02/11/2011 South Today

Hello, I'm Sally Taylor. Welcome to South Today. In tonight's

programme: A paedophile ring is broken. Four

men and a woman are guilty in a case that detectives describe as

the most horrific they have seen. The most terrific were over 300

videos of children being sexually abused, and I have never seen

anything like that in my career. An investigation begins into how

two businesses were destroyed by fire.

Under pressure - saving a piece of naval history that once tested

divers to the limit. It is wonderful because they have

been saved from the scrapyard. They would have gone to scrap if we had

not found a home for them. And a student union - an honorary

degree for the couple who met at university in 1948.

I thought, that is a nice looking girl sitting opposite me! That is

Detectives working on an international paedophile

investigation have described it as the "most horrific" they have

experienced in their careers. Tonight, a woman and four men,

including a serving soldier, have been found guilty of offences

relating to systematic child abuse. The gang were convicted of 16

charges at Portsmouth Crown Court. The offences relate to the abuse of

children under the age of 13. And, as Roisin Gauson reports, their

abusers used a nudist website as a front to distribute the images

across the world. Portsmouth was the city said to be

at the heart of an international paedophile ring. Today there were

tears in the crown court as Melissa Noon, who lived nearby, was found

guilty of 11 counts of sexually abusing children. Also in the dock,

Mark Day. He broke down as he was found guilty of two accounts of

planning to abuse a child. Alongside him, John Maddox was

found guilty of causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual

activity through a webcam. Said insult to Daniel Bell was found

guilty of possessing and attempting to distribute indecent images of

children. He was cleared of two further charges of arranging to

meet up in order to abuse a child. A 4th man, Simon Hilton, was found

guilty of arranging child sex offences. The rain came to the

attention of police shortly before Christmas last year -- the

paedophile ring. The team received an alert from Australia, where

police had complete evidence that a man from Portsmouth was abusing

children in Hampshire. That man was Robert Hathaway, the common link

between the defendants. He has pleaded guilty to a string of

offences including the rape and sexual assault of children. An

investigation got underway. Hathaway and his partner, Melissa

Noon, were arrested and their computers seized. The recovered

data led police to arrest several others, whose computers, in turn,

produced more evidence. In all, there were 14,000 indecent images,

and more than 300 videos of children being sexually abused.

Everything you see here is evidence. We have a lot of storage for the

computers, the hard drives, and this one caused an issue because of

the volume, it is one of the largest cases in the last few years

we have had to deal with. Images were shared from Portsmouth around

the UK, but officers realise they were dealing with an international

paedophile ring. The pictures quickly spread through seven

countries in Europe and internationally to Japan, America

and Australia. Victoria Dennis was the senior investigating officer.

Her team found Robert Hathaway set up an online community -- online

nudist amenity as a friend to find like-minded people who were

admitted to a secure area of the website where they shared images

and encouraged each other to abuse children. This is the largest

investigation of this type the Constabulary has dealt with. In my

20 years as a police officer it is one of the most complex I have had

to deal with as well. I am joined by Roisin Gauson now.

You have followed this from the start. Today we saw five people

found guilty. But there are many more people involved?

Those five we had about today had pleaded not guilty, but in total

Hampshire police have charged eight defendants with a total of 124

offences. Some of those have entered guilty pleas at and 97

counts, so they will go straight to sentencing, but it does not stop

there. Information about seven other suspects was sent to forces

across the UK and there has been a conviction in Durham Crown Court.

Those people will be sentenced on 19th December.

If it is going further afield, it is going even further, not just

Hampshire, much wider? It stems from Australia and

Hampshire police have worked closely with authorities in

Australia, two officers travelled there to help the police with

inquiries. Outside the UK, 20 different forces are involved

across 10 countries. Hampshire police have identified 35 suspects

but it could grow as investigations continue.

