:00:29. > :00:39.Tonight to you find me overlooking the river at seven. Week will be
:00:39. > :00:45.
:00:45. > :00:49.mapping out a world war two mystery here. Also, how a to overcome
:00:49. > :00:59.crippling debt. The judge asked for money and I don't even had the
:00:59. > :01:06.
:01:06. > :01:10.tenpins. And a crime wave hitting farmers in
:01:10. > :01:13.a region. It is a crime that has more than
:01:13. > :01:21.doubled in the past 12 months. It is costing farmers �6 million a
:01:21. > :01:24.year. It is sheep rustling. And earlier
:01:24. > :01:34.this year a couple from Swadlincote, just starting out in farming,
:01:34. > :01:36.
:01:36. > :01:42.discovered how devastating this crime can be. I thought they had
:01:42. > :01:51.taken my sheep, they have ruined my life. Standing here in this field I
:01:51. > :01:56.could not leave me she had gone. -- believe the man she had gone.
:01:56. > :01:59.seeing any sheep following year his awful when you were standing here.
:01:59. > :02:01.Rick and Rachel lost 90 sheep in that single raid valued at around
:02:01. > :02:11.�18,000. Farmers all over the country are suffering similar and
:02:11. > :02:13.
:02:13. > :02:20.sometimes much larger losses. have had incidents where there have
:02:20. > :02:30.been over 300 lost. It is all well or old organisation that is
:02:30. > :02:31.
:02:31. > :02:40.stealing them, not one or two people. In 2011, 67,000 sheep were
:02:40. > :02:43.stolen across the UK. That has cost the industry around �6 million.
:02:43. > :02:53.So what is driving this crime? Quite simply, economics. Here at
:02:53. > :03:00.
:03:00. > :03:08.Melton Mowbray the sale price of sheep has never been higher.
:03:08. > :03:16.years ago we saw she prices between 50 per ounce and �65 and now it is
:03:16. > :03:25.�70 or at �80. Then we peaked at �100. In the last two years we have
:03:25. > :03:31.seen prices higher than we have seen them before. Today with
:03:31. > :03:37.everyone going out to work and no money about it is easy pickings.
:03:37. > :03:42.They do know what they're doing and they know where to go to do it.
:03:42. > :03:45.are an easy target. Every day Rick and Rachel nervously
:03:45. > :03:55.count their remaining sheep. They lost half their stock in that raid,
:03:55. > :04:02.
:04:02. > :04:09.and now some more appear to be missing. The Ivy, underneath there?
:04:09. > :04:15.-- weir ROV? If you lose them then you lose a lot because you work
:04:15. > :04:18.hard to get where you are and then an old Fleet -- no free lunches in
:04:18. > :04:21.farming. These sheep are very much part of
:04:21. > :04:31.the family, most have been given names. And there were some real
:04:31. > :04:37.favourites amongst those stolen. This one was a pure breed, she was
:04:37. > :04:44.beautiful. She would have alarmed next year. Then we had this one
:04:44. > :04:48.with a tail who used to go after the bridge for that day. And then
:04:48. > :04:51.another, this one, she was a survivor.
:04:51. > :05:01.Combat actually escaped from the rustlers. And here she is, the hero
:05:01. > :05:05.
:05:05. > :05:13.of today's flock. This is the one that escaped. We did not know until
:05:13. > :05:20.we rounded them up. Luckily, she jumped the fence and ran in the
:05:20. > :05:23.field in the bush somewhere. So where do these stolen sheep go?
:05:23. > :05:31.It is widely thought they are illegally slaughtered and sold on
:05:31. > :05:37.the black market. And that is worrying Trading Standards officers.
:05:37. > :05:41.The meat might be slaughtered in an on hygienic environment. There
:05:41. > :05:45.might be additional residues from medication administered from the
:05:45. > :05:47.former. Some farmers have gone to
:05:47. > :05:51.extraordinary lengths to deter the rustlers. On Dartmoor, one flock
:05:51. > :05:54.were dyed orange to make them stand out.
:05:54. > :06:04.Could better tagging of sheep defeat this crime? At the moment
:06:04. > :06:05.
:06:05. > :06:11.all sheep are tagged, but it's hardly a foolproof system. Attacks
:06:11. > :06:15.are plastic and with a peer of scissors you can take it off.
:06:15. > :06:18.This man may have the answer. It is a technique that has been trialled
:06:18. > :06:23.in Northern Ireland and is now about to be applied here in
:06:23. > :06:26.Derbyshire. No wonder these sheep are looking a little wary. Every
:06:26. > :06:36.sheep's eye is unique and this camera captures an image of the
:06:36. > :06:39.
