18/01/2012 North West Tonight

Good evening. Welcome to Northwest Tonight with Roger Johnson.

Ranvir Singh. Cumbrians debate plans to dump nuclear waste

underground. The people are among many attending

meetings to find out what exactly that huge nuclear dump would mean

for west Cumbria. Also tonight: A reward is offered for the handbag

of a grandmother who died after being robbed of her husband's ashes.

Back for his hat trick, why the United Captain and his wife are

returning to their local maternity ward.

New machines, a lot of new things going around and more comfortable

to be here. And inspiring Spielberg. We visit

the Lancashire fields that were And Tony is here with the sport.

Another twist in the Amir Khan story. The man in the hat, the man

Khan accused of interfering with judges during his world title

defeat last month has spoken to the BBC. What's he been keeping under

that hat? Find out later. When the Government decided it

needed to build an underground storage facility for nuclear waste

it approached councils across the country to see if any would be

prepared to take it. So far, Cumbria has been the only place to

express an interest. Today, the first in a series of

public meetings has started aimed at telling people who live and work

in the area more about the plans and here they are, well the storage

centre would be between 200 and 1,000 metres underground, between

2.5 and 9.5 square miles in size and the amount of earth excavated

will be the the same amount moved during the building of the Channel

Tunnel. Our reporter is there for that meeting. Tell us why the

Government needs this? Basically, because the UK's nuclear power

stations are producing a lot of waste. At the moment the bulk of

that waste is held above ground at Sellafield. However, the Government

believes it would be safer to bury this stuff deep underground for

many hundreds of years. Hence, it's decision to try to build this big

underground nuclear dumping facility. If it came to west

Cumbria what would that mean? That's what the people of this area

have been asking. If there is one thing Cumbria has in abundance,

it's wide open spaces and space is just what the Government needs for

its proposed new underground nuclear waste dump.

The whole project is based on voluntaryism, so any community can

express an interest and participate. So far, west Cumbria is the only

area that's expressed an interest. Of course Cumbria has a track

record of dealing with nuclear waste, 70% of the waste generated

by the UK's nuclear power stations is currently held at Sellafield. So,

would this part of the world be the best place to site a huge

underground nuclear dump? We are asking people in Cumbria whether or

not they're interested in looking for potential sites. The size of

the project is immense. It would cover an area of around 9.5 square

miles, that's almost the size of York. The underground chambers will

be up to 1,000 metres deep. Realistically, many communities

going to volunteer to have a nuclear waste dump on their patch?

There is a lot of benefits that go with having the facility, not least

of sweu the employment. This meeting is one of several

consultations that have been organised across Cumbria over the

weeks and after this gathering opinions were mixed. We have most

of the waste at Sellafield now, so might as well store it here.

The Lake District has not got a suitable place. The village of

Drigg is around a half mile drive north. It's had a low level nuclear

waste depost for decades but the proposal is for something digger

than this and the waste handled would be more dangerous. There is a

much better option, and that is that the waste is retained at the

site of origin, ie at Sellafield, or nuclear power stations, and

dealt with there. This is a debate still very much in its infancy.

The plans are huge by anybody's estimatations, so what happens

after these consultations? Once they've finished the the

consultation, the three councils will then have to decide whether

they're going to go into the siting process, that means saoeufing a --

identifying a site, there are various tests and geological

explorations to be carried out before any building work could

begin. They're looking at building work not starting for at least 15

years. So quite some way down the line and by no means decided yet.

Thank you very much. I am sure you will be back there many times in

the next few months. Next, it was a crime which outraged

a community. 79-year-old Nellie Geraghty died after a brutal

mugging in Oldham last year. The reason she fought off attackers was

in her bag she carried her husband's ashes. For 17 years she

hadn't left the house without them. Two teenager boys and a 27-year-old

-- 37-year-old man has been released on police bail. Now an

anonymous donor has offered �5,000 to anyone who can help find the

handbag. It could help to lead to a murder conviction.

Nellie's daughter says it was her love for her husband and her

stubborn nature that made the final moments of her life so awful.

Attacked near her Shaw home in broad daylight, she refused to let

go of the bag that contained her husband's ashes. And it cost Nellie

her life. Today an anonymous donor has offered �5,000 for the recovery.

He is appalled by the attack on Nellie and wanted to do something

to help. He realised the importance of the handbag to our investigation

and more importantly to the family to have it returned. Nellie was

well known and loved in Shore. In November, hundreds came together in

an effort to find Frank's ashes. grandpha knew Nellie from her shop.

