:00:12. > :00:15.Good evening and welcome to BBC Points West. Our headlines tonight:
:00:15. > :00:20.The carer who couldn't cope - he pleads guilty to the manslaughter
:00:20. > :00:23.of his wife after years of nursing her because of Alzheimer's.
:00:23. > :00:30.Questions over the safety of a flu vaccine after a Somerset boy
:00:30. > :00:34.developed a terrible sleeping disorder. It is heartbreaking to
:00:34. > :00:38.see what has happened and to know that this is his life now. He copes
:00:39. > :00:41.fantastically, but he should not have to.
:00:42. > :00:51.Just a trophy - the most magnificent stag on Exmoor ends up
:00:51. > :00:56.on a hotel wall. I am really sorry I did not do my homework but I did
:00:56. > :01:03.make it to the south pole. We make -- we catch up with
:01:03. > :01:06.Wiltshire's record-breaking schoolgirl. First tonight, an
:01:06. > :01:09.elderly man from Somerset who had been caring for his sick wife for
:01:09. > :01:11.over a decade has admitted her manslaughter. A court heard how
:01:11. > :01:14.Malcolm Beardon from Wellington "lost it" with his 78-year-old wife,
:01:14. > :01:22.Margaret, who had been suffering from dementia. This report from our
:01:22. > :01:25.Somerset correspondent, Clinton Rogers. 79 years old and charged
:01:25. > :01:28.with murder, but at Exeter Crown Court today Malcolm Beardon pleaded
:01:28. > :01:32.guilty to manslaughter and that was accepted by the prosecution. The
:01:32. > :01:35.court heard how for years he had cared for his wife, Margaret, who
:01:35. > :01:38.had been suffering from dementia - then one day in July this year he
:01:38. > :01:44.lost control and killed her at their home at Wellington in
:01:44. > :01:49.Somerset. Police went to the house after receiving a call from another
:01:49. > :01:51.member of the family. In court today the prosecution said they had
:01:51. > :02:01.considered the case carefully and agreed manslaughter was the right
:02:01. > :02:04.
:02:05. > :02:08.plea to accept. In arguing that the man should not be sent to prison,
:02:08. > :02:12.the defence team said that his family remained entirely supportive
:02:12. > :02:15.of him. They said that a suspended sentence would be the most
:02:15. > :02:20.appropriate. But the judge said that it would be exceptional for
:02:20. > :02:25.someone who had killed someone else not to go to prison. This was, he
:02:25. > :02:27.said, an extremely difficult sentencing exercise. The judge was
:02:27. > :02:30.today given a psychiatric report, supporting the idea of a suspended
:02:30. > :02:35.sentence, but nonetheless he said he wanted more information and
:02:35. > :02:38.asked for a pre-sentence probation report. Mr Beardon was released on
:02:38. > :02:42.bail and he left the court supported by his son. The judge
:02:42. > :02:44.made it clear he was considering all options and told Mr Beardon he
:02:44. > :02:54.must not assume a suspended sentence would be the outcome.
:02:54. > :03:02.Clinton Rogers, BBC Points West, Exeter.
:03:02. > :03:06.Joining me in the studio is Sian Evans from the Alzheimer's Society.
:03:06. > :03:09.What sort of pressure people under when they have a member of the
:03:09. > :03:19.family with Alzheimer's or dementia? It can be emotionally and
:03:19. > :03:19.
:03:19. > :03:23.physically demanding. It can be, for many people, at 24/7 job.
:03:23. > :03:27.about when the carer is only a year or two younger than the person with
:03:27. > :03:33.the condition? There are 600,000 people who are carers of people
:03:33. > :03:38.with dementia. That can be husbands, wives, partners or children. Many
:03:38. > :03:42.of those people are are all the people themselves and will find a
:03:42. > :03:46.role particularly demanding. They are bound to need help, so
:03:46. > :03:56.what support is there? There is support available, but not enough
:03:56. > :04:02.to help people who are caring. we need much more support for people.
:04:02. > :04:09.The Alzheimer's Society provides a range of support services tell
:04:09. > :04:13.people. How difficult is it to get it and are some family -- some
:04:13. > :04:17.families perhaps too proud to ask for help? I think it is about
:04:17. > :04:21.taking the first step towards acknowledging that, with the best
:04:21. > :04:28.will in the world, it can be very demanding caring for someone with
:04:28. > :04:31.dementia, and to ask about health. Through the Alzheimer's Society,
:04:31. > :04:37.you can be given information about a range of support and different
:04:37. > :04:47.organisations that help people who are struggling to cope. Thank you
:04:47. > :04:49.