:06:40. > :06:48.retina with a GPS location. gives the ability to give up
:06:48. > :06:52.isometric passport to follow the animal for life. -- bile metric. It
:06:52. > :07:02.is a smoking than to say that that is not years, it belongs to someone
:07:02. > :07:03.
:07:03. > :07:08.else. For individual farmers it can be a deterrent. An island we got
:07:08. > :07:15.the police involved and but signed up shake-up seen that these animals
:07:15. > :07:22.were protected. We saw the theft in the area at drop. -- we put a sign
:07:22. > :07:25.up. And we could also prove that they were not theirs.
:07:25. > :07:29.Convincing all farmers to get behind such a scheme might take
:07:29. > :07:37.some doing, but it may be one of the only ways of defeating this
:07:37. > :07:40.multi-million pound crime. Well, it has been a few months
:07:40. > :07:43.since we first started filming with Rick and Rachel. Immediately after
:07:43. > :07:51.their sheep were stolen things looked pretty bleak. I have come
:07:51. > :07:57.back to see how they are getting on. It affected everything that we
:07:57. > :08:06.worked for four years and they took it away in one night. That is why I
:08:06. > :08:10.am so determined. I want to continue what I am doing. We could
:08:10. > :08:17.not even walk up the field when it happened because it was so
:08:18. > :08:21.upsetting. Rachel has now got someone else to
:08:21. > :08:29.keep her busy - new arrival baby Harriet. And with an extra mouth to
:08:29. > :08:33.feed, she is determined to succeed. In the back of my mind I cannot
:08:33. > :08:38.believe it happened to was but you have to continue on and make life
:08:38. > :08:43.better. That is what we're continuing to do, it is not easy
:08:43. > :08:51.because it went at the beginning, financially it is not good either.
:08:51. > :08:54.But we have cracked on and hopefully it will be better. I am
:08:54. > :08:59.going to pursue beer and hopefully in a few years' time I might be
:08:59. > :09:05.able to be where I was last year. It will take a lot of hard work
:09:05. > :09:15.again. I just have to keep on going for it. I have to try and not let
:09:15. > :09:15.
:09:15. > :09:19.them win. You can tot was on Twitter right
:09:20. > :09:29.now. If you have a story from the West Midlands that you think should
:09:30. > :09:30.
:09:31. > :09:37.be covering then do drop me an e- mail.
:09:37. > :09:45.Still to come: we attempt to uncover the mystery of hecklers
:09:45. > :09:51.plan for a rich north. The fact that they chose what before them
:09:51. > :10:01.would be a very remote Elia led me to realise that they had very
:10:01. > :10:05.
:10:05. > :10:08.special ideas for this the rear. Two years ago, Inside Out met
:10:08. > :10:18.Sharon Fox. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer and we followed
:10:18. > :10:27.
:10:27. > :10:33.her through her mastectomy and reconstruction. It feels like a
:10:33. > :10:37.distant memory, so much has happened. I want to start living in
:10:37. > :10:40.making up but the last two years. So much has happened since Sharon
:10:40. > :10:49.was diagnosed, but one thing really caught her by surprise - the impact
:10:49. > :10:54.her illness had on the family finances. When I was diagnosed we
:10:54. > :11:00.were both working and you go from two in comes down to almost one
:11:00. > :11:06.full-time income and that has a dramatic effect not only on your
:11:06. > :11:10.weekly and monthly outgoings, but also on your lifestyle. We had a
:11:10. > :11:18.really good standard of living before cancer and had a nice car
:11:18. > :11:23.and home. We never had to worry too much about switching the heating on.
:11:23. > :11:26.But after six months, we started to shuffle things around and put
:11:26. > :11:31.things on to a credit card, and then it would come to the end of
:11:31. > :11:38.the month and actually we could not find that �100 for the credit card.
:11:39. > :11:42.It is easy to get into despair over finances, definitely.
:11:42. > :11:46.The money problems were a surprise, but as we found out last time we
:11:46. > :11:56.met her, Sharon is not one to give up easily. She helped herself, and
:11:56. > :11:59.
:11:59. > :12:03.also set up a cancer support centre to help others. There is one lady
:12:03. > :12:08.in this room this evening who is not very happy with her here at the
:12:08. > :12:10.moment. We're going to give her and make over.
:12:10. > :12:13.The centre started out giving advice, counselling and therapies.
:12:13. > :12:23.But Sharon has also introduced a service offering support on money
:12:23. > :12:36.
