23/10/2013 Spotlight

A court martial is told a Royal Marine executed a wounded Afghan

insurgent using a pistol at point blank range. Good evening. The Royal

Marine and two others are standing trial for murder, something they

deny. We'll have the latest from the BBC's defence correspondent at the

hearing. Also tonight: Concerns over the

quality of care at a Cornish nursing home. Admissions to Clinton House

have been suspended while an investigation is carried out.

And is this substance responsible for the death of a dog in Cornwall?

Local vets think so ` they're warning owners to avoid the beaches.

A court martial has been shown helmet`cam footage of three Royal

Marines from Plymouth`based 42 Commando shooting dead an injured

Afghan in a field in Afghanistan. All three marines deny the charges

of murder. It's the first time British forces have been tried for

murder during operations in Afghanistan since the conflict began

in 2001. The BBC's defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt joins

us live now from Wiltshire, where the court martial is taking place.

Caroline, tell us more about what the jury heard today. As you say,

the court`martial began when this video was found on the computer of

one of the accused Marines, and this video dated to the tour of helm

and. They're having their identities concealed, because of risk to

themselves and their families, being called Marines a, B, and C. The

trial began by showing this video. The material was found on a

helmet`cam, which shows the three of them moving through a field and at

one point, moving the wounded insurgent and discussing what to do

with him. One Marine suggests shutting him, and the other one says

that is too obvious. The Marine is then shown with his hand and a

pistol aiming at the insurgent, who was lying bleeding on the ground.

There is a shot, and the Marine then turns and says, shuffle off your

mortal coil. It's nothing you wouldn't do to us. And then he says

a little later, I've just broken the Geneva Convention. The court case

continues, and the prosecution will be speaking to more witnesses. It is

expected to take around two weeks to complete the case. Thank you very

much. Admissions have been suspended at a

nursing home in Cornwall after complaints from some relatives about

the care of the residents. The relatives say there are not enough

staff, and there are security issues. The owners of Clinton House

in St Austell say they're working with the authorities to address the

issues while an investigation is carried out into residents care.

Eleanor Parkinson reports from St Austell.

