06/03/2014 South Today

Yard's handling of the case. That's all from the BBC News at Six,

Welcome to South Today. In trouble with the lawmakers. Sussex Police

are told off by a Parliamentary Committee.

Hammers fall silent as a Sussex company of stonemasons goes into

administration. Voluntary tagging. Could it be the

way of keeping burglars on the straight and narrow? And pick up a

postcard, the Parisian adventure that ended up in print and helped a

young woman come to terms whth her loss.

Sussex Police has been crithcised by a House of Commons committed for

making serious mistakes in the way that it dealt with a disputd

involving a former minister. The Worthing and East Shoreham LP Tim

Loughton was issued with a police information notice after a

constituent complained about him. The committee said the notice issued

as a warning in harassment cases should be withdrawn but the Sussex

force is standing firm. Our Political Editor, Peter Henley,

joins me now. Is what's this all about? Some see this as a grubby war

of words that escalated out of control, but some say with tensions

between the police and politicians that there is more at stake here.

Tim Loughton called a debatd in the House of Commons last year to hit

back. When he sent a copy of what he said in the xHops to the man, the

police accused him of harassment and sent him a police information

notice. A House of Commons committee then criticised Sussex Police. Their

report came out today. They say they breached the right of MPs, their

freedom of expression on in the House of Commons. This was the

reaction today of Mr Loughton. This is a damning report on Sussdx Police

and damning about the arrog`nce of the senior management of Sussex

Police and particularly the Chief Constable who, of course, announced

his early retirement whilst this investigation wag was on gohng. The

committee found they failed to follow their own guidance on the

issuing of PINs and thaul ahr actions have exacerbated already a

very difficult situation. They are treating constituents with this use

of PINs in an indiscriminant and arbitrary way. On the policd side,

there is tension. The Chief Constable made plain his displeasure

with Mr Loughton. Did you apoll yis to Mr Loughton? No No. Don't you

think you should have done? I have explained this to the committee

The mood continued today. They said: They are saying they are gohng to

give this report serious consideration, but they are under

pressure and Mr Loughton referred this to the police complaints

commission and the police commissioner referred it to the

police college to look at their use of PINs.

One of the country's leading companies of architectural

stonemasons has gone into administration. The Cathedr`l Works

Organisation based in Chichdster has worked on restoration projects at

Buckingham Palace, the London Monument and Chichester Cathedral.

Ninety staff face an uncert`in future with the administrators

warning of significant job losses. Sarah Farmer sent this report from

Chichester. T Cathedral Works Organisation specialise inndd

cservation of buildings for over 50 years. Yesterday, the adminhstrators

were appointed and they told me today there have been mass

redundancies. They say although it is early days, they hope to sell off

part of the business. I havd spoken to a couple of workers who have been

in and out of the building here today. One of them spoke of poor

management which led to this situation, but another spokd highly

and praised the work that hd has done with the CWO for the p`st two

decades. CWO's CV gleams with projects like the monument `nd

Windsor Castle and they havd under taken work at Buckingham Palace but

there are ongoing projects. At Crawley they are one year into a

five year scheme. With five apprentices on the books and father

and son teams working side by side, the company was keen to preserve and

nurture the craft. While administrators work to resolve the

situation, there is an anxious work for the staff to see what the future

holds in store for them. She was a happy go lucky girl, who

brought immense joy to family and friends. That was how the f`mily of

Elisha Langley described her as they listened to more details of how an

abnormality in her skull whhch went unreported may have led to her

developing a fatal brain abscess. Elisha died in December 2012 just

over a month after undergoing routine day surgery at the

Basingstoke and North Hampshire hospital. Jo Kent reports. Dlisha

Langley was born with a gendtic abnormality. Although 20 whdn she

died, she had the appearancd of a ten`year`old. There was somdthing

else, a defect in her skull no one knew about. In November 2012, Elisha

Langley had surgery to remove a cyst. The author of a report into

her death, Professor Macfie, said it should have raised alarm bells.

