19/09/2011 BBC Points West

Hello. Welcome to the programme. In the Points West headlines tonight.

Fpt the thief jailed for stealing an elderly couple's life savings.

The man told the bank he was their grandson and stripped their account

of nearly �50,000. Also tonight, the buildings in Bath

where squatters have set up their own shops.

The Apprentices are told they're hired as the council takes on new

young workers. And the multimillion scanner

unlocking the seek receipts of our brains while we sleep -- secrets.

A man's been jailed today for stealing an elderly couple's life

savings. 29-year-old Martin Thompson of Longwell Green in South

Gloucestershire duped two separate banks and the Post Office telling

them he was the grandson of Bertie and Marion Haskins. In truth, he

was a fraudster who made off with nearly �50,000 of their money

spending Sol on expensive holidays. Martin Thompson's behind bars

tonight from a fraud which spanned five years. Bertie and Marion

Haskins lived in this cows in cat bri Heath -- house in Cadbury Heath

for nearly 50 years. They 100% put their trust in him.

They looked upon him, I suppose, like a grandson. If I told you he

made off with � 48,000 from the couple upstairs what would your

reaction be? I would be gobsmacked. Totally gobsmacked at that. I did

hear of a figure, but it was half of that. I'm really quite shocked

and sad. Having befriended the has kins Thompson tricked them into

allowing him to sign their cheques it. Meant he could help himself to

their savings at two banks. It paid for lavish holidays until the

couple's rent and bills went into arrears: A neighbour also

challenged Thompson and alerted the police who began an investigation.

We spoke to the family of Mr & Mrs Haskins today. They remain

convinced that the stress of finding out that their friend had

robbed them of their life safings caused the couple a great deal of

ill health. In fact, Mrs Haskins passed away in hospital in May this

year. And the family say there wasn't even enough money left to

provide her with a proper burial service with flowers. The family

hope to recover some of the cash to pay for Mr Haskins healthcare.

After pleading guilty today at Bristol Crown Court, Thompson was

jailed for three-and-a-half years. Squatters have moved into one of

the west's most well known shopping streets. Over the past few weeks

Bath has experienced illegal traders moving into prime empty

retail units. As our Bath reporter has been finding out solving the

problem's not as straightforward as you might think.

Like many towns and cities across the west there are many empty

shopping. These shops can be vulnerable to squatters. The owners

of this building in central Bath say it has happened here. A women's

clothes chain went into administration in June and without

permission, the traders moved in using a name not registered with

Companies House. The traders do not want us film ing in there. They've

handed over what they call a life changing sum of money to a man

called Tom who they think works for the landlord and that will cover

the rent until September. On further questioning, they say maybe

they might be in the wrong shop unit. Whatever, they are certain

they are not squatters. We don't know who they are. The inquiry

people for the rates have been in but they won't give any names.

While in there, they are paying no rent, rates, electricity bills or

VAT. A shop in this location costs around �5,000 a week in rent rates

and utilities. I have two shops. The cost of running shows shops is

more than �100,000 per year. You feel the pinch when someone's down

the road selling cheaper stuff than you and she have no out goings. It

is ridiculous. Shop owners are so worried extra security's being put

on to protect any empty units. The police say it is a matter for the

civil courts unless there's evidence of a break-in.

We have pow tors enforce rules around not selling count E-fit

goods, goods being properly priced and described but not pow tors shut

down the shops. Until a few days ago, this shop was occupied by

illegal traders. Only the threat of civil action which took weeks to

get through the courts seemed to move them on. Until the matter's

addressed at Government level, it seems the squat shops remain in a

loophole that no-one has the power to close.

Liberal Democrats in the West have been praised for bucking the

national trend at the party's annual conference. They are meeting

in Birmingham after recent disappointments in the recent local

elections. But the party's keen to highlight parts of the West which

have done well. Earlier, I asked our Political Editor what the he

mood's been like today. I'd have to say, Chris, it is better than a lot

of us had expected given the difficult year the Liberal

Democrats have had. Having said that, numbers are down. 1,000

fewers people attending this year in spite of a record number of

journalists coming on in. Don foster took to the stage at the

conference rally, told a few jokes. Went down fairly well. At a drinks

event I caught up with some of the West Country Liberal Democrats.

