09/09/2013 Inside Out South West

Hello and welcome to the programme. I think I have bitten off more than

I can chew. Also, we check fire safety. And the scourge of baby

farming. I am Sam Smith, and this is Inside Out. We have made him give up

smoking and take up exercise. Now, David Fitzgerald has challenged us

to follow him on a personal quest. Two years ago, I was drinking too

much, diabetic and nearly 18 stone. At the moment, your body is that of

a 64 year role. Today, whilst I still enjoyed the odd breakfast, I

also enjoy the odd visit to the gym. I have set myself a new challenge,

to run the Plymouth half marathon. Inside Out has insisted I have a

health check. My dietician Hillary is here. What do you call

yourselves? Physiologists.They are going to do whatever they do with me

in a moment. First, they will weigh me. Your weight has come down, your

fat has come down. It is all going in the right direction. You still

have an age of 66. So this is what physiologists do. They are taking an

ECG, measurement of my hard's activity. We need to make sure David

's heart is happy when it is put under stress. I am glad to say I got

the all clear, but where do I begin? I will be here on the start line in

four weeks. To say under prepared is an understatement. I have an old

friend who is a medal winner. She is going to help me. Walk a bit. Lunge

forward. Bob and down. Get your knees out. Try the other side.

That's better. I didn't thing you could get down to that. That's much

better. For weeks is not a long time but you can build it up. You can

walk for 15 minutes, then run for 15 minutes. You will have to go at your

own pace. I take my hat off to you. I think you are crazy. Following

Catherine 's advice, here I am pounding the streets. I am not

smiling. It's two weeks now to look Plymouth half marathon. Nowhere I

even running half the half marathon. I am wearing pink because motorists

do not see you. I am running a mile, but it is my Lai could not do

at the beginning of my training. With five days to go, I haven't been

training as hard as I might, so I called in a personal trainer and

neighbour. We are meeting at the halfway mark of the half marathon. I

am hoping she will be to give me some last—minute advice. What should

I be doing? Five days left. I want you to think about getting some good

rest in, so no partying, no late nights, get some really good sleep

in. Drink lots of water. If you are dehydrated, you will struggle on the

day. If you keep looking down when you are running up a hill, and say

to yourself, this is flat. I am not confident at all. I am not sleeping

properly. 13 miles, I am still 16 stone. I'm not ready for this, but

come hell or high water, I will do it. Five words, but the truth is, I

am scared I would be able to do it. It's coming up to 10:30pm on

Saturday night. In about 11 hours, I will be standing on the line at the

start of the Plymouth half marathon. I have done some

training, taken some advice and ignored others, and, if I'm

perfectly honest, I don't think I am going to make it. I know what my

body can and cannot do. Tomorrow will be a challenge. I hope I will

be able to sleep, but if I fail, I fail. To be honest, I think I have

bitten off more than I can chew. Race day. One last kiss for the

enemy, the good lady wife. Should the worst happen, there are

superheroes on hand. Don't worry. If you get into trouble, we will save

you. The front of this fantastic pack has

started. My nerves are tingling a bit. So now it is me, Keith and 13

miles to go. The pack is off, and pretty soon, we are out of the thick

of it. To be honest, I just cannot run the whole race. In fact, there

is a lot of walking. But after six miles...

Just under half way now. I am not breaking any records, but I am

surprised I have managed to survive this far. My legs are not playing

up. I think I am right in saying it is all downhill matter the finish.

Never accept a jelly baby. You cannot run, eat and breathe. Let's

go. After ten miles, I'm still running.

She has just been cleared of cancer. What I have gone through is nothing

compared to her. Who knows? Maybe the London Marathon next. Or maybe

not. While after computing that, if it's developed some heart problems,

which are sorted now. If you are thinking of up a fitness programme,

get yourself checked out by a The beauty of the south—west

attracts visitors from all round the world but how world class are our

hotels? When it comes to keeping their guests safe? For the second

year running, we have gone undercover to check on fire

precaution, and our results are worrying.

Troyed in minutes. —— destroyed in minutes. Fire ripped through this

hotel so fast it couldn't be saved. The fire started accidentally.

No—one was hurt and we have no evidence to suggest the owners

hadn't complied with the laws and guidelines which are aimed at

preventing fire, controlling its spread and ensuring people can

escape. But elsewhere, the temptation to cut

corners has put lives at risk. Six years ago, three people died as

a result of the Penhallow Hotel fire in Cornwall. The owners later

admitted fire safety breaches. Then in 2011, fire did this to a

hotel in North Devon. A fire one guest will never forget

If I go anywhere now where there is a bonfire or barbecue, I get

flashbacks. In the early hours of May 31st

Judith was asleep on the second floor.

First thing I knew was the alarm at 3 in the morning. I looked out of

the window. I couldn't hear anything but I could hear shouting. "Help,

help." She followed an escape route only to fire the exit door was

jammed. I pushed extra hard. I kicked. I

started to panic. She tried to go back, but there was

no handle on the door she had just come through. I thought is this my

end? Judith finally managed to pull the door open, and escape from a

building which had been riddled with faults. Among them, that dodgy door.