Elisha Langley died a month later from a brain abscess. On discovery

of the abscess, Elisha was transferred to south General

Hospital. The consultant sahd the treatment may have taken a different

course in the abscess was spotted earlier. Elisha's mother sahd her

daughter was driven to bite her own arm because she was in pain. The

family say it should never have come to this. Professor Macfie s`id

because of Elisha Langley's other health issues, early detecthon may

not have made a difference. In his evidence, the cull consultant

said the procedure of drainhng a brain abscess was not normal. The

earlier, I treat patients the more likely to survive.

Convicted criminals in west Sussex are being invited to wear an

electronic tag. The tag will track their movements to provide ` record

of where they should or shotld not be. Almost half of inmates, the

voluntary scheme is designed to keep them on the straight and narrow

Tagging is nothing new. Curfew tags are often given no those living

prison early and are enforcdd by the courts. But with re`offending rates

high, their effectiveness is being questioned. Enter the next

generation of tags, being used by Sussex Police. These are voluntary

and can be worn by someone `lready tagged with an old style device

Featuring GPS technology, they offer live information on the wearer's

location. They remove the nded for curfews and home visits bec`use

officers can already see whdre that person is 24 hours a day with a

glance at a screen. Police lostly have repeat burglars in mind here.

They can quickly link suspects to a break`in or rule them out of the

investigation early on. Now, out of prison, Duncan will wear thd new tag

until 2016. He has got a stdady job and is getting on with life,

reassured this system means he can't be wrongly suspected of comlitting

crimes. It shows trust to probation that I'm

willing to change. It just proves to them I'm changing. It is not me

Like burgling houses around here when there is people in the papers.

It is someone else because the tag proves it is not me.

Figures show that 46% of adtlts leaving prison reoffend. In Sussex,

20 offenders have volunteerdd for the scheme so far. Seven months in

and none of those wearers h`ve gone on to commit further crimes. Others

would like to see more emph`sis on helping ex`offenders find work,

housing and training. I spoke to detective chief hnspector

Tanya Jones and asked her why people are volunteering? People ard coming

forward. They are people w want to change their offending. This means

they get more freedom back. Normally, we might have a nhght`time

curfew that someone has to stay in during the night for ten to 12

hours. And be checked during that time to make sure they are hn and

not out and offending. By doing this, they get back their lhfe if

you like and additionally they know that they are less likely to get

stopped by police and searched if we have had crimes in those ardas.

There is only 20 people being followed in this pilot schele. You

have been doing it since July. The re`offending rates, well yot haven't

got any `` re`offending ratds so far. Surely you have got to look at

the rates long`term? For nine months, a lot of individuals are

very prolific criminals who are regularly going out and doing

residential burglaries. For them not to have offended or that amount of

time is significant. If we can break the cycle of offending and get them

in a different way of living that's what we are trying to achieve and

therefore, it is successful. How cost effective is the schemd? I know

it is small`scale at the molent but if it was to go bigger becatse you

have not got the man power to just watch monitors the whole tile? No.

Absolutely. It saves us polhce time in lots of ways. We are not sending

out officers as I say to chdck those night`time curfews or to find one of

our main offenders in an arda where we have had a burglary. It stops

that level of crime occurring so we are not investigating that `nd

saving time there and we ard only putting this on a small amotnt of

people who are prolific and who need to be willing to do this. Thank you.

Stay with us. Still to come: Show casing netball as the teams and

fans prepare for the Super League match this weekend. A builddr has

described the moment his frhend was crushed to death by a forklhft truck

in Newbury. Read Crown Court heard that father of two, Mark Williams

had complained to managers the day before he died that the are` he was

working in was too small to manoeuvre the vehicle properly. Ben

Moore is in our Reading studio. We heard from an eyewitness today then?

Yes, we heard from a long thme colleague of Mark Williams. He and

Mr Williams were driving tele handlers, that's a forklift truck

with a long extendible arm. They worked on the Parkway site. They

worked for a roofing companx. Both companies are on trial for breach of

health and safety laws. The witness described the site as crowddd with

lots of other contractors and equipment and he noted that meant it

was hard to negotiate. He s`id Mr Williams to to make lots of turns to

get pal lets up to the roof area. He said that Mr Williams had told him

he had gone mad about these conditions and raised them `t a site

meeting the day before he dhed. Mr Williams mother and sister were

visibly upset as the witness described how he saw one palate

start to lump away and the tele handler toppled. He said Mr Williams

tried to leap from the cab, but he was caught underneath it and he died

at the scene. The defence also had their day in court today. In

cross`examination they said that the emis a emphasis and ethos of the

site was safety. The case continues. Ben, thank you.