Pretty good mood all round. I talked to the Cheltenham np Martin

Hoard. He said a lot of members are putting their weight and sport

support behind their leader. We are a party that's used to pulling

together in hard times snoofplt these have been tricky times

politically. It is a family. have pulled together. We've rallied

behind Nick who's taken a huge amount of personal abuse. I think

it has increased the loyalty to him. What about those dreadful local

election results, Paul? No getting away from them, really. There's

been no hiding from the fact it was awful. They lost control of Bristol

where they had a majority. But the West Country's been talked about as

the place where they did better than anywhere else. In the

Cotswolds they doubled their numbers. In Barton they took seats

off the Conservatives. I've talked to the Deputy Leader of Banes

council Nathan Hartley. With newspapers, we've quite a right-

wing press in this country which isn't particularly helpful. We, the

grass roots, the members through leaflets, press releases, door

knocking tell people about the things we are doing in Government.

Be more confident in telling people what we are doing.

They've a lot of work to do. they are to make up that ground and

bounce back at the next general election. It is Chris and Alex with

you this evening. Thank you for starting your week with us. Coming

up tonight: Horrible history. On the anniversary of his death, local

film makers aim to prove whether or not King Edward II really did meet

a gruesome end in Derekly Casling. -- Berkeley Castle.

With the most recent unemployment figures showing a huge rise in the

number of young people looking for work, apprenticeships are becoming

increasingly popular. Bristol City Council welcomed its 22 new faces

today chosen from over00 applicants. More and more businesses are being

encouraged to do the same. They are apprentices in the more

traditional meaning of the word, until that is, you ask them what

jobs at Bristol City council they are training for? I'll work as an

apprentice in the press and media department. Business and admin

department. Business and administration young people and

children skills. Not Lord sugar but the Lord Mayor of Bristol welcomed

this latest intake. They've come a long way having been chosen from

hundreds of young people. They also met some predecessors who shared

their experience of the scheme. lot of my mates have their

quailifications from uni and college and find it hard to get

work. They haven't experience of working life. I thought it would be

easier to get that experience and get the qualifications while hymn'

learning. It is really beneficial to be be able to say I do this on a

daily basis. Experience is always beneficial. The best way to learn

how to strip down and rebuild and engine is to do it. Phil Thomas is

an apprentice engineer with a bright future. I have a small

income. Hopefully, in the following years, they could pay for me to go

on to university or further education. Politicians from all

sides are trying to figure out the best way to get young people into

training, work or education. Today, the Shadow Business Secretary said

there's still much more to be achieved. We need more apprentices.

We should say if you're going to get a contract with the Government

or local government, you should be required to create an

apprenticeship for young people. Secondly, we should put back into

the law the guarantee that Labour had which was a young person with

the right quailifications is gaurpb teed an aBritainitiesship.

Guarantees may prove hard to come by in the kour rent climate. As for

the future, it's in their hands. One of our MPs is very passion

eight about this. Richard Graham is the Conservative MP for Gloucester.

He's been actively campaign in Parliament for more apprentices and

has taken one of his own on. Apprenticeships are great news.

They are good for businesses. Help businesss to grow. Good for getting

young people into jobs. They help improve our skill rates. Good news

for the young people taken on. But an added expense, an added burden

for businesses when times are tough? You could look at it like

that or as a great opportunity. For relatively small amounts of money,

it is up to the business how many hours a week The Apprentice works,

you have the opportunity to have a bright young person working in your

office. If you work work into it you'll get a lot the prod

productivity out of your apprentice. The The Apprentice startups are

double what they were last year. We've another 4,000 people waiting

for a an apprenticeships. It goes back to what used to work. People

already know the brand of an apprentice. What some people will

be nervous about is if it doesn't work. 6' personal experience of

this? The first apprentice I took didn't quite work out. When I came

to recruit another one, I did more research, spent more time with her

family and was more convinced she was the right person for that job

at that time. Laura has been a fantastic success. She's helped

people get reconnected to their BT lines last month. Doing amazing

things for someone who's 17. What about other MPs? I'm halfway

through a survey of all MPs about who's using an apprentice. Who's

interested. The idea is to get 1 Lunn of us to take on apprentices.

