22/11/2011 BBC Points West

Hello and welcome to BBC Points West. The headlines tonight: The

mental health services under fire. Were a couple killed by their

mentally ill son given the right care and support?

Any spare seats? Extra carriages are promised for our overcrowded

trains. Also tonight, it was once a fire

museum - now a Somerset mansion has been deliberately set alight.

There we have a lovely old stately home that has gone to rack and ruin.

And pukka plantain - the international flavours of the west

that have caught the eye of Jamie Good evening. First tonight, the

damning report into mental health services in Wiltshire. It's found a

persistent failure in the way Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health

Partnership cared for a mentally ill man who went on to batter his

elderly parents to death. Bob and Elsie Crook had taken in their son

after his mental health deteriorated. But although repeated

assessments found he was a significant risk to others, nothing

appropriate was done. Dickon Hooper is in south Gloucestershire where

this report has just been published. Good evening. The pub -- the report

has been published in the last 15 minutes, over 300 pages of

strongly-worded criticism. Let me give you a flavour of the type of

thing that it says. The assertive clinical management of Mr Cook

would have prevented the steady deterioration of his mental illness

and the subsequent death of his parents. So for the first time, a

direct link between his poor treatment and his parents' deaths.

Sadly for the family, this doesn't go far enough. His sister Janice

wants to see more independent reviews of what happened in the

run-up to her parents' deaths. were very sociable people. They

used to run a tea dance for their friends. Bob and Elsie Crook were

just trying to help their son Timothy, but paid for it with their

lives. He'd moved back in with them here after being treated for a

delusional disorder in Lincoln. They didn't know how ill he was.

But he was on the radar of the two mental health trusts, and although

his sister repeatedly asked for help for years, Timothy was failed

by both, according to today's report - the latest in a long list.

It was devastating. They were such a big part of our family. Every

town there was a birthday, a celebration, a Christmas, they were

there. We'll never get over what happened. The thing that's been

most damaging is what's happening now. They deserve the truth. We're

not getting the truth. It hasn't gone far enough. There are too many

discrepancies within the reports. Where do you go now? I don't know.

I honestly don't know. The report says the trusts knew

Timothy presented a "significant risk to the safety of other people"

but "failed to deliver the required standard of care and treatment" and

"systematically ignored policy and This is one of the worst cases of

negligence that I have seen reported. I have already advised

the family that there may be a claim for compensation, although

their priority at a rent is the report and recognise the --

recommendations, and sing them implemented so that this cannot

happen again. The report makes 23 recommendations to the to mental

health trust. None of them will bring her parents back.

Janis left this building about an hour and a half ago in tears. She

said she hadn't had an apology from the Mental Health Trust until today.

Both of them have since apologised and offered condolences and said

they it except the report in its entirety, saying they are now

working through the recommendations. But one of the most difficult

aspect of this is that Janice repeatedly asked for help for her

and for her parents who were themselves classed as normal or

adults, and she was in effect ignored. This is a point I put to

the Avon and will chair Mental Health Partnership who worked

effectively responsible for Timothy asked -- after he moved back in

with his parents. She was absolutely right to ask for help,

and we did not hear the cries of her and her family, and that led to

a deterioration in Mr X's mental health. The report doesn't indicate

that resignation or disciplinary action is an appropriate way to

deal with this. We are talking about what we can learn as an

organisation and stop such events happening again. It is not just

this case. The mental health services are also under fire

tonight for the way they dealt with another man.

That is right, Karl James in Swindon in 2007, killed by his

schizophrenic friend Matthew Harris. That was another big report they

have been wading through here. It again says that Matthew Harris was

let down by an Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership, it talks