:12:36. > :12:40.I'm really not good at asking for help, which is why I wanted to set
:12:40. > :12:46.up the support centre which has the relaxed atmosphere, and people can
:12:46. > :12:53.walk in, feel like they are walking into their own lounge. I wanted to
:12:53. > :13:03.put our experiences under one roof in an informal and non medical way
:13:03. > :13:05.
:13:05. > :13:11.so people didn't face the hurdles I was going through. Hello, only me!
:13:11. > :13:16.I work as a parrot legal doing debt recovery, and you realise the other
:13:16. > :13:21.side of it when you work in that area, how people are suffering from
:13:21. > :13:24.debt and I wanted to flip the coin and do something for charity.
:13:24. > :13:34.Giving Sharon a hand with financial advice at the centre is her "money
:13:34. > :13:39.angel" Carole Moore. I meet people who are suffering from dead. They
:13:39. > :13:46.come in off the street, really upset, and I just want to explain
:13:46. > :13:50.to them in layman's terms what they can do. I help them sort out things
:13:50. > :13:55.like the Blue badge for parking, housing benefit, council tax
:13:55. > :14:01.benefit, disability living allowance, carer's allowance, the
:14:01. > :14:04.benefits they can have. What I don't know, I research on the
:14:04. > :14:07.internet and point them in the right direction. Sharon is helping
:14:07. > :14:10.others tackle the hidden costs of cancer at her support centre. It
:14:10. > :14:13.seems there are plenty of people out there needing help. Last year
:14:13. > :14:20.cancer charity Macmillan said it paid out more than �2.5 million,
:14:20. > :14:25.just so people could pay their heating bills. Would you like to
:14:25. > :14:27.come through this way? Just take a seat. That would be great.
:14:27. > :14:30.Bedworth, Warwickshire, Macmillan has teamed up with the Citizen's
:14:30. > :14:33.Advice Bureau. Among those who've turned to this service is Jane,
:14:33. > :14:36.who's asked not to be identified. She felt there was so much stigma
:14:36. > :14:46.attached to having money problems she simply couldn't talk to anyone
:14:46. > :14:49.
:14:49. > :14:53.else. I don't want to say I'm struggling financially because it
:14:53. > :15:00.is like a downward spiral. I don't want to be a failure, I want to be
:15:00. > :15:10.there with the kids found the family. Things like when they say,
:15:10. > :15:15.
:15:15. > :15:20.I have to trot out to the bank to get even more money so I don't let
:15:20. > :15:24.the kids down and that pressure is going on me. It is difficult to
:15:24. > :15:32.talk to anybody else about it without them wanting to actually
:15:32. > :15:37.give you money, which is not what you want to do. When I came to
:15:37. > :15:39.Macmillan, it was a load off my mind. Jane's been using the service
:15:39. > :15:48.for around six months now and believes her financial difficulties
:15:48. > :15:58.could be coming to an end. I feel like we are almost threw it now and
:15:58. > :16:02.
:16:02. > :16:08.we are going to come out on top. We are a family, and... You know, that
:16:08. > :16:15.is just what matters. Whatever else, you know, we can get through
:16:16. > :16:19.anything. Thanks to Macmillan and the CAB, Jane and her family are
:16:19. > :16:22.finally back on track. But, as we know, there are lots of others out
:16:22. > :16:32.there needing help. So, is there anything people can do themselves
:16:32. > :16:33.
:16:33. > :16:38.to avoid getting into problems? think that cancer and debt problems
:16:38. > :16:44.unfortunately tend to go hand in hand. A lot of physical and mental
:16:44. > :16:47.illnesses can lead to debt because you are not feeling your best or
:16:47. > :16:52.concentrating on financial circumstances, which is fair enough
:16:52. > :16:56.but it is important to take the stigma out of this. The ways of
:16:56. > :17:00.dealing with debt is the same whether you have cancer or
:17:00. > :17:08.suffering from depression, there was a lot you can do about this. I
:17:08. > :17:12.would say start by drawing a proper budget and trying to reduce your
:17:12. > :17:16.outgoings. This is crucial because it will help to identify any
:17:16. > :17:23.problems spending areas you need to get rid of, as well as anything you
:17:23. > :17:27.can do to cut back. Secondly, check your benefits entitlement. There
:17:27. > :17:31.are specific benefits available for people with health problems like
:17:31. > :17:37.cancer so they can be useful in times when you find yourself in
:17:37. > :17:42.financial hardship. To check this, you would use an online benefits
:17:42. > :17:47.calculator. They tell you what kind of help you could be entitled to do.
:17:47. > :17:51.I also say on this, talk to your lender. This is a really good way
:17:51. > :17:56.to make sure you have good communication which is open because
:17:56. > :18:01.if they don't know what is going on they will not be able to help.
