Browse content similar to 05/11/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello and welcome to Inside Out South West - surprising stories | :00:05. | :00:11. | |
from familiar places. Tonight, the mining row threatening the south- | :00:11. | :00:17. | |
west's World Heritage Site status. I think this increasing identity it | :00:17. | :00:21. | |
gives to Cornwall, it would be a tragedy if it was lost. It would | :00:21. | :00:24. | |
also be incompetent, I think, if having got it, we managed to lose | :00:24. | :00:28. | |
Also tonight, a brother's quest for justice for a Devon victim of | :00:28. | :00:32. | |
Winterbourne View. Carer staff are supposed to care for patients, not | :00:32. | :00:38. | |
punch them. And Mike Dilger explores Cornwall's | :00:38. | :00:43. | |
very wild west. I love spotting new things and I have never seen this | :00:43. | :00:49. | |
gorgeous little plant before. I'm Sam Smith, and this is Inside | :00:49. | :00:59. | |
:00:59. | :01:13. | ||
The south-west's mining heritage is a big draw for tourists. But what | :01:13. | :01:16. | |
is more important - preserving the past or helping new industry to | :01:16. | :01:25. | |
flourish? We have been down to Five years ago, 80 acres of the | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
south-west's historic mining landscape was put on a par with | :01:28. | :01:34. | |
places like Stonehenge and the Pyramids. UNESCO declared it a | :01:34. | :01:44. | |
:01:44. | :01:46. | ||
World Heritage Site, which called for a royal celebration. | :01:46. | :01:48. | |
Cornwall and West Devon mining landscape is a deserving addition | :01:48. | :01:51. | |
to this world family, and today we celebrate the people who created | :01:51. | :02:01. | |
the landscape and those who care for it today. Feed concentrate is | :02:01. | :02:04. | |
being fed into the launderer behind me, again using water, to make it | :02:04. | :02:11. | |
flow down ove the cone into the circular pit. -- over. | :02:11. | :02:14. | |
King Edward mine near Camborne contains a unique collection of | :02:14. | :02:19. | |
mining machinery. Its director says its World Heritage status helped | :02:19. | :02:24. | |
the funding to flow. When it finally came through, we were | :02:24. | :02:28. | |
delighted. In our case, what we got out of it was something we could | :02:28. | :02:31. | |
probably have never achieved on our own, which was the replacement of | :02:31. | :02:35. | |
our steam winder house which burned down in 1957. That, in fact, is the | :02:35. | :02:39. | |
building directly behind me, that opened two years ago. We got money | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
to improve and to help to sustain the site we have at the moment, and | :02:43. | :02:50. | |
for us, it was a real positive. And just up the road, Heartlands - | :02:50. | :03:00. | |
:03:00. | :03:00. | ||
a visitor attraction built on the In 2007, Heartlands got �23 million | :03:00. | :03:06. | |
from the Big Lottery Fund to help build this park. Heartlands told us | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
that World Heritage status, granted just a year before, made a crucial | :03:09. | :03:15. | |
difference in their fundraising efforts. | :03:15. | :03:22. | |
But Cornwall's new-found status is in jeopardy. And it is for the most | :03:22. | :03:28. | |
ironic of reasons. 14 years have passed since the | :03:28. | :03:36. | |
closure of what was the last tin mine in Europe. The old surface | :03:36. | :03:41. | |
workings are in a sorry state. But underground, it is a different | :03:41. | :03:51. | |
:03:51. | :03:51. | ||
story. Because they are preparing Currently, we employ 45 full-time | :03:51. | :03:57. | |
workers on the site. As we go forward, we are expecting to expand | :03:57. | :04:03. | |
to maybe 70, 80 jobs over the forthcoming year. At the point of | :04:04. | :04:13. | |
:04:14. | :04:14. | ||
we will have in excess of 200 working full-time at the mine. | :04:14. | :04:23. | |
But there is a problem. UNESCO isn't on board with the idea. | :04:24. | :04:27. | |
I am walking along the boundary of the World Heritage Site, and these | :04:27. | :04:32. | |
old buildings are within it. But the South Crofty headgear, which | :04:32. | :04:34. | |
sent miners underground until the mine closed 14 years ago, is | :04:34. | :04:42. | |
outside it. Now, UNESCO is happy for mining operations to resume | :04:42. | :04:49. | |
over there, but not over here. Crofty's owners now send men | :04:49. | :04:53. | |