Thank you very much. Bournemouth Council has applied to

the courts to evict protestors outside the town hall. A hearing

will take place on Friday. The council says it has 12 weddings due

to take place in the week from Friday, and they could be disrupted

if the protests continue. A number of banners have already been

removed by council officers. Plans to build 400 flats in Poole

have been rejected by councillors. Developers described the West Quay

site as a commercial space. But opponents branded it as a

"carbuncle on the quay" and hundreds of people objected to the

scheme. Police searching a property in the

Isle of Wight say the body of Damien Nettles is not there. Damien

was 16 when he went missing 15 years ago today. The property in

Marsh Road in Gurnard had been sealed off for two days. It is

thought that Damien Nettles has been murdered. Rachael Canter is

there for us tonight. What more can you tell us?

Forensic officers have spent a second day here at the property on

March -- Marsh Road in dare not, and as you can see it is run-down,

it looks almost abandoned, but police say that -- police say that

somebody does own it and one of the things they have looked at is

whether it has links to the suspects that were arrested

yesterday morning. They have spent the day inside the property,

lifting up the floorboards, scouring the earth underneath, and

carrying out an extensive excavation of the garden. But this

evening police officers left around 4:30pm as it began to get dark and

they said that nobody has been found, and they have finished their

search here. Earlier, I spoke to a neighbour who did not want to go on

camera but said how shocked she was. She knew Damien Nettles' family

personally and said she was surprised to find they were

searching a couple of doors down from where she lived.

It is a poignant day to day, 15 years since Damien went missing.

Where does this leave the investigation?

Police say in just before we came on air this evening that they have

failed the couple that were arrested yesterday, A35 year old

woman and 44-year-old man arrested answers the receipt of -- and

rested on conspiracy to murder. For the family this evening, 15 years

from when he was last seen, they are still no closer to finding out

what happened to Damien. Thank you.

Two businesses have been destroyed by a fire at the Rushington

Business Park in Totton, near Southampton. Flames ripped through

an MOT station and a commercial lighting company. More than 40

fire-fighters were there at the height of the fire, with crews from

neighbouring Wiltshire also drafted in. Caroline Richardson reports.

The 999 call came at half past two this morning. Crews were met by a

substantial fire which they battled to bring under control. The

contents of the building and the structure were both well alight.

This is a very severe fire involving a large 20 by 50 metre

unit. That said, the early make-up by initial cruise, effective

actions of the firefighters to get in and make an initial

investigation, meant we could save a large part of the property.

only now that the damage is apparent. The roof has collapsed in

on itself, and much of the inside is gutted. People turning up for

work this morning when shocked. No one was injured in the blaze. The

fire service and spent all morning damping down. Fire investigation

officers are working to establish how the fire started.

Sussex Police have warned about a growing trend in people using

lasers against aircraft. It follows an incident on Monday night when a

laser was shone at the pilot of the police helicopter. A 16-year-old

girl was arrested in Worthing on suspicion of endangering an

aircraft. She was released on bail until December 3rd.

It is a growing trend, it is certainly rising exponentially. It

is amazing. The CCTV cameras will stay switched

on in Chichester after councillors voted to keep the service. The

authority has to save money and shutting the service down was one

option. The control room will now stay open, but there will be 16

fewer cameras operating. This will save nearly �20,000. The district

council will be looking to make other savings elsewhere.

Still to come in this evening's South Today:

On the move - hundreds of sea creatures making way for the

builders. And I will have the stories from

last night's football, including a very upset Brighton manager as his

Local councils from the South have joined the complaints about the

cuts in Government subsidy for solar power. Yesterday, we reported

on the installation companies who say their plans have been thrown

into chaos. Today, the Prime Minister was taken to task and

angry MPs confronted the Energy Minister, Hampshire Lib Dem Chris

Huhne. Our political editor Peter Henley is here. This is a cut that

particularly affects the South of England, isn't it? Yes, we get more

sunshine so many companies have made an investment in this idea of

putting solar panels on the roof. A lot of councils were complaining

today, in particular Reading council who had a �5 million scheme

ready to go and do not think it will get through in the six-week

deadline so it will probably not happen. They will not get cheaper

fuel and so will not put things back into the grid from solar power.

