:00:13. > :00:18.Welcome to inside out from a York. This week, we investigate the havoc
:00:18. > :00:28.caused by metal thieves. And we ask whether the authorities are
:00:28. > :00:28.
:00:28. > :00:35.powerless to stop them. He stole 30 yards of cable, and only got �60.50,
:00:36. > :00:41.while it cost Network Rail over �60,000.
:00:41. > :00:51.We also ask police officers helped save the public will be after the
:00:51. > :00:56.
:00:56. > :01:06.cut. People who look at these police cuts, can you say to them,
:01:06. > :01:15.
:01:15. > :01:19.It's an illegal trade so lucrative that some criminals have turned
:01:19. > :01:21.their backs on drug dealing to cash in. From raids on bikes and
:01:21. > :01:27.barbecues in backyards, to the theft of live power cable, stealing
:01:27. > :01:37.metal is big business. Asha Tanna has been investigating what's
:01:37. > :01:48.
:01:48. > :01:51.driving the trade and how the These are some of the more extreme
:01:51. > :01:54.consequences of metal theft. But each day, people are being affected
:01:54. > :01:57.by the trade in stolen metals in ways you might not expect. If your
:01:57. > :02:02.train has been delayed recently, you might have trackside thieves to
:02:02. > :02:09.blame. Tonight, we join the British Transport Police as they patrol
:02:09. > :02:11.hundreds of miles of track in their crackdown on the cable thieves.
:02:11. > :02:18.People are risking prison, they are risking their lives, it's just
:02:18. > :02:21.madness. I wish to God I'd never done it.
:02:21. > :02:24.Whether stolen or not, all waste metal is likely to end up here, in
:02:24. > :02:28.a scrapyard. And the trade has never been more lucrative. On
:02:28. > :02:33.average, metal prices have more than trebled in the last decade.
:02:33. > :02:38.The UK scrap metal industry turns over �10 billion a year. And 60 %
:02:38. > :02:41.of that is exported. Scrap metal prices have shot up in value over
:02:41. > :02:47.the last ten years as demand soared from from emerging economic
:02:47. > :02:49.superpowers, like China. In our interconnected globalised world,
:02:49. > :02:59.the effects of China's booming economy can be felt thousands of
:02:59. > :03:10.
:03:10. > :03:16.miles away. The railway industry is one of the
:03:16. > :03:26.hardest hit. Thousands of miles of trackside cabling, containing
:03:26. > :03:29.
:03:29. > :03:33.copper wire, is hard to guard. Cable thefts are equated to �2.9
:03:33. > :03:38.million of compensation we paid to passengers. We have to replace
:03:38. > :03:40.Cable, and you can probably double that. And these are the culprits:
:03:40. > :03:45.Thieves who risk their lives stealing cable with thousands of
:03:45. > :03:49.volts still surging through it. This man has admitted stealing
:03:49. > :03:59.trackside cable. He will be sent to Crown Court for sentencing, and
:03:59. > :04:02.
:04:02. > :04:12.fears the consequences of his crime. I woke up this morning, crying my
:04:12. > :04:15.
:04:15. > :04:20.eyes out, because thinking of going to jail is not nice. There has been
:04:20. > :04:22.information that has come in from an anonymous source today.
:04:22. > :04:25.British Transport Police has specialist cable theft teams. This
:04:25. > :04:28.night shift, based in West Yorkshire, will patrol one of the
:04:28. > :04:31.worst areas in the country for the crime. First stop for Detective
:04:32. > :04:41.Constable Jackie Wilson, and PC Andy Jones, is a visit to two men
:04:41. > :04:44.suspected of being connected to a spate of cable thefts. The man
:04:44. > :04:50.living at this address has been questioned as part of an ongoing
:04:50. > :04:57.investigation into a spate of cable thefts. That was one of the suspect.
:04:57. > :04:59.He is at home, obviously. friend nearby isn't in though.
