18/07/2014 North West Tonight

Welcome to NorthWest Tonight with Annabel Tiffin and Stuart Flinders.

tributes to the Lancashire lan killed in the Ukrainian air crash.

Police condemn the "atrocious cruelty"

of a couple jailed after allost starving their daughter to death.

I think that all of society will be absolutely disgusted by what has

happened. I am in the Dublin Valley whth the

National Grid has announced its plans for installing power cables.

Some people are concerned it will ruin this beautiful landscape.

We are live at the start of Lancashire?s Beatherder Festival.

Those are the words a friend used to describe Glenn Thomas today.

The Blackpool`born journalist was among those who lost their lives

on the Malaysian Airlines flight brought down over Ukraine.

Mr Thomas had been en route to Australia in his role

as media relations co`ordin`tor with the World Health Organisation.

Our chief reporter, Dave Gudst, has the story.

He was Blackpool born and bred but his work as a journalist took

I have known Glenn for over 30 years.

He was very professional about his work for the

World Health Organisation btt also personally he was a man full of

Glenn Thomas was among thosd who died as a Malaysia Airlines flight

He had been travelling to Atstralia to take part in an HIV confdrence

in his role of media relations co`ordin`tor

How did you find out what had happened?

I first got a text from his sister and from his partner

We all knew, because Glenn shared it with us on

social media, that he was on his way to an HIV conference in Australia.

His sister and his partner are very upset.

His sister has been caught on a holiday in Spain and his partner

Mr Thomas started his career on local newspapers but joined

His death has left colleaguds and friends shocked and distressed.

He was one of these people who sort of live their life and he

He was planning his 50th birthday for next lonth.

He was thinking about the friends he wanted to bring along.

We were talking about that at the weekend.

His colleagues at the World Health Organisation wdre

There was a minute's silencd in his memory before this tribute.

Glenn will be remembered for his ready laugh

He will be greatly missed by those who had the opporttnity to

And so Glenn's career took him far away from Blackpool.

But he always maintained his links with this place, not least

because his sister and some of his friends still lived here

And so it is here that his loss is being keenly felt.

Greater Manchester Police s`y parents who starved

a 10`year`old girl from Rochdale could easily have killed her.

The girl's stepfather and mother were sentenced ydsterday

We cannot name the girl for legal reasons.

Manchester Crown Court heard that the girl's stepfather would feed

Police say the girl has now been placed in a caring environmdnt.

Our reporter, Andy Gill, is here with the details on this story.

The girl's father was jailed for three years for causing her

Her mother was given a suspdnded sentence for allowing it to happen.

The court heard that when she reached hospital

the girl was suffering "gross nutritional deficiencies."

She had a distended abdomen, swollen legs and weeping sores.

She was occasionally fed raw potato peelings.

There were no clothes or possession in her room.

At hospital her mother promhsed her pudding and custard if she did not

The detective leading the enquiry says there's a real possibility

I think it is absolutely atrocious what happened, I cannot unddrstand

how a mother could allow th`t to happen to her child.

I think all of society will be absolutely disgusted

The court heard the girl sh`red a house with other children which her

The mum was often at work whth the stepfather at home.

In a police interview, the girl said,

"Mum knows Dad isn?t feeding me and the judge said to the step father it

was "no coincidence that thd girl is the one child under your care that

In 2011, her school alerted social services about the ghrl.

Her family moved her to a different school.

In 2012 they took her out of school altogether.

In January last year social workers visited the home

Last April, her mother brought her to hospital unconscious.

The Rochdale Safeguarding Children Board is now carrying out

a serious case review which is expected to report later thhs year.

14 men have now been questioned over allegations of historical sdxual

and physical abuse at a residential school in Rochdale.

Police say since they reopened their inquiries

18 men have come forward to report abuse, some of which is alldged to

have been carried out by the late Rochdale MP, Cyril Smith.

Paramedics and other ambulance staff across the North West have voted

The GMB union says the row hs over a number of issues including cuts

A date is yet to be set for the walkout.

Manchester United and England footballer Gary Neville has received

an honorary doctorate by the University of Salford.

Comic John Bishop was also given an honorary fellowship from

Liverpool John Moores University, as was the sister of murderdd

His sister Dominique was recognised for her work celebrating

Comedian Peter Kay will switch on this year?s Blackpool

It will mark the start of a three`day festival

Artists include Texas, Little Mix and Rebecca Fergtson

The brother of a man killed in Sri Lanka spoke today of finally

receiving justice after four men were convicted of his murder.

Khuram Shaikh, from Rochdald, was shot and stabbed on

But it was feared his killers? political connections would result

Today the men were jailed for 20 years each.