A covered up smoke detector. And an escape route blocked by cooking oil

cans. The owners were fined £40,000. Last year, we went under cover in 14

south—west tourist hotels, with one of the country's leading fire safety

experts. All be one failed the inspection.

The problem is that today, you book a hotel, you don't know whether it

has been inspected by a competent person, you don't know how competent

that person was, what degree of knowledge, experience they have. You

don't know when the fire brigade checked the building. You could be

booking into a hotel which could be a deathtrap.

Now, Alan is back, at the height of the tourist season, we are going to

check in and check out another batch of hotels.

Alan, what is going on? Why do you think will is a problem with fire

safety in hotels? It used to be the job of the Fire Authority to inspect

hotels and issue certificates but seven or eight years ago there was a

change in the legislation, the job rests with the owner or the

occupier. So that is a kind of DIY system, is that working? In my view,

the system is not working. We set to work and it doesn't take

long to find evidence that Alan may be right.

Bit chunks of this are coming away in my hand, it is so rusty. On the

first floor the doorstep is crumbling.s If I push too hard, this

threshold strip is going to go. It is rotten.

The rot set in at another hotel too. Wooden escapes are fine, but not

when they are in this state. The owners don't know we are filming

so we can be sure we are seeing the hotels Taize really operate.

We look behind closed doors, and at doors which should be closed for

safety. That won't stop a fire. It might as well not be there. Fire

doors should fit snugly, not be held open and how wouldk you lie to see

this if you are in a hurry? Hotels are vulnerable to arson, so it is

best practise to lock store cupboards. Practically every door

that is marked keep locked shut is unlocked.

Obvious Obviously you have a problem there, that thatsome somebody wanted

to set fire they have all the resources, because a fire in this

particular area, we would lose the staircases. Which is the main exit.

Yes. On to Weymouth. Its hotels last year

hosted Olympic visitor, but in Alan's view there were no medals for

safety for this one. Important fire protection in the

basement was literally full of holes.

That was a duct, and obviously somebody has wanted to get services

in there, they have removed the fire protection which is this here, they

knocked it away, put the services through and not replaced it. So any

fire getting in there could go through the hotel, and service

anywhere in the hotel. We have electric things charging down here,

which is a fire risk. Exactly.Alan was is concerned he reported this

hotel to the fire service which has inspected and asked for

improvements. The manager said believed the hotel was safe and they

had already sealed the gaps. Back on the road, our findings so

far are worrying enough, but they come at a time when budget cuts mean

parts of the region are losing some fire cover.

Places like our next stop Ilfracombement here the fire engines

no longer going to be crewed full—time. That means it could take

longer to respond to an emergency, in hotels like this one.

So, we take a look inside. Again, we find trouble below stairs.

So this is part of the hotel that guests don't see, we are in the

basement. What we have discovered here is just this great big store

room of junk. Much of it flammable junk.

If there was a fire in here... That is the point. We are in the

basement. A fire that started here would have so much fuel to get

going, you have what, three storeys above us of rooms with guests in

them. And nearby... In fact it is a boiler

room. That is flooding. The owner later

told us the leak had only just started. He said the basement was

full because it was peak season, and that the rest of the hotel was up to

scratch. Alan reported this hotel to local

Fire Authority, who have told the owner to sort out the basement

issues, he has told us he will. All together, 11 of the 14 hotels we

visited failed Alan's inspection. He wants the Fire Service to get

tougherment We have seen significant problems and the danger is if the

fire authorities don't increase their inspection ratios and

enforcement action, then, unfortunately death fires will occur

again in hotels. The Fire Service says it targets inspections on high

risk property, crept figures show of the hotels it does visit round half

are judged unsatisfactory. The system's not working, there are

clearly gloerls who do not understand the responsibilities. I

would have to disagree with you on that. I think the vast majority of

premises do take fire safety seriously. What we found over the

last six years is a diminishing number of fire, and we have had zero

fire deaths in six years in non—dom stick properties. That is not

something we get complacent about. We help businesses to comply with

legislation, but the responsibility sits with the people who know and

manage the building. And the woman whose holiday turned

to horror has a message for hoe grerls everywhere You can't put a

price on life. People are coming to stay in your hotel. They want to be

safe, don't they. You must, you must have safety.

Definitely. It is top priority.

It some time seeps as if barely a day goes buy when the media isn't

reporting a sad story of child neglect or cruelty. Go back to the

19th century and there is every reason to believe things were worse

today we have the story of an unsung Cornish reformer who campaigned to

protect the most vulnerable in Victorian society.

Victorian England was a harsh, uncaring place for a woman unlucky

enough to find herself poor, unmarried and pregnant. For most, a

baby at the hip meant no home, no job, and likely as not no future,

except the gutter. What could a poor girl do but throw

herself on the mercy of those running a chilling trade? They were

known as baby farmers but more often than not they were child murderers.

In the days before formal adoption it was open for any woman to

advertise for a child to care for. Adverts like this were common in the

with a little family of her own and with a little family of her own and

MoD moderate allowance would be glad to accept the charge of a young

child. Age no object. If sickly, would

receive a parents' care. Term, 15 shells a month or would

adopt entirely if under two months for the sum of £12. It seems

innocent enough but for a girl in dire need the real message is clear.