:18:02. > :18:05.is all you need to do, just concentrate on paying for it really.
:18:05. > :18:08.So, there are ways of tackling the hidden costs of cancer, as well as
:18:08. > :18:12.services that can help people get back on their feet. As for Sharon?
:18:12. > :18:16.Well, she's now set up her own business a fancy dress and wedding
:18:17. > :18:26.hire shop. After two years of struggling, she hopes her money
:18:27. > :18:29.
:18:29. > :18:35.problems are finally behind her. is quite nice to invest in my own
:18:35. > :18:42.business, and to make that kind of big step in to being self-employed
:18:43. > :18:47.and having my own company, which, because cities across the way from
:18:47. > :18:57.the Cancer Support Unit, I can be over there are fine needed as well
:18:57. > :19:00.
:19:00. > :19:06.so it is the best of both worlds and quite a fun job to be in.
:19:06. > :19:13.The programme tonight is coming from Bridgnorth, where Ritchie has
:19:13. > :19:18.been unravelling the Second World War mystery. Did Hitler really want
:19:18. > :19:21.to set up a base in the town? Bridgnorth a pretty market town
:19:21. > :19:25.nestling on the banks of the River Severn. It's a haven for day
:19:25. > :19:32.trippers from all across the West Midlands, many drawn to the town by
:19:32. > :19:35.the famous Severn Valley Railway. We're more than 800 miles from
:19:35. > :19:38.Berlin, but I'm told that during World War II Bridgnorth could have
:19:38. > :19:41.become a base for Adolf Hitler. It's an intriguing tale that starts
:19:41. > :19:50.with a gobsmacked auctioneer, who was asked to sell some rather
:19:50. > :19:56.special documents. There was one map which detailed the whole of the
:19:56. > :20:03.area centred on Bridgnorth with all of the various villages around,
:20:03. > :20:05.trailing down towards Ludlow here. Coming from Shropshire, that was a
:20:05. > :20:09.great shock. A British soldier found the papers
:20:09. > :20:12.at a deserted Nazi post in Belgium in 1945, and took them home as a
:20:12. > :20:15.war souvenir. 60 years on, and the maps worked their way to the
:20:15. > :20:25.auction room, turning the spotlight on Bridgnorth as a potential UK
:20:25. > :20:25.
:20:26. > :20:30.base for The Fuhrer. They could have chosen anywhere. The fact they
:20:30. > :20:35.chose what seemed to be a very remote area right in the middle of
:20:35. > :20:40.the English Midlands here, that led me to realise that in fact they
:20:40. > :20:46.have very special ideas for this area. And you have seen other maps
:20:46. > :20:53.of Britain, no other town or villages were planned out like
:20:53. > :20:59.that? If no, not at all. There were detailed town plans for the major
:20:59. > :21:03.metropolitan areas like Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol, but in
:21:03. > :21:09.terms of a rural arrangement of towns and villages, this was the
:21:09. > :21:12.only one. To think that something so significant to Bridgnorth's
:21:12. > :21:22.history would pop up at an auction of military memorabilia just 20
:21:22. > :21:24.
:21:24. > :21:30.miles away in Ludlow is amazing. have a lot of items related to the
:21:30. > :21:37.Second World War, to the punch up, items from stage and screen,
:21:37. > :21:40.sporting memorabilia, so the documents come in a whole range.
:21:40. > :21:44.just goes to show what you can find when lots go under the hammer.
:21:44. > :21:51.Perhaps I'll find something just as stunning when I try my hand at
:21:51. > :22:01.driving up the bids. Our first item is a bit of football memorabilia.
:22:01. > :22:02.
:22:02. > :22:12.We have a 1954 FA Cup programme. 40 pounds anywhere? 40, 50? Thank you.
:22:12. > :22:21.�60, we have got 70. 75? Lovely. We have got 80. Anywhere else? Going
:22:21. > :22:28.once, going twice. �80 to the feller in the corner. That was
:22:28. > :22:31.great fun, but I think I'll leave the art of auctioneering to David
:22:31. > :22:34.Dickinson. I've got some Hitler detective work to concentrate on.
:22:34. > :22:37.We do know that Hitler enjoyed being in the countryside. We know
:22:37. > :22:39.he loved his home high in the Bavarian Alps, but could the
:22:39. > :22:46.rolling hills of south Shropshire really have become his base?