underground along the Tucking Mill they want to develop the land all | :04:53. | :04:59. | |
around here. Unfortunately, this is also within the World Heritage Site, | :04:59. | :05:08. | |
St Petersburg, Russia. At a meeting here earlier this year, UNESCO | :05:08. | :05:18. | |
:05:18. | :05:19. | ||
demanded a halt to mining There is this big issue, in | :05:19. | :05:25. | |
principle, if you like, of having mining within a World Heritage Site. | :05:25. | :05:29. | |
And I think there is also the feeling that modern mining is not | :05:29. | :05:32. | |
the same as the mining in the 19th and early 20th centuries, for which | :05:32. | :05:42. | |
:05:42. | :05:48. | ||
the site was inscribed. I guess a way of looking at it is | :05:48. | :05:51. | |
we are creating a future Heritage, because the heritage they are | :05:51. | :05:53. | |
protecting in the World Heritage Site is actually former mining | :05:53. | :05:56. | |
landscape and the buildings and structures, the old chimneys behind | :05:56. | :06:04. | |
us right now, are part of the heritage. What we build here will | :06:04. | :06:10. | |
be the heritage of the future. It is mining operations. | :06:10. | :06:13. | |
But UNESCO is digging its heels in because of the way the development | :06:13. | :06:19. | |
has happened. The committee weren't necessarily against it, but they | :06:19. | :06:22. | |
did say very clearly that any resumption of mining or any | :06:22. | :06:24. | |
discussion on resumption of mining should be put before the committee, | :06:24. | :06:34. | |
:06:34. | :06:37. | ||
for scrutiny and debate, before a decision was made. | :06:37. | :06:39. | |
And it wasn't. Last November, Cornwall's planning committee gave | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
the go-ahead for mining at South Crofty without consulting UNESCO. | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
We asked the chair of the local partnership responsible for the | :06:46. | :06:48. | |
Cornish mining heritage site to explain how this oversight had | :06:48. | :06:53. | |
happened. Why didn't you consult with UNESCO | :06:53. | :06:58. | |
before the planning application was approved? That is a question for | :06:58. | :07:00. | |
the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, who are the relevant | :07:00. | :07:07. | |
state body, who we have to go through in our dealings with UNESCO. | :07:07. | :07:10. | |
Do you regret that they weren't told? I think it is always good | :07:10. | :07:13. | |
practice to follow the protocol that UNESCO have laid out, so, yes, | :07:13. | :07:16. | |
the state party should have been more actively involved. There was | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
no dialogue between you and the DCMS just checking this is | :07:19. | :07:22. | |
happening? You couldn't phone them up and tell them there was a | :07:22. | :07:28. | |
planning application going in? answer to that question is no. | :07:28. | :07:31. | |
And it's true. It is the Government's job to keep UNESCO | :07:31. | :07:39. | |
updated. Which it says it did. Sort The Department for Culture, Media | :07:39. | :07:42. | |
and Sport told us it had told UNESCO four years ago about the | :07:42. | :07:45. | |
intention to start mining but acknowledged it had not told UNESCO | :07:45. | :07:48. | |
that an actual application had been submitted, adding it was "not | :07:48. | :07:50. | |
required to provide UNESCO with a running commentary on every stage | :07:51. | :08:00. | |
:08:01. | :08:01. | ||
in the planning process". UNESCO is not just worried about | :08:01. | :08:07. | |
Crofty. The harbour at Hale has been derelict for 50 years. The | :08:07. | :08:10. | |
Dutch bank ING wants to redevelop this whole area, and its plans have | :08:10. | :08:15. | |
been passed by Cornwall Council. But this too is part of the World | :08:15. | :08:18. | |
Heritage Site, because it was once the main port for Cornwall's mining | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
industry. Now, UNESCO does not like ING's plans, because they include | :08:22. | :08:25. | |
at their heart a big supermarket, a roundabout here, right in front of | :08:25. | :08:35. | |
:08:35. | :08:36. | ||
Hale's historic railway viaduct. What we do object to is this very, | :08:36. | :08:39. | |
very large supermarket. They come in different sizes, supermarkets, | :08:39. | :08:49. | |
:08:49. | :08:51. | ||
and this is almost towards the top of the range, as it were. And we | :08:51. | :08:54. | |
