:00:00. > 3:59:59BBC News Channel, but now on BBC One, it's time for the news where
:00:00. > :00:16.you are. Here: A 75`year`old woman from
:00:17. > :00:18.Milton Keynes, who admitted strangling her terminally ill
:00:19. > :00:21.husband, has been given a life sentence after a judge ruled it
:00:22. > :00:25.wasn't a mercy killing. Sheila Sampford has been told she must
:00:26. > :00:28.spend at least nine years in prison. The court heard caring for her
:00:29. > :00:31.husband who had leukaemia had "got too much". Neil Bradford was in
:00:32. > :00:38.court. Sheila Sampford weren't as she relived the moment she strangled
:00:39. > :00:41.her 83 world husband. The 75`year`old told the judge at Luton
:00:42. > :00:46.Crown Court was the worst thing she had ever done. I did what I did for
:00:47. > :00:50.John, she said. For love, and to stop him suffering. He was my rock.
:00:51. > :00:53.The couple were just three months away from celebrating their golden
:00:54. > :00:57.wedding anniversary last July, when she killed him at their home in
:00:58. > :01:01.Milton Keynes. She said it was a plan they had discussed together on
:01:02. > :01:05.numerous occasions, and she was acting out of love and devotion, and
:01:06. > :01:10.to end his suffering from leukaemia. Today, it emerged John Sampford
:01:11. > :01:15.showed no sign of wanting to take his own life and was coping well
:01:16. > :01:19.with his terminal diagnosis. The court also heard that Sheila
:01:20. > :01:23.Sampford had told police at the time she had just snapped. I don't know
:01:24. > :01:26.what I did, she told them. Today, the judge ruled this was not a mercy
:01:27. > :01:31.killing, an explanation the race have never accepted. This has always
:01:32. > :01:37.been treated as a murder inquiry. But, as the inquiry progressed, it
:01:38. > :01:41.became obvious it was not just around Mr Sampford's health, but
:01:42. > :01:49.there were other factors in the inquiry that led us to believe
:01:50. > :01:53.Sheila had committed this murder. There was no jury in the case
:01:54. > :01:57.because Sheila Sampford pleaded guilty to her husband's murder last
:01:58. > :02:01.month. The judge described her evidence as unconvincing. He did not
:02:02. > :02:06.agree Mr Sampford wanted to die, or asked his wife to kill him, or that
:02:07. > :02:11.she was acting out of compassion. He said, under immense stress, you
:02:12. > :02:14.snapped. Your actions denied family members of the chance to say
:02:15. > :02:18.goodbye. Sheila Sampford was jailed for life with the minimum term of
:02:19. > :02:21.nine years. Jude Lanchin, an expert on criminal
:02:22. > :02:32.law, says the legal system may need an overhaul. My view is that the law
:02:33. > :02:36.really needs to be reviewed in relation to the whole issue of
:02:37. > :02:42.murder and people who find themselves in very desperate
:02:43. > :02:47.circumstances with loved ones, and to may well be acting on their
:02:48. > :02:52.instructions, and trying to help them in their dying days. Do you
:02:53. > :02:57.sense there is a change coming in the law? In the same way that a
:02:58. > :03:01.review has been done around assisted suicide, I do think it should be
:03:02. > :03:07.looked at more widely in terms of a situation where a murder charge or
:03:08. > :03:09.an attempted murder charge would be brought instead of an assisted
:03:10. > :03:13.suicide charge. A builder from Aylesbury, who is on
:03:14. > :03:16.the run, has been jailed for six years for conning a vulnerable
:03:17. > :03:19.pensioner out of more than half a million pounds. John Jenkins, who's
:03:20. > :03:23.70, was sentenced in his absence after failing to turn up for the
:03:24. > :03:26.last day of his trial at St Albans Crown Court. The jury found him
:03:27. > :03:31.guilty of fraud by false representation. A warrant has been
:03:32. > :03:33.issued for his arrest. A 48`year`old Didcot woman, arrested
:03:34. > :03:36.in connection with the Jayden Parkinson murder investigation, has
:03:37. > :03:39.been released on bail. The 17`year`old's body was found in a
:03:40. > :03:42.grave at All Saints Church in the town in December. The woman was
:03:43. > :03:45.detained on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. Two people
:03:46. > :03:50.have already been charged in connection with the case.
