28/01/2013 Inside Out West Midlands

Hello. The snow and freezing temperatures have kept a

stranglehold on our region this past week, so we are out what the

charity workers and firefighters who are giving a helping hand to

the hidden population of rough sleepers.

Also on the show: the shameless shoplifters targeting charity shops

across the West Midlands. They're just stealing from the dying, and

we need every penny. But first tonight, hope for the

300,000 children across the UK who are diagnosed with Tourette's. It

is a neurological condition that can lead to verbal outbursts and

physical tics. But scientists here in the Midlands believe they can

help. Try to hold your breath for as long

as you can. OK. Picture hand up when you feel like you are

miserable. That is what it is like to have Tourette's. It has been

with her day and night since she was nine. We used to come here when

it was raining a cold when not many people came out. They would have

the part to myself, selected tic as much as I liked. This neurological

disorder affects one in 100 children, causing involuntary their

all and physical tics. In my local park, when I was about

11, hours on the swing and I said a swearword. This they had a knife

and he threatened me with a knife. After the knife incident

invitations to play out disappear. She has had nobody to come in and

play at home, as children should. Our fur to going to somebody else's

house and play. Not been able to have a sleepover, or get to have

midnight feasts and things like that.

The chronic tics isolating, trying to control them is isolating --

exhausting. A general lack of understanding is frustrating.

isn't me. I did not know what was going on. I thought, why am I doing

this? Mum and dad thought I was been knotty, that is what any pay

and would think. Growing up in Birmingham, her

family have asked many questions, the biggest being, well she grow

out if her tics. But there are still 300,000 adults living with

home in the UK. The first thing parents will ask is if their child

will grow out of their tics. Secondly, how can we treat them to

help them? What we try to do is use brain imaging to help us better

diagnose this disorder and then predict outcomes.

Professor Steven Jackson wants to find out what the future holds for

people like Hammer, by studying their brains. -- Hannah. He is

building at Brain Atlas. They have started to map and compared in

urological patines of people with Tourette's, with those who do not

have it -- numerological. The charity Tourettes Action has

commissioned the research. Hannah is an ambassador for them and is

used to talking about her disorder. But it also offers a rare social

opportunity to talk to people who really understand. It is hard to

make some people look beyond the Tourette's. 14-year-old Spencer

from Nottinghamshire volunteer for the study, and like Hannah, he

hopes to find out what makes 10 tic. A lot of people think it is just to

do with swearing. That is really annoying. They say, we're going to

make use where. What do they think of the research? You know how you

were going to deal with it. If you do not what is going to happen you

just get worried about other things. I feel quite privileged, and

because this is going to help. I am doing it for a good cause. Hannah

is in good hands here, BMR right technology was actually invented in

Nottingham -- MRI scan technology. It has been running for a few years

now. We have been steadily in -- steadying Tourette's for a few

years now. But we now fall people every year, scan them every year

and look at how the brain is changing every year. Then we will

hope Italy look at how those green changes are predicting changes in

your tics, whether particular treatments work, whether particular

drugs work. We would try to use a brain scan to predict what is going

to happen. What he is saying is that they hope

to use the data from the stands to work out which treatment will work

best for individuals and even if they are likely to grow out of

their tics by adulthood. If Hannah is one of the 30 % to do not, at

least she can prepare a plan. Tourettes Action and every major

Tourette's clinic in the country are at supporting the study. They

are hoping to find their -- the patients the need to study. MRI

scan works was from another arm of Tourette's research. Concentrating

on how virtual kick-boxing class, Hannahs tics have practically

disappeared. We collected our data and it was a very difficult,

controlled task. You have to try very hard to control your actions

under which teacher were saying that they should be really

Pierrette this. Much surprisingly they were much better at it than

their peers. This work is very current, investigating drug-free

therapies and raising awareness. Far many people with this disorder,

the school years can be the hardest of all. We have come to meet

someone who has gone that far more rent you could say that she has

scored some positive points 14 Tourette's.

