11/02/2013 Inside Out London

In the next half an hour we go beneath the covers of the bedroom

tax to discover why some northerners are facing sleepless

nights. What is bothering us is a dead line. Get out of here or pay

�27 extra a week. We discover how counting sheep in the North is not

adding up. I had gone at 7 o'clock in the morning to feed them and

there were only two left. And how for some of our young footballers

taking a penalty means time in jail. The only way I was getting it was

through crime and the crime it was selling drugs. Stories from the

heart of the North East and Cumbria, Critics call it the bedroom tax,

the under occupancy charge kicks in in April as part of the Government

shake-up of the benefits system. Opponents say it will force

thousands of households in the North into poverty and tear

families apart. Tonight I am opening the door on complaints from

one community. It is a miniature scene of what is going on across

the North. All told in the factories I worked about 30 years.

I worked a 40 hour week because I did not want to get anything off

the state. I have never signed on in my life and tell my husband died.

Tudhoe Moor, a council estate in Spennymoor, County Durham. Sue

Brannigan's family has lived in this house since the 1950s. Her

four children grew up in it and her husband Peter died in it. Sue is

bracing herself for the Government's new under occupation

charge or her bedroom tax which kicks in in April. It affects

people in social housing. Your benefits will be cut if you have

more bedrooms it than you actually need. That sounds fair in principle,

but is it? We have up four bedrooms. How many people live here? Just me,

it is too big for me. Because Sue has got three spare rooms bedroom

tax will hit her hard. I get �71 a week. I have �8 water rates to pay.

�27 bedroom tax and that will leave me with �35. What is bothering us

is a deadline. Get out of fear or pay �27 extra a week. So what are

the rules? One person or a couple needed just one bedroom. They will

be charged an average of �13 a week if they have more. Suppose they

start having babies, a boy and a girl. The Government expects

children under 10 to share, so the family needs of two bedrooms. But

if the children are the same sex, they share a bedroom until they are

16. They leave home. Mum and dad only need one bedroom again.

Pensioners alike grandad can have whatever house they like, they are

not affected by the tax. Ironically Peter Brannigan was a pensioner,

but Sue is not. Not only has she lost her husband, but because she

cannot afford to keep her home, she is going to lose that as well.

is easy saying to somebody, can you shift house? But it is another

thing to say, leave your home. this about saving money? It is

about what is affordable. We have a housing benefit bill that is

frankly out of control. We can afford to support people in the

bedrooms they need, but not to fund extra bedrooms. It makes perfect

sense. If you are in a big house, it makes sense to come in with a

rule that pushes you to think about moving. No, I do not think anybody

should be told what size house they should live in and if they do not,

they will have so much ripped off their benefits. We pay for rent. It

is only since my husband died on the bathroom floor that I have been

plunged into this mess. Housing associations have told us bedroom

tax cannot work in the north. They say people who rely on benefits

will either mood miles from home or end up a lot poorer. -- move.

party is over for benefit skivers. I did not go to that party. It is

slander and propaganda. Sue's son Michael lives across the street and

is facing a hit from the bedroom tax as well. How many rooms? It is

a two-bedroom house and I occupy one bedroom and the other bed it is

for my son who I get once a fortnight. Is that a spare room?

it is occupied, it is for my son. But the Government does not see it

that way, so Michael has to pay for the spare room. The suggestion is

the work more, you take in a lodger, or you move. What is your chance?

would take David Cameron in to see how he likes it. You want David

Cameron as a lodger? Yes I want him to live in the real world. Tudhoe

Moor is an example of what is going on in the North East. It is the

same in these flats. 60 people will have their benefit reduced. One of

them is 19 year-old Jade Widdowson who suffers from ADHD, but her life

is on the up. I have been here three-and a-half weeks. It is my

first home, it is my rules, and it is easier as well. But there is

this extra money you have to find. I know, it will be a struggle, but

I know my mum will be there to help me if I need it. There are a lot of

things we expect people may look to do. One of the things may be to pay

the extra for the bedrooms and a lot of people will look to work or

work more to afford to do that if they cannot already. I was talking

to one of the Government ministers and I said how are people supposed

to find the extra money? He said work more. It is easy for somebody

to say. I am not allowed to go to work because of the sea because of

my mental health. For them who can go to work, they are lucky, I wish

I could. But there is another reason why the Government is

bringing in the bedroom tax. will give people like us more

chance to get a bigger home. Albert and Melanie Jacques lived on the

Tudhoe Moor estate as well, but their three-bedroom house is not

big enough. When we first came here, it was all right, but we started to

grow. We are going to have six children. You manage, because you

have to. Overcrowding like this is very rare in the North East. It is

far more likely you will have spare bedrooms. But there is a problem, a

chronic shortage of smaller houses. The numbers do not add up. That

type of property does not exist across our patch in any great

number. There is not the property available for people to downsize to.

