14/01/2013 Newyddion 9

Mark Bridger says he was probably ..but denies murdering the

..to murdering the Irish vet, Concerns about the accounts of a

We'll be looking back at the career of Nicole Cooke from Wick.

But as she announces her retirement...

Good evening.

April Jones' parents were in Mold Crown Court this morning...

..and sat just a few yards from the man who's been charged...

..with abducting and murdering their daughter.

Mark Bridger denies the charges...

..but the 47-year-old man from Machynlleth...

..admits he was probably responsible for her death.

Criag Duggan was in court this morning...

..and joins us from Machynlleth tonight.

Apart

Apart from

Apart from the

Apart from the security officers who sat with him in the dock, the

parents of April Jones were quite close to Mark Bridger. They sat

quietly throughout the hearing. Paul and Coral Jones sat for an

hour just yards from the man charged with the murder of their

daughter. Mark Bridger spoke in a clear voice as he pleaded not

guilty to the three charges against him. -Of- April's parents listened

to it all -- April's parents listened to it all and shed a few

tears at time. On the first day of October last year she was last seen.

During the hearing today Mark Bridger's barrister said he will

say he was probably responsible for the death of April Jones but that

he denies murdering her. There were no more details about that during

the hearing this morning. Mark Bridger was remanded in custody and

will return to Mold Crown Court for the start of the trial on 25th

February. In Machynlleth the efforts to find April Jones

continue. Police from over the border helped the police. It is now

15 weeks since the five-year-old girl disappeared. It was obviously

a very difficult and emotional day for the parents in court? Yes. It

must have been another difficult day for them sitting so close to

the dock as I was saying. Coral Jones was wearing a pink top and

her dark suit. Pink was April's favourite colour and is a sign of

the support in the community for the family. It will be a difficult

time for the community as the trial begins in Mold. Mark Bridger's

solicitor did ask for the trial to be moved away from Wales, but that

was denied. The trial is likely to At Mold Crown Court today,

..murdering Catherine Gowing, 46-year-old Clive Sharp

In the hearing that lasted less than ten minutes, Clive Sharp

admitted murdering Catherine Gowing. There were no further details about

what happened. 36-year-old Catherine Gowing disappeared last

October and was last seen by friends after a night out. She was

then spotted on CCTV leaving a supermarket in Queensferry. Weeks

later after a search in a nearby quarry parts of her body were

discovered in the River Dee in Cheshire and also in the Sealand

area in Flintshire. The police continued to search for other

remains. Catherine Gowing was from Ireland but had been working as a

vet in Mold for 18 months. During that time, she made quite an

impression on her colleagues. was is a very dear girl. She was

easy to get along with. She never argued with anybody and she loved

her job. Everyone wanted to see her because she took care of their

animals so well. It's been a very difficult time. After Clive Sharp

pleaded guilty, the judge said there could only be one sentence,

that of life imprisonment. However, the judge added he needed time to

consider the terms of the sentence and asked for further information

about the defendant's previous convictions. Clive Sharp will be

A BBC Wales investigation has ..about the way one of Wales'

The Joshua Foundation provides The accounts show that the charity

One of the Joshua Foundation events before Christmas. The charity was

established by Sarah Cornelius Price in memory of her son who died

of cancer at the age of seven. It pays for holidays and a variety of

special experiences for terminally- ill children. Publicly available

accounts show the charity owes around �350,000 to HM Revenue and

Customs and the debt has existed for almost ten years. I think when

people contribute money to charities like the Joshua

Foundation, they want the money to go to the children instead of

paying the taxman. The charity insists that money donated by the

public will not be used to pay the debt. Sarah Cornelius Price has

admitted the debt resulted from Gift Aid that was mistakenly

claimed. The Government allows charities to claim back 25 pence

from HMRC for every �1 that is donated. However, Sarah Cornelius

Price argues the rules are unclear. I think it was fair to say that it

was very confusing in terms of the rules. A lot of charities did not

know what they were doing. Revenue and Customs agrees and

insists the rules are clear. Sarah Cornelius Price says the charity

intends to sell off an asset to pay the debt but BBC Wales understands

that this is a restricted asset donated to the charity for the

benefit of children and that it can't be sold without consent from

a court. For every �1 the Joshua Foundation receives 42 pence is

spent on the children. Every charity spends its money in

different ways. But this percentage is among the lowest we have come

across. The Oz experience projects allows people to travel to

Australia by collecting �3,000. Half of the money goes to the

charity and half pays for the trip. The charity says this is the reason

why the percentage is 42 pence in �1. There is concern about the way

the charity is run. Two years ago, the charity paid �60,000 to a team

of consultants to come in and look at the charity. Then you find out

that this company was owned by the person that was running the charity.