about the lack of management direction being a contributed

factor to Mr James's death. So, a bad day for mental health services

Police trying to find the body of the murdered farmer Kate Prout say

they're now searching a wider area. She disappeared back in 2007 but

her body has never been found. Last week her husband Adrian admitted

murder and took detectives back to the spot where he says he buried

her. Police have been searching the location, which is within woodland

on the farm where they lived, but so far they've found nothing. They

say it's a delicate and painstaking process and they're keeping Kate's

family constantly updated. A Bristol man who repeatedly

stabbed his unarmed victim in the chest has been found guilty of

murder. Stephen Vice was convicted after a three-week trial and now

faces a life sentence after he murdered Wayne Brown in Patchway in

January this year. The 25-year-old victim, who had a three-year-old

toddler, was attacked in Rodway Road and died of his injuries. Vice,

who was 21 at the time, will be A mother's been describing her

terror after a car caught fire with her baby still inside. 18-month-old

Chad was left in the car on the driveway of the family home in

Gloucestershire while his mother took his siblings inside. Moments

later she saw flames. Police are investigating reports that a man

was seen running away. The flames were as tall as me, but luckily

they were on that side of the car so I could get him out. I was

terrified, I didn't know what to do. The train operator First Great

Western is to introduce 48 more carriages to its services next year.

The extra capacity is expected to be supplied for services heading

into London to cope with passenger overcrowding. It means high-speed

trains from Bristol and Swindon will be made one carriage longer.

John Maguire is at Gloucester railway station for us now. John.

This is a problem we have known about for some time, isn't it?

Dead right. Overcrowding has been a problem on trains for many years

now, and whenever this has been raised, the company say there is

not enough rolling stock. They also say the franchises are too

restrictive. But this morning, the Secretary of State for Transport

signed off on a deal which should make transport for a large amount

of passengers a lot more comfortable.

For many commuters on First Great Western trains, regardless of their

ticket price, this is how their day starts and ends. I am paying the

equivalent of a mortgage for this, and I have to say, the morning is

bad, but the evening is worse. is a fairly stressful and very

crowded. Trains are often delayed. You're used to having to stand, so

you don't think about where the mind it will not, you almost expect

Everyone accepts there just aren't enough train carriages at peak

times, so First Great Western has struck a deal with the Government

and will introduce more than 900 new seats. So, we are in a buffet

vehicle. We will be taking those out of store. These are first class

seats will go, and at the other end of the Rea, we have -- the vehicle,

we have the buffet area, and we will remove all of this and putting

84 standard seats. 18 of our high- speed trains will each have an

additional carriage, and each carriage will have 84 seats. But

why leave it till the end of the franchise? This is the third

agreement we have made in 20 months in terms of bringing extra capacity

into the business, so we have not been resting on our laurels.

Rail passenger groups have been calling for this for years. A

overcrowding is worse than unpleasant. I often catch a train

from Swindon, and by the time it gets to Didcot, there is standing

room only. That is not a way to make people travel.

The extra carriages arrive next year just as First Great Western

bids to renew its franchise. If it loses out to someone else, then

this will become their problem. We have talked about these issues

are a lot and the last couple of weeks, not only in terms of the

train operators themselves but also Network Rail. More and more people

want to catch trains. The challenge for the industry through right all

of this is to keep up with There's been a large fire at an

historic mansion house in Somerset. Firefighters were called to the

former psychiatric hospital at Sandhill Park in Bishops Lydeard in

the early hours of this morning, but they were unable to go inside

as it was too dangerous. Ironically, the derelict building was once a

fire museum, as our chief Somerset correspondent Clinton Rogers now

reports. Firemen battle to save a grade one

listed building in Somerset. They were called here at about 3.30 this

morning, and they are in no doubt this fire was started deliberately.

This was once a grand manor house, but the building has been empty and

boarded up for more than a decade. But that hasn't stopped people

getting inside. Among other things, it is apparently a mecca for ghost

hunters. People who live nearby say the building is always being broken

into, often in the dead of night. By all accounts, it is supposed to

be one of the most wanted buildings and the country. I think it is

Facebook the kids get their details from. All the residents used to say

that one day we will wake up in the morning and see flames. When my

husband called me at 7am, it was a dramatic skyline, a glow of red.

At its height, six fire crews fought the fire. To begin with they

were hampered by a shortage of water. In the end they had to pump

it from a pond a mile and a half away. But they couldn't prevent the

flames destroying one wing and badly damaging the roof and third

floor of the main building. Over the last five years, we have had

numerous fires on this site deliberately set. We have had the

site are boarded up, and it has become unsecured again. We have

worked hard with the police and the local authorities to try to

maintain the site's security, but it has been impossible.