Although the rain has stoppdd, farmers across the south ard facing

up to the future and the next crop with ground saturated by water, many

are looking at how to prevent their fields flooding next time. Some are

angry at the amount of environmental red tape stopping them from carrying

out drainage work. This may look like a lake ftll of

water, but last year, it was a field full of cows. There is physhcally no

facility to drain this water off in a hurry. For dairy farmer, @ndy it

is not a pretty sight. Andy says he was willing to pay thousands to get

the silt taken from the Rivdr Frome. The fact is when you have

obstructions in the river, the water can't flow down it as effichently as

it should. I should have bedn encouraged to do that. Not told by

the Environment Agency that I couldn't do it. He feels he has

become a victim of bureaucr`cy. We live on the whichever. We f`rm on

the river. We have to earn our living out of the river. Wh`t they

do controls my business, and I'm not allowed to help myself to gdt it

back on target. Simon's farl was a victim of the summer floods of 012.

It ruined most of his crops. He says when he tried to clear ditches and

depry from the river, it took months to get permission and he allost got

prosecuted. We have remove dead trees that are over, and under the

channel. We moved the odd b`nk. As the water levels start to stbside,

finding a long`term solution to the aftermath of the flooding h`s only

just begun. The Environment Agency says dredging is not always the best

way forward and along with Natural England, they say they are committed

to worging with those `` working with those affected. #3 Tonx is here

with the sport and all eyes on Wembley last night. Two of the

Southampton players got the chance to impress Roy Hodgson. He said

"Can I have a word?" He said I am going to give you an opporttnity to

come on. It will be at half`time or ten minutes into the second half. As

soon as he told me, the nerves did sta rt to kick `` start to kick in

and I was excited to be plaxing for my country. It was such a proud

moment, not just for me, but for my family as well that were thdre

watching and it is an honour. Well done Luke Shaw.

Netball's biggest match is taking place this weekend. 3,000 f`ns will

watch the match. The Super League match is the highlight of the

sport's calendar. Saturday, we are going to play in

front of 3,000 people. The Lavericks got beaten on Saturday and they are

going to be up for this. Totgh words from their coach before the biggest

domestic netball match playdd in this country. Surrey Storm take on

Hertfordshire Mavericks on Saturday in front of a record crowd `t the

Olympic Park in London. It hs the mid`way point in netball's Super

League season which is building a stronger following. The sport has

been growing over the years. It was all about the brand and building up

the fanbase. It has taken a while, but it is something we all bought

into it. Every schoolgirl plays netb`ll so

they have all had some tastd of it at some point. The biggest surprise

for people is when they comd to some of our games is the pace and

physicality of the games. It is like nothing they remember from school.

3,000 tickets have been sold for Netball London Live. Surrey Storm

hope their performance will inspire other women to take part in netball

and sport. It should be a good weekend.

Basingstoke Bison beat Milton Keynes last night.

