21/12/2016 Points West

Our headlines tonight: for the news where you are.

Bail denied for a jailed Taunton marine.

Alexander Blackman was convicted of the murder of a Taliban

He's now trying to appeal against the conviction.

We're out on the streets of Gloucester as police crack down

Temperatures are dropping overnight tonight but will there be any snow

in the Christmas forecast? I will have more details later on.

Former royal marine Alexander Blackman from Taunton

was jailed for the murder of a Taliban fighter in 2011

Today he was refused bail ahead of a new challenge to his conviction

at the Appeal Court, which will be heard in the new year.

Our Somerset correspondent Clinton Rogers has this report.

Surrounded by vocal support, Alexander Blackman's wife walked

into the Court of Appeal with high hopes her husband would be

Two hours later she emerged disappointed but still hopeful

We must remember that earlier this month, the Criminal Case's Review

Commission decided to refer the case back to the Appeal Courts.

And this is the most important step towards

getting his conviction and sentence overturned.

Blackman's legal team had applied for bail pending that hearing,

which could be as soon as late January, but we now know that until

it is heard, the former Royal Marine sergeant will stay

In his home town of Taunton, that was a decision

Absolutely, should have been allowed out for Christmas.

To have had bail on this at this stage would presume the

At this stage, I don't think you can do that.

Truly, truly disgusting, I feel sorry for his family.

However, an MP who has been part of the campaign of support

for Marine A and has visited him several times in prison,

says Blackman will not be too disillusioned.

He will go to bed tonight, not entirely a happy man, he would

far rather be at home, but at least he knows in a few weeks this

We have to take the emotion out, I think.

Meanwhile, a former Royal Marine colonel

told me this afternoon that

unquestionably Blackman had made a mistake in shooting dead

the wounded Taliban insurgent, but others may need to take some

Yes, he has failed, but to an extent, the system has failed.

Did he know exactly what he could and could

If he didn't, then there is a failure in the system because we

And if he was under stress, as some of

the reports suggest, then the

system I think, should have picked him up and supported him before.

So Clare Blackman will be spending another Christmas

without her husband, but

with hopes 2017 might produce a more positive legal outcome.

A new service trying to reduce pressure on the Emergency Department

at Bristol Royal Infirmary has been suspended after a patient died.

David Birtwistle was 44 and leaves behind a wife and daughter.

In November, he went to the hospital and was assessed

Our health correspondent Matthew Hill told me what happened.

Well, we know David Birtwistle went to see his GP on November 10th

and then three days later, on the Sunday afternoon,

he was feeling breathless, so he went to this

Now this is a service essentially set up for...

You're seen by a health professional who decides whether you need

to see a GP there or to go on to Accident and Emergency.

And, in his case, he was treated, he was then discharged.

We've just this evening had a statement from his wife who says:

"David's death was a complete shock as he had been fit and well,

had no long-term medical complications or conditions.

The cause of death is still being investigated and we do not know

if the system at A E that day contributed to his death.

Dave was an amazing man, loved by all his family and friends

and his sudden death at such a young age has hit us very hard."

Now would the patient have died anyway, had

That is something which will be looked at by what's called

So it's an internal investigation set up

They're trying to find an expert from outside to give

But they are obviously taking it very seriously

We've had a statement from BrisDoc, the private company,

who say: "Our sincere condolences are with his family

and there's going to be a thorough investigation."

It was because of the rise in demand on A E.

A 5% rise there in the last year or so, and that meant

that they really want to prioritise the sickest patients

to make sure they get seen by the emergency

And patients who don't really need to be seen there,

about a third of the patients don't need to go there, are seen by GPs

So what effect will closing the scheme have on A E?

NHS England had it as an initiative because they're worried

about the winter, the Christmas approaching us,

So no doubt it will cause more pressure there in the department.

The number of people begging on the streets of Gloucester has

been cut dramatically after a new campaign.

It's helped nearly 40 people, but has also seen so-called

"professional beggars" arrested, who are on benefits

Here's our Gloucesteshire reporter, Steve Knibbs.

