30/04/2014 BBC Oxford News

last summer, adding that after 25 years he'd decided he'd rather like

to go to bed at much the same time as most people.

Though that Good evening. The media has obtained

dramatic footage of the moment a suspect was shot with a taser gun

inside a Wiltshire police cell. The officer who fired the gun was

cleared of assault yesterday after a jury saw the footage, but he now

faces a disciplinary process. The Chief Constable tried to stop the

video being released. Steve Brodie reports. Suspect Daniel Dove has

been ordered to take off his clothes as part of a strip search after

being brought to Melksham police station. But when he reaches his

underpants, he flips them at PC Lee Birch. The policeman fires the

50,000`volt stun gun into Mr Dove's chest. Wiltshire's chief constable

told me why he doesn't think the public should see the film. I can

accept that people might wonder why I objected, but my issue was one of

principle. My principal being that, in my view, I had to ensure

fairness. In my view I've also got a duty of care for my officer. He has

been found not guilty. My view was that to release the media could be

prejudicial to my officer over the next however many years he serves.

An hour before, Daniel Dove had been arrested outside this Trowbridge

night club in December 2012 for being drunk and disorderly. He's

then been brought here to the custody suite at Melksham police

station. He's booked in, standing handcuffed in front of PC Birch. The

jury were told he was drunk and difficult to handle. After the

tasering, he was charged with assault, but later he took out a

private prosecution against PC Birch. Then, the CPS dropped the

allegations against him and prosecuted PC Birch instead. The

Chief Constable agrees that justice should be seen to be done. I fully

support open justice. There is an ongoing IPCC investigation, and in

my view releasing the CCTV to the media could have been prejudicial.

I'm the responsible authority for ensuring that investigations are

fair, and in my view it could have prejudiced the investigation to

release it. The force has already carried out a revision of its policy

towards the use of tasers. Meanwhile, PC Birch has returned to

his job. Free transport to Oxfordshire's

hospitals could be further cut back in efforts to save the NHS money.

Every year, the health service organises 107,000 trips at a cost of

almost ?4 million. It's hoping to cut around a third of these

journeys, and save up to ?325,000 a year. It's already become harder to

qualify for free transport to hospital in recent years, and

voluntary groups which take people to hospital appointments are already

struggling with the demand. These Witney`based volunteers say people

with smaller incomes, who need care, stand to lose out.

There are some people who perhaps could get to hospital by other

means, but I think there will be people who will say I cannot get

there, I want to go, and the next time they will see the hospital is

in an ambulance going to A and that is false economy.

Millions of pounds of Government money is on offer to Oxford

businesses to connect them to super`fast broadband for free. But

no`one seems to want it. It's six weeks since the scheme launched, and

so far, not a single business has applied. Our Political Reporter

Helen Catt explains. Six weeks ago, a Government fund opened to

businesses in Oxford to get superfast connections installed for

free. So far though, nobody has taken it up. And the south's other

so`called superconnected cities aren't seeing much interest either.

In Brighton, nine businesses have applied since the end of February,

and in Portsmouth, just four since December. In Oxford, fast broadband

is already available and there are questions over who exactly needs

super`high speeds. Oxford city has about 4,000 businesses of which only

about 1,000 are bigger than five people, so you end up with this

provision of what larger companies need being limited to smaller

companies. So there is a relatively small intersection of people for

whom it is relevant. Bob thinks money would be better spent getting

all rural broadband up to a workable speed instead. We asked the Minister

for Broadband, Ed Vaizey, for an interview but his office declined.

Instead it sent us a statement, saying it expects to see

considerable interest in Oxford's scheme in the coming months and that

in the other superconnected cities around the UK, take up is increasing

month on month. Plans for a ?15 million

redevelopment of part of Aylesbury town centre have been unveiled. The

first phase of Waterside North would see Exchange Street car park and

some of the old county council offices replaced by restaurants and

homes. A former police station and the back of the old office buildings

would be demolished. A planning application will be submitted in

June. It's a scientific breakthrough that

could see an end to the ban on taking liquids on board aeroplanes `

an Oxfordshire company has built a scanner, capable of detecting

quickly whether your bottle contains a dangerous substance. Cobalt Light

Systems is now up for a top industry award for its work. Stuart Tinworth

has the story. 2006, and a failed terror plot to use liquid explosives

on flights resulted in a restriction on travellers taking drinks, sun

cream and other toiletries onboard planes. Eight years on, we're still

restricted to what we can carry but that could be set to change. This

device is capable of cross checking what's inside a bottle in just a

matter of seconds. Paul, tell me how this works. Very

simply, you take the bottle and put it into the system. Close the door.

It's very simple to operate, it's a five`second screen, and then at the

end of it, it will tell you it is clear, which means it is safe to

take on board. The trade body for UK airports told

me: Even so, it could be some years

before the existing hand luggage rules are changed.

That's it from us for now. Next it's the weather, starting with the

regional forecast with David Braine. Good night.

If you haven't yet used your waterproof or your umbrella, you

will need them for tomorrow. It is the intensity of the showers

tomorrow that could cause some problems. Briefly some brightness in

the morning but by the time we get to the afternoon, the slow`moving

and heavy showers will develop. There is a warning about the

intensity of these showers from the Met Office in Exeter. Some of them

will be really quite intense. The outlook is a cloudy day on Friday

but getting better as we move into the weekend. In a second we will

have a full it will get cooler as we had through

the weekend but brighter, although gardeners beware, night-time frosts.

It was a day of contrasts across the UK today, rain coming in from the

West but in the south-east, like winds and sunshine, up to 20

degrees. Contrast that with six degrees in the East of Scotland. In

between we've seen some thunderstorms and more general

showers coming in to the western side of the UK. Northern Ireland,

Wales and the south-west. The best chance of staying dry is across

Lincolnshire and East Anglia. A lot of cloud around generally

overnight, some patches of mist and maybe a few patches of fog as well.

The lowest temperatures will be in the far north of the UK, but the

Northern Isles will also see the best of the weather through the

morning. In the east, cloudy, wet and windy, cold, too. Some of the

rain gets towards