28/03/2014 South Today

Good evening, I'm Jo Kent. Newbury is at the centre of a public

health investigation after two people caught tuberculosis from

their pet cats. They're the first ever recorded cases of cat`to`human

transmission. The outbreak, which happened last year, saw 24 people

screened who were linked to the same veterinary practice. Public Health

England says the risk of transmission remains "very low".

Nikki Mitchell reports. Alarm the alarm was first raised

here at this Airdrie clinic. This cat is fit and healthy but every

year ago someone brought in a cat with an abscess which would not

heal. The vets became suspicious and took swabs. Nine cats tested

positive in total, even the vet's and. Unfortunately my cat was on my

lap one evening, I felt a lump on his leg, I was suspicious because we

were in a bunch of cases, brought in and he turned out to have TB. What

happened? We treated him, he was responding very well, we x`rayed his

chest and all the lesions had cleared up, the lump had been

removed, but while he was on treatment he went missing. As this

is the first documented case of people catching bovine TB from cats,

the testing has been rigorous. The results had to be checked,

double`checked and checked again by scientists from various different

organisations, and that is why we are only hearing about this now.

More than a year after the first infected cat was brought in. The

strain of the disease found in cats and people here was the same as the

one found in an outbreak in cattle on nearby Greenham Common. There has

been a veterinary investigation and certainly cattle in the area have

been tested, and TB reactors were found among the cattle on the common

land, and certainly at least one of them had TBD sees. `` disease. Some

of this farm is cattle were slaughtered dobby suspects wildlife

is responsible. It spreads through badges and deer, neither of them

have got up predator any more so their numbers are increasing. It is

spreading across the country, unless something is done. We don't want to

panic people but we want them to be aware if they have a cat with a

lesion, chronically ill, they should seek some help. People shouldn't be

worried. TB is curable, best to get it early. It stops you passing it

on. Symptoms can be a cough which lasts for several weeks, night

sweats, loss of appetite. Officials are keen to stress there have been

no new cases of bovine TB in pets or people for a year.

Britain's only Green MP Caroline Lucas was in court today defending

her decision to take part in anti`fracking protests in West

Sussex. The Brighton Pavilion MP was arrested outside the Cuadrilla

drilling site at Balcombe last August. She denies two public order

offences telling magistrates her actions were "legitimate and

appropriate". A new scheme in Hampshire is using

education to try to cut crime. It is the first place in the country to

offer some offenders the option of going on a course to change their

behaviour, instead of going to court. . Our home affairs

correspondent Emma Vardy has this exclusive report. I heard a bang on

my back fence then another one. One night a stranger who had been

drinking broke into Karen's back garden tearing down her fence. I was

a bit scared, I didn't know if he had a weapon. The verbal abuse was

quite disgusting. Police arrested the man. He could have been sent to

appear in a magistrates court, or been punished with a fine. But

officers told Karen he could instead be sent on the new victims awareness

course. If you were robbed in a street in might be that you avoid

going in that area again. Offenders are taken through scenarios

involving price by criminal damage, theft or anti`social behaviour, and

asked to discuss the impact they have an victims. Some of those on

the course didn't want to be identified but it spoke to me

afterwards. It was eye opening, you got to learn different things about

how it affects others around you, people with you. At the moment

Hampshire is the only place in the country to be putting offenders

through its courses, but over the coming months they will be rolled

out across other counties in the South as well. But there are

warnings this new approach mustn't become abused. It is so important to

look at who is this aimed at, for what time of offences, what is

appropriate, identifying very clearly the criteria as to who

should be offered this programme, what the circumstances should be,

and to keep to that to ensure it doesn't just become an easy option.

Using education over punishment for those we spoke to has considerable

public support. Forward`looking, it moves away from the kind of state we

were moving back towards this country, I like it.

Give them a bit of direction, I suppose. If you are right to punish

someone, I guess they are not learning anything, you are not

getting to the root of the problem whereas if you educate somebody they

are. When you come home and you have got a massive black eye, facial

injuries, how will your children react? Authorities will be watching

to see how successful the approach at educating offenders about their

effect on victims proves to be. Osborne House on the Isle of Wight

welcomed royalty once again today. Prince Edward and the Countess of

Wessex visited to take a tour of the Swiss Cottage in the grounds which

has just been restored by English Heritage. The cottage was built by

Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert for their children to

play in. The exhibition inside tells the story of their childhoods and

the adventures they enjoyed when staying at Osborne House.

That is all from us, more on the website.

Good evening. After all the showers and the cold of the last couple of

days it gets warmer this weekend. The sunshine comes out, at last.

Spring arriving. Much warmer, some hazy sunshine to enjoy. We could see

Tim because of 270 degrees. A few showers tonight, brushing up the

western side. They will gradually move away towards the West Country.

Briefly the showers in the morning gone by lunchtime, into the

afternoon. It is sunshine and very pleasant. A bit cold on the coast,

the breeze will make it feel colder. Similar conditions as we

move into Sunday with 17 degrees. We will have a

forward on Saturday night. Now here is Nick Miller with the national

forecast. Hello. The clocks go forward this

weekend, marking the beginning of British summertime, BST. It has

nothing to do with the weather. As the clocks changed last year we were

coming out of the March freeze. This year, though, as the clucks

change, the weather is warming up. Not clear blue sky, the sun will be

hazy but the thunder storms will be gone. It will be mainly dry.

And the weather is lively out there this evening. There are bands of

rain with hail over western parts of the UK.

A bit of rain for parts of the north of England and south-west of

Scotland. And lots of hill fog into the Pennines. Mist and fog in the

central and eastern areas of England. It is a slow start in the

morning. A lot of cloud around first thing. Misty in places. Damp on