So we came down to help. But the community was left disappointed.

Police Described the initial response as overwhelming and hope

told the donor they hoped a reward would not be necessary but there is

still no sign of the bag but police believe somebody knows exactly

where it is. Nellie's family has now said goodbye but it would mean

everything to them to bury Frank's ashes with her. Police say somebody

must know how a 79-year-old woman came to be left seriously injured

alone and unconscious, and they hope they'll now find the courage

to help. The family of a Liverpool teenager

killed in a street attack nine years ago is hoping a possible

change in the law may finally bring his killers to justice. Andrew

Jones died when someone punched him and he cracked his head on the

pavement when he fell. A number of people saw what

happened to Andrew and now MPs say the law on gang-related kiltings

needs to be -- killings needs simplified.

His family say Andrew Jones loved life so much there weren't you are

in enough hours in the day for him. One man was taken to court over his

his death but the case case collapsed. Other people were at the

scene but Andrew's family think they're reluctant to talk to police

in case they're charged with a joint enterprise offence, that

would would mean they could face a murder charge even if they did not

strike the fate apl blow. Andrew's -- fatal blow. Andrew's mum says if

the law were changed people might come forward. If they assist the

police in finding the victim's murderer and put that victim, that

murderer away, then they shouldn't have to go to jail. Andrew's family

gave evidence to a committee of MPs which has now said the law on joint

enterprise needs to be simplified. Commentators think the law on joint

enterprise has two main problems, not only are witnesses to crimes

like the attack on Andrew reluctant to come forward in case they're

accused of a serious offence like murder, but juries can be confused

about whether to convict someone who, after all, may only have been

a by-stander. It's an all or nothing situation. You are either,

this is what the judges tell the juries, you are either completely

guilty, or you are not. There's no tapering of this. And that's a big

problem. Joint enterprise is in the news because through it two men

were convicted of Stephen Lawrence's murder in London.

Knowing you could be convicted for being at the scene of a cream may

deter some people from gang membership. But the law needs to be

changed to work for the family. North West has seen the second

biggest rise in unemployment in the country. The number of people out

of work in the three months to November increased by 25,000. The

unemployment rate in the region now stands at 8.9 pefrs. --%.

Unilever workers at Port Sunlight, Warrington and Chester and Trafford

have been on strike today, in protest at changes to their

pensions. They'll join a series of rolling strikes lasting ten days.

Airbus says it's like throeu create up to 600 jobs, some of them based

at its Broughton plant. 6,000 people are currently employed there.

The editor of the Manchester Evening News, Maria McGeoghan, says

she's very concerned about how the reputation of all newspaper

journalists has been damaged by the recent problems over phone hacking

and unethical behaviour. She says she's been giving evidence at the

Leveson inquiry into press standards and said there's been a

backlash against all newspapers. I have lost count now of the number

of times I have been asked how how you hack a phone or the going rate

for paying off a policeman is and it's not funny any more. I am very

concerned about the perception that we are all using the same methods

and we are all doing something shady. I am concerned about that.

When the BBC tphoupsed eutsz big move here to Salford it was hailed

as good news for jobs in the area. More than 1800 people work here in

this building for departments that have come here from London to

Manchester. But the BBC has now admitted that

only 26 jobs have gone to people from Salford itself. The local MP

says that's not good enough. It was about shifting the BBC's

focus from London. But it was about regeneration, too. When North West

tonight moved into media City, the BBC's top man in the north

emphasised jobs. There will be about 3,000 jobs for the north of

England. That's going to create employment, investment, training,

good for the skills sector. Most of the 1800 staff here working for

departments such as BBC Sport, 5 Live, have come from London. There

are just 689 brand new jobs. Of these, only 26 have gone to people

from Salford. There is more they can do to get

links with the local community. Morrisons supermarket have opened a

store in the same area and we have something like 80% of those jobs

from the local estate, from Salford. I know that the BBC's not retail

and it's very different, but they can do better than 3%, I am sure.

The BBC says it's early days. have moved to an area without an

established media skills base, so our commitment, and it's a long-

term commitment s to grow the skills base in this area so our

future and our commitment to the people in the area is about

developing their skills, giving them employment experience and

giving them access to what is really exciting jobs market. This

is the building where we make North West tonight and across the square

here at the far end is the media department of Salford University.

Could that be the bridge between Salford and the BBC?

We do get a lot of local students, students very much focused in the

North West as well that are coming to the university that have that

interest in the media, that want to work in media city. There may not

have been the skills before but now we are working with everybody to

make sure there is that skills set, those people are ready for jobs.