felt that this, imposed on this area of the harbour, indeed would | :08:54. | :08:56. | |
be very unfortunate and impact in a rather aggressive manner. | :08:56. | :08:59. | |
But the developments at Hale harbour and South Crofty can't be | :08:59. | :09:07. | |
stopped now, unless the Government intervenes. The partnership can't | :09:07. | :09:12. | |
halt any agreement. It is not within our remit. South Crofty have | :09:12. | :09:15. | |
been given planning permission so it would be an issue for Government | :09:15. | :09:18. | |
to go back to and if they were so minded to review the planning | :09:18. | :09:28. | |
:09:28. | :09:29. | ||
permission and still halt it, it is There is something UNESCO can do, | :09:29. | :09:32. | |
though. Withdraw World Heritage status, as it has done before in | :09:32. | :09:37. | |
other countries. Those who believe Cornwall has benefited think that | :09:37. | :09:45. | |
would be a disaster. My feeling is that this is part of the Cornish | :09:45. | :09:47. | |
consciousness and I think this identity, this increasing identity | :09:47. | :09:51. | |
that it gives to Cornwall, which I think we all support, would be a | :09:51. | :09:55. | |
tragedy if it was lost. It would also be incompetent if having got | :09:56. | :10:02. | |
it, we managed to lose it. The Government has until February | :10:02. | :10:04. | |
to persuade UNESCO that developments at South Crofty and | :10:04. | :10:07. | |
elsewhere will not damage the integrity of the Cornish mining | :10:07. | :10:15. | |
World Heritage Site. One way or another, something will have to | :10:15. | :10:25. | |
:10:25. | :10:26. | ||
Say "wildlife conservation" and you might think saving pandas or tigers | :10:26. | :10:34. | |
in far-flung parts of the world. Well, Mike Dilger has been to far- | :10:34. | :10:40. | |
flung Cornwall to discover a This is the south-westerly tip of | :10:40. | :10:47. | |
Britain. You've got to be tough to survive here. Even tenacious plants | :10:47. | :10:50. | |
like this western gorse and beautiful heather find it hard | :10:50. | :10:59. | |
going. There are animals and plants that are tough to find anywhere | :10:59. | :11:04. | |
else in England. This is rare coastal heath land. | :11:04. | :11:07. | |
Home to a range of species seldom seen far from this wonderful | :11:07. | :11:10. | |
habitat. Locations like this play host to a wide variety of birds, | :11:10. | :11:12. | |
from constantly bustling meadow pippits, to linnets resplendent in | :11:12. | :11:22. | |
their scarlet-capped breeding plumage. Coastal heath land is also | :11:22. | :11:24. | |
prime butterfly-watching country, giving opportunities to catch up | :11:24. | :11:26. | |
with little crackers like this silver-studded blue blue meaning | :11:26. | :11:33. | |
you've spotted one of the girls, and brown for one of the boys. -- | :11:33. | :11:37. | |
blue meaning. But there is one species that was | :11:37. | :11:43. | |
missing, a bird that hadn't been seen around here for half a century. | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
And I'm here to try and find this elusive creature. | :11:47. | :11:51. | |
The chough disappeared from Cornwall for nearly 40 years. So | :11:51. | :11:53. | |
there was much cause for celebration when just three of | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
these iconic birds flew in from Ireland in 2001 and started a | :11:56. | :12:03. | |
family on the Lizard Peninsula, 20 miles east of Porthgwarra. | :12:03. | :12:07. | |
A small member of the crow family, with a bright red beak and legs, | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
the chough nests in caves on the coastal fringes of the British | :12:10. | :12:15. | |
Isles. The younger Lizard choughs started to spread their wings and, | :12:15. | :12:17. | |
three years later, were spotted here in Porthgwarra by John | :12:17. | :12:22. | |
Chappell. The first chough I ever saw in my life, I was sat in | :12:22. | :12:25. | |
exactly this position, I had just come in from fishing, and he gave a | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
cry and came in and landed just on that ledge there, so only 20 yards | :12:29. | :12:35. | |
away. I just felt like the bird had come to say hello and given it was | :12:35. | :12:39. | |
the first one I had ever seen in my life, it really made my day, to be | :12:39. | :12:43. | |
honest. The choughs were back the following | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
