and fog developing, but for

the South, we start to see that rain easing, and we might get a view

holder Matt cloud across parts of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire.

Temperatures will fall away, and mist patches may develop. Or

tomorrow, warm front is draped across the West Midlands. It slowly

starts to clear is that, and behind that, we will get some brighter

spells. Drizzle through the morning, and eventually, we will start to see

that marching eastwards. Behind it, things brighten up for the West.

West is best sunshine tomorrow. Temperatures, 10-11, though they

could get a touch higher. The national forecast is next.

of 11. Not too bad for the forthcoming weekend. Here is Nick

Miller with a resume of the National weather picture.

Hello, rain for some of us today although it won't make much of a

dent in the dry winter so far across much of the UK. A few threatening

clouds in Cumbria but more than a threat of rain across the