:04:49. > :04:52.very much. An investigation by the BBC has discovered that the scene
:04:52. > :04:55.of last month's fatal crash on the M5 was already known by the
:04:55. > :04:58.authorities to be prone to fog. A report obtained by Inside Out West
:04:58. > :05:01.reveals that only last year experts recommended upgrading fog warning
:05:01. > :05:06.systems near the site, but no action was taken. Seven people died
:05:06. > :05:09.in the crash and dozens more were injured. Alice Bouverie reports.
:05:09. > :05:14.Five weeks on from the terrible events of the 4th November and the
:05:14. > :05:18.investigation into why it happened continues. Afterwards, the police
:05:18. > :05:21.were quick to talk about smoke from a near by fireworks display as a
:05:21. > :05:27.possible cause. But some witnesses say what they drove into that night
:05:27. > :05:30.wasn't smoke but fog. And the BBC's Inside Out West programme has
:05:30. > :05:33.discovered a report which reveals the authorities knew fog was an
:05:33. > :05:35.ongoing problem on the M5, and that the area north of junction 25 was
:05:35. > :05:38.particularly dangerous. Commissioned by the Highways Agency
:05:38. > :05:47.last year, the report recommended upgrading the existing fog warning
:05:47. > :05:52.system, but nothing was done. There are signs there, but they can only
:05:52. > :05:55.be activated by staff at the Highways Agency Control Centre. And
:05:55. > :05:59.they rely on someone like the police phoning in to alert them
:05:59. > :06:03.about the existence of fog. There were no such reports on the night
:06:03. > :06:13.of the crash, so the signs were not on. But roadside fog sensors which
:06:13. > :06:15.
:06:15. > :06:20.automatically trigger warning signs do exist elsewhere. The fog is so
:06:20. > :06:24.unexpected that you cannot give this job to a human being, as far
:06:24. > :06:27.as we think. A system like this is already in place on the M25, and
:06:27. > :06:30.has recently been installed on motorways in the north-west as well.
:06:30. > :06:33.But when the Highways Agency was asked whether there were any plans
:06:33. > :06:36.to upgrade fog detection on the M5, they said no. They said they would
:06:36. > :06:46.only look at safety improvements once the results of the police
:06:46. > :06:50.
:06:50. > :06:54.investigation were known. I do not know about fog but it is certainly
:06:54. > :06:57.pouring with rain outside and there are storms on their way. Hundreds
:06:57. > :07:00.of families who lost their homes to the floods in Gloucester four years
:07:00. > :07:03.ago can sleep easier in their beds tonight after a new flood relief
:07:03. > :07:07.scheme opened up in the city. 350 homes around Longlevens were among
:07:07. > :07:09.the worst hit back in 2007, but now a gigantic reservoir has been dug
:07:09. > :07:12.to hold back the flood water. Our Gloucestershire reporter, Steve
:07:12. > :07:22.Knibbs, has gone back to Longlevens, where many homes were flooded twice
:07:22. > :07:31.
:07:31. > :07:37.in the same year. This area came to symbolise the
:07:37. > :07:40.human tragedy of the floods back then. It was the worst of times.
:07:40. > :07:43.When the Horsbere Brook Rockets banks in the summer of 2007, it
:07:43. > :07:52.left hundreds of families homeless, many for the second time in a
:07:52. > :07:56.matter of weeks. Out of that tragedy did come some good because
:07:56. > :08:06.at the community became closer. A Flood committee was formed. Four
:08:06. > :08:14.
:08:14. > :08:17.years on, that persistence has So today a new dawn - this massive
:08:17. > :08:19.reservoir, capable of holding nearly 40 million gallons of water,
:08:19. > :08:29.will instead fill with floodwater that once would have swept through
:08:29. > :08:33.
:08:33. > :08:38.people's homes. There were some of those properties that had a 30%
:08:38. > :08:42.annual probability of flooding. We have reduced that to less than 1%,
:08:42. > :08:45.so it is a significant reduction. For those that were flooded it will
:08:45. > :08:48.bring peace of mind, cheaper insurance and better house prices.