day. This time, John brought his camera and captured the first | :12:46. | :12:51. | |
footage of choughs back at Porthgwarra. The birds John filmed | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
may have been looking for new nesting sites. But Porthgwarra | :12:55. | :13:01. | |
wasn't ready for them yet and they didn't stay. To replicate | :13:01. | :13:03. | |
conditions on the Lizard, conservationists first of all have | :13:03. | :13:11. | |
had to combat a plant that dominates so much of this coastline. | :13:11. | :13:13. | |
A partnership has been formed between conservation bodies and | :13:13. | :13:15. | |
local farmers, with funding from the Higher Land Stewardship scheme, | :13:15. | :13:24. | |
to remove much of the demon bracken and thereby increasing biodiversity. | :13:24. | :13:30. | |
Our first job is to pull the gorse, get rid of the gorse. I usually do | :13:30. | :13:33. | |
that in the autumn time, so there are not birds nesting and you don't | :13:33. | :13:36. | |
interfere with much wildlife, and then the following year, the | :13:36. | :13:39. | |
flowers and the grass has gradually come back, the bracken comes with | :13:39. | :13:43. | |
it and that is a problem, to clear the bracken. Basically, I didn't | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
want use chemicals on the cliffs and the idea of rolling it twice a | :13:47. | :13:50. | |
year is to break the stem and it just bleeds and gradually weakens | :13:50. | :14:00. | |
:14:00. | :14:00. | ||
it. And over two or three years, it disappears. | :14:00. | :14:02. | |
It's great for increasing biodiversity but on its own, | :14:02. | :14:05. | |
rolling bracken is not going to bring back the choughs I'm hoping | :14:05. | :14:11. | |
to see. Unlike their habitat on the Lizard, | :14:11. | :14:14. | |
Porthgwarra had no animals grazing its coast - a standard practice | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
back in the day when choughs were common. So farmers have been | :14:18. | :14:28. | |
:14:28. | :14:28. | ||
encouraged to let them roam free on Without the cattle, the grass gets | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
too high and choughs are very specific in their habitat | :14:31. | :14:34. | |
requirements. They feed on very short-term, something under five | :14:34. | :14:37. | |
centimetres, so you would not get that without the here, so we now | :14:37. | :14:41. | |
have got a number of cattle grazing and we have what we think are the | :14:41. | :14:50. | |
ideal conditions for choughs. -- The cattle also help to keep unruly | :14:50. | :14:53. | |
willow scrub under control, which would otherwise spread if left un- | :14:53. | :14:59. | |
nibbled. This ancient fowling pool is not just a handy drinks station | :14:59. | :15:02. | |
but also provides the perfect des res for a range of butterflies - | :15:02. | :15:05. | |
like Britain's biggest, the Emperor, and this black-tailed skimmer, | :15:05. | :15:15. | |
:15:15. | :15:15. | ||
enjoying a spot of sunbathing. -- dragonflies. It's a lovely, almost | :15:15. | :15:17. | |
primeval scene, but the re- introduction of cattle here has | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
proved controversial. Early on in the project, the local people in | :15:21. | :15:24. | |
the valley here were concerned about the fencing and the gates | :15:24. | :15:27. | |
going in, and what we were going to be doing. And we shared those | :15:27. | :15:31. | |
concerns as well. The point is, they were worried about the cattle | :15:31. | :15:34. | |
ending up in their gardens or out on main roads, so of course you | :15:35. | :15:38. | |
have to fence off these areas and make sure the cattle are grazing | :15:38. | :15:41. | |
the areas where you want them to graze. | :15:41. | :15:43. | |
In the project's infancy, protestors cut though obtrusive | :15:43. | :15:47. | |
barbed wire fencing. NEWS REPORT: This-year-old heifer | :15:47. | :15:52. | |
has fallen 70 feet down cliffs, almost into the sea. | :15:52. | :15:55. | |
Their concerns were heightened when two cattle had to be rescued after | :15:55. | :16:00. | |
falling down cliffs in 2008. It took an army of volunteers and a | :16:00. | :16:06. | |
helicopter from Culdrose to rescue them. However, they lived to graze | :16:06. | :16:11. | |
again. Four years on, local feelings have | :16:11. | :16:15. | |
changed. And since Mike Semmens took charge of the grazing, the | :16:15. | :16:17. | |