:04:59. > :05:02.Patrolling railway access points from North Yorkshire to the
:05:02. > :05:12.Midlands is daunting enough in the daylight, but known cable theft
:05:12. > :05:16.hotspots are more likely to be targets at night. People don't
:05:16. > :05:21.realise how big an impact it can have on everybody, and that is why
:05:21. > :05:23.we ask the public to be vigilant, and let us know if they see
:05:23. > :05:28.anything. Tonight, there are no arrests, but the patrols continue
:05:28. > :05:34.day and night because the stakes are so high. We had a guy who
:05:34. > :05:41.nicked 30 yards of signal cable. He got �16.50 for it, and it cost
:05:41. > :05:44.Network Rail �50,000 plus in delays, costs and repairs. It's almost
:05:44. > :05:47.impossible for scrap dealers to be 100 % sure whether it's legitimate.
:05:47. > :05:57.And that's led to the authorities finding new ways of tackling the
:05:57. > :06:07.problem. Thank you for being here today and assisting us. It's early
:06:07. > :06:07.
:06:08. > :06:14.morning in the East End of Sheffield. People who are into
:06:14. > :06:24.criminality elsewhere are doing this because it is more lucrative.
:06:24. > :06:26.
:06:26. > :06:33.Sometimes it is the same faces. It is a case of stopping vehicles in
:06:33. > :06:43.the area. It is based on intelligence and shared information.
:06:43. > :06:43.
:06:44. > :06:46.Some vehicles are more obvious than ours have -- others. Joining the
:06:46. > :06:49.police are teams from the city council, benefits agency and
:06:49. > :06:52.vehicle licensing. If it can't be proved that metal is stolen, then
:06:52. > :07:02.other offences might have been committed. And such action is aimed
:07:02. > :07:08.
:07:08. > :07:11.at making opportunist metal thieves think twice. It Constable Rodney
:07:11. > :07:14.McEnery is one of a team of police pursuit officers tasked with
:07:14. > :07:24.stopping any commercial vehicles that might be carrying metal.
:07:24. > :07:32.
:07:32. > :07:36.escorting this flatbed truck back to the check site. If he is
:07:36. > :07:39.unemployed, how can the of border transit van? There's very little
:07:39. > :07:49.metal on the truck, but thorough checks are now being carried out on
:07:49. > :07:50.
:07:50. > :08:00.the vehicle and the driver. This young man here, he says he is
:08:00. > :08:00.
:08:00. > :08:02.unemployed. But he got this than 10 weeks ago, and has just got this
:08:02. > :08:06.insurance. Meanwhile, police teams are out making unannounced visits
:08:06. > :08:09.to scrap yards to see if they can find any metal that shouldn't be
:08:09. > :08:12.there. Officers are looking for metal that has been marked with
:08:12. > :08:15.SmartWater - a security spray that, once applied, can only be see under
:08:15. > :08:19.UV light. But there's nothing here to arouse suspicion. I spoke to the
:08:19. > :08:23.boss of this yard about how best to combat the trade in stolen metal.
:08:23. > :08:33.Robin, how can you be so sure that the scrap metal that's coming to
:08:33. > :08:33.
:08:33. > :08:38.you isn't stolen? You can't beat 100% sure. There is a certain
:08:38. > :08:43.amount of clouding of the material's origins, but we try to
:08:43. > :08:47.negotiate with people. What would you do if someone came in with
:08:47. > :08:56.material you thought would be stolen? We would ask them to leave
:08:56. > :08:58.the premises. Perhaps if it was voluntary, we would follow suit.
:08:58. > :09:01.This fabrication firm, on a Sheffield industrial estate, deals
:09:01. > :09:09.in aluminium, but it's the theft of lead that's threatening the
:09:09. > :09:17.business. You can see where the thieves have climbed on the roofs,
:09:17. > :09:23.and pinched all the lead. Consequently, in this building here,
:09:23. > :09:26.you have got water running on the inside on to the electric.
:09:26. > :09:33.these men caught on CCTV can be seen carrying off the lead from
:09:33. > :09:38.every roof on the industrial estate. We can't produce anything because
:09:38. > :09:47.of the health and safety risk. Over the last two months, we have had
:09:47. > :09:51.three to four days of production that have been lost. We can't have
:09:52. > :09:56.a sign saying the sale, because that is like putting an advert in
:09:56. > :09:59.the paper saying, this is where we are, come and get it. Meanwhile,
:09:59. > :10:02.back at Operation Rapier, there have been no arrests this time, but
:10:02. > :10:04.the spot checks have served as a shot across the bow. Nine scrap
:10:04. > :10:08.dealers were visited, nearly 200 penalties were issued for traffic
:10:08. > :10:10.offences, and three vehicles were seized. The Department for Work and
:10:10. > :10:20.Pensions is continuing investigations into a number of
:10:20. > :10:20.