We have heard it is the same across the North. We looked at his snap

shot. Lower than in County Durham has 1400 affected by the tax, but

just four bedsits free. Redcar has 2500 properties, which under your

criteria would be under used. They have just won a one-bedroom

property for them to move into. When you look at the number of

people affected in the North East, the surveys that have been done so

just a quarter of people will want to think about downsizing. That

compares with the number of new, social Letts there have been in the

most recent year recorded. Basically we are going to have

people coming to housing associations saying they cannot

afford to pay the under occupation tax, please move me, and we have

not got anywhere else to move them to. But they will have to pay the

tax all the same. There is a shortage of small flats, housing

associations for most of them down. Sue Brannigan is finding it

impossible to find a flat near her family and friends in Spennymoor.

Middleton, Teesdale, Horden, Eshwinning, Stanley, Blackhall,

absolutely nothing. There is one in Spennymoor. If thousands of people

like Sue have to move away from the places they had lived all their

lives, what effect will that have quality of life on our street and

our communities? We are all in it together. We have obligations not

just to ourselves and families, but our communities. The Government is

on about community spirit and they are breaking us apart. My sister

lives down there and my brother lives over there and I live here.

The families on this estate are all like that. We have a Government

that does not look at people individually. All they want to do

is reduce the deficit and they will do that in any way they can. Do you

have a spare room in your house? actually do have a spare rib in my

house. Is it not reasonable for everyone to have a spare room?

difference is there are some people who are being supported by

taxpayers and the question is how much should the taxpayer Sant of

those bedrooms? People do not realise what is happening. There

will be a lot of civil unrest. you think it is like the poll tax?

It is worse than the poll tax. What you saw with the poll tax and the

riots last year, it will be three times as bad. Sue is depressed and

is still grieving over the death of her husband and does not do with

the bedrooms full of memories. These go back to the 70s. I really

should throw that out. That was a Mother's Day rose from one of my

kids when he was eight. These are small memories as well. I just do

not think it is fair for anybody to tell you when to... I think it is

sad that I have these memories. few have a few, go to the website.

-- If you have a view on the stories, go to the block.

Still to come: How rising prices at the butcher's brought a bonanza for

rustlers. They take our sheep away for winter grazing and we went back

and a month later we found 32 had been stolen. One of the most

shocking statistics I have heard recently is that there are 129

former professional footballers in prison. The vast majority are under

25, young men whose lives have hit a downward spiral after being

released by clubs that did not think they would it make the grade.

We asked football manager Phil Brown, who served his time with

Hartlepool, to find out what is being done with lads who do not

realise their footballing dreams. Every young lad who plays academy

football plays to dream. Dream about playing at great stadiums,

Old Trafford, St James' Park, or displays. And who can blame them?

There is nothing quite like the experience of playing in front of a

full house at fantastic arenas like this. But sadly, pour over 98% of

them, that dream at one ever come true. That is when the harsh

reality kicks in. We all think we are going to make it and very few

think it is not going to happen. I was one of the fortunate ones.

are a Premiership club and you have to find the best, so there is going

to be a large amount of fall-out. Football academies sign up boys as

young as eight, but can release them at any point. Some get very

close, possibly a full-time contract at 18, but the ones to go

all the way are exceptionally rare. For those who do not, the

disappointment can be shattering. You think it is the end of the

world and you may be start knocking about with the wrong groups of lads

and fall into crime and stuff like that. Football should do a lot more

for them when they came out of the game. Michael was a promising young

goalkeeper, but when his dream ended, he turned to crime. It was a

mind set and I was thinking, I should have that, and I want it.