number of cattle has been greatly reduced and there have been no | :16:17. | :16:24. | |
further accidents. And wildflowers appear to be on the increase. | :16:24. | :16:27. | |
I love spotting new things and I have never seen this gorgeous | :16:27. | :16:34. | |
little plant before. For the record, it is called "perennial centaury" | :16:34. | :16:37. | |
and Porthgwarra is the only place in England where you can see it, | :16:37. | :16:43. | |
and it is in abundance in this little area here. And this was only | :16:43. | :16:47. | |
refound at this spot last year, when a couple of walkers managed to | :16:47. | :16:52. | |
chance upon it, the first time it had been seen for 50 years. I just | :16:52. | :16:57. | |
love it, it is beautiful, it is delicate. In fact, you could say it | :16:57. | :17:04. | |
is the complete opposite of me. But the acid test was would the choughs | :17:04. | :17:09. | |
return to breed here? Well, the cattle seemed to be playing their | :17:09. | :17:12. | |
part. If you are eating your tea whilst | :17:12. | :17:15. | |
watching this, all I can do is apologise, you might want to look | :17:15. | :17:20. | |
away now. Because cows being cows, they produce these things. #Country | :17:21. | :17:26. | |
pancakes, or cowpats. But if I break this one apart, lift it up | :17:26. | :17:33. | |
and break it apart, look at that. The most enormous number of these | :17:33. | :17:38. | |
larvae. Look at that. Actually, these are beetle larvae, slowly | :17:38. | :17:40. | |
breaking down the cowpat and these are absolutely ideal food, | :17:41. | :17:44. | |
particularly for young choughs, who come along, have a probe and find a | :17:44. | :17:54. | |
:17:54. | :17:57. | ||
Adult choughs use their powerful red beaks to dig insects out from | :17:57. | :17:59. | |
grazed clifftops like leatherjackets and these woodlice | :17:59. | :18:09. | |
:18:09. | :18:10. | ||
tasty morsels for a grown chough. So the table was set - but would | :18:10. | :18:19. | |
our special guests turn up? Well, last year they did just that | :18:19. | :18:22. | |
and, what's more, as this footage filmed in the summer near | :18:22. | :18:28. | |
Porthgwarra shows - this time, they stayed. We have had choughs nesting | :18:28. | :18:32. | |
here for the past two years and this year, they raised four young, | :18:32. | :18:37. | |
so we are absolutely delighted. It is a dream come true for me, I have | :18:37. | :18:41. | |
been working here for over 20 years, so it is wonderful. | :18:41. | :18:44. | |
There are now 34 choughs on the West and North Cornwall coasts, all | :18:44. | :18:49. | |
originating from those Irish immigrants. And do you know what - | :18:49. | :18:54. | |
I'm really chuffed. Well, I had to say it didn't I? And I'm not the | :18:54. | :18:59. | |
only one. They are just a national emblem, aren't they? It is nice to | :18:59. | :19:02. | |
see a bird that was nearly extinct to Cornwall come back to Cornwall | :19:02. | :19:06. | |
again. So the choughs are back and let's | :19:06. | :19:16. | |
:19:16. | :19:18. | ||
hope this time, they're back for Winterbourne View is the private | :19:18. | :19:20. | |
hospital exposed by BBC Panorama for appalling abuse of vulnerable | :19:20. | :19:26. | |
patients. Six care workers have now been jailed, five others given | :19:26. | :19:31. | |
suspended sentences. But we have evidence that one Devon patient was | :19:31. | :19:33. | |
abused there years before Panorama stepped in, and now his family | :19:34. | :19:41. | |
wants justice too. Matthew Hill reports. | :19:41. | :19:51. | |
:19:51. | :19:57. | ||
Winterbourne View. Infamous, empty, purged. It was a private hospital | :19:57. | :20:02. | |
on the outskirts of Bristol, but it will always be remembered for this. | :20:02. | :20:06. | |
SHE SCREAMS. The abuse of vulnerable patients | :20:06. | :20:10. | |
with learning difficulties, exposed by the BBC. But I have discovered | :20:10. | :20:17. | |
new evidence of abuse here, years before Panorama filmed this. I ask, | :20:17. | :20:19. | |
could authorities have stopped it earlier? | :20:19. | :20:24. | |
Is it understandable for someone to have their teeth knocked out? | :20:24. | :20:29. | |
My investigation began earlier this year in Paris. I went to meet Tom | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
Pullar, a student there. His twin brother Ben is autistic and bipolar, | :20:33. | :20:38. | |
with severe learning difficulties. Emotionally, he's more mature, but | :20:38. | :20:41. | |