Only one in ten people with health snacks where uncontrollably, and

this PE teacher is one of them. -- one in ten people with Tourette's.

Meeting her gives Hannah a glimpse of a positive future, even if her

tics remain, and proof that the disorder does not have to hold you

back. How lawyer getting on at college? The tics are random, the

pick them up from each other. And reactive what is around them.

like a bubble in your chest that starts. You can feel it slowly

coming. My neck collars contracts when I tic. Sometimes I can see the

word in the bubble and I can predict what is coming. I can hold

my tics in for a bit, but not for long, and then they built up. You

have to let it go. A bit of colourful language is not that out

of place on the football field. But at school, she has had plenty of

teaching to do with her Tourette's. I have heard that the students were

quite supportive. They are very supportive. The way that the

students deal with it, as long as they Tourette's is in context, then

they will laugh, as would your friends. They laugh at the tic, not

the person. He has the easiest job understanding, adults are kits?

Kids, definitely. It has been another welcome connection for

Hannah, bringing positives for the future. You're better off without

people in your life to do not understand. I have friends who I

have met the sake of her spend a lot of time with that except me. I

have friends of work that a brilliant. I have a secure set of

friends that see the Tourette's as a bonus. Hannah has a lot to take

away from her meeting with her. like to see people like her. With

the disability, it should not hold you back. Looking forward, Hannah

has a 50-50 chance of passing the Tourette's on to her children,

making Nottingham's research even more important to her. I hope that

it helps so that they do not have to go through it, so I can help

them. You can talk to us on Twitter. You

can also send us an e-mail. Thank you to all of you who got in touch

Still to come, help for rough sleepers risking their lives in

abandoned buildings. But next, charity shops across the

West Midlands are reporting a sharp increase in shoplifting, meaning

thousands of pounds intended for good causes being lost forever.

Volunteers at the charity shops claim thieves are stealing from the

Who would steal from a charity shop? Just watch this bloke in the

high-vis jacket. Look at the armful of DVDs he has got. Now you see

them, now he has -- an-hour you do not. Not the brightest of thieves,

except for his jacket, but surely the most Seamus. I have cried more

than once and the first time I apprehended a shoplifter, it was

the worst day of my life. But since then, I get quite annoyed and I

think, I would get you! They come for a bargain and to support

Wolverhampton's Compton Hospice, but a few come to help themselves.

They are stealing from the dying and we need every penny. Like many

of her staff, personal last brought Bernadette Siviter-Baker to the

hospice. First round her husband was dying of cancer and later as a

volunteer. So the tests that leave a stain. There have been people who

you never think would still doing it and it takes your breath away.

- the thefts leave a stink. I had to ask a little old lady or are cut

back. And you would be surprised by what they take. If I said a kitchen

sink you would laugh but it has been a sink. Our as extraordinary

as it is, we have heard similar stories from a couple of dozen

local and national charities operating shops across the Midlands,

and they got us thinking. Who could help them? I am Ed Dunne. I work

for Olympian Security Services. We provide advice and security for

some of the biggest names on the high street. I have been involved

in catching shoplifters and reducing retell crime for the past

30 years. And joining him, Adrian Mason, a once prolific thief.

number of years I was, unfortunately, living the lifestyle

that people are going to be thinking about today, as a criminal.

I was brought up into that lifestyle and it is something that

I do deeply regret and I have gone to a lot of trouble and pains to

turn it around and change. So what do our thief catcher and reformed

shoplifter expect to find? I think I will find plenty of nooks and

crannies where thieves can do what I want to do. Probably easy

pickings in charity shops. A lot of them are. While... Straight away

you can see it. They have some CCTV cover. The see opportunity with

every step. The easy access. can take something and not go out

the way you came in. In spite of the camera, Adrian makes it look

all too easy. In those corners there is nothing, no one looking. A

nice, tidy bundle, straight in your back. Back up. Can I help you?

is about time they gave Bernardette the low down. I think I can help

you. What is it all about? Even though it is quite open plan, the

way the racks are placed, you can drop behind them with backs and

simply fill them up. We need a moving camera down the bottom.

