04/06/2014 Spotlight

in advance of the general election. That is all

Modern`day slavery, tonight, dramatic accounts from victims who

feared for their lives. Good evening, welcome to Spotlight.

New measures to tackle slavery aannounced in the Queen's Speech. We

will hear from some of those who have suffered. I was scared for

myself, scared for my partner, scared for my children. I know what

they're Were they like. Stolen to order? More than 100 pregnant sheep

were take anyone what's described as a sophisticated operation. Weeks of

preparation and one eye on the weather warning, we're live ahead of

Cornwall's biggest agricultural show.

And could this be the best school in the UK? Pupils are certainly feeling

confident. The teachers always help you if

you're stuck. Everything else is just perfect.

Victims of modern day slavery in the region are warning it's a widespread

problem locally. 4,000 people are estimated to have suffered labour

exploitation in the UK. Government figures show police in the wider

south`west dealt with at least 20 cases of slavery between January and

March this year. Today in the Queen's Speech, the Government

announced plans to tackle this form of abuse.

More than a decade ago, this now recovering alcoholic was offered a

job when he was drinking in a park. The men said he would earn ?40 a

day, working as a labourer and gave him accommodation in their trailers.

Buff he says the reality was very different. His words are voiced by

an actor to protect his identity. At the start, it was pretty good. I was

getting plied with lots of drink. But after a few weeks, there was

less and sometimes no food. I could be working from 8am through to 10pm,

sometimes. We weren't given any hard cash to support ourselves. For 12

years he worked tarmacking and block paving driveways without pay. Why

didn't you just leave? I was threatened with having my legs

broken if I tried to run away. I received beatings and witnessed

people being beaten in order to keep them under control. Eventually the

gang involved in this crime was brought to justice by the police.