At one time, Sandhill Park House at Bishops Lydeard was the centre of a

600-acre private estate. After that it became a psychiatric unit for

the health authority, and for a time, ironically, it was a fire

museum. Following today's fire, the future of this historic building is

Now, it may be mild today, but this time last year we were in the midst

of a cold snap - snow on the ground, icy roads and temperatures as low

as minus 15. Today figures have been released showing the number of

deaths linked to the cold weather - 25,700 in England and Wales, just

slightly down on the year before. Already community groups here are

trying to prevent a similar picture this winter. The Somerset Community

Foundation is calling on people who can afford it to donate their

winter fuel allowance to those who need it most. It's an idea they

tested last year, and it's now being adopted across the country,

as Sarah-Jane Bungay reports. Food on the move, meals on route to

those who are housebound a cannot cook for themselves. This day

centre is one project to benefit from winter fuel cash, given back

by pensioners to those who needed more.

He intends to be the family is that express gratitude that mummy or

granny is now getting a hot meal, and they know them and getting a

visit every day. The fund for those enjoying a subsidised meal, rising

fuel costs have started to bite. They have gone up a bit! I am not

in the house very much. It is such a struggle now. Everything has gone

up, and the pension has not. What about the winter fuel allowance,

does that help you? Oh, that helps. We are in the money that week!

�56,000 was raised last winter here in Somerset alone by people who

wanted to give back the equivalent of their winter fuel allowance.

This year, the scheme has been expanded, and �30,000 has been

pledged ordinated in the first week across the West. We had lots of

letters back from people last year he wanted to help those who were

sleeping in their kitchen in the winter to keep warm. One lady had

ended up in hospital with hypothermia and could not keep her

home. -- heed her home. It is a very simple scheme. The number of

households in fuel poverty is now estimated at 4 million. Any money

donated back as part of this scheme will be used to help them keep warm,

eat well and remain mobile this winter.

Well, Ian's on the roof for us. Ian, is there any indication yet that

this winter could be as cold as the last one?

I have got to say that none of the longer range seasonal forecasts

have suggested it will be a particularly cold or mild winter,

somewhere in the average is likely. But this long-range seasonal

forecasting is very much in its infancy. We will have to see.

A aeon is back with the full forecast. First, though, teenagers

in Wiltshire have been given a hard-hitting message today about

the risks young drivers take and the devastating consequences. Every

nine days a young person is killed on roads in the South West. Today a

group of 15-year-olds heard from bereaved parents, emergency service

workers and a driver whose actions had killed his best friend. Ali

Hard hitting, shocking and realistic - this is part of the

film shown to teenagers this morning in Devizes. Although a

fictional drama of four teenagers out for the night, the accident and

detail of what happened next was utterly convincing to all who

watched it. The consequences of a young distracted driver going too

fast and a passenger not wearing a seat belt. Many left crying after

what they had seen. It was shocking and heartbreaking. It was just

dreadful seeing their parents. It brought it to life. It was really

shocking. I have never seen anything like it. I was close to

tears. It was the true accounts of local people who have been involved

in a similar situation that gave it such impact, like the parents who

have had to pick up the pieces and live with the consequences. There

is nothing worse for a parent than to have to go to a walk -- a morgue

and see their child laid out in front of them, dead. We need to

talk in a very hard hitting way that these things really do happen.

They also true-life tales from those in the emergency services.

But was the message too hard- hitting? Youngsters nowadays are so

desensitised to reality, you need a hard-hitting message for them to

understand what can really happen. It is not just the high number of

deaths causing concern. The survey shows that nearly 25% of young

adolescents get into a car with a driver knowing that they have had

drink or drugs. Over 50% said that the young driver has also broken

the speed limit, and 15% of passengers don't put on their seat

belts when they are out driving with their mates. So, the aim of

today? To catch these future drivers before it's too late, and

to give all young people the confidence to say no.

Taxi drivers in Bristol are being reminded of the guidelines for

dealing with confrontations with customers. It follows an incident

in Stokes Croft during which Muhammad Javed drove into a man and

carried him on the bonnet of his cab for more than 25 metres after a

row over a fare. The attack, which left the man with serious head

injuries, was captured on CCTV. Javed was jailed for six months at

Bristol Crown Court after admitting dangerous driving and assault

causing actual bodily harm. With the price of copper and other

metals going through the roof over the past three years, there has

been a problem with people stealing metals to sell on as scrap. Today,

police around the West took part in a day-long series of spot checks of

lorries and scrap dealers. Here's Jules Hyam.