You've got your hat out with money in it.

Since the summer the new team tackling begging and homelessness

in the city have got to know everyone on the streets.

You have a room down there waiting right now.

They know this man's story well, this morning

but has once again refused it, preferring to beg

Not nice to be at the stage of

enforcing action against people, but

that is what will happen if people continue to make

the choice to beg to feed their

And that would mean a criminal behaviour order banning him

And it wasn't long before the team caught someone with an order,

who they said had breached it for the third time.

The man was given the order originally for persistently begging,

despite having accommodation and receiving benefits.

It is difficult because there are different profiles

There's a small number who are genuinely homeless

and genuinely in need and vulnerable.

Many homeless people have been found a place to live and there was good

We may have a private landlord who is willing to take you.

As soon as I get my flat in the New Year, my life

will change dramatically for the better.

It has been a long and delicate job to get this far and some

but it's though that leaves just three people sleeping rough

on the city's streets over Christmas.

Well, tonight it's been announced that Bristol is to get ?2.5 million

The city's mayor Marvin Rees welcomed the cash, saying it will be

spent on rough sleepers and stopping people becoming homeless

Terry Brain was a Bristol animator who helped create characters

including Shaun the Sheep and the 1980s series The Trap Door.

Terry died earlier this year and wasn't able to bring

a collection of stories he called Weirdy Rhymes to the screen.

Well, now his son is on a mission to finish his father's work.

It was one of the most-watched children's animations of its time.

Trap Door was broadcast across the world and made by Dave's dad.

This is what our house was like when we were growing up.

It was just like this all the way through to the back room.

Terry Brain's Plasticine characters were famous.

It was weird, because to me it was just what your dad did.

But in school, I felt like a celebrity because everyone

was like, "Your dad did Trap Door, wow, amazing!"

Terry would also make up nursery rhymes for his children and always

said he wanted to bring those characters to life.

He was working on The Were-Rabbit, Shaun

And then, he was diagnosed with cancer.

It started looking like things weren't looking so good.

But we thought we had a few months to get these finished

and then the next day he was gone, sadly.

So, the job of finally making Weirdy Rhymes is one for his son.

The day before he passed, he said, "I can't believe I'm

about to kick the bucket and you're going to finish these projects

for me, become millionaires and live that fancy house

30 years in the making, these characters are about to finally

It is just a shame the man who created them isn't here to

That's all from us. I'll leave you with the weather.

Hello, good evening. Temperatures are already starting to drop. We

have largely clear skies which sets us up originally started the day

tomorrow but a much improved Dion today. We should see more sunshine

and a largely dry day, some western parts could get some showers.

Temperatures will get close to freezing, particularly in rural

areas. I think with the light winds and the clear skies we will see some

list and some fog forming two. That could be slow to Korea in the

morning, I weave and that a good deal of sunshine and a lot more

sometime tomorrow compared with today. It may not be dry for

everyone, the further west you are, particularly in Somerset, we could

see one or two showers. Most of us should see sunshine. Temperatures

roughly where they should be for the time of year, up at around seven or

8 degrees. It does Town Moor mild as we head towards the Christmas

weekend. Friday you can expect some strong winds during the day, that is

storm Barbra. We will see the rain associated with that on Friday and

Saturday. Christmas Eve, dry with sunshine and we start to get mild

air rushing in as well. Christmas Day looks breezy, cloudy and very

mild. good for us. Mild by the time we

reach Christmas Day. Hello there, there is wet and very

windy weather on the way in the run-up to Christmas. The worst of

the weather to the northern half of the UK. We have a strengthening jet

out of North America that is propgating across the Atlantic.

Rushing our way. Picking up low pressure, deepening them, tracking

them to the north-west of Scotland, hence the wind and rain. Tonight, we

have gale force winds in the north-west of Scotland. Wintry

showers here. There is still come rain to clear from the south-east.

It will go. The skies will clear. We get patchy fog in the south-east of

England. Chilly where skies clear, particularly in the countryside, not

far away from freezing. Further north we keep the showers going

through