29/09/2014 Inside Out South West

They are the iconic symbol of Dartmoor, but they are under threat.

Tonight, the controversial culinary plan to save Dartmoor's hill ponies.

It is not something any of us wants to do, but if the ponies

are to survive on Dartmoor, we must have a meat trade.

Why didn't police stop her murderous stalker?

I remember saying to them, hf she is murdered, you'll spend millhons

We mustn't let it get to the state like in Helen,

where an attack is made on ` person, and but for the intervention of

And Nick Baker delves into Cornwall's ancient wild wood.

Fantastic landscape, patchwork of different things going on.

It is almost like a miniaturised sort of tropical rainforest.

In some countries, horse meat is a delicacy.

the idea of it just does not bear thinking about.

But what if eating a partictlar breed could actually help s`ve it?

For thousands of years ponies have roamed across D`rtmoor.

But this could soon become a thing of the past.

All of the studies show that we need a meat trade.

We?re just not a nation of horse eaters here in the UK.

I'm on my way to the middle of Dartmoor to meet Charlotte Faulkner.

Charlotte has spent a life time trying to save the Dartmoor Pony.

She runs a sanctuary for thdm at her farm,

but it's getting increasingly difficult.

In the past, hill farmers lhke Charlotte used to sell their foals

but the market's plummeted and so has their value.

If we don't ensure the future of the ponies on Dartmoor,

People won't be able to walk across it and the gorsd

will be too much and the br`mbles and the bracken and the heather

It'll all just get completely overgrown and we won't have Dartmoor

Charlotte?s spent hours training wild ponies so that

But there simply aren't enough customers.

Selling the ponies has become almost impossible.

I think if we can?t turn thhs around in some way within

the next couple of years yot will be looking at no ponies on Dartmoor.

Some of the ponies which ardn?t sold end up as feed for zoo anim`ls.

At the moment it's just a mass slaughter.

And so now as a last resort, Charlotte's decided

to try and sell the pony me`t of unwanted foals

as a high quality gourmet food product.

You?ve got to the stage now that you?ve decided to go down

That must have been incredibly difficult?

It?s not something that any of us want to do,

but all of the studies show that if the ponies are to strvive

on Dartmoor, or in the New Forest, or on Exmoor,

all of the studies come back and say we must have a meat trade.

But the idea of a meat tradd is a controversial one.

Some fear it'll put people off coming to the moors.

I think people have a very special relationship with the horse,

where we are today in civilhsation is built on the back of the horse,

very close partnerships are formed between man and horses.

in the heart of Exmoor National Park.

Although a different breed, the Exmoor?s face similar problems

to their Dartmoor cousins, with very little market for the foals.

Dawn's trying not to go down the meat route.

If the moorland herd owners take responsibility for making stre

they're producing the best puality animal and making every opportunity

to market those animals and find them good homes then much c`n be

achieved before we have to send them to the abattoir and put thel

As far as Dawn's concerned, however bad things get, ponies are off the

and I certainly wouldn't eat a horse.

A horse is as much man's best friend as a dog is,

and I think we're just not ` nation of horse eaters here in the UK.

Back on Dartmoor, the pony sales are drying up.

It means families such as the Abel's who run a herd of nearly 150 ponies

have little means of making any money from their foals.

I'm seriously considering giving them up because

The reason that we keep thel is because my dad kept them

and his dad had a few, and ht would just be a shame to see them gone.

So Charlotte?s idea might bd just the solution Phil?s looking for

Would you eat it? Yes, and H have ate burgers before. We made our own.

Did you like it? The burgers was lovely.

They were lovely, especiallx after a day out Dartmoor.

You come home hungry, cold `nd wet, and as you can see,

Dartmoor's like this a lot of the time,

Today Charlotte?s coming to collect two ponies as they start

Right, that's it now. I?ve got to go and get them there

On. Got a few. They will be perfect. It has been mild but it has been

very wet. Well fleshed up, hindquarters... I am glad you are

pleased with them. Very ple`sed Go on then, go on! , one! Come on! That

was very easy. Right, that's it I have got to go and take thel, before

I change my mind. That's wh`t it's all about.

I do worry and I'd be very concerned if people weren't slightly

worried about it as well because we all do love ponids

and it's not a decision that's been taken lightly.

They're going to try and help Charlotte sell her pony meat.

I've come to give sous chef Rob a hand

making this slab of horse a bit more appetising.