With support from the Government? YeahBut the object is to show the

country you can have an apprentice in any line of business. My

apprentice does business admin. She could be doing marketing. Like in

the Bristol council we saw there. Thank you.

A young woman from Bristol who set fire to her boyfriend's home

destroying his family's entire belongings has been jailed for

three years. As she was arrested at the scene 20-year-old Sophie Harris

attacked one police officer and racially abuse add second. --

abused a. Having started the fire Sophie Harris then returned to the

scene of her crime an hour later. It was the day of the Royal Wedding

when most people in Long Ashton village were enjoying a relaxing

day off. When livers attempted to arrest her she resisted. Why me? I

haven't done... She set fire to the home of Bernard and Bridget Speed.

Despite the 6orts of firefighters all the family's possessions and

furniture were destroyed, including irreplaceable photographs. She

couldn't accept the break up between Mr & Mrs Speed's son. Mr &

Mrs speed looked upon the suspect as a daughter and family figure

within their own family. So, they are hoping that the time in custody

will assist Sophie and help her deal with issues she faces. Jailing

Harris for three years the judge said setting fire to the house was

an extreme act. The consequences to the Speed family have been severe.

I take into account your mental illness and your criminal

background. As she was sent down, a sobbing Sophie Harris cried out "I

don't deserve it" Harris pleaded guilty to charges of arson and

assaulting a police officer. A former scout leader from Burnham-

On-Sea pleaded not guilty to a series of sex offences against

children. David ber land who's 53 appeared at Taunton Crown Court

this morning. He denied all 33 charges against him which included

indecent assault, sexual activity with a child, indecency and

exposure. The former I'm a celebrity contestant appeared

before magistrates accused of raping a woman in Yeovil last year.

Rapper,ing a row San tons to, who's -- Aggro Santos who's 22 entered no

pleas during the five-minute hearing. He will appear in

Chichester Crown Court in January next year.

A new sleep laboratory was opened in Bristol today where scientists

hope to unlock secrets of the brain. It costs over �.5 million.

Researchers can look deep into the brain to study how it spopdz during

the night as well as during the day. This MRI scanner is like gold dust

to scanners who who in the past had to beg, steal or borrow scanners

from the NHS to are carry out their work. Now they can look deep inside

the brain to find out more about how we tick. Our quality of sleep

can affect our health profoundly. That's why scientists at this new

shreeb laboratory are keen to monitor brain active I of healthy

volunteers as well as the less healthy. They'll look at links

between sleep disorder and obesity and psychiatric medication on sleep

patterns. We want to look at the link between what happens during

sleep and bring function during the day. There are sleep spindles which

we have known about for many years but they are something to do with

learning. They change if you learn something the night before. They

change according to how easily you really it the next day. Some

patients will even sleep in this scanner so their brains can be

studied in closer detail. There are even plans for youngsters to go in

the scanner while they are playing on computer games. We've known for

some time kids find computer games absorbing. At the same time they

are not so interested in their lessons. We want to look inside the

brain using this machine, find out what happens when people are

playing games and use that to make new approaches to education which

can be used in the classroom. Robert Winston has come here today

to the official opening of the centre. What are your thoughts so

far? It is nicely integrated centre with a very powerful MRI machine.

It is state-of-the-art which gives lovely high resolution pictures you

can see on the scanner here. If you look here this is the thinking part

of the brain. Very nicely displayed. Here at the back is a beautiful

picture of the mid-brain. That is the eye. Basically, using this

machine, it will be able to answer questions, how we think in

different diseased states, after stroke, as a small baby and

certainly as we develop. This centre will be running all sorts of

trials on this basis. It is a wonderful message for Bristol. It

means this is really state-of-the- art. Bristol is a fantastic medical

school, it is a good combination of the clinical and research skills.