Alison Rattle has written about the grim business. The industry of baby

farming arose out of this social climate that was really against

women. You know, that getting pregnant outside of wedlock, so in a

horrific way, it did provide a service that was very much—needed.

Alison beliefs there was a network of baby farmer, the most prolific ——

prolific being Amelia Dyer. She dosed them up with a laud numb

mixture, which was a common thing, and it was used to keep babies quiet

if they were fretful, but she overused it, so it suppressed the

babe bay's appetite. They would slowly waste away. She would starve

the babies to death. But Amelia was far from the only

practitioner. It was as common to see a body of a

baby dumped on street as a dead dog or cat. So it was so commonplace

that it wasn't given newspaper coverage.

There was of course some public concern about the rising toll of

suspicious infant death, but it took one particular case which happened

here in Torquay, to awaken the campaigning zeal of a Cornish

doctor. He was born in the quiet parish of saint cue. There have been

his family here for sents but he left for medical training and the

wider world. London beckoned, and he worked tirelessly through a cholera

epidemic, volunteering for the Crimean War he nursed Florence

nightingale. That was the start of his good work, we have traced one

man with a close connection —— connection to the doctor.

I am Richard Dickinson, this is my great—grandfather. I think he is a

family man, very proud family man too.

I mean you can see that straight from these photos, it is the feeling

you get. I get when I look at them any way.

Richard has the doctors hand—written account of his early life, which

gives us little clue as to his future as a champion of the poor,

but this does. This is a letter he wrote to the editor of the Times. It

will read it out. The lives of the children are in the

than of the women who take them in to nurse, there is no law to protect

them." He was passionate about this, I think. You know, he was driven to

go and do something about it. Staggering, really. Shocking.

Yes. By the 1860s the doctor was the

secretary of an eminent scientific society, well placed to exercise his

social conscience. Which was pricked by the grisly case of Charlotte

Windsor. Windsor's crimes in Torquay became

widely known. Her clients were country girls who came to work in

the big houses as local historian Kevin Dixon explains Torquay was

pulling in large numbers of servants to service the house, so by the time

we got the 1860s you had about 20% more women than men, which was fine

as longs after there was jobs in the industry for these women. We know a

lot were desperately poor, if they lost their jobs, one of the few

professions they could turn to was prostitution. Desperate women do

desperate things. One desperate woman was Mary Jane Harris, who

thanked her two month old son to Windsor for a few shillings a week.

Barely two months later, a tiny parcel wrapped in an old newspaper

was found wrapped near Torquay station. It was Tommy Harris.

Torquay was picking up a reputation for being a centre of child murder.

As long as it was discreet, things didn't seem to be paid much

attention to it. When they did find this baby wrapped in a newspaper, in

Torquay, they looked at the record, birth records and went back, and

found the mother and then found the baby farmer, and then that became a

court case. Was in a regular business? Had she killed a lot of

children? If you want wanted Charlotte Windsor to lock a her baby

and you paid weekly, the chances of that baby staying alive were high,

if you gave a lump sum to Charlotte Windsor it was a very high

likelihood and, that that child would not survive. When you say a

lump sum, how much? What was going rate? It is an unpleasant

topic to talk about how much to kill a baby. It looks like between 3 and

£15. What the Windsor case vealed to a

horrified public was infanticide wasness just an act of misguided

mothers but a regular trade, widely practises with setifies. This was

the doctors call to arms, he and his colleagues lobbied for registration

of baby minders and a revision of the poor law which led to the

epidemic of destitute mothers in the first place. Part of the poor law

amendment act, there was a clause that took away a man's financial

accountability for any child he may father out of wedlock. The idea

being that it would raise a woman's moral integrity and sort of, you

know, make her less likely to have sex before marriage, but that didn't

take into account men's behaviour. The doctor's radical idea was that

the Government should be responsible for the welfare of children. Helped

form the infant life protection society, well before the NSPCC to

push for new laws. By 1872, thanks to the doctor's

campaigning, a new what was passed, bringing in the regulation of child

nurses, and the compulsory registration of births.

The laws were changed too. Fathers were expected to provide financial

support for offspring. The doctor's pivotal role has gone largely

unrecognised. His great great grandson is

determined to put that right. He does seem to have been forgotten.

I don't know why that is. I have more research to do. A lot more to

do. I think there is going to be a lot

more discoveries to make. Even though I have don loads of research,

into campaigners and the industry I haven't come across his name. He

should be hailed. The doctor continued his general

practise, and more works, but what became of Charlotte Windsor? Unlike

meal wra Dyer she escaped the gallows on a legal technicality and

spent 30 years in jail. One of only five prisoners of the time to be

held so long. The doctor died aged 72. He pricked the conscience of a

nation, and helped end thing my last night trade of baby farming so hats

off to a doctor, a true if unsung Cornish hero.

That is all from Inside Out South West but we are back next Monday

with more stories from where you live. So see you then.