In the House of Commons, Alan Whitehead took the Prime Minister

to cast. Will he personally intervened to

sort out the appalling chaos that is rigid -- that is resulting from

the reducing of tariffs in six weeks' time, leading to job losses,

chaos in the solar industry and devastation for hundreds of

community renewable projects? this government that set aside �3

billion for a green investment bank, much talked about in the past, and

ever done. Many were saying the initial rate

of subsidy was too good to be true? There are two sides to every story

and people were saying, is it the best use of taxpayers' money? Homes

that may not have the best insulation where people can afford

�15,000 to get it put in, rather than the people struggling to pay

their bills? It seemed to be a licence to print taxpayers' money.

The Energy Minister, Chris Huhne, seen here looking at a farm in his

constituency on the roof of a leisure centre, said they had to

pay that level of subsidy in order to make it free to people.

entire budget would be exhausted by the spring of next year, and our

estimate, as I remember, if we were to allow the scheme to continue at

the old tariff rate would have been at least 1 billion on to consumer

costs through this parliament. Any chance of a rethink?

He was saying her billion when the Dong went off there X Mach -- when

the gong went off there! But some of the schemes may see a bit of a

rethink. Thank you. They were used to train divers in

the Second World War, and now they have got an extraordinary place in

naval history on the seafront near Gosport. The diving chambers were

used by scientists to see just what the human body could cope with.

They have now found a permanent home at the Diving Museum in Stokes

Bay. Roger Finn watched the delicate operation.

7 turns of thick steel swings in the air. -- seven at tonnes. Save

it from the scrap heap to end its days in the Gosport dining museum.

This chamber was built in 1943 and was used by the Royal Navy.

Royal Naval physiological Laboratory is experimenting in

deep-sea diving! The chambers were pressurised to simulate conditions

at depths of 300 ft or more. John town has worked at the Laboratory

and remembers being told hair- raising stories about the war year

volunteers. They were put in the chamber and taken down to about 100

feet to see if they can bolster or not. They were all volunteers, they

came out of the chamber only to see a line of the next people waiting

to go in when they were being carried out unconscious. The second

chamber delivered today was built in 1965. It is smaller but twice as

heavy, one of several used to simulate extreme depths. Inside the

chamber, it would -- a gap of 1,200 feet can be assimilated, but these

men have no desire to reach that bone crushing debt. Close watch is

kept on the divers by the highly trained staff, ready to take

immediate action should anything go wrong. This is a very

claustrophobic experience but in 1980 two men spent 42 days in this

little space. That was two days assimilating going down to the

bottom, a day on the bottom, and 38 days simulating the slow rise back

to the surface. 10 years earlier another pair spent 15 days in the

Chamber of reaching a record depth of 1,500 feet. Dr John Bevan was

one of them. I really enjoyed it. But you were taking quite a risk?

We knew what the risks were, and we were going down very slowly so if

there were any problems we could come back at any time, so it was

being done extremely carefully. Gosport Diving Museum opened in

April and celebrates Gosport's pivotal role in the history of

diving, but it is the chambers that now have the pride of place. It is

wonderful because these have been saved from the scrapyard. They

would have gone for scrap if we had not found a home for them at the

Diving Museum. Roger is with me. Amazing museums -

- amazing machines. A host of stories connected with them? They

found a lot of bizarre stories about what happens under extreme

pressure. They used to put in food through an air hatch at one end,

and press a rise it -- and pressurise it. Boiled sweets, an

air pocket in a boiled sweet, if it hits your tongue, it will latch on

to your tongue. Everybody wants to ask the question, what about the

toilet? That is the big question. There is a little chamber at the

end which has a toilet and shower. A bit of privacy! What about seeing

these in place? Can you visit? museum is open at the weekends and

bank holidays, run by volunteers. They were going to shut for the

winter but because of the fuss over this they will be open for the next

two weekends. Definitely worth a look. Thank you very much.