While this may seem like a clear example of forced labour, modern`day

slavery can come in many forms. Marcus ended up selling drugs for

years to pay off a never`ending debt to a gang he accepted free drugs

from when he was grieving for his mother. They look for weak and

vulnerable people, so they can manipulate them and get them into

debt. Once you're in debt, that is it. They have got you. It's a

struggle to get out of it. Why didn't you go to the police? Because

they would hurt my family. I was scared. Today's Queen's Speech

included a modern slavery bill. The new measures will mean victims could

be paid compensation and increased prison sentences for the criminals

involved. The charity Unchosen uses film to raise awareness of the

problem. Their chief executive welcomes the bill, but... Unless we

support and give the right accommodation and counselling and

rehabilitative support services for victims, we are unable to then

prosecute traffickers. There is quite a lot missing in the draft

bill. Today the Government announced funding for specialist child

advocates to help younger victims. Ministers say it's part of a wider

programme to improve support. Our political editor, Martyn Oates,

has been following the Queen's Speech. I asked what changes the new

slavery bill would make? If it makes it onto the statute books, it's

likely we will see people convicted of enslaving other people, serving a

maximum sentence of life, as opposed to 14 years, at the moment. It seems

that victims of slavery will be entitled to compensation and also,

immunity from prosecution if they're forced to commit criminal acts while

enslaved. This is because very often people get forced into prostitution

or working on cannabis farms. One of the campaigners on this is the

former to the necessary MP. He points `` Totness MP. It's crucial,

he says, this is victim focussed, particularly because you need them

to testify in the courts. Elsewhere in the speech, an announcement that

will have particular resonance in one south`west town, the idea of

introducing charges for plastic bags. Yes, if that goes through,

from October a charge of 5 p per carrier bag, not just to have the

place looking tidy with less litter, but they create havoc with marine

wildlife. People from the Lib Dems to the Daily Mail claiming credit

for this. As you say, there'll be particular pleasure in the Devon

dawn who went plastic bag free. All the shop keepers decided not to

issue them. In the summer, the European Union proposed strict

targets for reducing plastic bag use. Now the Government is getting

in on the act as well. People just re`use them all the time. It's not

really a problem. People come in with a handbag and they've usually

got one or two shopping bags folded up inside. So it's not really a

problem at all. It hasn't caused any problems. Also changes to national

parks in the pipeline. Yes. There are proposals to make the people who

sit on them elected. Of course, they're very much like local

authorities, in particular, they have the power to grant or re`fuse

planning permission. Currently the people who make those very important

decisions are all appointed, either from the local councils or the Thank

you Government. . Thank you. An experienced detective

sergeant with Devon and Cornwall Police has been dismissed for gross

misconduct. Our home affairs correspondent joins me now from

police headquarters. What more can you tell us about this case? There

were two reasons for his dismissal. The first was a data protection

issue. He had accessed the police Police National Computer to car

require out unauthorised checks on people. The second was about police

vehicles. He used them for his own personal interests and What does

business. The force have to say about this? They've not done any

interviews on this. They have given us a statement. It confirms that a

serving sergeant has been dismissed with immediate effect. It adds that

it follows a thorough investigation. The statement goes on to say that

Devon and Cornwall Police expect the highest standards from officers and

staff. And this officer's behaviour was so low it warranted immediate

dismissal. Does this mark a dubbing line in dealing `` toughening line

with dealing with police misconduct? This is a detailed statement. Take

two things from that, first of all, clear concern and annoyance within

Devon and Cornwall Police about what this officer has done and the

potential for damaging the force's reputation and secondly, a clear and

straightforward determination to send out a message: This will not be

tolerated. Thank you. 24 youth centres are at risk in

Devon, according to new plans for the service announced today. The

County Council had proposed closing 32 centres to save 1. ?1.7 million.

Following consultation, the authorities says it will look at

providing eight locals hubs across the county. That means around 50

posts will go. The remaining youth clubs will have to be taken on by

local communities. There is a pot of ?300,000 to take the services on in

their area. We want them to work with the most vulnerable in those

areas, but to be open access in those towns and also, work with the

wider community youth provision. We've had tremendous response to the

consultation. Over 100 expressions of interest that want to actually

deliver from youth provision in their areas. It's very much up to

our youth hubs to work with that interest. Now farmers from across

the region are preparing for one of the main agricultural shows of the

year, The Royal Cornwall Show gets under way tomorrow. Final

preparations have been taking place at the site this afternoon with

animals receiving a last`minute wash and brush up. Hundreds of traders

have been putting finishing touches to their stands. Thousands of

visitors are expected over the next three days.

One thing they'll all be hoping for is fine weather and no repeat of the

scenes at the Devon county show, where rain and mud forced the

organisers to cancel the final day. Joining me now is Chris Riddle, the

secretary of the royal Cornwall show. Grey skies behind you, Chris.

What preparations do you have in place should the weather take a turn

for the worse? Well, we're starting off from a much better position than

sadly, they were at Devon. There's a good draining site. We've had

blustery showers today. Up until that point it was quite dry. Nothing

really worrying us. Good forecast tonight and tomorrow. It should be a

great start to the show. In my time of visiting the show, I remember one

occasion where the Saturday was cancelled because of the weather.

Are you confident that's not going to happen this year? I think it's

highly unlikely. That was 21 years ago that happened. Thank you for

reminding me! No, we have got lots of plans in place, if things get a

bit sticky here or there. We don't see it as a problem. We have got

lighter soil here. I think things are looking good. The car parks are

in excellent order and today has gone well. We've had a busy day.

Lots of people putting final touches to things, which is great to see.

After that event, 21 years ago, what changes, if any, did you put in

place. Have you got insurance if you had to cancel a day at the show? No.

It's not something we do. We tend to look on ourselves as our own

insurers from that point of view. Bearing in mind that was the first

time we'd cancelled a day in over 200 years of the show existing. It's

really something that is not a huge risk, but obviously, the risk is.

There we wouldn't foresee that being a problem this year. In those past

years, I suppose, there's lots more hard road, buildings and so forth, a

modern show ground, fit for purpose. We would like to think it stands

most things. We will keep our fingers crossed. Thank you very much

for joining us. More than 100 pregnant ewes have

been stolen from a farm in Cornwall in what's described as a

sophisticated operation. The sheep were taken in batches over several

months. The National Farmers' Union says sheep rustling is on the

increase. Walk on. Jeremy runs a large flock

of sheep on his farm. Before lambing, he had more than 1600

animals. They were over win terd on various farms in the area. When they

brought their pregnant ewes together for lapping, one of `` lambing, one

of the shepherds noticed some were missing. He said, funny thing is

we've scanned 1600 and we only have 1500. We didn't think anything of

it. But actually, recounted all the flocks and everything that had

lambed and there were 100 missing. The galling thing is, it's about 20

sheep that are missing from each of the five flocks. Because there were

up to 200 in each flock, we didn't notice at the time they'd This flock

gone. Has been part of a three`year breeding programme to produce a

sheep called a hybrid aberdale. The genetic make up means the ewes are

more likely to produce two lambs at birth. The National Farmers' Union

say sheep thefts are on the increase. There have been 60,000

sheep stole anyone the UK during 2013 and since 2011, sheep thefts

are up by 170%. That's because the price of meat in the shops is very

high. That doesn't mean the farmer is getting that money. The shoppers

are paying for it, so somebody is selling it somewhere. This farmer

said the thieves would have had to use a sheepdog and trailer to steal

his animals. The NFU is asking people in rural areas to be extra

vigilant and report any unusual activity.

