27/10/2016 North West Tonight

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A suspected drug trafficker from Liverpool has handed himself

in - after three-years on the run - saying the pressure

Robert Gerrard was named on the National Crime

For three years, this mugshot's been toured round Liverpool and overseas.

The NCA first made an appeal to trace Robert Gerrard in 2013

as part of Operation Return, a campaign to capture some

of Britiain's most-wanted criminals on the run in the Netherlands.

They wanted to track down Gerrard following a raid

It was a joint investigation with the Dutch national polhce,

targeting serious organised criminals using a cafe

and using that to commit medtings to further their activity.

Gerrard was not there when the cafe was raided,

but officers allege he used it as part of a plan to import large

His face was then splashed across the media, not only

But the pressure of three ydars on the run proved too much

and Robert Gerrard handed themselves here into Central Berkeley station

in Manchester yesterday and was arrested and charged

We have been proactive in trying to find him and because of that

activity he has handed himself in.

He was sick of us chasing him, really.

The National Crime Agency says this operation and its sister calpaign

over in Spain proves wanted criminals have nowhere to hhde.

We work closely with international parties in countries all ovdr

the world and they assist us in trying to find criminals

that we are looking for that are impacting upon the UK and

Since handing himself in yesterday, Gerrard has appeared before

magistrates and will be back in court next month.

Katie Walderman, BBC North West Tonight.

Greater Manchester Police have found eighteen suspected

victims of modern slavery and arrested twenty-seven people -

Officers visited 207 addresses last week

including car washes, nail bars brothels and factories.

Forces across the region have been working together -

in the largest week of action against modern slavery

A Merseyside man - found with two homemade explosives

known as Molotov Cocktails and a knife - has been jailed

24-year-old Craig Cooke from Belle Vale was arrested -

after a member of the public saw him acting suspiciously in Huyton

Police say they're thankful no-one was injured.

18 people have been rescued after a fire at a block

The blaze swept through part of the four-storey building

on Hampstead Road in Fairfield in the early hours of this lorning.

Four children were among those taken to safety

and eight people needed hospital treatment.

Police are treating the fire as suspicious.

Public support for fracking has fallen to a record low -

Earlier this month, the Government gave permisshon

for fracking in Lancashire overturning an earlier

The latest poll of 2,000 UK home owners found just

17 percent of people were in support of fracking -

with a third opposing it and almost half saying

A doctor who says he was sacked by the Ministry of Defence

for whistle-blowing claims that there was

a culture of fear at Weeton Barracks near Blackpool.

Dr Stephen Frost was dismissed in September 2013.

The Ministry of Defence says he failed to properly

Gill Dummigan was at the hearing and told me about the

Yes, Dr Frost worked as a civilian locum GP mainly for the Minhstry

of Defence through a number of

In August 2013, he was at the Wheaton barracks near Blackpool.

He was in a consultation with patient X, a double amputee.

This patient had previously been prescribed a strong painkiller,

morphine sulphate, by another doctor.

Shortly after that consultation, a pharmacist told him she thought

she had mistakenly dispensed the wrong tablets to Mr X,

six times stronger than those prescribed.

Dr Frost did not contact the patient to tell him either at the thme

Dr Frost said protocol dictated it was the pharmacy who shotld have

been the ones to contact the patient but the more importantly he simply

did not believe patient X had taken the drugs.

He said he didn't show any symptoms of an overdose.

Instead, he thought the pharmacist had possibly been coerced,

threatened or blackmailed by the patient in some way

He said there was a toxic atmosphere at the barracks,

that there was a culture of fear adding there had been a criminal

conspiracy to cover up and misappropriation

He contends he was sacked for trying to get the investigation into this.

And he has been in the news before, a prominent campaigner.

Dr Frost has been a long-standing campaigner for a full inquest

You may remember he was the arms inspector who was found dead

in woodlands near his home in 2003 shortly after being revealed

as the source of the claim that the government at the time,

Tony Blair s government, had sexed up the dossier which made

But one family's fallen foul of planning officials -

because of their daughter's wendy house.

It's a home from home for Wendy's daughter Amy.

Going on the bars and on these things.

You could get a small flat in Didsbury for that.

It took four days to build and stands at 3.2 metres high.

And Manchester Council says it's so big, the family should h`ve asked

It is very big, but everything now is very big, isn't it?

Gone are the days of, you know, having the sheet over the chair

and plastic poles and everything has changed for kids now.

One neighbour at least is unhappy and the height of an adjoining fence

has recently been raised, blocking the view from the wendy

She is a child, she is playing and she is fine.

She's not doing anything more than playing.

So the fact she can see into the neighbour's garden

But if you had a trampoline, you would be jumping up and down

Manchester council says that are rules about building anxthing

in a garden and anyone planning anything should take advice first.

Wendy did consider swapping the house for a trampoline,

only to be told she'd need planning permission for that too.

Stuart Flinders, BBC North West Tonight, Manchester.

The worldwide Championship returns to the region tomorrow. British

rally will start in Chester tomorrow night where Colin McRae was crowned

the first world champion two decades ago. The event drew big crowds. This

is its first visit since 1989. ago. The event drew big crowds. This

is its first visit since 1999. It is is its first visit since 1989. It is

broadcast around the world, it gets 60 million viewers across the planet

so this is a big thing. To bring that to Cheshire and Chester is a

great opportunity for us. Is this the start of a regular visit every

year to the north-west? Lets see how this year goes. We are optimistic.

England will host the 2021 Rugby League World Cup -

with organisers promising 80-percent of the matches will be

England last hosted the competition in 2013 -

when Australia beat New Zealand in the final at Old Trafford -

which is one of the stadia on a short list for 2021.

There are 15 in total - including Anfield, Langtree Park

We have breakfast bulletins during BBC Breakfast from 6:30am. And do

BBC Breakfast from 6:30am. @nd do not forget you can get in touch with

Our weather watchers picturds tell it like it is today.

Plenty of cloud across the north-west of England

and we are still in this static picture as we head

We are not expecting any significant changes.

High pressure to the south holding the weather front at bay,

We have some pushing into Ctmbria and the Isle of Man.

As we head through the next couple of hours, it is dropping sotth

absolutely everywhere but ddcaying hour by hour so in the more southern

parts of the region, there shouldn't be too much in that

All of this weather holds temperatures up.

They are still remarkable for the time of year.

Between nine and 12 first thing tomorrow morning.

This line of rain will be around in the more southern parts hf you're

up early tomorrow morning but it clears relatively quickly

and the story is for brighter skies to work into the Isle of Man quite

For the rest of us, northern parts of Lancashird

will see their fair share of sunshine but for the rest of us,

a largely cloudy picture, perhaps a veil of cloud rather

With a light breeze, temperatures in the afternoon not

It is worth remembering that the clocks change

as we head to the weekend, they go back so if I leave

you with the outlook towards the weekend you can see

you get another hour of cloudy weather to enjoy(!) Good night.

fine and dry and on the mild side. My colleague Helen Willetts has with

the national picture. Good evening. The dry October

weather is set to continue into the weekend. It's been kind if you've

been on half term. Not that I'm promising this sort of weather for

all. Isn't it lovely, taken on the Isle of Wight. Our top temperature

was 17