It's not illegal to make payments of this nature but experts have

told BBC Wales that the arrangements at the Joshua

Foundation are unusual. The charity says that Mrs Cornelius Price and

her husband receive a salary. The experiences of the parents and

children who receive help from the Joshua Foundation is beyond the

comprehension of most. And that The Westminster Government has

..to change the state pension and At the moment, the weekly

However, some people receive over In four years, there will be one

At the moment, you have to contribute...

..to the National Insurance scheme for 30 years.

That will increase to 35 years.

Labour is warning that many people could be worse off...

..and that was also the view in Bangor this afternoon.

At

At one

At one time,

At one time, there were a lot of people working. More people were

working. Now the situation has changed. You've got people who have

retired and people who aren't working, so it gets more difficult

to finance. It's something to consider, but at the moment, I'm

not considering it. Maybe I should be more concerned but it's not

something I think about at the moment. The pensions expert Medwyn

Edwards is in our Wrexham studio. The aim is to simplify but will the

system do that? Yes, I think it will. At the moment, the system is

quite complicated. If you are already retired, and you look at

your pension, and the way it's distributed you will see there are

lots of different parts to it. From 2017, there will be a flat pension

of �144 a week for everybody. There's been a lot of discussion

today already. Who will benefit from this and who will lose out?

People who are self-employed don't get the second state pension at the

moment and people who are on low incomes will benefit from 2017. For

people who earn more money and who have the second state pension, they

will be worse off. From 2015, everybody will be worse off. They

will have to work longer for a pension. What about pensioners who

are receiving their payments at the moment? Will they be affected?

it won't make any difference to them. They will carry on as they

are. And even the people who retire before 2017, the Government has

promised there won't be a change to David Cameron will make a

In an interview with ..the Prime Minister said he wanted

..between Britain and Europe and suggested once again...

..that the public would be given the opportunity...

..to state their view in a referendum.

The House of Lords has been discussing...

..the Government's measure to reduce the number of MPs...

..and ensure that every memberrepresents the same number of people.

Wales would lose 10 MPs if the changes are implemented.

However, there is disagreement within the Government itself...

..with the Conservatives in favour and the Liberal Democrats against.

The

The Government

The Government has

The Government has lost the vote, but the members of the Government

don't agree on this anyway. At the moment, Wales has 40 MPs

representing areas which vary with regard to size and the number of

voters. There are around 40,000 of them in Arfon, while in Cardiff

South and Penarth the figure is almost twice that. The Government's

measure would reduce the number of Welsh MPs to 30 and constituencies

would be more equal with regard to the amount of people that vote in

each one. There would be almost 75,000 voters in the Anglesey

Bangor constituency. The number of MPs would drop to 600. Some

politicians would be feeling uncomfortable but the MP for

Aberconwy can see the argument for making the change. There are people

who will be affected and I'm one of them. There is some disagreement

but we accept this change means we will have a fairer system and a

system which means the number of MPs who are voted in is closer to

the percentage of people they represent. It's important that

constituencies represent communities. If you have huge areas,

it is very difficult where the problems and challenges are

different for one MP to deal with it all. These two don't agree. Nick

Clegg has said the Liberal Democrats are against the changes

because of a dispute about changing the system in the House of Lords.

The Lords said tonight that the changes need to be postponed, but

Mr Cameron will want to go ahead whatever happens. We can join our

parliamentary correspondent, who is at the House of Lords. What will

happen as a result of this vote? The Government has lost a very

important vote tonight. The Lords decided to postpone these changes.

The Government will have the opportunity to vote on the issue in

the House of Commons later in the month, but the mathematics aren't

in favour of David Cameron. Nick Clegg says his members will vote

against the idea as well as Labour. Plaid Cymru has said today it will

vote against it as well. A blow for the coalition and personally for

David Cameron? Yes, this is a heavy blow for David Cameron and his

hopes of changing the system. He is determined to go ahead with it.

It's also very important to his Eight men have been arrested on

..in the centre of Cardiff last night.

Lynn Prosser was 44-years-old...

..and was from the village of Beddau near Pontypridd.

The police were called to St Mary's Street at around 11.00pm...

..after an altercation was reported outside the O'Neills pub.

The owner of a kebab shop in Cardiff has been jailed for eight months...

..after being found guilty of over20 offences to do with food hygiene.

Adonis Kebab House had to close in 2011....

..following several cases of e-coli.

Diar Wali Ali pleaded guilty to all of the charges against him.

It's been confirmed that the Welsh Language Commissioner's...

..first statutory inquiry will concentrate on the use...

..of the language in the basic care services...

..and focus on GPs, pharmacists, dentists and opticians.

According to Meri Huws, the language is a crucial part...

..of the relationship between the patient and the health service.