She was always a happy person. Elaine's mother, Phyllis, was moved

to the Clinton house nursing home after she had a stroke. Since that,

her daughter says her care has been less than adequate. She says on one

occasion, she had a fall, after she had been left in the wrong type of

chair. When I went in, I find out that she'd actually been sat in an

upright chair all day, and not put in her proper chair, and she'd

actually fallen face first, out of the chair. She had quite bad

injuries across her nose, where her glasses had gone in. She had hit her

arm on a chair. So I was really upset about that. Christine Stewart

says she has concerns about the care of her mother, Sylvia. She says

there are not enough staff at the home, some don't speak English, and

there are security issues. Now, following the complaints, watchdog

group the CQC brought forward a routine inspection, and they've now

published a report. That report says there was not enough skills in the

qualified staff to meet everyone's health and welfare needs, and that

the residents' privacy and dignity wasn't always respected. Both

Cornwall Council and NHS Kernol have now suspended any new admissions to

the home. The owners of Clinton House say they care passionately

about the residents and say if and when they get things wrong, they

will work to put them right. They say they're working with the

authorities to address the issues. Staff at a specialist school in

North Devon for children and young people with autism say nearly 100

people could lose their jobs, after plans to close part of it were

announced. Broomhayes in Bideford is used by both under`and over`16s, but

the National Autistic Society which runs it says it now wants to focus

on just teaching young adults. The government's public health agency

has issued a warning that people should not touch off`white, waxy

substance that is being washed up on beaches in north Cornwall. Several

dogs have become ill after eating the substance. It is quite an smooth

and described as smelling of paraffin. Vets are warning dog

owners to keep off the drink dumb act beaches. `` keep off the

beaches. The dog had been brought to the beach by his owners who were on

holidays. It began to look at these lumps and became very ill. The vet

x`rayed the animal and then carried out an operation. Straightaway, it

became apparent that there was a very strong smell that was

overwhelming. We thought, what is this? It's not something I have come

across before, and it was in the stomach. It was off`white, frothy

substance, which ties into the descriptions. The vet says that more

than 20 clients at this surgery alone have reported dogs that are

unwell after eating this material. He is warning dog owners from

letting their dogs loose on the beaches, and is awaiting the

postmortem. This is one of the dogs that fell ill. Her owner is

surprised the material is still here on the beach. We don't even know

whether this is going to affect children or adults yet. If the dog

has died, that's a serious situation. It needs resolving

immediately. Long Rock each is also used by hundreds of dog walkers. I

reported it yesterday at 1:20pm, and it is still here. The beach has not

been closed, and we still don't know what it is. With reports of dogs

being poisoned, it's unspeakable that nothing has been done. This

afternoon, Cornwall Council told the BBC it was in the process of

preparing sayings and plans were in place to clear the substance from

beaches. The National Trust said it would also place signs on its

affected beaches. Tests are still awaited in order to find out exactly

what it is. Only then can we start a cheque show `` ship's manifests to

find out where it came from. Tonight, Public Health England have

said people should not touch the material or swim on the affected

beaches. The general secretary of the RMT

Union Bob Crow has told BBC Spotlight his members are prepared

to cause disruption on First Great Western. Two separate industrial

disputes are looming on the region's main rail service, with the union

accusing First of "bleeding the franchise dry". We'll hear from Bob

Crow in just a moment, but first, our business correspondent Neil

Gallacher examines the reasons behind the disputes.

First Great Western run all our mainline trains from London and all

our branch lines, and they could be heading for a rough ride. Two

different industrial disputes are in the offing. There is a one`day

strike this Friday by cleaners at the rail company who are employed to

a subcontractor, and a separate ballot is being organised for much

wider strike action across all staff grades at First Great Western. The

RMT lists more than 30 grievances, including failure to follow

agreements on work patterns, increasing use of casual labour, and

unfair dismissals. In short, it says First are bullying staff and

bleeding the franchise dry. I would utterly refute that. We at First

Great Western are totally committed to delivering for our customers. In

the last five years alone, we've recruited around 400 additional

staff, we've invested heavily in additional vehicles, and we had the

best ever colleague satisfaction scores that we've ever had. We

sought a second opinion about Bob Crow's claims. It's colourful

language that he uses, certainly, but the reality is for this billion

pound company, making substantial profits in the rail industry is

remarkably difficult. Firms can bounce from making reasonable

profits one year to considerable loss the next. Today's railway

carries record numbers of passengers, but even on its

westernmost stretches, there are times when it struggles to cope. The

one`day cleaners' strike is 48 hours away, and the timetable for the

wider strike ballot has yet to be announced.

Well, I've been speaking to the General Secretary of the RMT Union,

Bob Crow. I asked him how he wanted to see the disputes with First Great

Western settled. A lot of these issues could be resolved, in my

view, if people got round a table and had the will to resolve them. It

seems to me there's been, basically, little fires breaking out over first

great Western, where we need someone to get a grip of it, and I've

written to the personnel director at first great Western and said I'm

quite prepared to have a meeting myself with him. If it helps to try

and resolve these issues. Well, this is interesting, because First Great

Western say they have had meetings with the regional RMT

representatives, they've addressed a lot of these concerns, put proposals

forward in March and August in meetings, they've had no response

from the RMT. Well, that's not true. The reality is that the managing

director sent me a letter last week and we phoned his office this week.

I'm sure he can confirm that, because I was there when we phoned

his office for a meeting. So, if you want meetings and they want

meetings, why can't they happen? Well, they can happen. It's getting

a diary date. I'm down here today, where I've met the managing

director, along with our representatives. First Great Western

stretches from London Paddington right the way down to Cornwall, and

we're quite prepared to meet any time to try and resolve these

issues. The whole reason we are going into dispute is not to cause

anarchy, it's to get the company to take us seriously, because we don't

believe the company are taking us seriously. Is it your intention to

bring the First Great Western network to a halt? It's not my

intention to bring it to a halt. But you would be prepared to, if you had

to? If the company don't take our grievances seriously, yes, we are

prepared to take industrial action and cause disruption for First Great

Western, yes, but we don't want that. We want our members to come to

work, earn money, which they are employed for. We don't get out of

bed in the morning and say, what strike can we cause? We get out of

bed in the morning and argued the case of what's the best possible

terms and conditions and job security we can get our members. And

you know better than most how popular, how much pressure the rail

system is under now, and how many people are using it. What would you

say to passengers, who are trying to make a living and get from A to B

everyday using the network, and you're prepared to disrupt that?

We're not in dispute with the travelling public. We are in dispute

with First Great Western, and we hope that first great Western sees

sense now, takes a fresh look. They've now got a window of

opportunity. They've been given their new franchise, they're not in

the pressure cooker anymore about bidding for another contract, and we

can sit down between now and Christmas, and put our differences

all to bed and go on with this company where they can deliver for

the travelling public, and we can deliver for our members. Thank you

very much. Russia has dropped piracy charges

against 30 Greenpeace activists, replacing them with hooliganism

charges. Three of those held are from Devon. The new charge has a

maximum penalty of seven years rather than 15. Well, Janine Jansen

joins us with the latest from our newsroom.