There is trouble before the donations are even put out. They

are of price and put out in the shop. We try not to hold any stock

at all because the weak feet 20 shops. So when stock is allocated

to different stores do you know exactly how much is in any one

store at any one time? No. So it is difficult to quantify the loss.

Their best guess is �300 worth of donations a week, or 3% -- 6% of

the takings. So how can they make life harder for light fingers?

on of the controls you can introduce is to tie down this, but

a chain around it with a combination padlock that your staff

know the number two, when a customer then wants to use the

fitting room, they go to a member of staff and asked if they can. The

member of staff can then check them is only three items. It would be

good for someone to man the dressing room at all times.

these are high-value goods. Straight away I notice that the

young lady here is serving, but usually facing a customer here or

there. It is gone. No camera watching on this bit. And last

another customer sees me. But apart from that, no one is in the

backroom. As simple as that. But a couple of little doors on their

would stop that straight away. there is no conscience? Not with a

lot of people, especially if they have got no money for themselves,

or they are on drugs. All that matters is getting the drugs.

see shoplifting as a victimless crime but you do not have to go far

from the hospice shop to see that is far from the trees. Adrian

wanted to make those losing out. little bit apprehensive, to be

honest, even though I have not done anything wrong this time. It is

quite nerve-racking. There is actually a victim behind something

that is going on down the road, literally ran the corner. Welcome

to Compton Hospice. Compton is there for people with life limiting

illnesses. They come for respite care, day care and help with their

pain. They can see the hospital from the window of the shop and

they could be stood there, filling their bag up. It does not seem to

matter to some people. This is Adrian. I have Shereen him round.

Evelyn IS 99 and so grateful for the help she has received. As

Adrian discovers, the upset caused by the shoplifting does reach the

wards. I cannot imagine what their brain is like. They are absolutely

disgusting. But at least now Compton's's volunteers can see how

they do it. It is an Aladdin's cave for a thief. It is there anything

you will leave them with today? one around patrols. It is a real

avenue. Simple fix. Simple things that can be done at the main desk

where the jury is concerned. We would like to offer the key staff

the opportunity of a half day workshop on the loss Prevention

awareness. For Adrian, it has been a crash course on the impact this

sort of crime causes. It was a bit of an eye opener today. I am --

they have been quite shocked at some of the things we pointed out,

the loopholes they have got to net. It is quite shocking people will go

to those lense. The next day, there are waiting no time plugging the

security holes Ed and Adrian pointed out. I enjoyed chatting to

Adrian, and I never thought I might say that. I had a lot of advice

from him and we are definitely putting it into force. We are now

aware of the way things happen. And what we can do. And hopefully, this

will prevent so much shoplifting going on in the future. Up to

�60,000 a year could be added to last year's record �1 million

raised by Compton's 21 shops, if they can stop the thieves. That is

three nurses' salaries. It has been sad to see this problem happening

on such a scale. Condon is just one example of many we have found but

at least here, now the signs could not be clearer.

This past week, the Midlands has struggled under a blanket of snow.

Temperatures have barely got above freezing. That is particularly

dangerous for homeless people searching for warmth and shelter.

It has prompted firefighters and a local charity to take action, as

Des Coleman reports. Tuesday night and it is way below

freezing. It is not a night for sleeping on the streets. But even

in the relative sanctuary of abandoned buildings, Birmingham's

rough sleepers are risking their lives in the search for warmth. So

who is around to help? For 30 years, SIFA Fireside have been working

with the homeless, offering food, clothing and now fire safety advice.

There are going to try to keep warm. Have they got the right clothing,

sleek and backs, blankets? Do they know about keeping themselves safe?

They are going to stop lighting a fire, which is our worst nightmare.