Always hard to get your hands on an MRI scan for this kind of work.

is very expensive and researchers need access to MRI. The idea of

putting people into a machine like this will open up all sorts of

exciting areas of research. Matthew Hill s report there. Snl

Sport and Somerset's cricketer arrived in India to play in the

Champions League trophy. It will be an early chance to bounce back from

the disappointment of another defeat in a domestic defeat at the

weekend. Four successive finals, four

successive defeats. But the Champions League trophy in India

represents an early chance for Somerset to show how good a team

they can be. Tomorrow they take on the Auckland Aces and on Wednesday

the Kal cot a Knight Riders with a place in the competition proper at

stake. On Saturday they lost to Surrey in the final of the CB40.

The early loss of wickets, missed opportunities and the rain left the

captain struggling for positives as the players set off for their next

challenge. We've bounced back enough times in the past couple of

years to know how to bounce back. They've gone away with a slightly

weakened team. It is a pretty intense straight back into two

quick games back to bake. Somerset's defeat was part of a

near perfect storm of West Country sporting woe as all our footballing

league sides lost. Bath were the only team to buck the trend with a

second win from three in the Premiership. They ended the Exeter

Chiefs unbeaten start to the season with a 27-19 victory. Can Hipkiss

the scorer here. The arguments over the a new stadium for Bristol City

football club continue apace. Dawn Primarolo criticised the amount of

taxpayers money being spent on a legal battle. The fight is over a

30,000 -seater stadium. Long Ashton Parish Council has pledged �30,000

to a group which wants to take the matter to judicial review. This

would cause more expense for Bristol City Council as they defend

their record. The money used to defend itself in a Jude urbl review

and to prevent millions of pounds worth of private investment

creating jobs, let alone a great stadium here in Bristol, I just, it

is not a question of whether I agree with it or not, it is a

question of whether it is appropriate. Long Ashton parish

council denied it was inappropriate. They say they've been building up a

fighting fund for years to oppose any building on groan belt land.

We want you to nominate anyone you feel has given up their free time

to help others take part as an unsung here ofplt whatever the

sport, whatever your role. -- unsung hero. All the

instructions you need are there. Terms and conditions. Make sure if

there's anyone you think deserves recognition, make sure we know

about them. We look forward to that hearing who

everybody's unsung hero it is. You hear about such inspiring people.

We look forward to hearing the nominations.

It was a murder that shocked the medieval world. A King deposed and

then killed in a most terrible way. This we can sees the premier of a

locally produced feature film based around the death of Edward second

around Berkeley Castle. It poses the question, did he really die

there? Simon Lewis went to find out. It is the night of 21st September

13 27, a man's terrible screams reverberate round the dark walls of

berbgy castle, thus history rrls the brutal death of Edward second,

King of England. There is evidence to suggest that Edward didn't die

here at Berkeley Castle. In 1878 a letter was found written by a

medieval priest suggested Edward escaped to Italy and had become a

hermit. Now, that story's become the basis for a new film produced

by a group of Bristol amateur actors and film makers called An

scan uncertain Proof. It is effectively a search for the truth.

It is a journey by a man who feels the king had escaped from Berkeley

Castle that evening and he's desperate to find out that he is

still alive. Ultimately gets to confront who he thinks should be or

could be Edward the second. We felt we had a really good basis for a

film. There were very strong characters in it with a strong

storyline. We've a good balance of amateur actors, quality technicians

behind the scenes. Using imagination and inagain Utey on a

minuscule budget, almost 100 people worked for free to recreate this

untold story from long ago. untold story from long ago.

Now to the weather. Here's Iain. Some lively weather over the

weekend. Many places not escaping the showers. But some did. Kemble

Not dissim scenes for many tomorrow. The cloud cover more extensive.

We've had a warm fronted bringing patchy outbreaks of rain and

drizzle. Tomorrow, it is a cold frent which will dictate. It will

bring a fair swathe of rain. Becoming heavier at times. This

evening, eventually things will dry out. There's inter mittent patchy

rain and drizzle. Some dry weather if rather cloudy at times. Rather

breezy. By the end of the night the cold front arrives. Temperatures

about 12 or 13 Celsius. Tomorrow, that front already up through the

mouth of the Severn. It will reach eastwards wards. How far eastwards

it goes it under debate. We get waves with heavier pulses into the

afternoon, Bristol, Bath and Somerset too. By the end of the day,

temperatures about 16 or 17 Celsius. We're into a spell through