We have just heard news that Russia has dropped all piracy charges

against all 40 members of Greenpeace. The concern over the

piracy charges was a maximum jail sentence of up to 15 years. The new

service says this has been replaced by the lesser charge of hooliganism

which carries a maximum punishment of seven years in jail. Three out of

the six Britons come from Devon, they are Alexandra Harris, here in

Britain. The debate was taking in the Commons, and the local MP

commented on this earlier today. I know that both families suffer the

inevitable ` the shocking anxiety and anguish of knowing that those

whom they love are isolated and segregated in a far`away place,

accused of something that they are convinced, as I am, they did not do,

and anxiously awaiting their return. This news will be great news for the

families tonight, who say they have had very little contact over the

last 45 weeks. Still to come in Spotlight tonight,

we meet the Weymouth footballer who's lucky to be alive.

Also ahead, it's been a big day for little Prince George ` we head to

the East Devon Now to the remarkable story of a

Weymouth footballer whose recovery from a life`threatening illness is

being described as a miracle by doctors. Kyle Critchell grew up

playing alongside the likes of Theo Walcott and Gareth Bale, before

moving to Torquay United and Weymouth. In August, he contracted

severe sepsis. It was so serious his family were told his life was in the

balance. But Kyle is on the road to recovery and he's given his first

interview to the BBC's Laurence Herdman.

Kyle Critchell lives and breathes football. In 2005, a precocious

talent lined up in the Southhampton youth team, women with Premier

league stars of the future. But eight years later, he faced his

darkest hour. I went to a training game with Weymouth, and got home in

the evening and had a sore back. I woke up in the morning and it was

excruciating. The pain was terrible, and we called an ambulance, and they

give me pain relief to put me in a comfortable position. That is when

it started. Sepsis is an overwhelming infection, but most

people have not heard of it. The body responds by injuring its own

tissue and organs. It accounts for 37 thousand deaths in the UK each

year. That is more than double cancer, prostate cancer, and breast

cancer combined. Very quickly, he became dangerously ill. I asked my

family a few questions regarding, and my dying? And I can't remember

this. Doctors prepared his family for the worst, and his fiancee was

left with a harrowing decision. He was in a high dependency unit, and

it was whether he should go into life support, and the decision was

made that he should stay in high dependency, tried in the entity

different breathing machines. Former team`mate Gareth Bale signed a

contract to become the world's most expensive player, while Kyle was

recovering from one of the most deadly diseases in the world. They

weren't expected me to be here, so it has to be a minor miracle, if not

a major medical, and I'm so happy to see that I have come through it and

can hopefully live normally and achieve the things I want to.

Football means everything to him, but whether he resumes playing spell

remains to be seen. Right now, the focus is to get well and to raise

awareness of sepsis. A little`known condition that nearly claimed his

life. An East Devon town, renowned for its

lace`making, kept up a Royal a tradition today by playing a part in

the christening of Prince George. When the young prince arrived for

the ceremony in the Chapel Royal at St James's Palace, he was

resplendent in a replica christening robe of Honiton lace. Hamish

Marshall traces the history of the intricate fabric and its links to

the Royal family. Keeping the past alive. It's

intricate and time`consuming, but Holly is mastering the art of making

Honiton lace. The 14`year`old shows off her skills at the Thelma Hulbert

gallery in the town. It does take a while, but it is rewarding, because

you have something to show, and hopefully, it might go towards my

art GCSE, which I'm working on now. It is quite difficult, but once you

get used to it, it's not bad. For four centuries, Honiton and

lacemaking have been intertwined. It's very fine, the result of a

miniature weaving process. One square centimetre can take up to

five hours to produce. Large pieces are often the result of dozens of

people's effort, and it's reached the highest houses in the land. NEWS

REPORT: Our first look at Britain's month`old Royal Prince, Charles of

Edinburgh. Sleeping peacefully through an hour of history... From

today's future King, six decades ago, to his son, today's proud

father in 1982, Honiton lace has been part of the christening robes,

a tradition continuing in 2013. Queen Victoria was a great

supporter. Those who keep the Honiton tradition alive today hope

coverage of the christening will help boost their craft. Well, I hope

more people will visit the museum. We have lovely examples of lace in

the museum, some of which goes back before Victoria's time, but quite a

lot of lace that was used by the Royal family. We've got a nice piece

that went round a skirt that was commissioned by Queen Victoria,

which is on show in the museum, and I hope people come to visit us and

see that Honiton lace is still being made. There are two places in the

town where the history of lace is brought to life, and one reveals

another Royal connection. This negligee and nightgown belonged to

Wallis Simpson. Onto sport, and there wasn't a

single goal scored by the three Devon football teams last night. But

at least two of them managed to prise a draw from their contests.