:10:20. > :10:25.cases. There is a need far higher at legislation. If someone is
:10:25. > :10:33.offering new cable, frankly, they will not have got hold of it
:10:33. > :10:39.honestly. Should there be a change in the law? Or I don't think so.
:10:39. > :10:43.What has got to be stopped is the trading at the lower levels.
:10:43. > :10:45.change in the law may never happen and might not even solve the
:10:45. > :10:55.problem. But while prices remain high, there's nothing to stop
:10:55. > :11:02.
:11:02. > :11:06.criminals cashing in on stolen Coming up: An art detective story.
:11:06. > :11:16.The Madonna, who started life in a prisoner-of-war camp and ended up
:11:16. > :11:21.
:11:21. > :11:27.in York. Police forces are facing cuts of 20%, so do it -- what does
:11:27. > :11:37.that mean for our safety? I have been speaking to officers from one
:11:37. > :11:38.
:11:38. > :11:48.forced to see what they think. This is a tough time for the police.
:11:48. > :11:50.
:11:50. > :11:55.They are getting less money, but Humberside police are making cuts
:11:55. > :11:59.which will lead to fewer police officers. Tough decisions have to
:11:59. > :12:04.be made on what we can stop doing and it is wrong to say to the
:12:04. > :12:12.public they would get same service because they will not. The sums do
:12:12. > :12:19.not add up. Things have got to change. In a secure police compound
:12:19. > :12:23.south of the Humber, especially as training exercise is about to begin.
:12:23. > :12:32.-- a specialist training exercise. These are firearms officers
:12:32. > :12:42.learning how to deal with an armed attack. Right now, the heart rate
:12:42. > :12:48.should be elevated. They do not know what they will be facing.
:12:48. > :12:52.Heart rate slightly higher now. This is a frontline policing and
:12:52. > :12:59.these officers are paid to make life-and-death decisions. But it
:12:59. > :13:06.comes at a cost. It is a huge concern. We are a busy department
:13:06. > :13:11.and firearms is a responsible area of policing. The unit will lose an
:13:11. > :13:18.instructor and could face further cuts as well. I didn't know where
:13:18. > :13:23.the budget would take us, if we will lose some of our authorised
:13:23. > :13:30.fire arms officers as well. We are in a state of flux as most of the
:13:30. > :13:35.force is. A happy baby full of smiles but she was stamped on and
:13:35. > :13:41.killed by her mother's boyfriend because she was ill and would not
:13:41. > :13:45.stop crying. She has no life but he will be a young man with he comes
:13:45. > :13:49.up. One of the most senior detectives dealing with murder,
:13:49. > :13:56.rape and kidnap says she can't promise to keep delivering the same
:13:57. > :14:02.level of service. If I had 50 detective officers yesterday and in
:14:02. > :14:07.the new world I would have 35, those 35 detectives cannot cover
:14:07. > :14:12.the work but 50 detectives were covering. It is an impossible
:14:12. > :14:19.situation. So, there will be a short ball. Without a doubt. What
:14:19. > :14:23.do you think? It worries me. As a police officer for 30 years I have
:14:24. > :14:28.seen a lot of change and we do make things work but at the risk of
:14:29. > :14:35.burning out the staff we have now. She's worried if current crimes
:14:35. > :14:40.have to take priority, old unsolved cases will not be investigated.
:14:41. > :14:47.team are dealing with a 10-year-old there was raped in 1984 and we do
:14:47. > :14:56.have a full DNA profile. That is not a victim of today but she is
:14:56. > :15:02.still a victim and deserves a service. For the past 15 years,
:15:02. > :15:05.Humberside police have had their own helicopter, that will change
:15:06. > :15:11.with helicopters shared between forces. A national agency would
:15:11. > :15:16.decide which call-outs get priority. It's another difficult choice but
:15:16. > :15:24.the chief constable believes a cheaper service can still work.
:15:24. > :15:27.They are expensive items of kit. The plans... We are confident we
:15:27. > :15:31.will still have an aircraft in Humberside, are not owned by the
:15:31. > :15:35.force but we will get the benefit of it when we need it. It will cost
:15:35. > :15:44.less for the same benefit. That means there is more money to invest
:15:44. > :15:51.in operational policing locally. has round to the police than.