Just pick it up. That much? It is a really hot sensation, isn't it? I

have had a few disasters, it is not as easy as it looks. We havd a first

batch of sausages. Here thex are. It?s taken months

to get to this stage, but the proof

will be in the eating. It?s a big moment for Charlotte

and hotel owner Tim. That's OK. Compliments to the chef,

I think. It is delicious. How do you feel now you have tasted thdm?

I suppose I'm glad its tastds nice because if it didn't then

But the fact that it?s tastds delicious means we will be `ble

Yeah, we?ve got to explain ht in the right way

We wouldn?t normally put pony on the menu but it?s being done so we see

hundreds of ponies on the moor for years to come and the tourists come

to see the ponies, and they may not want to eat them but the re`son

they're there is because thdy are worth the farmers keeping them.

It?s not just sausages being trialled.

It?s hoped a horse meat bresola a dried meat that?s flavourdd with

will bring some much needed extra value.

Bringing a new food product to market is a long process

and Charlotte and the hotel are still working on the ins and outs

of the new line, but Charlotte remains determined to save this

It's hard to imagine that most of Britain,

even open moorland like this, was once covered in thick forest.

Today, that woodland is almost gone, but there are some small pockets

in the South West where this rich and rare habitat still exists.

These are some of the very last remnants of the "wild wood"

that once covered the UK after the Ice Age.

Here there's a rich and unipue ecosystem, which has evolved

largely free from chemicals, pesticides and human interfdrence.

I am standing in the ancient woodland. Because of the unhque

situation here, the land either side of the woodland has been relatively

undisturbed. The woodland is moving outwards and economising thd entire

place. Millook are nestled hn a remote corner of the North Cornish

coast. Most of the land is owned by the trust. Warden Malcolm looks

after them. So we say ancient woodland puite

a lot but what are we actually talking about?

An ancient woodland is one that has been continuously wooded

for 400 years. And what that means is that

communities of plants and animals have had that undisturbed existence

and it gives them the opportunity to And that?s why ancient

woodlands are so important. This place is teeming with ht

? lichens, birds, butterflids. Everything

about this wood is really special. And you don?t have to look very hard

to see what he?s talking about. You are in a habitat, warbldrs are

common. And the action?s not just h`ppening

in the trees, down under This sure`footed dung beetld

seems to be in a hurry. Check out the brambles that line the

pathways and you may see thhs. And it?s not just fauna that

thrive in the woodland. The trees are host to some

very special hangers on. A fantastic patchwork of different

things going on. It's almost a miniaturised tropical rainforest.

This is one of the things wd were talking about. These plants, they do

not colonise or spread quickly. Birds and insects have wings. This

is a very slow process. The valley is like this. That is a continuity.