The BBC has introduced two apprenticeship schemes to help

teenagers from Greater Manchester find their way into jobs like these

Some of the services. Despite assurances made that the management

there are making approve France. They announced investigations into

critical care across the trust last night.

I am not sure that I accept that we have failed in our job. We have

identified a number of issues that need to be fixed. That is a severe

challenge for all of us. But the end of the day, the most important

part of a hospital is safe services for patients. I think the

management team are very focused on trying to make sure we get things

right and that we turn the situation around.

The investigation into the critical care will be carried out by the

Care Quality Commission. A little earlier, I asked the organisation's

boss how concerned they are about the standards of care provided by

the Trust. We visited the hospital in December.

We identified a very similar concerns to those we have picked up

in maternity services. Those concerns were around staffing, the

deployment of staff, the way they were trained, their skills and

experience. We also had some concerns around the systems that

the trust had in place to monitor risk, assess risk and escalate risk

to ensure that there is good patient care. How worried should

patients be generally? This trust has got a number of investigations

into a number of different areas of its work ongoing at the moment.

Patients will inevitably be concerned. Is it safe for people to

go to hospital? If there were immediate concerns, we would be

taking immediate action. We have some robust enforcement powers. We

have already use those powers within the trust in relation to

maternity services because we issued a warning notice. The

continued to monitor that. If, as part of the investigation, we

determine are more serious concerns, then we will invoke our enforcement

powers. The Care Quality Commission is a relatively new body. You were

investigated at the end of last year as to whether or not you were

fit for purpose. How can patients be satisfied that you have the

necessary skills, qualities, experience to do a good job? We are

a new regulatory power. We have now been in operation for the last few

years. We have had some difficulties. But we are moving on.

We know what those concerns are. We have put those concerns right. I

want members of the public to be reassured. We have picked these

concerns at. That is why we have been both our investigation powers.

We can restrict some of the activity is at the hospital if we

feel that those concerns are immediate.

Her place on the sofa has been taken by Tony, a who are is year

with the sport. Sport now:

And more dramatic twists in the Amir Khan story.

Yes, in a moment we're actually going to hear for the first time

from the infamous Man In The Hat who was caught apparently

interfering at ringside. But first, let's just remind ourselves where

we stand. Amir lost his WBA and IBF world titles to Lamont Peterson in

Washington last month. He thought the result unfair and the WBA have

already ordered a rematch. The IBF were due to hear his appeal today,

weren't they? But that was cancelled overnight.

Yes. Amir's promoters pulled out saying the key official at the

centre of the controversy was not being called. Amir now says he'll

never fight for an IBF title again. This all began because Amir thought

the judges and the referee had not been fair. Then he pointed out the

Man In The Hat, seen at ringside, apparently getting involved with

the judges. He was revealed to be Mustafa Ameen, and today, he has

given us his first interview. Here's Richard Askam.

It's the latest twist in a saga that has played out like a

Hollywood film. Unexpected defeat for the big star. Unanswered

questions and unexplained characters accused of pulling the

strings. Today, in an exclusive first interview, the mystery man in

question, Mustafa Ameen, seen here in the hat, told us why he was seen

talking to one of the judges throughout the fight. I have looked

at the supervising official scorecards on countless occasions.

I looked down and I saw the score. There was an error. He was off by a

point or two. The judge in question, Michael

Welsh, wasn't due to be at the IBF hearing. One of the main reasons

Amir's camp pulled out. They say they're now concentrating on Amir's

next fight, which they hope will be a rematch with Lamont Peterson.

Somewhere neutral. Someone like Las Vegas or Los Angeles. Either way,

Mustafa Ameen insists he isn't to blame.

How we have got to this stage is complicated. Here's a summary. On

December 10th, Amir lost his two world titles to Lamont Peterson. On

the 19th, he launched an official appeal to have the decision

overturned. January 6th, he accused an unidentified man at ringside of

interfering with officials. On the 13th, the WBA ordered a rematch.

Late last night, the IBF hearing was cancelled.

Amir's camp are studying Ameen's comments before making a response.

It still does not answer what he was doing pain -- pointing at the

judges' cards. Bailiffs have given one of the

country's oldest football clubs, Northwich Victoria, just three days

to leave their ground after it was sold to a mystery businessman. Vics,

formed in 1874, are currently pushing for promotion from the

Northern Premier League. They've been ordered to leave their new

stadium, built just five years ago, by tomorrow night. Receivers

Deloitte Touche have sold it to a new owner thought to have no

interest in using the land as a football club.