:15:51. > :15:58.helicopter costs �2 million a year, this crime fighting is not cheat.
:15:58. > :16:04.We have been policing Humberside for over 160 years. You can get
:16:04. > :16:08.policing without a helicopter. I do not want to go without it. Savings
:16:08. > :16:13.have to be found but government wants operational policing to stay
:16:13. > :16:17.the same. There are fears with police cuts, crime rates will go up.
:16:17. > :16:24.How can you assure people that were not be the case. I cannot give that
:16:24. > :16:29.assurance. The police cuts is part of the chemistry, the cumulative
:16:29. > :16:39.effect of the cuts across the whole of the service make impact on
:16:39. > :16:40.
:16:40. > :16:44.Whilst -- last summer there were riots across the biggest cities.
:16:44. > :16:49.Police forces from Humberside were called to London when crowds got
:16:49. > :16:54.out of control. The future of the force's mounted section is only
:16:54. > :16:59.guaranteed for one more year. How beginning she would it be if you
:16:59. > :17:06.lost the mounted section? A huge loss to operational policing in
:17:06. > :17:10.Humberside. The flexibility it provides in terms of public order
:17:10. > :17:14.and neighbourhood policing support would be irreplaceable. A decision
:17:14. > :17:18.about the mountain section will be made after the Olympics next summer.
:17:18. > :17:23.Speaking from my own experience, two officers on horseback into the
:17:23. > :17:33.job of a team of up to 25 Police Support Unit staff. They are
:17:33. > :17:34.
:17:34. > :17:40.invaluable. I would hate to see the This is the West Cliff estate in
:17:40. > :17:43.Scunthorpe, crime has dropped dramatically because of patrols by
:17:44. > :17:49.police Community Support Officers. But the number of officers in the
:17:49. > :17:56.force could drop by a third in the next three years. If they were not
:17:56. > :18:01.in the area they will be a vast difference to the community. They
:18:01. > :18:07.know we are around as a deterrent. They are not openly smoking in the
:18:07. > :18:11.streets. I have a family and I am quite worried. Humberside police
:18:11. > :18:17.has to look and see whether they will keep all of us on or keep some
:18:17. > :18:20.of us on. I am worried about my job like everybody else in the country.
:18:20. > :18:26.On the estate, police work with housing officials to cut crime. So
:18:26. > :18:31.far, it's going well. It means reduced costs so they could be
:18:31. > :18:35.similar partnerships in future. can see the good work, we can see
:18:35. > :18:43.the impact we are having which is positive and we can also foresee
:18:43. > :18:47.what will happen if we have to reduce the staff in the area.
:18:47. > :18:52.What I don't want to do is get the public. We will deliver the best
:18:52. > :18:58.service we can with the staff we have. But what I am saying is that
:18:58. > :19:02.cannot be the same level of service that we offer now. Just finally,
:19:02. > :19:09.those people who look at the police cuts coming, can you say to them
:19:09. > :19:14.they have no reason to worry? can't. I will always be honest. You
:19:14. > :19:21.cannot take 20% out of the budget that having impact on operational
:19:21. > :19:24.policing. Now an amazing art detective story
:19:24. > :19:34.that involves a nun, a bedsheet and a prisoner of war and a remarkable
:19:34. > :19:38.painting. Lucy Hester has been on She stands in the ruins of a city,
:19:38. > :19:44.surrounded by desperate people in ragged clothes. But this Madonna
:19:44. > :19:50.has been on an incredible journey. It's a journey that started in a
:19:50. > :19:55.prisoner of war camp in Castleford, and ended here, in a house in York.
:19:55. > :20:05.Not in an art gallery or museum. It's in here. This massive painting
:20:05. > :20:09.
:20:09. > :20:14.is hanging on Al and Dave Milnes' Hello, Al. Wow! That's amazing. So,
:20:14. > :20:18.that's huge. How big is that? think it's about 8 foot tall and 5
:20:18. > :20:22.foot wide. Because I'm looking at doors in your house. How on earth
:20:22. > :20:27.did you get it in? Well, with difficulty. When they bought it in
:20:27. > :20:34.1997, they didn't know what it was about, or who painted it. They had
:20:34. > :20:37.meant to buy a table. I have a habit of Yorkshire Post on a
:20:37. > :20:47.Saturday, back page it has all the auctions in it. I saw this sale of
:20:47. > :20:49.