Losing a loved one can be devastating, but the story of one

woman from Dorset shows that celebrating a life can be an

uplifting experience. Rachel was due to go to Paris for her mum's 60th

birthday. Paris was a city H wanted to visit for many years. I really,

really wanted to go with my mother, but unfortunately if neb 2002, she

passed away suddenly from bow well cancer `` bowel cancer. It was very

sudden. A complete shock for the family and we couldn't go on the

trip to Paris. It was a verx dark time for you? It was. It was

confusing and I didn't know what to do with my grief. I didn't know how

to make myself feel any better. But you went anyway to Paris. You

decided to go. You had a pl`n. Tell me about the plan. Right, I mean,

are I found the first very difficult and the milestones of the ydar were

getting tough and I had my lum's 60th birthday. I decided to scatter

60 postcards around the citx of Love. I went with a group of friends

and we did that all over thd city. Where did you leave them? Wd left

them all over the place. In the Metro. On postcard racks whhch I

found fun. You had written on the back of them. Tell us what xou had

written? I had written a message and it said I'm Rachel from London and

I'm here to celebrate my mother s 60th and popped my E `mail `ddress

on the bottom if the hope that somebody would get back to le. What

did you want them to do? To say hello. Or did you want more than

that? I was reaching out re`lly I think I was finding it diffhcult to

talk about mum freely that xear with death being quite a taboo. H just

thought I would reach out and see if anybody got back to me and tell me

where they found it. Did yot go was it random or did you go for

specific, iconic places as well Yeah. I mean, I left one underneath

the Eiffel Tower. I passed ht to some girls really. I gave it to them

almost to carry on the misshon. I didn't know who they were. They were

strangers. This was random though. We felt like we just wanted to do it

when it felt right rather than too much planning. When did you get a

reply? How surprised were you? Mm, it was incredible. It was three days

after I return from Paris. So we were keen to keep the buzz going

from the weekend. So my housemate and I went for a night out `nd we

alarmed quite a few passengdrs on the over ground back to our house as

I saw an e`mail saying Paris postcard and we screamed. It was a

funny reaction from people `round us. I couldn't believe it h`d worked

and someone got back to me. It led to a blog. You do a blog and you

incorporate some of those. Give us an idea of some of the things people

were saying to you? They were replying to a they were all really,

really, really lovely about the tributes. They said that thdy could

relate to my words. It showdd me that, you know, losing someone that

you love is universal, we all go through it and they were just

touched by the message and they wanted to reach out and get back in

touch with me and they told me, you know, their stories and who they

were and where they were from and from there I have kept in touch with

most of them. Most unusual one or the one that stood out for xou? I

grew up dancing when I was xounger and my mum passed that down to me,

she was creative and loved to dance. New York City ballet dancer one

found one and took it back to New York with her and so when she

contacted me to say she had taken the postcard back and left ht there,

I then followed it up and flew out to New York and left 60 there as

well. So you have done it in Paris and you moved to New York and did it

there. What has it helped you come to terms with? What have yot learned

from this fabulous adventurd that started in a dark place? It has been

a beautiful distraction. It helped me channel me to do something that I

love. I also know that it is something my mum would adord. If she

heard about this story, I know she would be the first one to phck up

the phone to Who Owns Me tell me what happened. I feel that H'm

getting to do everything I want to do, but keeping her memory `live

while I'm doing it. It is a wonderful uplifting story. Rachel is

launching her book as we spdak. It is called 60 Postcards. The New York

ballerina is planning to flx over and take part.

We had some cloudy skies today, but brightness by the end of thd day

which is the good news and things will tend to improve as we head

towards the weekend with high pressure building. Cloudy overnight

tonight. We will see rain creep in for western areas during thd second

part of the night. Mainly lhght to moderate rainfall and staying mild

with a low of seven to eight Celsius. It is an ease/west divide.

There will be bands showers or longer spells of rain moving their

way eastwards through the morning, but they will clear quickly so

behind it, an improving picture By the afternoon we will see lots of

sunshine and mild in the sun. Temperatures three Celsius `bove the

seasonal average. Breezy along the South Coast, but the winds light

inland. Tomorrow night, we will have clear sighs. That will enable

temperatures to fall away r`pidly, but welds a band of cloud, list and

fog creep in from the English Channel with outbreaks of r`in for

southern coastal counties. There is the chance we could have a touch of

frost tomorrow night, particularly for parts of Oxfordshire whdre we

have had the clear spells for the start of the night. Along the South

Coast, milder air will push in with lows of five to seven Celsits. High

pressure continues to build in from the south`west. That means we are

going to see settled condithons a cloudy start to Saturday, btt an

improving picture. Highs of 14 Celsius, possibly 15 Celsius, the

highest of the temperatures will be through parts of Sussex and Surrey.

So lovely spring`like conditions through the weekend. Sunday starts

off on a positive note, but clouding over later in the day. Now, high

pressure, what does that me`n? It will be dry. I can't promisd lots of

sunshine, but there will be drier conditions than the last few months

thankfully. Frosty nights as well. A cold start to each day, but lots of

sunshine on offer and staying settled bar the rain tomorrow

morning. Now, be with us tomorrow if you can.

We will be discovering why patients in intensive care as well as those

coming out of acomas are behng encouraged to get on their bikes

even before they have left hospital. Thanks for watching.

Good night.