There was no miracle for Macclesfield Town in last night's

FA Cup replay. The Silkmen travelled to Premier League Bolton

Wanderers, hoping to cause a shock in the third-round replay. But

Macclesfield were a goal down within 40 seconds when Kevin Davies

struck. Martin Petrov added the second. Bolton now host Swansea in

the fourth round. It was important that we got a home win tonight. If

we match that at home, we would be halfway up the league. We want to

move ourselves up the league. Usually, when you play Premiership

teams, I think it is testament to how we have done and how far the

club has progressed. We have played them three times this year.

Being a professional footballer means you can afford the best in

life. Fast cars, nice houses and luxury holidays. So when it came to

the birth of his children, Manchester United captain Nemanja

Vidic naturally wanted the best care. And he and his wife decided

they could get that at their local NHS hospital in Manchester,

Wythenshawe. They are about to welcome baby number three into the

world. When they were asked to open a new delivery suite, it was a good

a chance to look around. As captain of one of the world's

biggest football clubs, he is used to having add to the -- admiration

from his fans. This one seemed oblivious to his first and very

famous visitor. It was a different story for the grown-up staff and

visitors at the new delivery suite today. They took a keen interest in

the new 10 bed facility with a two sons born here already, there will

be making it a hat-trick in a matter of weeks. Obviously, first

of all, it was because of the staff. The people working here. They are

rather a lot of new machines. A lot of new things going around. We're

will be even more comfortable here. These are trying times for Nemanja

Vidic, ruled out by injury. It could not be better for his wife.

It is not like then going to be scared when I go in Labour Party is

not at home. How does his defenders score when it comes to tackling

nappies and white beads? At the moment, I am not playing football.

But I do not sleep well at night, it will not cause problems. I think

he is volunteering for some night feeds. I am trying to be nice

because there is a television camera round. I have a difficult

conversation when I go home. What a lovely couple.

She cannot believe Polack. Steven Spielberg a film Sir

Stafford has brought the plight of forces to a large audience.

The country's biggest camp which caught many horses was set up year.

The horrors of the front as Joey gallops in panic through the barbed

wire of the battlefields of the First World War. This photograph

shows the real scene at Ormskirk in Lancashire where thousands of

horses were brought in for training. Many had arrived at the docks at

Liverpool and were prepared for the France. Local historian and a horse

owner Richard Horton has been piecing together the story. Largely

from Argentina, Canada and Ireland. It is said that there was not a

horse to be fined in Ireland after that point. A lot of other horses

were found to buy it secondment. Horses for carriage driving,

undertakers. Everybody had to give up their means of transportation.

During the course of the war, about 230,000 forces would have been

brought cheer to this park or remount centre for training to pull

guns and other machinery. Very few of them would have come back.

England is at war. We are at war. promise you why we look after him.

If I can, I will return him to your 210,000 horses were sent into

active service. Many unsuitable in bill for the task they faced.

suffered badly. I'm sure it was traumatic for many of the man who

have to look after the horses. First World War was a turning point

in the mechanisation of warfare and the last time that forces would be

used in this way. -- horses. wanted more of that.

It is a beautiful film. Just the forgotten heroes of the First World

War. I cannot watch that. As a horse

owner. I would like to make it very clear to the army, if they come to

Things are changing all over again. Tomorrow, much colder and there

will be a wintry showers on the House at times. Back to the moment

to hand, if you're planning on star-gazing tonight, I think your

chances are very slim. The further north you are in the region, the

better your chances are. Even then, they are fairly slim. After

midnight, you can see we have got an area of brain that will start to

creep towards us. It will head far north as some parts of Lancashire.

It is very light and patches. It is the cloud that brings that prevents

you from seem a huge amount. -- has seen a huge amount. Temperatures

will drop as low as two Celsius. On the coast, you will get about six

Celsius. Tomorrow morning, the most southern parts of the region will

still have rain. The northern parts will have another area refrain

which will work its way south and Peter Wright. There may be some

brightness. In the afternoon, showers start to break out. Over

the hills, one or two of these will end up being a little bit wintery.

They could be some snow. It marks the changing type of weather. From

temperatures of 11 degrees Celsius today, your best temperature

tomorrow will be seven Celsius. The a club for the next few days, we

are incredibly changeable. There will be showers from time to time

and I think it is going to be Is your horse they find a specimen

of? A fabulous. That is why he is not going anywhere. I am another