:20:49. > :20:59.the contents of a convent over in Lancashire. There were a lot of
:20:59. > :20:59.
:20:59. > :21:02.people in the auction rooms. The top part was visible. There were a
:21:02. > :21:06.lot of people in the auction rooms, it was very crowded, and the top
:21:06. > :21:10.part of it was visible, and it looked like a medieval painting. It
:21:10. > :21:13.was quite dark and it was sort of it was just odd, and it made me
:21:13. > :21:16.feel a bit uneasy really. Some sort of religious figure in it, and
:21:16. > :21:19.other people around her. So, sort of ignored it really. Until the
:21:19. > :21:22.crowds thinned out, and my husband was able to come round to the
:21:22. > :21:25.foreground, and see these figures, and realised that it was actually a
:21:25. > :21:27.modern painting. Suddenly, it was sort of like, oh my God, you know
:21:27. > :21:30.that's actually a fantastic composition. That's not been
:21:30. > :21:33.painted by someone who's trained at Dulux or something like that. This
:21:33. > :21:36.is a proper painting. So I just popped my hand up,
:21:36. > :21:41.perfect timing, bid over there, that chap, anyone else in? No, it
:21:41. > :21:44.went down, slap. And we'd bought it. And it was like yes, that's amazing.
:21:44. > :21:48.I asked the auctioneer, do you know anything about the painting, it's a
:21:48. > :21:51.very unusual painting. He said that we think it was done by a prisoner
:21:51. > :21:55.of war. We didn't know from which country, didn't know from which war,
:21:55. > :21:57.it was just the rumour it was done by a prisoner of war, that's what
:21:57. > :22:00.the auctioneer knew. Dave made contact with the nuns who
:22:00. > :22:03.had sold the painting, and astonishingly, one of the sisters
:22:03. > :22:07.who had worked with prisoners of war in Castleford was still alive
:22:08. > :22:11.and living in London. Sister Petrona is now 96, but still has
:22:11. > :22:18.vivid memories of the war and how she was treated as a German nun
:22:18. > :22:24.living in Britain. I had a passport. Do you know what my status was?
:22:24. > :22:29.Come here I tell you. Enemy alien! And I was teaching all the time in
:22:29. > :22:35.an English school. Sister Petrona revealed that the artist was also a
:22:35. > :22:38.German, a prisoner of war called Arthur Braun. She still has one of
:22:38. > :22:44.Arthur's wartime paintings, created like the Madonna, in a prison camp
:22:44. > :22:48.in Methley. It was the sisters who asked Arthur Braun to create his
:22:48. > :22:54.masterpiece. One of the big front rooms was a
:22:54. > :23:00.very big room, at least twice as big as this room, and wider. And we
:23:00. > :23:04.had that frame of a mirror, it was a huge mirror. And we thought: we
:23:04. > :23:10.would like to have a picture in the chapel. And Arthur Braun caught the
:23:10. > :23:13.idea and said yes, a wartime picture would be wonderful. Now the
:23:13. > :23:16.nuns had a problem. Arthur had accepted the commission for the
:23:16. > :23:21.huge painting, but the materials he needed were in short supply,
:23:21. > :23:27.especially for a German prisoner of war. Luckily Sister Petrona taught
:23:27. > :23:30.art here, at St Joseph's primary in Castleford. From the school she
:23:30. > :23:35.brought children's powder paints, and the sisters donated a huge bed-
:23:35. > :23:39.sheet for Arthur to use as a canvas. Arthur would have mixed the powder
:23:40. > :23:44.paint with linseed oil. But he needed a studio in the prisoner of
:23:44. > :23:49.war camp. I wanted to find out about the conditions Arthur and the
:23:49. > :23:53.other prisoners lived in. So we asked the Methley archive group to
:23:53. > :23:58.help us out. They appealed for people who remembered the German
:23:58. > :24:04.POWs imprisoned here at Methley. Although he was only a boy, Terry
:24:04. > :24:07.Waite remembers the German prisoners of war. I can remember I
:24:07. > :24:10.was only very small looking down on these prisoners, there would have
:24:10. > :24:17.been probably about ten of them, walking past each morning because
:24:17. > :24:20.they used to go work in the fields. All dressed in their grey coats.