:22:46. > :22:51.Opinion seems divided among the good people of Bridgnorth. Have you
:22:51. > :22:57.heard that Adolf Hitler back in the war was thinking of coming to
:22:57. > :23:02.Bridgnorth to set up a base? If I have heard that actually, yes. What
:23:02. > :23:07.were your thoughts on art? The to is a beautiful town, a good
:23:07. > :23:12.location, and you have the castle walk down there so you can see
:23:13. > :23:18.everything coming around so I'm not surprised. Why this area? Probably
:23:18. > :23:23.the rivers and the access. No, I wouldn't think they would come here.
:23:23. > :23:26.Even though they have found maps? Have they? That may be different
:23:26. > :23:28.then. But the maps are very detailed.
:23:28. > :23:33.Hitler's men clearly spent plenty of time highlighting roads,
:23:33. > :23:36.railways, electrical hubs and power stations. It still seems odd to me
:23:36. > :23:41.though. You could understand him wanting to come to one of our major
:23:41. > :23:51.cities, but Bridgnorth? Well maybe my old mate and historian Nick
:23:51. > :23:54.
:23:54. > :23:58.Barratt can help me find out if the story sticks. Looking at this
:23:58. > :24:04.Shropshire countryside is beautiful. It is hard to imagine what might
:24:04. > :24:09.have been. It is a typical English countryside scene. Rolling hills,
:24:09. > :24:14.beautiful forest, but you almost get the sense this could be part of
:24:14. > :24:19.Germany, the Black Forest area perhaps, so it is not too much of
:24:19. > :24:26.the stretch of the imagination. It is perfect in many ways with good
:24:26. > :24:31.rail connections, good road networks, canals and an air base
:24:31. > :24:36.nearby so in many ways it makes a lot of sense. In your opinion, do
:24:36. > :24:40.you think this story is true? is nothing to say it is not true,
:24:40. > :24:44.but we need more information to make a final decision perhaps.
:24:44. > :24:53.We've managed to track down the original maps and I can't wait to
:24:53. > :24:57.take a closer look. We can see this clearly labelled as Bridgnorth.
:24:57. > :25:03.Here you have a map of Great Britain, telecommunications and
:25:03. > :25:11.various different areas, really important, and yet you have a box
:25:11. > :25:16.there clearly labelled Bridgnorth so they were looking at this area.
:25:16. > :25:22.You can understand how it would have worked. Birmingham is a key
:25:22. > :25:27.area, London, Newcastle, that his howl England works. We are looking
:25:28. > :25:37.slightly out of that region so if you are looking for a base, and
:25:37. > :25:46.operational headquarters, and we know Hitler wanted to take Glenarm
:25:46. > :25:50.-- Blenheim Palace, so you don't want to be too near a built-up area
:25:50. > :25:55.where there is likely to be resistance and fighting, suddenly
:25:55. > :26:01.Bridgnorth makes sense because it is close enough to the industrial
:26:01. > :26:04.heartlands, but it is far enough out to be strategically saved.
:26:04. > :26:08.what you have seen here, do you think there is more truth in this
:26:08. > :26:14.story that Hitler had targeted Bridgnorth and Shropshire for his
:26:14. > :26:20.face? If Bridgnorth seems to be significant. This is from the
:26:20. > :26:25.invasion of 1940, a communications map which is crucial if you want to
:26:25. > :26:34.invade the country. Bridgnorth is singled out for special attention
:26:34. > :26:38.so this could easily be were Hitler wanted to base himself. You could
:26:38. > :26:42.also argue that being a communications network, this is
:26:42. > :26:46.where the Germans thought we had our centre of communications. We
:26:47. > :26:54.don't know what they were planning because this comes from a wider
:26:54. > :26:59.collection, but Bridgnorth has got prime significance. I am much more
:26:59. > :27:05.convinced that they were going to come, because for all of the maps
:27:05. > :27:13.we have seen, Bridgnorth is the only town, and let's face it it is
:27:13. > :27:17.the only one that has been highlighted. It shows the
:27:17. > :27:23.communication network as well so I am pretty convinced now, and having
:27:23. > :27:29.spoken to you, that he was coming to shop Show. There is a good bit
:27:29. > :27:35.of fishing on the river so maybe he thought it was a good place to go,
:27:36. > :27:38.as I did as a kid! What we do know of course is that Hitler wanted to
:27:38. > :27:41.invade Britain, and there seems compelling evidence that Bridgnorth
:27:41. > :27:44.was very much on his radar. But thanks to the bravery of thousands
:27:45. > :27:54.of men and women, this will always be a story of ambition that was
:27:55. > :28:06.
:28:06. > :28:11.That is it for tonight, but you can find more information about any of
:28:11. > :28:16.these stories on our Facebook page. Good night. Coming up next week -