Coming up: The school short listed as primary of the year, plus, D`Day

remembered as the 70th anniversary approaches, one man recalls the

Normandy landings. And a chance to look at this

1,000`year`old book and unravel some of its riddles.

More and more new businesses in the south`west are being given a

financial kickstart through crowd funding, when people invest a small

or large amount of money online in return for a share in the company or

some other award. Companies appeal for investment via internet crowd

funding platforms. Two of the leading ones in the UK are based

here in the south`west. The sun is shining and the sausages

are sizzling, but this is no ordinary party. Here in Chagford

they are celebrating raising ?15,000 through internet crowd funding to

pay for a new dairy for their goats. It was eight weeks. We hit our

targets with two days left. Last week was nail`biting at times. Just

feel massively humbled to be honest. Each of the guests at the party are

crowd funders, people who've invested amounts from as little as

?40 each, in return for a reward other than money. In this case, it's

a T`shirt, bag or cheese. I always want to have local,

organically`grown food. I want to know the Providence of my food. This

is the perfect thing to support. I get a weekly contribution from the

farm for my money. It's win`win. The farm raised its money through the

crowd funder website. It's been named by the crowd funding centre as

the UK's number`one rewards based platform. It operates from Newquay.

We work with businesses, community groups and charities who have great

ideas, but want to make something work in their local communities. We

help them to raise money from the community around them. What's

fascinating is the sheer variety of projects you can invest in. From a

scheme to rehabilitate retired race horses, to a community sports

pavilion, and a company that will deliver organic salad boxes to your

door by bicycle. Will of Wave Length Surf magazine has used crowd funding

to raise money. Wave Length has a large community. That community can

be tapped into by crowd funding in a way that a bank can't understand or

won't necessarily put any value to. Crowd funder's sister company in

Exeter works on a model a bit like Dragon's Den, where people invest

money in return for a share in the company, rather than reward. Through

it, people have invested ?6 million for south`west businesses this year

alone. But there are risks. We make it abun doesn'tly clear that this is

a high``` abundantly clear this is a high`risk investment. Crowd funding

is still in its early stages and commentators say it's too early to

tell which platforms will be market leaders, as eBay did with online

auctioning. Could the South West become the crowd funding equivalent

of Silicon Valley? The goats are still chewing that one over.

For many British veterans, this year will be their final official

pilgrimage to Normandy. Thousands of troops embarked for the invasion whi

changed history. `` which changed history.

We've been speaking to veterans, who made their contribution to the

operation and who remember being part of the D`Day landings.

Archive: Now the flood of pictures of the invasion have started, we add

length to our news reels so we can give fuller detail of the front

offences, when from England came the conquest of German`occupied

Normandy. Operation over`Lord, the mission had

been kept top secret. War ships joined amphibious craft to

make a decisive move on German`occupied France, among them

was Harold Ball from Paignton. We were the first to open up the

barrage with the 15`inch guns onto the German shore batteries. If I'd

have been Jerry, I'd have been frightened to death. She was

shelled, bombed and narrowly missed being torpedoed. No doubt a lot of

us were scared. We were only 18, but we'd got a good crew. She was a

happy ship. A about thely happy ship and a good ship. Every man knew his

job and every man turned to and the discipline, it was just natural.

Back in Cornwall for a Service of Remembrance. Veterans from the

American 29th infantry division. They left this place for an assault

on Omaha Beach. On the beach I was very fortunate. I came in on a

British navy landing craft assault. Two of us made it to the beach. Two

others were shot before they even got out of the water. The 29th

division suffered heavy losses. Many men came here as soldiers. Many men

would stay away. Many men will never come home again. All this week,

people across the South West are paying tribute.

You can hear more D`Day stories on BBC Radio's difb and Cornwall

tomorrow morning. One of the most unusual books in the

world is making a rare public appearance at Exeter cathedral.

Written towards the end of the 10th century the Exeter Book is the

oldest surviving collection of English literature and it's going on

display. Sorry about the problems we seem to

be having there. Time now for a quick look at the weather, though.

Fingers crossed for The Royal Cornwall Show. David is here with

the detail. It's been awful today. People at the

show today, it's been cold and windy and wet. The good news is, it is

much better for tomorrow, which is the first day. Good evening to you.

It's been pretty miserable today. More cloud and rain around than we

originally thought. There is some light at the end of the tunnel. It's

beginning to clear from the more western parts of Cornwall and

hopefully, tomorrow is a largely dry day. Risk of a shower or Friday.