:24:20. > :24:24.And they used to talk to me and I thought it strange, I can't
:24:24. > :24:28.understand what these guys are saying to me. The prisoner of war
:24:28. > :24:32.camp was at Methley hall, a 16th century stately home used by the
:24:32. > :24:37.Army during the war. Terry offered to show me the place where Arthur
:24:37. > :24:44.Braun painted the Madonna. house was here, this was the front
:24:44. > :24:48.along here, stretching right back to behind there where the bales are.
:24:48. > :24:53.The hall was demolished in 1964. All that's left of the prisoner of
:24:53. > :24:58.war camp are the bases of the huts where they lived. And in fact, this
:24:58. > :25:01.is one of the pads that we're stood on now. Is it really? So I mean,
:25:01. > :25:04.the huts are actually quite small aren't they? And probably fairly
:25:04. > :25:08.cramped. Do you think Arthur would have painted that painting in one
:25:08. > :25:14.of these huts? Well, it's possible, but I reckon it's going on for 8
:25:14. > :25:18.feet tall, so we wondered if he actually did it in the Hall? You
:25:18. > :25:23.know, was allowed to paint it in the Hall? Arthur Braun now had his
:25:23. > :25:26.materials and a sort of studio. But what was the subject of the
:25:26. > :25:34.painting going to be? For the nuns, he chose a traditional religious
:25:34. > :25:38.composition the Madonna and Child but in a wartime setting. He calls
:25:38. > :25:44.it Our Lady of the Ruins, I think. And you see all the poor people,
:25:44. > :25:50.the cripples, praying to the mother of God. But Arthur also wanted to
:25:50. > :25:53.include his own, tragic story. got a letter from an old POW
:25:53. > :25:56.colleague of his who had been in America with him, in which he
:25:56. > :26:04.described Arthur Braun's experience of learning that his wife had died
:26:04. > :26:11.in Freiburg. And I suppose for me, it instantly became to look like a
:26:11. > :26:16.painting that a part of its content was grief. I've always took it that
:26:16. > :26:19.the actual Madonna is an image of his wife. When we first saw the
:26:19. > :26:22.painting actually that was one of the unusual things about it, in
:26:22. > :26:31.that you have quite a young woman, almost like a next door neighbour,
:26:31. > :26:34.stood in this biblical scene of devastation. The painting's called
:26:34. > :26:39.Maria in the Ruins, and so they represent the damage that war can
:26:39. > :26:47.do. The nuns certainly felt that they were meant to represent the
:26:47. > :26:50.buildings of Freiburg and this figure here is the artist himself.
:26:50. > :26:53.When Arthur Braun painted the Madonna in the Ruins, he was a
:26:53. > :26:57.prisoner of war. But here in Methley, the young Germans weren't
:26:57. > :26:59.treated as enemies. Many of them became friendly with the villagers,
:26:59. > :27:06.something they demonstrated very movingly one Christmas Eve, here in
:27:06. > :27:16.St Oswald's Church. # Silent Night (Stille Nacht) original performance
:27:16. > :27:18.
:27:18. > :27:23.I'd be about sixteen. I was in the congregation. It was full of course
:27:23. > :27:26.because it was Christmas Eve. And during the service they were asked
:27:26. > :27:36.to sing Silent Night in German, which they did and it really did
:27:36. > :27:38.
:27:38. > :27:44.And a lot of the prisoners were very upset at the time I remember.
:27:44. > :27:50.Quite a few of them broke down crying, in tears. Something you
:27:50. > :28:00.don't forget. I can't even tell you who preached that night, but I can
:28:00. > :28:02.
:28:02. > :28:11.remember the prisoners singing It was fabulous, it was home to me,
:28:12. > :28:17.the agony of the sufferers of war. -- it brought home to me. The last
:28:17. > :28:27.incident, the last thing they could do was appeal to a supernatural
:28:27. > :28:28.
:28:28. > :28:33.power. To stop it. If you want to contact us about the stories you've
:28:33. > :28:38.seen tonight, you can on Facebook or Twitter. That is all from the
:28:38. > :28:42.York. Join us for next week's programme.