This is one of the most sought- after things in the world of scrap

- copper. Back in early 2009 it went for around �1.50 a kilo. In

spring of this year, it was �6.50. That rise in price has seen a

corresponding rise in the number of metal thefts, and a continuing

police operation to to try and stop them across Somerset and in

Gloucestershire, too. Officers spent today checking vehicles,

checking the source of their metal cargo and checking where the metal

is heading. As well as stops like that one here on the A303, police

have also been visiting scrap metal yards. Most of them in Somerset are

signed up to a voluntary code of practice that should make it easier

to track down goods should they turn out to be stolen. Under the

code, dealers take the names and adresses of people selling them

metal, but also photo ID and, if neccessary, fingerprints. The

police in turn warn the dealer yards when they are aware of a

metal theft. Not all yards onside. Most are, it has to be said. If we

do have unusual crimes or suspect vehicles, we can feed that into the

scrapyards, and lots of time we have information coming back, in

the metal taken to the arts. the vehicles the police stopped

while we were watching had legal cargo. It is part of an ongoing

operation against metal theft. The Now, people from the St Paul's

area have been teaching one of the country's top chefs how to make

food - Bristol-style. The local cooks gave the celebrity Jamie

Oliver a few lessons, and tonight they'll appear on his national

programme about what influences our food, including Rice and Things on

Cheltenham Road. Here's Michelle Pascal with a taste.

This is the rice. And here are the things. The chef at this restaurant

on Cheltenham Road has been showing Jamie Oliver how to cook Jamaican

style. Jamaican fried chicken, a bit of steamed veg, over here we've

got some curried goat - nice, tender, very succulent, Jamaican

national dish ackee and saltfish. Their sheer devotion for food kept

them locked in a kitchen from 6am till 11pm. Actually we did about 15

different dishes together from jerk chicken to oxtail, you name it,

down to making salads and coleslaw the way we make it. Tonight Bristol

will be the highlight of a national cooking programme which shows how

Britian's rich culture has been influenced by the diversity of

foods. Watch Jamie has done is incorporated all of that with the

British spices to show us how we get these lovely food on our table

and where they are coming from. But it's not just about the cooking.

It's also about gathering and how some of Bristol's woods also

harbour culinary delights. basically showing him how close to

Bristol you could be and still finding wild ingredients. I took

him up to the other side of Ashton Court and showed him around, and we

found some wild mushrooms. These mushrooms are lovely. They smell

like aniseed. These are Puccini, and these are common puffballs.

There are a vehicle for flavour. The inspiration for a new foods

came with the ships that travelled up the Avon when Bristol was a

thriving international port. Those ships have now gone, but the legacy

of Fine Foods from around the world It is normally about this time of

day that a little taster comes into the studio, but she obviously

didn't get that memo! Things are hotting up in the kitchen, but they

are cooling down outside. Let's We could do with some of that warm

Jamaican food up here on the roof! Tonight will be the first

widespread frost of the season. It will come as a bit of a shock for

most people after the mild autumn we have had. But after a chilly

start tomorrow, it should be bright. Tomorrow we will see some air frost

and ground frost. When we talk about ground frost, we are talking

about it getting to zero Celsius or below down on the ground. But when

we talk about an air frost, we are talking about it being measured

about 4 ft above the ground. If the air temperature is zero, it will be

less than that on the ground. Overnight, we have a front building

in. The wind will fall slack, and the frost will develop widely.

Tomorrow it is a continuation of the decent day. The detail for the

rest of deceiving: It is already starting to turn chilly. You will

see the temperatures starting to tumble away progressively with each

passing hour. We will reach the coldest spell just after we get

through towards daybreak. The centre of Bristol will probably

stay at three Celsius, but you won't have to go far outside to

find temperatures at one Celsius or below. Parts of the Cotswolds will

be very cold. Hazy sunshine for the day, a beautiful afternoon, when

the breeze just starting to pick up. Temperatures will recover well

after the chilly start. Beyond that, after tonight's Frost, no further

risk of frost in the foreseeable future. We are back to a mild theme

for the rest of the working week and into the weekend. Significant

rain comes our way towards the end Ian, thank you, and given that mild

has been the theme of the weather, tonight will be a bit of a shock to