Clearly a grand lack of disturbance. This is the sort of thing you get on

so many trees. Every one of these splodges

of colour represents And that's

because it looks a little bht And this is Lobaria scrobictlata,

this is a smaller sort If you're not into lichens,

and how could you not be, btt if you're not into this, just standing

back and looking at every shngle Millook is one

of the best woodlands for lhchen in the country but the arrival in the

west of the tree disease ash dieback Ash dieback was first discovered

in Britain two years ago and it has the potential to wipe out

the country's 80 million ash trees. The nearest woodland infectdd

with the disease is in Somerset That's close enough to make Malcolm

worried. If it lands in the area and it

starts killing off some of these ash trees that we've got, smothdred in

some of the lichens, it is not just the loss of a high proportion of our

ash trees that we are faced with but the collateral extinctions

that may go with that. There's not much that Malcolm can do

but hope that ash dieback doesn t land here and for now at le`st,

this woodland is in perfect health. If you venture in a little deeper

you can happen upon a littld oasis. At the heart of

the wood is this wildflower meadow. And these wonderfully wet p`stures

are full of plantlife, and the grassland is fantastic

in its own right. But where the grassland meets

the woodland, you?ve got all these sheltered hot

sunny spots as well, which lakes it Perfect, unless, that is,

you happen to be tangled up This grasshopper should

watch where it's going. It's walking right towards

a nursery web spider. Ooh, kicked out

by this magnificent spider, And this, with its distincthve

ragged wing edges, has stopped I'm just having a little bit

of a moment here. I have a real fondness for this

butterfly, it is a marbled white, They're actually a brown butterfly,

just a very beautiful one. From the wildflower meadows,

to the woodland itself, Millook is as rich and varidd as

the avid naturalist could hope for. Hopefully, it'll escape disdase

and endure as a precious haven for wildlife and a welcome dscape

from the modern world. Prosecutions of stalkers ard at

a record high thanks to new laws. But as Simon Hall now reports,

that's of little comfort to one It's been the worst year of

Helen Pearson?s life. You just live in a constant fear,

absolute fear, because you never I therefore wish to see how well

you'd cope if attacked in pdrson. Her attacker's behind bars,

but Helen?s struggling to forgive the police, whose handling of her

case is now under investigation You mustn't let it get to

a state where an attack is lade and, but for the intervention of

a third party, Helen would be dead. Helen was on her way to

the gym last October, on wh`t began I remember holding

my umbrella up and having to angle She was about to be attacked

by the man who who?d been stalking His weapon,

a pair of dress`making scissors I just felt a sudden stab

in my back and went straight down. He turned me around

and pulled me up to standing. That's when I saw him and I saw

his eyes and knew it was Jod. I was pleading, saying "Ple`se, Joe,

don't." I remember him pulling

my head to one side and stabbing me in my neck, and

punching me in my face and ly nose. You have an absolute fear

for your life. I remember him dragging me

across the road into the catacombs. I thought I'm not coming out

of this alive, this is it. The attack was stopped

by a passer`by, but Helen h`d been Her face was completely open,

but they let her sip some w`ter The water was dribbling

through her cheek. There were all these stab wounds

in her back, close to her ltng. One in the side close to thd

heart. She was so lucky. Joe Willis was found guilty of

attempted murder and is serving a In 2008, Helen moved into hdr own

flat in the centre of Exeter. It was an exciting fresh st`rt

after some time in supported housing, but Joe Willis

was living in the same block. He'd offer to carry

if I had shopping bags. There was something

a bit weird about him, She declined, but he wouldn't

take no for an answer. He was very aggressive,

why haven't you responded? Really...

loopy about it all. That rejection triggered a campaign

against Helen and her familx. With over a hundred incidents

reported to the police. The white paint's still there

from when that was chucked. It's hard to know that is where

he used to watch me from. Helen recorded more than 30

malicious messages, more th`n I'd put my swimming costume on

in the bath because I wouldn't know Helen kept a detailed diary

of events and told officers she The police did send

letters to forensics. They put a spyhole camera in Helen's

door, but she says it didn't always work and was taken away

after a couple of months. They also deployed

a covert capture car, but she says that remote surveillance was done

at the wrong time of day. Helen's family never felt hdr case

was given the attention it deserved. I remember saying to them, hf she's

murdered, you'll spend millhons Why not a few pounds now

and find out who's doing it? We kept writing, the MP was writing,

we had meetings with the police and yet they never took it

seriously enough to investigate who Helen's supporters believe she

wasn't taken seriously becatse the If we were getting pizza, I remember

thinking I don't deserve th`t, I Helen has spent much

of her life battling anorexha. I find talking about my food

as exposing as showing my scars You can't train police officers to

be experts in mental illness, but you can train them to understand

some of the things they might see. We see it with rape and domdstic

violence, that the minute there might be an issue around mental

health, somehow that discredits Two months after the conviction

police are meeting at HQ I hear it from most victims,

they're fighting two wars. They're fighting the war to survive

the stalker and to get you Helen was due to speak here too

but in the end couldn't facd it I'm just going to introduce Natalie.

Natalie tells trainees about a visit she had from an offhcer a

couple of months before the attack. He knew that Helen had ment`l

health history herself. She's anorexic,

and I very much got the impression, and Helen and her parents too, that

because of that, she was considered she was making the

whole thing up to get attention The police won't talk about Helen?s

case while it's being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints

Commission, but they say commitment to taking

victims seriously. For most people, if they report

something, that's because something has happened and we have to take

that seriously, regardless We are delivering a lot of training,

face to face training. 240 officers. We are concentrating

on frontline officers first. Helen's still a long way from

getting back her faith in the police, but she?s feeling hopeful

about a new life with her stalker in jail. There now is no re`son to

leap out my skin when the post There now is no reason to ldap

out my skin when the post comes I try and be hopeful that it

won?t always be like this. If you've been affected by `ny

of the issues raised by Heldn's Next week,

the hidden epidemic of loneliness. What a difference,

when you make breakfast for two I left a beautiful world to go into

a horrible world. And that's all from the team for now but wd'll be

back next Monday with more stories and investigation from around the

south`west. See you then. Hello, I'm Sophie Long wat(

your 90 second update. A freeze on working-age be.efits

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after a huge jump