in terms of his understanding of the world around him, it is | :20:41. | :20:46. | |
equivalent to about a five-year- old's. | :20:46. | :20:51. | |
Tom's brother was 18 when he arrived at Winterbourne View. He | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
would spend just under a year there from July 2009 and he would never | :20:55. | :20:57. | |
be the same again. Did your brother's behaviour change | :20:57. | :21:01. | |
after he went to Winterbourne? very drastically. Ben can get very | :21:01. | :21:09. | |
upset very quickly over things that are not very important. I have | :21:09. | :21:12. | |
taken him to go to the toilet before and he has burst out crying | :21:13. | :21:18. | |
on me and demanded to talk about Winterbourne View. This is years | :21:18. | :21:22. | |
after he went to Winterbourne View. It still affects him today. | :21:22. | :21:26. | |
Tom talked me through paperwork about the hospital. We have also | :21:26. | :21:30. | |
seen his brother's daily care notes from his time there. One entry | :21:30. | :21:35. | |
particularly concerns the family. Just weeks after he arrived, Ben | :21:35. | :21:40. | |
had an accident with his teeth. The handwritten note is brief and | :21:40. | :21:44. | |
raises more questions than answers. Ben's family say they were given | :21:44. | :21:47. | |
mixed messages about what happened and were told, at one point, Ben | :21:47. | :21:54. | |
had bitten the floor. What they do know is how traumatic Ben's | :21:54. | :21:57. | |
injuries were. The first tooth was knocked out on | :21:57. | :22:03. | |
impact. They tried to put it back in again and it fell out eventually | :22:03. | :22:06. | |
again three weeks later. The second one dropped out within two months | :22:06. | :22:12. | |
of the trauma. It was a shock for everybody that he had his teeth | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
missing. He looks like a completely different person with his teeth | :22:16. | :22:20. | |
missing. He looks like a dangerous person, he looks like he can't look | :22:20. | :22:27. | |
after himself, or that he's not being looked after. Essentially, | :22:27. | :22:32. | |
that is what happened, he wasn't looked after. And I think he will | :22:32. | :22:36. | |
always have that reminder now, because he has two teeth missing. | :22:36. | :22:43. | |
It is not just a reminder him, but it's a reminder for us as well. -- | :22:43. | :22:46. | |
for him. Back in the UK, I needed to find | :22:46. | :22:50. | |
out more about how Ben's teeth were knocked out. I discovered that Ben | :22:50. | :22:52. | |
was brought here by staff from Winterbourne View as an emergency | :22:52. | :22:58. | |
patient. And that because of the severity of his injuries, two | :22:58. | :23:00. | |
doctors at the Bristol Dental Hospital raised the alarm with the | :23:00. | :23:06. | |
authorities. At our request, a senior dental consultant has looked | :23:06. | :23:10. | |
into what happened. These two front teeth, the crowns were pushed back | :23:10. | :23:14. | |
towards the palett, and they were mobile, so we assumed also that the | :23:14. | :23:19. | |
bone holding the teeth in would have been fractured. It would have | :23:19. | :23:23. | |
been painful, it would have been difficult to bite. And what did | :23:23. | :23:26. | |
your staff think when they saw Ben's teeth? I think they thought | :23:26. | :23:29. | |
the injury he sustained wasn't consistent with what they were | :23:29. | :23:34. | |
being told. He had allegedly bitten a carer, and the injuries were | :23:34. | :23:42. | |
sustained from him biting that carer. Whereas, because the teeth | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
were pushed back palletly towards the back of the mouth, they would | :23:45. | :23:52. | |
be consistent with a punch or a blow to the front of the face. | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
There is nothing in Ben's notes about a punch or a blow. The | :23:56. | :24:00. | |
authorities did meet several days after Ben was assaulted. His family | :24:00. | :24:04. | |
wasn't invited. The notes we've obtained say the nurse was bitten | :24:04. | :24:07. | |
and retaliated in order to remove his fingers, and later that he | :24:07. | :24:15. | |
pushed and pulled to get them out. That nurse was Maxwell Nyamukapa. | :24:15. | :24:20. | |
He was suspended and later reinstated. The first I knew, I | :24:20. | :24:26. | |