The only way I was getting it at that time was through crime and the

crime I was involved in was selling drugs. Michael was a rising star

with the Liverpool schoolboys and eventually played for Tranmere. But

when he walked away from the game, he walked into trouble. Drug

dealing landed him in prison for seven years and that is when he

realised the full extent of football's problems. I know some

people at all different levels and some of them are actively involved

in dealing with drugs. I know the ones who have been caught.

fully reformed he has set up an organisation designed to help young

players whose football dreams have come to a premature end. Based at

Liverpool University, it already has the backing of the Professional

Footballers' charity, the Ministry of Justice and Liverpool City

Council. I want it to be a safety net. If a lad goes to Liverpool and

he goes to what still, and he does not end up getting another team he

comes to us and we interact with him and getting a coaching course,

a construction course, getting a job. We could offer a bit more,

showing them real-life and what will happen if they go down another

avenue. Jamie Carragher has just announced his retirement after a

fantastic career. He used to play Sunday League football with Michael.

But while Michael was in jail, Jamie was winning England caps and

the Champions League. Jamie is backing the project and invited

Michael to talk to some of Liverpool's brightest young stars

about the pitfalls that could lie ahead. Did the seniors sit down and

give them advice? Yes, that happens. That is my job, the experienced

players. But you do not want them to think that you think they are

not going to make it, but the statistics show that it happens.

The standard is so high, they have got to be thinking about things

like that. It is always in the back of my mind that if you come to the

end of the contract, you are not going to make it and you have got

nothing else left to do in life. There are some players who are not

making it and coming out of football. For too long, many young

footballers ignored their education while chasing their dreams, but

nowadays, clubs are more aware of We have to put things into context.

What do I mean by context? We think we've got a responsibility to

develop them holistically, so it's not just the football side of

development, but it is them as people as well. We organise a day

release programme which is for everybody now, down to under 10-

year-old. As part of that day, we, as well as coach on the football

side, they also receive an hour's English and an hour's maths, to

replace and to support the work they do in school. Have you ever

thought about a plan B? I'd like to think that I would go to another

club but it is always in the back of my mind when it comes to that

time and it is quite scary, I suppose. I think about it a lot.

You've just got to stick with it because this helps you in case you

don't make it as a football player. You can also go on to further

education if anything else. academy is rightly proud of the

players who have made it through the ranks and into the first team

but there are also 11 who were not given contracts, who have gone on

to university, with five more currently studying in America. The

vast majority will not do either and they need to be prepared for

the inevitable. It is a great opportunity for them. While they

are in here, embrace it, enjoy it. But it could come to an end. We've

got to educate the parents so that when he walks through the door, he

won't necessarily in �1 million. Enjoy what you're doing now but it

might not continue. This might not be the kind of place that most

young lads have in mind when they talk about living the dream but

this is the sort of ground that most professionals come to work.

Even playing at this level is beyond the vast majority of who

aspire to be a professional. If you are released by a Fleetwood,

Rochdale, a Hartlepool or a Carlisle, you still need a plan B.

Jamie Milligan was released when he was younger but he is back in

League football with Fleetwood. He has already got a business set up

for when he eventually retires. When you do get released, you're

thinking it is the manager's fault, the coach's fault. But as I get

older, and realise it is my fault. My advice to lads would be look

into doing something while you're still playing because it can end

tomorrow. It is advice that his manager endorses. There is only so

much that you can do, as a sport. Individuals have to take

responsibility for their lives and it is a two-way street. You need to

be offered help and it is up to you whether you take it or not. One of

the newest players is Gerard Kinsella, Michael's younger brother.

He was released by Everton and then got a serious injury as he was

about to sign for Plymouth. He was in danger of going down the same

path as his brother. I had nowhere to go, no football to go to. I

started knocking around with the lads by ours. They were not up to

much good so it could easily have happened. I was associated with

those people. I should have been in football. It was Michael who

intervened, getting him a part-time job and some qualifications. That

was all through On Side. It has given me an education, it has put

me through a personal training course. Level two, level three. If

the football doesn't work out, I've got something to fall back on.

inevitable that the majority of young lads will not make it to be

very top but it is a long way down. It's encouraging to know that at

last, there are plans to catch those who fall. It is certainly

You might have thought sheep rustling was an old-fashioned crime

but in fact, cases have more than doubled since 2010. It's thought

that the rise in the price of lamb has made selling on stolen animals

destined for the dinner table more lucrative and as Toby Foster

discovers in the countryside, it is a battle to stay one step ahead of

The north of England boasts mile upon mile of stunning countryside.