Spotlight's Dave Gibbins has the details on a night which literally

saw the lights go out on Plymouth Argyle.

Exeter City stayed third in league two after their goalless draw at

Oxford University, were right behind them in the placings. If Lennon had

executed the best chance of the evening, city would have claimed two

seconds, but to come away with a point was good enough. Limit Argyle

have schooled only eight goals in their 13 league games `` Plymouth

Argyle have scored only eight goals. Lewis Alessandra came closest to

finding the promised land the call call, as manager John Sheridan

extends his search for a striker. They also concentrated on buying new

bulbs, when the stadium descended into darkness for 11 minutes, when

the flood lights went out. The venue at which there was some goals was

where Torquay United slipped to a two nil defeat at Bromwich Albion.

There is early days, manager Alan `` the manager is hoping his two new

recruits will breathe new life into the goals.

In just a few minutes time, Exeter Cathedral will be welcoming the

Countess of Wessex for a performance of biblical proportions. The story

of Noah's Ark was set to music in Benjamin Britten's famous opera,

Noye's Fludde, and tonight it'll be performed by 170 school children

from Devon as part of the Two Moors Festival, set up in the wake of the

outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in 2001. John Henderson went along

for a sneak preview. They came in to buy two, the cast of Norwell's

flight. Among them was ten`year`old Grace who is playing a peacock.

Charlie and I are the animals in the art, and I am a peacock. What do you

have to do? We have to walk up the aisle, and go on to the arc, and

we're singing where we do that. What is it like? It is really nervous,

but it's really exciting at the same time. Her brother might be a wolf,

but even be the `` they have worries about performing. I hope my brother

doesn't make faces at me, but he is done it at other performances, which

is about mad. Noye's Fludde is predominantly an amateur cast, but

it does have a former journalist playing God. It is rather daunting,

playing God, and apparently it has bad luck attached to it, but

hopefully it will be all right. The production is part of the Two Moors

Festival, which was started to encourage people back to Devon after

the foot and mouth outbreak. The director hopes it will inspire his

young cast. The key thing for me was inspiring them and making sure they

had a good experience, because these things can be brilliant for

confidence and can be an amazing lifelong experience that they will

remember for ever. Lots of people can be quite with `` they can also

be quite dangerous if they are to ski. Whether it is divine

intervention or not, this arc is full. The performance as a sell`out.

It looks and sounds very impressive. Good luck to everyone involved.

Hopefully we won't need now is at end terms of the weather? We have

some rain on the way, but hopefully not yet. Tomorrow, it is not looking

good, I suppose, with some early mist and fog, and the wind picking

up, but we may see a few showers. The slump of cloudy can see in the

Atlantic and extending towards Spain has asked in its sights for Thursday

night. At the moment, we have clear skies, but you can see it will be

quiet at the moment, but this is the next weather system that will push

in. For Thursday, a few showers perhaps, by Thursday night will see

that weather system feeding across us, and it will be showery and

blustery. You can see on the satellite picture, we have some

cloud and 12 showers as well, but essentially, has been pretty nice,

and his boys `` as it was install the park today. You can see the

leaves barely moving. Not much in the way of cloud there at all.

Indeed, that lack of cloud will lead to tonight, just of view mist and

fog patches forming in the early hours, not too many, just here and

there. A very chilly night compared to some recent nights, with some

spots getting down to six degrees. Tomorrow, so mist and fog event

initially, with the breeze picking up, which should help to clear it,

and Macy's some showers especially out of the West will stop `` wee

shoes `` we should see some showers. For the Isles of Scilly,

the pieces will increase through the day, and probably they will be the

most likely spot to cease and showers. The times of high water are

here. Looking at the Surf conditions for tomorrow, the south coast looks

quite choppy, and the waves won't be very impressive, but quite usable.

Coastal waters will have when is backing south easterly seven or

eight and some brain feeding and later, and we will see some rain

reducing visibility through the course of the day, day. The rest of

the week, Thursday night is concerning, with an area of heavy

rain. We have Met Office early warning and we could have large

puddles on the road. A dry start essentially on Friday, but you could

see some unpleasant driving conditions, and the rain will build

on Friday. The weekend, Saturday will start to write on rain will

moving later, with strong winds expected as well. On Sunday, we will

see some deals and sharp showers, but it will be worse on Monday,

where you will cease and gales. Thank you, Holly. That is the news

and weather. There will be around the updates on your radio stations.

From everyone here, good night.