-- start. Have you got a dry sleeping bag? We

will sort that out for you. Carole knows only too well the full

horrors of fatal fires, after two homeless men lost their lives in

the city. It was harrowing because they were describing the tattoos on

the bodies, to try to identify people. It was eventually found

Dundee two Polish guys that did not get out. -- are found to be two

Polish guys. For the last couple of years, Carole and her team have

been accompanied by the fire service on their rounds of squats

and tonight I'm going with her. Hello. So, Ian, how much of a

problem is fire and squats? Obviously, the recent spate is an

issue because people have lost their lives. We are trying to

tackle that by education and driving the stats down, project,

prevent, respond are the three things to keep people safe. --

protect. One of the people the project helps is Brian. He is 19.

He has been in and out of care and prison before finally ending up on

the streets. I have got a bed. is better to be off the ground. You

can sleep on the ground that you have to put a lot of blankets down.

If you are off the ground, it is warmer. Now his home is in the

abandoned toilets of at an abandoned warehouse. This is a

death trap. The advice he has received has been crucial. Do not

light candles near the blankets. Put all rubbish into bags and throw

it out in the morning. I am the snow has made keeping warm even

tougher. When you are getting wet, it is hard to keep stuff dry. If

any socks and things get wet, you wring them out and put them between

your layers when you are sleeping, and your body heat dries the socks

out. My while, Carole and Ian head out to the Jewellery Quarter, where

the team believed there be someone living in one of the abandoned

buildings. Fire service, anyone home? The temperature has dropped

to zero. The biting cold really cuts through and the snow is

falling once again. I am not sure what we are going to find here.

my God. He has had a fire here, too. Of this A he has lit a small fire.

Careless disposal of cigarettes. We are giving him some leaflets and

coming back and finding out who is here. This is a different person.

The previous one was very clean and tidy. You wonder how someone could

live like this, when you see it up close. It really smacks you in the

In a row of condemned houses just outside the city centre, Ian shows

me something that really drives the message home. This is where the

fire was. You now have this one started? Unfortunately, I do not

know the cause. I just know that the call initially said male seen

running away after throwing a firebomb at the property. Whether

that is true, whether that is exactly what happened, I do not

know. Only the person that was sleeping here knows exactly what

happened. Carole, this is an example of what will project is

trying to prevent, isn't it? Definitely. There has been quite a

few people, quite a high number of people squatting here for some time

now, but these properties are about to be demolished, so it is a very

uncertain time for some very vulnerable people. We do not know

where they will go. They will not disappear just because the

buildings are not here. It will just move the problem. But the fire

has not deterred people from seeking shelter here. In the

building next door, the team find more rough sleepers who are not

taking enough care. You have got to be careful with the cigarettes. If

you drop them by you, OK? You have got to try to put them all in the

ashtray. There is somebody inside. They are just going to talk to them.

They do not think it is safe for us to go inside at the moment. I am

going to put some smoke alarms in here. I will come back. What was

going on? Three guys fast asleep upstairs. I am really worried about

them. They haven't got adequate sleeping bags or bedding or

anything. They must be freezing. The air is at least five I can see

now. There are two other sets of bedlinen. The bedroomed they are

being, there is a lot of bad habits with regards fire safety. There are

cigarettes that have gone into beams, Bashar next to clothing. --

that have gone into rubbish bins, that our next to clothing. I will

inform the local fire crews of the property so they are aware of how

many people are sleeping in here. couple of days later, Ian returns

to the squat that he ate and Carole were so concerned about. -- that he

and Carole. This time the cameras are allowed in. Anybody home?

has been living here like this for four months. Ian is worried about

his grasp of fire safety. Hello, OK? Just tired? I am just going to

fits and smoke alarms. But ultimately, Ian is confident

that the work Fachie and Carole are doing is saving lives. Before we

started doing any work in the squats and the homeless community,

I can think of the top of my head of three fatalities in that

community. Since we have been doing this work, going into the Scots, we

have had a zero fire fatalities. -- going into its Kwoks. -- of the

swatters' accommodation. You can find more information on a Facebook

page. But from a winter Wonderland at Hatton Locks in Warwickshire,

good night. Coming up on next week's inside out.