:03:51. > :03:53.Nearly 10,000 homes in Oxford alone are at risk of flooding, according
:03:54. > :03:56.to Friends of the Earth. The charity analysed data from the Environment
:03:57. > :04:00.Agency and suggests around 5,000 of those properties in the city are at
:04:01. > :04:04."significant risk" of flooding. A campaign's been launched to get more
:04:05. > :04:07.men working in childcare across our region. The co`op nursery chain will
:04:08. > :04:10.be working with local job centres and recruitment agencies to boost
:04:11. > :04:14.the number of men thinking about a career with children. At the moment
:04:15. > :04:21.just 2% of nursery workers in the area are men, as Stuart Tinworth
:04:22. > :04:25.reports. Play time at this nursery in Witney.
:04:26. > :04:29.The centre had been struggling, but has now more children, and a good
:04:30. > :04:34.rating from inspectors. Manager Gareth has been here for just over a
:04:35. > :04:42.year, and he's in the minority as a male nursery worker. But he didn't
:04:43. > :04:46.start out in childcare. I started off in agriculture, moved on to
:04:47. > :04:50.neighbouring work, and then an opportunity came up working with
:04:51. > :04:55.children. Seeing how children grow and develop, and how they enable
:04:56. > :05:02.themselves to use scissors, pens, pencils, is far more rewarding than
:05:03. > :05:08.a finished job of a wall, or a driveway late, or an electrical unit
:05:09. > :05:13.done. 4500 people work as nursery workers in Oxfordshire alone, but as
:05:14. > :05:17.few as 12% of those are men. Now, the organisation that runs this
:05:18. > :05:24.chain of nurseries once that to change. The move follows research
:05:25. > :05:28.that shows children benefit from having a male role model in their
:05:29. > :05:31.early years stop there will be apprenticeships and support offered
:05:32. > :05:34.to help people start their careers. And there'll be a job fair next
:05:35. > :05:42.month at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. It is getting rid of that
:05:43. > :05:47.stigma that we are nursery nurses, and it is a female dominated
:05:48. > :05:50.possession to go into. I definitely believe we need more men. Some
:05:51. > :05:54.children, who have come through us, may not have that father figure. And
:05:55. > :06:06.what do the children make of their manager Gareth? He's funny. Is he?
:06:07. > :06:10.Yes. He's got funny ears. An Oxfordshire woman has given birth
:06:11. > :06:13.on a the pavement of a busy New York street. Polly McCourt, originally
:06:14. > :06:17.from Black Bourton near Carterton, had been trying to hail a taxi to
:06:18. > :06:21.take her to hospital after she went into labour. Her baby girl was born
:06:22. > :06:25.in the street. Mother and baby Isla Isabel, named after a passer`by who
:06:26. > :06:30.gave Ms McCourt her coat, are doing well and are very grateful to those
:06:31. > :06:35.who stopped to help. We have no way of contacting
:06:36. > :06:44.Isabel. She gave me her coat to cover me. And that is your middle
:06:45. > :06:47.name. It was meant to be my name! Her middle name is Isabel.
:06:48. > :06:55.Now, the regional forecast with Alexis.
:06:56. > :07:02.They could be heavy rain tonight, and strengthening south`westerly
:07:03. > :07:10.winds. Temperatures slightly milder than last night tonight, with a low
:07:11. > :07:14.of 4`5 Celsius. The rain will clear swiftly tomorrow morning. The wind
:07:15. > :07:18.will turn to a westerly direction, drawing in a few showers, perhaps
:07:19. > :07:29.thundery showers, with Hale for the afternoon. More clout in `` cloud
:07:30. > :07:31.and less in the way of sunshine. Turning unsettled through the week.
:07:32. > :07:35.More rain for Friday and Saturday. day on Friday, wet snow around and a
:07:36. > :07:40.breeze blowing as well. Tricky into the weekend. And now we have the
:07:41. > :07:44.national forecast. Good evening. We know it has been a
:07:45. > :07:49.wet winter but it has also been mild and across England and Wales,
:07:50. > :07:51.lacking in snow. The last day of