They came from all over the world. Former students gathered at the

University of Surrey today for an honorary degree ceremony. Among

them, a couple who met on their first day at college more than 60

years ago. Barbara and Michael Cutland studied at Battersea

Polytechnic, which became part of the university in the 60s. Sean

Killick went along to the event at Guildford Cathedral.

A touching moment in the lives of Barbara and Michael Cutland. Their

romance began in 1948 when they met at Battersea Polytechnic. Their

love depend as they trod the boards together in their dramatic society.

They joined the sports clubs together as well. Two years after

graduation, they wed. That was 58 years ago but they have never

forgotten where and how it all be down. That was the first day when

we were freshers and you meet up in a common room and feel terribly

awkward and gradually you notice who they are and everything is

explained very clearly. I thought, that is a nice-looking girl sitting

opposite me! But then you join the clubs and we have a lovely time, as

well as a lot of hard work. Today, Barbara and Michael were among 400

Battersea students from the 1940s, fifties and sixties receiving

honorary degrees from the University of Surrey, which took

over from the Polytechnic in 1966. Barbara was one of many who were

originally only awarded a diploma, not a degree, after three years of

study. We used to feel hard done by. But today he is finally received a

degree? It was lovely, and meeting people so far back. It is almost

unbelievable that we are still friends. Battersea Polytechnic was

renowned for teaching domestic science as well as chemistry and

engineering. It took university staff more than a year of scouring

old records to trace the 400 people at the ceremony. We are pleased to

see so many it today, with their families, their grandchildren,

their relatives, who perhaps in some cases had graduated themselves,

and to see their grandmother or grandfather graduating is a real on

and we are proud of that, proud of what we are done and proud of the

history of the graduates. Some travelled from as far afield as

Australia, Japan and South Africa to celebrate their undergraduate

days more than half a century ago. I bet there were a few shared

memories there today. We are used to Fairtrade chocolate

and Fairtrade sugar. Now we have Fairtrade gold. It is the first

time anywhere in the world that it has been displayed on a public

building. Steeplejacks climbed 277 feet to mount a gilded weathervane

on the spire of Chichester Cathedral. A private donor helped

pay for the project. It looks wonderful, doesn't it?

It is tough moving house, but when you are dealing with hundreds of

sea creatures it gets a bit complicated. Brighton Sea Life

Centre is closing its doors to undergo vital maintenance work,

meaning its occupants will need to be re-homed for the duration. Alex

Beard reports on a somewhat fishy tale.

A reluctant a victory. This spider crab is one of hundreds of

underwater creatures moving home. All inhabitants of the Victorian

arcade section of Brighton Sea Life Centre must obey Kate to allow for

restoration. It is a very humid atmosphere, and the salt water is

corrosive to the stonework, so we have a very talented team of

stonemasons who are used to working on Victorian buildings coming in,

repairing the stonework, they will be stripping back the paint and

returning the building to its former glory as it was when it was

first built. Some creatures are staying put, others moving to

temporary housing, but those who need to move of site will be packed

on to special fish lorries to be looked after across the can tip.

Sometimes it is in a bucket, we used big buckets, we have

specialised transport trucks. Some are literally completely sealed

with just a hole on top of a flatbed lorry. Some are big fish

tanks on the back of articulated lorries. One of the last tanks to

be emptied will be this one, which homes these eels. This one weighs

12 stone, his body is the diameter of a dinner plate, and his jaws are

as strong as those of a lion, so when the staff end to this tank

they have to wear chain-mail gloves. Once all of the tanks have been

emptied, the building work can begin. It will be five months

before the public and the spider crabs will see the new look

aquarium. I like that, chain-mail gloves! He

was a big monster, wasn't it? ! Kris Temple is here with the

sport. How far payer are saints at the top

of the championship? Five points clear now at the top, at they have

won 17 home games in a road. Things not going so well for Brighton, it

is fair to say. Nine games without a win for the Seagulls. We start

our round-up with their 1-0 defeat at Watford.