Risk of a shower heading into the weekend. That's tomorrow's weather,

mainly fine, hazy sunshine. biggest difference ` it will feel

warmer. Some parts of the south`west today have got no more than 10 or 11

degrees. That's pretty low for the month of June. A look at the show to

start with. For tomorrow, a fine day, 16, 17 degrees, the top

temperature. On Friday, even warmer. But quite a brisk south`east wind.

We may see showers early in the day. It brightens up in the afternoon.

The greatest threat of showers is on Saturday, perhaps in the morning.

Things improve into the afternoon. Now, low pressure is out here to the

west. This is the dominant feature as we head towards the end of the

week and into the weekend. It's that area of low pressure that draws up

some warmth from Spain and Portugal. That's the reason for the higher

temperatures. We could have some of the highest temperatures we've seen

so far this year on Friday. The low pressure is there on Friday and into

Saturday, generating some showers. We will have to keep a close eye on

those. For the immediate future, the rain that we have now, which has

been troublesome, is beginning to move away. It's taking its time.

Later this evening, there's the risk of showery outbreaks of rain, until

after midnight, before it all clears. Later in the night, it turns

Cilicy. Over`` it churns chilly. `` it turns chilly.

It's a cold start to the day tomorrow, but it should be a fine

day. Patchy cloud will come and go. It's not going to be wall`to`wall

sunshine. High level cloud into the far west. Still dry for west

Cornwall. For most of us it's a better day. A top figure of 17,

possibly 18, degrees. For the Isles of Scilly, after sunshine in the

morning, it will cloud over. High`level cloud coming in. Briefly

some hazy sunshine. The breeze picks up here too.

There's the coastal waters forecast. The winds are from the south or

south`east. The outlook is for showers as we

head into the weekend. Saturday we are a bit concerned. We have an

early warning from the Met Office about potentially very heavy showers

forming on Saturday. Stay tuned to the forecast, of course. Have a good

evening. Thank goodness you're always there

when the technology fails us, once again. Now back to that story about

the unusual book in Exeter. Normally locked away, today the

Exeter Book was unbound and among the first to marvel at its

treasures, a Canadian student. This is the book. This is probably our

best known and probably our most important holding in the cathedral

library. It was donated by Exeter's first bishop. It's an anthology of

poems in old English. There are only four of such anthologies in the

world. This is probably the oldest of them. So,if you like, this is the

oldest book of English literature in existence. I think it's fantastic.

It's really a dream come true for me to see it. I never expected I would

get this opportunity. On this page, as it happens, you can

see some Runic There are letters. No illustrations, no colours or titles

to the poems or, for that matter, the 96 Anglo`Saxon riddles, some of

which feature on the High Street sculpturement The contents of this

book are not found anywhere else. If this book were lost between a

quarter and a third of all English poetry known would be unknown. So,

it's very important indeed. This summer, the Exeter Book will be on

show the first Wednesday afternoon of the month.

Now schools are used to eagerly anticipating results, but for one in

Plymouth, it's nothing to do with exams. Prince Rock Primary has made

it to the short list for a national award, which could see it crowned

Primary School of the Year. I'm Bailey. And we're going to show

you around Prince rock school. This is where the little ones play.

This is our art room, where we create mini artists.

This is one of our year two classes and they're reading a story. The

dinosaurs are coming. As stories go, Prince Rock Primary has been a page

turner. We had a fantastic year last year. We became a national teaching

school. We had our third straight outstanding in a row, against the

back drop of major building work in the school. That was why we were

nominated. We're up against five other schools. They're all going to

be very good. There's 25,000 schools in the country, to have made the top

six is fantastic. We're delighted to be in the mix. But what do the

pupils like about it? I know just who to sc. The teachers always help

you, if you're stuck. Everything else is just perfect. The thing I

like most is we go on lots of trips, so we can experience going to farms

and zoos and thingedz like that. Pupils and staff singing from the

same hymn sheet, quite literally. # Amazing grace, how sweet the sound

# The winner of the Primary School of

the Year award will be announced early next month.

All the very best of luck to them. Good luck. Just a reminder, full

coverage on BBC Radio Cornwall of The Royal Cornwall Show tomorrow and

we're there for Spotlight as well tomorrow at 6. 6.30pm. That's all

for this evening. I'm back with the late news at 10. 30pm. Bye`bye for

now. When the first travellers crossed

America, they were faced with this - The very nature of

the American personality was defined. Ray Mears explores

the land behind the Hollywood legend and discovers the wild

that made the West.