As well as beautiful views it provides a living for those who

raise animals and work the land. But this vast countryside also

provides a great hiding place for people who aren't so keen on an

honest day's work. The thieves who are targeting farmers and their

stock. We took our sheep away for winter grazing. We went back a

month later to take them away and we found 32 of them had been stolen.

Martin Mitchell is a hill farmer in County Durham. All his sheep were

insured but the loss of them is more than just financial. Not all

sheep are the same. The sheep on your moorland, they will stay on

the land you own. You couldn't just go out and buy sheep and put them

on that fell. They would wander off and stray. You wouldn't see them

again. Martin's animals disappeared without trace. He's now rebuilding

his flock and stepping up security especially during the winter months.

Thefts might be easier during long, winter nights but this is a year

round problem. In the last two years, cases of rustling have more

than doubled and it's a costly business. That's �800 of my money

that's just been taken from me. Kevin Wilson knows what's it's like

to be on the wrong end of the rural crime wave. He farms out of the

small village of Blubberhouses in North Yorkshire but rents fields

all over the county to graze his sheep. We go round on Sunday

morning checking stock. I realised that a vehicle had been through a

gateway. In this field, there were 200 feeding lambs. I gathered the

lambs up in the field, counted them and realised approximately 10 had

gone missing. Amazingly, within a few days, the police had tracked

down his sheep. It was in that area between those trees and the river

where they were recovered. It was less than two miles as the crow

flies from where they'd gone. It was an isolated spot. Down there,

Every animal has to be tagged. what happened to the thieves who

stole them? They did a flit, they'd gone the following morning.

have sheep become such a popular target for thieves? Particularly

now we are seeing rustling, because the price of meat is going up. When

you've got hard times and food costs going up, you have

effectively all this food into countryside fairly lightly

protected. You would expect the rustling situation to increase.

Stolen sheep are ending up on our dinner plates but there is a

warning for anyone who thinks black market meat is a bargain. Some

people think it may be very tempting but what is the hygiene

situation? It's not as good a deal as you perhaps might think. Mark a

is off to Clitherow market to follow up reports of sheep thieves

trying to do business there. wondered if you could check your

computer records to see if this individual has carried out any

transactions here. We had one over the top... Mark compares notes with

a colleague from Lancashire police who hit the headlines with their

first conviction for sheep rustling in a hundred years. We traced them

to County Durham and then we got them on a DNA. Then back to a small

village called Chipping. And those sheep belonged to farmer Robin Dean.

When did you first notice you were missing 55 sheep? I'd gone at seven

o'clock in the morning to feed them. There were only two left in the

field! So I immediately knew there was something amiss. So you phoned

the police. Did you ever think you'd see your sheep again? No, I

have to admit I didn't really. Even though they were in lamb, I thought

they'd be slaughtered and used for meat. If that had happened there'd

be no trace of them. And that's where DC Elaine Smalley comes in.

Officers attended a farm in Durham where Mr Dean was able to identify

his sheep. That led to the arrest of two people for the theft of them

but one of the people was maintaining that he'd bred them. So

what we did was we DNA-ed the sheep which proved that they'd been bred

at this farm. Were you surprised when the police suggested dna

testing? Yes, I was actually. It was quite funny that we had to go

to those lengths. I think he thought I was bonkers but I

explained it was something we had to do to get that to court so that

someone would be brought to justice as a result of the theft. Over in

North Yorkshire, Mark does make an arrest and a man is charged but a

few months down the line the case is dropped at court. And neither of

the two thieves who stole Robin Dean's sheep received custodial

sentences either. These sentences, for stealing �15,000 worth of sheep,

there'll be some farmers who think those sentences are nowhere near

stiff enough. That's right. Having spoken to some of the farming

community, they've said, will that deter would-be sheep thieves? I

think not. It's always at the back of your mind when you leave stock

in a field. You think maybe, will they be there when we come to load

them back up? You have to keep your fingers crossed and hope you are