Those that killed my brother have been punished and are now

Clear anguish in Nasser Shahkh's voice outside court in the

After watching his brother's killers convicted of

Six men were charged last Ddcember following allegations they were

being shielded because of their political connections.

A day I delivered a promise to my brother.

Khuram Shaikh was a 32`year`old Red Cross worker on holiday frol his job

On Christmas Day, 2011, he stepped in to stop

He was repeatedly stabbed and then shot.

Many people in Sri Lanka sahd that we would never get justice because

this murderer, one of the mtrderers, was a local politician, verx well

connected to President Rajapaksa, the President of Sri Lanka,

Sampath Vidana`Pathirana, a member of the ruling partx in

Sri Lanka, was given a 20`ydar sentence with hard labour.

Three other men received the same sentence.

I would also like to thank the British government, who havd been

instrumental in seeking answers for our family, the Sri Lankan officials

for progressing the trial to a swift resolution, but more import`ntly to

acknowledge the bravery and defiance shown by those that

The defendants' lawyer says the men will appeal.

When we have a new opportunhty given to us to address the accounts

But Sri Lanka's top lawyer hs expected to apply to have

50`metre high pylons could be built in the Lake District to transport

new power cables from Cumbria to the National Grid.

Three routes have been conshdered, and the preferred option includes

Here's our environment correspondent, Judy Hobson.

This is thought to be Wordsworth plus favoured area. Some max not

want to see eye ones on the coastline, but they are abott to get

taller. The National Grid proposes an offshore power station. Hts

preferred option is to use dxisting power lines, but to increasd the

height of the pylons. The alternatives would be to kedp a wave

to see, or to put knew high once through the South

made any hard and fast decisions at this is a

helping the UK keeping the lights on. You have not ruled out going

through the South Lakes? We have But environmental clean`up ``

campaigners would fight that. We want to be treated fairly. We do not

want the situation that just because we are not formally part of the

national park that means th`t all of the less desirable parts of this are

just dumped on us. But others think that is too expensive and there has

to be a compromise. important that we protect the

content across our area, but that cost too much, that will money ``

that money will end up being paid for by people on their energy bills.

Some people are concerned about the hate of any new pylons. It would

wreck the countryside and I think it would affect to

spoil the natural look of the area. It would seem

down the tunnel underneath. Looking at the Ritz,

than going out to sea. The National Grid will begin

We are alive at the Independent festival that is flooding the rebel

Valley with music. Happy days, remembering children's

TV classics. Sport now,

and Stuart Pollitt is here. The action hotting up at thd Open

today, Stuart, but not for Yes, despite hosting the

Open Championship in the region it doesn't look like we will have

any North West players compdting for Only the top half

on the leaderboard survive That looks like being

at three over par. Southport's Tommy Fleetwood and Matt

Baldwin share the same town and Fleetwood said it was

a dream to play in a home open. It does not get much better,

tournament wise, I did not play well enough to date. That is the only

thing I can say. It was a great couple of beers and I can only thank

people for coming out to support. It is just a shame I could not play any

better. What about the man that we featured yesterday?

She started on six over, G. Plate and he's still on the green. She

needs a spectacular final fdw holes in years to have any chance of

making the cut. In cricket, Freddie Flintoff has

been left out of Lancashire?s T 0 match against Derbyshire tonight

at Old Trafford due to injury. It would have been his first game

at Emirates Old Trafford The all rounder tweeted,

?Devastated I'm not playing tonight, Onwards

and upwards I will be back though. In Super League tonight Warrington

Wolves will aim to make it 01 wins in a row in their away match

against local rivals Widnes Vikings Tony Smith's side made it 10 wins

from 10 on Sunday with an elphatic In the other match Wigan Warriors

host Hull FC. The largest squad

of athletes the Island has dver sent to a Commonwealth Games left

the island this morning. The largest team the Isle

of Man has ever sent to the Commonwealth Games has departed

for their trip to Glasgow. 45 athletes will compete in nine

of the 17 sports. About half of the team left on

this morning?s sailing to Hdysham. everybody is excited about going.

Really excited about being here with all the team. Really excited to get

out there. I am very ready. The whole gymnastics team seems

very hard, especially in thd last few weeks.

Meet Niamh, swimming since ` toddler.

I started when I was two and a half, three.

Now getting ready for the Commonwealth Games.

In 1990, her mum was doing the same thing at the Auckland Games.

That makes her the youngest member of Team Isle of Man.

Well, my mum and dad found out a week before

but they decided not to tell me because they thought I would blab.

Her mum might have kept that to herself, but she has passed

We took her to the learn to swim sessions, she just got stronger

The Commonwealth Games will be by far her biggest,

I will probably be sat up in the spectators gallery crying

I will be really pleased, really proud of her.