heard some running and a shout... Jane Elwood was there. She was | :24:26. | :24:31. | |
working as a nurse at the time Ben was assaulted. She didn't see it | :24:31. | :24:34. | |
but was on hand soon after and has 15 years of experience of looking | :24:34. | :24:37. | |
after people with learning disabilities. The nurse involved | :24:37. | :24:40. | |
seemed to be quite proud of the injury that he had and the | :24:40. | :24:46. | |
attention that he got from having to go to A&E. It was a single small | :24:46. | :24:49. | |
stab wound, which he said was a tooth, but I didn't see any | :24:49. | :24:52. | |
additional tooth marks, which you would expect from a fixed bite, or | :24:52. | :25:00. | |
bruising, which you tend to get if the bite is actually latched on. So | :25:00. | :25:05. | |
at the time, I just assumed it was a quick bite, in and out. | :25:05. | :25:08. | |
incident was discussed the next day, the next morning at handover. | :25:08. | :25:11. | |
was, "Yeah, bring it on", when they were talking about the particular | :25:11. | :25:20. | |
Jane could only stand it for a week, disgusted with the attitude of some | :25:20. | :25:24. | |
staff, the levels of care and the record-keeping. She left. But she | :25:24. | :25:28. | |
has strong feelings about the assault on Ben Pullar. It is not | :25:28. | :25:33. | |
reasonable to attack a patient under any circumstances. How do you | :25:33. | :25:36. | |
deal with that incident, if you are being bitten? Once you have been | :25:36. | :25:40. | |
bitten, there is nothing you can do about it, there is no point in | :25:40. | :25:44. | |
retaliating. What about the police? Surely if | :25:44. | :25:47. | |
someone was punched in the face, then they would act? We have | :25:47. | :25:53. | |
learned that their view at the time was that it was self-defence. They | :25:53. | :25:59. | |
did log it as an assault, but said Maxwell had acted instinctively. | :25:59. | :26:09. | |
:26:09. | :26:15. | ||
I would say it was extremely unprofessional. I think that care | :26:16. | :26:19. | |
staff are supposed to care for patients, not punch them. | :26:19. | :26:22. | |
When I began my investigation, police said they would not reopen | :26:22. | :26:25. | |
Ben's case, but now agreed to review it and say lessons have been | :26:25. | :26:29. | |
learned. Is it understandable for someone to | :26:29. | :26:33. | |
have their teeth knocked out? looking back on that incident now | :26:33. | :26:36. | |
and understanding the whole pattern of what was happening at that home, | :26:36. | :26:41. | |
at the residential hospital, clearly not acceptable. However, at | :26:41. | :26:43. | |
the time, the officer was dealing with reliable information that came | :26:43. | :26:46. | |
from patients and carers and that came from other experts in that | :26:46. | :26:54. | |
field, and perhaps they relied upon that information too much. So it is | :26:54. | :26:58. | |
not understandable, really? know, it is a very difficult one to | :26:58. | :27:02. | |
look back on now in hindsight but we accept that and learn as a force | :27:02. | :27:08. | |
and an organisation and will do things differently in future. | :27:08. | :27:13. | |
And what about nurse Maxwell? We wanted to ask him about what he had | :27:13. | :27:17. | |
done. He has not responded to our request for an interview so we | :27:17. | :27:21. | |
waited at his last known address. He does still work as a nurse, | :27:21. | :27:24. | |
despite being referred to a nursing and midwifery council. Maxwell | :27:24. | :27:27. | |
never showed, so we decided to call him. | :27:27. | :27:34. | |
Hi, is that Maxwell? "Who is this?" It is Matthew Hill, BBC. I am just | :27:34. | :27:38. | |
ringing to ask why you hit Ben Pullar in the face in 2009? I am | :27:38. | :27:46. | |
recording this for broadcast The line has gone dead. We have | :27:46. | :27:49. | |
tried to contact Maxwell for some time now, but he clearly doesn't | :27:49. | :27:57. | |
want to speak to us. When we you here last? | :27:57. | :27:59. | |
Winterbourne View's previous owners, Castle Beck, told us that the new | :27:59. | :28:02. | |
board and management have already reviewed and will continue to | :28:02. | :28:07. | |
review what happened here. They said if any other matters come to | :28:07. | :28:09. | |
light, then immediate action will be taken and the appropriate | :28:09. | :28:19. | |
:28:19. | :28:24. | ||
And though 11 people have admitted abusing patients, Ben's family say | :28:24. | :28:32. |