It's a big week for the health service in Wales...

..as two health boards announce how they are going...

..to sustain their services in the years to come.

It's likely that community hospitals will close...

..and that specialist units will move.

The Hywel Dda Health Board in West Wales...

..will be the first to reveal its vision.

Our health correspondent, Owain Clarke, explains.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow morning,

Tomorrow morning, the

Tomorrow morning, the health officials will meet in Carmarthen

to discuss changes that will affect thousands of patients. The health

board insists it has listened to the people, but it is likely that

some community hospitals will close and specialist services will be

centralised here in Carmarthen. That will be very controversial. We

Almost �40 million ..in broadband services

The First Minister, Carwyn Jones, says the aim is to ensure...

..by next year that primary and comprehensive schools...

..have a faster internet connection...

..and can use the latest digital technology.

It's time for the sports news now. Over to Iwan.

She's won every event in road racing...

..including the Olympic Games, the Commonwealth Games...

..the World Championship.

Today, Nicole Cooke from Wick...

..announced her retirement from the sport.

She also revealed that she had been offered drugs during her career...

..but that she had refused.

Three

Three months

Three months before

Three months before her 30th birthday, Nicole Cooke is retiring.

The girl from the Vale of Glamorgan has achieved more than any other

female cyclist of her generation. After a disappointing Olympic Games,

today's announcement was not unexpected. I think it is time to

bring to a close a fantastic career. It was more than I expected when I

started off. At the age of 12, she combined training on the roads with

her school work. She went on to win the British Championship ten times.

In 2002, she won a gold medal for Wales at the Commonwealth Games

before winning an Olympic gold medal in Beijing. However, Nicole

Cooke revealed today that she had been offered performance-enhancing

drugs before one important race but that she turned the offer down.

part is being able to take a strong stand, but the other part, which

doesn't often debt seen, is the bullying and the other things that

happen afterwards. Nicole Cooke has been criticised for not pulling her

weight, but those who know her well say she has always been determined

and that is why she has been successful. It is easy to say she

is the best because look at what she has done. She has won the

Olympics. She won the World Championships in the same year.

That is an incredible achievement. She has won everything in the sport.

Nicole says she hopes she has inspired young people in Wales to

do their best and aim for the top in whatever field they have talent

The injuries are mounting ..and the position of second row

The Blues lock, Bradley Davies, has had surgery on his ankle today.

Ryan Jones dislocated his thumb yesterday afternoon.

Ian Evans, Luke Charteris and Alun Wyn Jones are already injured.

Robert Howley is expected to announce his squad tomorrow.

Earlier, I talked to the former Wales forward, Emyr Lewis.

We

We have

We have huge

We have huge problems with regard to the second row. We have had a

lot of injuries. We are facing Ireland in the first match and they

are very strong in that department. Are they going to turn to youth or

turn to the old guard? Maybe people like Ian Gough. The Ospreys drew

with Leicester. All the regions are out of Europe. How much of a blow

is that to the game in Wales? a huge blow for the regions. I

don't know where they are going to get the strength to win in Europe.

It doesn't help when you play internationals at the same time.

The Leinster coach has suggested that central contracts should be

introduced? I'm not sure what the right answer is. There are

advantages to central contracts. Especially for the players. They

can stay in Wales. The regions would be happy. The Union would be

happy. The Union would decide when those players played. It is a huge

problem. I hope it will be solved The future of the game in Wales is a

I went to get some opinions The Welsh Rugby Union needs to

offer more financial support or the failure of the Welsh regions in

Europe will continue. That is the view of the Ospreys coach. But what

about opinions across the country? According to a former Wales prop,

who is now the captain of Crymych, support for young talent has

improved. However, he says the WRU could do more. If you go to

anywhere in Wales on a Sunday, and you have over 100 kids playing.

Rugby is very strong. We need a system where we develop them. We

have to keep putting money into facilities. I have been to some

clubs in Wales and they don't have changing rooms. Over to New Castle

Emlyn and a team that nurtured Scott Williams and Josh Turnbull

but is there a danger of talented players slipping through the net?

I'm sure schools would appreciate more help to coach teams and

develop the game. In the end, the Under 16 age group, there is a lot

of talent that goes missing. To be fair to clubs that run youth teams,

they have a lot of talent that doesn't get attention from the

regional academies. According to the coach, the success of the

Swansea football team is having a negative impact on the game.

see young players coming in and if the talent is there, and the player

wants it, he will be picked up. I'm confident for the future. So what

exactly is Welsh rugby? Is it local rugby in the mud and the darkness,

or the success offal the national team? It seems one -- success of

the national team? It seems one can't succeed without the success

The Wales squad for the ..will be announced tomorrow and

Mark Bridger has denied murdering ..from Machynlleth