Brighton manager Gus Poyet was all smiles when he arrived but it was

soon to turn to horror. Albion were punished with this second half when

it. It is now four points from the last 27 available for the Seagulls.

If you do not pass the ball, create, open up the position, if you are

not brave enough and do not cross the ball properly and if you do not

move in the box at the right time and are not stronger than the

defenders... Southampton made harder work of beating ten-man

sent off in the first half before Emile Sinclair's late consolation.

Wedding's eight-game unbeaten run came to an end at Nottingham Forest.

Marcus Tudgay's role -- goal decided it.

As they move closer to naming a manager, Portsmouth fought out a 0-

0 draw with Crystal Palace. They ended a run of five straight

defeats on their travels. And in League Two, Aldershot had

three wins and a roads. Luke Gutteridge sealed the points --

Extended highlights of those games will be on the BBC website from

midnight tonight. Plans to expand Crawley Town's

Broadfield Stadium have been unveiled. Over 2,000 seats will be

added to the East Stand if planning permission is granted. If the

project is approved, it is hoped the building work will be finished

by February next year. After a weather-delayed start, the

tenth Transat Jacques Vabre race got underway off the coast of

France today. A heavy storm had kept the sailors in port for an

extra 72 hours, including Southampton's Mike Golding and Alex

Thomson from Gosport. The fleet will sail straight into predicted

winds of around 50mph and waves of 10 metres. The winner should reach

the finish in Costa Rica in just under three weeks.

A Hampshire school celebrated the opening of a new state of the art

sports facility today. The astro- turf development at Ballard School

in New Milton was officially opened by Olympic hockey gold medallist

David Faulkner, although the international-sized pitch is very

much multi-purpose. It means that we have got hockey

available to us all the time to play. Lots of different sports as

well to come on and practice. We previously just had the grass to

play on, which is whether dependent, and it means the girls can get on

to a true surface and their hockey skills will improve dramatically.'s

great facilities. No progress on the Portsmouth

manager yet, but we watch and wait. Straight on to the weather. Tales

of doom and gloom? Some people like the rain, the air. I am one of them.

Don't hate me! Shall we look at the details before we go further? We

have seen a bit of rain but it will get a bit worse, I think. Brace

yourselves. There is a lot of rain, not just tonight but for the next

It is still on the mild side and will be fairly breezy overnight.

This is the scene earlier on. That warm front has brought some rain,

but the cold front later tonight will bring heavier pulses. Behind

that cold front, unstable air, bringing further showers through

tomorrow. Dorset and Hampshire have the heaviest rain in the second

half of this evening and overnight. Perhaps easing the way here from

many parts by dawn. Mild temperatures, compared with the

single figures last night. Then the showers begin to pile in once again

three Thursday. Probably a brief dry period in the morning and by

midday the showers merging into longer spells of rain. Still breezy,

and mild in spite of the Rhine. Into the evening, it gets wetter

still, and then you think it is getting dry but it opens the

floodgates for further showers. This time, they will be much

heavier, they could be thundery in nature and they will be around for

much longer than those on Thursday. The reason is the winds fall light

on Friday said the showers will be slow-moving. Having said that, we

will get some sunshine. Friday night is looking rather dry and

chilly. Saturday, a grim start to the weekend. Deepening low pressure

from the Continent, bringing a lot of rain and very windy conditions.

Once the rain sets in on Saturday it will be around for quite some

time. For Bonfire Night, wet and windy in the south, change your

plans and may be have bonfire night on Friday night when it is dry,

clear and then wait until Saturday! Tell us what is happening tomorrow