I am still working hard at school and I have picked my GCSE

options this year, so I have been trying to juggle all

It's pretty hard but I'm getting there.

Just a few weeks to go until history will be repeated and Neve whll stand

shoulder to shoulder with some of the best swimmers in the world.

That all feature on that on Monday. I am looking forward to the

Commonwealth Games. It is a really big deal for the Isle

of Man. It is a school where only one

in five of the pupils speaks English 10 years ago,

St Mary C of E Primary in Manchester?s Moss Side was put into

special measures, but today everyone was talking with one voice `s they

celebrated an amazing success. So when you started at the school,

what was your English like? I only knew one word that mx mum and

dad told me, and it was "tohlet . Luckily,

the teachers have no problels coping Festival near Gisbun to hear bands

like the Happy Mondays and Boney M. But do not expect it to become

the next Glastonbury. It's one of the few independent

festivals, which means no Yes, the music has begun. A band has

just begun on the main stagd. People come here from all over the country

to enjoy this festival. You may not have heard of it before, but it s

popularity has been growing thanks to world of May. `` due to world of

mouth. `` word`of`mouth. It all began with a group of friends

playing music around the calpfire. The persuaded a farmer to whn ten

Deerfield `` a field and thd festival was born. It is such a

beautiful easier. We get colments all the time that the campshte is

worth the ticket price alond, just for the views across the valley It

is a stunning area. We are very lucky to have it. 12,000 people have

event. Still pretty small for their store standards,

itself for being one of the independent festival. It relies

everybody is to corporate branding, so we try to cater for

seems to work. We have sold out year`on`year, so we must be doing

from the music world will bd appearing on 15 stages here. You

cannot beat it. The location. It is really small and everyone knows each

other and everybody is really nice. It is my first time here and

everybody seems lovely. It seems I can any nice place to be. `` it

seems like a very nice placd to be. Over the last nine years, it has:

From strength to strength. `` gone from strength to strength the

organisers hope the local economy will benefit from this.

They tried to use local suppliers and visit the local petrol station

brings an advanced to find out they gates it can stock up on supplies

for the festival. It contintes until Sunday and so far the weathdr is

behaving. Not sure all the people behhnd you

were behaving! We will find out whether the weather will behave In

a moment. Now, who was your favourite TV

character as a child? If you grew up in the 40s,

it might be Muffin the Mule. The 60s and 70s,

perhaps it was the Clangers. Or if you were an 80s child,

Gordon the Gopher, perhaps? Well, a new exhibition charting the

history of BBC children's programmes Favourite characters, old and new,

are being put on display, capturing the television melories

of childhood. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I

will begin. Remember this? Children's hour and a lesson with

mother. It is how it all began. How about this? August? `` or this? And

as this school uniform familiar `` and as this school uniform familiar

two and what about these? Mdmories of nostalgia are stored in this

exhibition, which Prince to get the BBC children's characters throughout

the decades. It defines who we are in many ways. It is the first find

you have, the first dialogud, the first conversation. It is ilportant.

Lost on one generation but from you to another. From Bill and Bdn and

recliners to Gordon and orddrs. The debates and admits we were having

very early on about languagd, about the appropriate set of contdnt, of

register, they are all still there, they have just moved on. Here's one

day made area. `` the made darlier. Usually, we are showing paintings

and drawings and sculptures. This has all that, but also things made

of sticky back plastic and cardboard and so on. They are so prechous end

of own way. So who has clailed the title of best loved BBC character?

It was a close shave but thhs man took the top spot. Goodbye children,

goodbye. You do not remember about. , you do.

`` you do not remember that, do you?

If anything, the forecast whll is worse than we first thought. This is

what we are saying about thd weekend. It is definitely spot.

Saturday will be very wet, Sunday will be more settled. The stn will

come out every now and again. The reason I said the picture is

is because The Met office h`ve upgraded the year when we h`ve been

talking about all week to an warning. `` upgraded the yellow

warning to an amber warning. could be localised warning ``

flooding. This is wants to do over the next couple of

hours. It wants to bring in at the moment. If you're he`ding out

this evening, just look spread quickly into the mord

southern part and it people. But to watch this rdmove as

we go through the morning. some localised flooding and traffic

disruption and potentially some goes on, it starts to fragmdnt. In

many places will be tried for a few hours. I cannot tell

can see that that is not a pretty picture. We do not often get

Sunday will be better. A lot of people

boots at that festival. That may be a good idea. If you can takd their

canoe that may be better! Have a good weekend anyway, despite

the weather. Goodbye.