:08:48. > :08:51.But it is also a sign of a community that stood up to be
:08:51. > :08:58.counted. The local flood committee were unrelenting in their campaign
:08:58. > :09:03.for better defences, sometimes in the face of adversity. We did make
:09:03. > :09:08.son Mehmet -- some enemies in being high profile. I believe that there
:09:08. > :09:13.had we not shouted loudly we would not be standing here today. So I am
:09:13. > :09:17.really proud that we stuck it out, despite some people who did not
:09:17. > :09:20.want us to speak. I hope that the proof is in the pudding and they
:09:20. > :09:25.will know that they have homes that are better protected because we
:09:25. > :09:28.have relentlessly kept on. And it was the work of the committee that
:09:28. > :09:32.is now being seen as an example of how other similar campaigns can
:09:32. > :09:40.work across the UK. The aspect of how the community have worked with
:09:40. > :09:44.other agencies to make an entirely virtuous, co-ordinated approach to
:09:44. > :09:49.achieve something which we see today, that is to everybody's
:09:49. > :09:53.credit. We want to make sure that, across the country, people are
:09:53. > :09:56.learning from experiences such as this. As 2007 showed, no one can
:09:56. > :09:59.predict how Mother Nature will act, but there is hope in this area of
:09:59. > :10:07.Gloucester at least that the anxiety that accompanied even the
:10:07. > :10:14.briefest of showers has been taken away. It was weather like this back
:10:14. > :10:20.in 2007. It causes anxiety for the residents you. Vicky is the chair
:10:20. > :10:27.of the Flood committee. You were on tenterhooks normally when you saw
:10:27. > :10:35.weather like this? Yes, very worried. I am a lot more at ease
:10:35. > :10:43.today, still wet, but a lot more at ease. We can sleep easily at night
:10:43. > :10:53.again. We have been eased a bet by the things that have been done. It
:10:53. > :10:55.
:10:55. > :10:58.hit -- a bet. We had a lot of criticism because
:10:58. > :11:06.we shouted but, at the end of the day, without it nothing would have
:11:06. > :11:12.been done. Good to see you again. At as if to prove that the rain is
:11:12. > :11:15.not enough, the irony is that Thames Water were driving this van
:11:16. > :11:19.around today asking people to be careful with the amount of water
:11:19. > :11:26.they were using because there has not been enough rain and they were
:11:26. > :11:30.worried about a drought next year. Thanks, Steve. Well, pretty damp
:11:30. > :11:37.there in Gloucester. Ian, how is it looking for the rest of the night,
:11:37. > :11:41.and indeed the rest of the week? All of us will see a good deal of
:11:41. > :11:45.rain through the course of this evening. The weather is becoming
:11:45. > :11:50.unsettled. There will be strengthening winds through the
:11:50. > :11:59.night, increasing rain. It will be showery tomorrow, some of them
:11:59. > :12:06.wintry. There is a flood alert out over X Moore. There are concerns on
:12:06. > :12:13.Thursday and Friday about this area of low pressure. We could get heavy
:12:13. > :12:23.winds but, there is a lot of uncertainty. It will be a windy
:12:23. > :12:28.
:12:28. > :12:31.week, all wet and with snow at times. -- a windy week, wet.
:12:31. > :12:35.Overcrowding on local trains in and out of Bristol shouldn't be as bad
:12:35. > :12:38.this Christmas. First Great Western says it is adding six extra
:12:38. > :12:40.carriages to more than 20 services, providing an extra 800 seats.
:12:40. > :12:43.Passengers heading to and from Yate, Weston-super-Mare, Severn Beach and
:12:43. > :12:50.Weymouth should notice a difference. Next year another 48 carriages will
:12:50. > :12:53.be added to trains across the network.
:12:53. > :12:56.The parents of a six-year-old boy from Somerset say the swine flu
:12:56. > :13:02.vaccine has caused their son to develop a rare but devastating
:13:02. > :13:05.sleep disorder. A million children in this country have been given the
:13:05. > :13:07.Pandemrix jab, which is no longer used. But, as our health
:13:07. > :13:16.correspondent, Matthew Hill, reports, questions are now being
:13:16. > :13:22.asked about whether the vaccine should have been withdrawn earlier.
:13:22. > :13:25.Six-year-old Josh has a very rare condition that means he cannot
:13:25. > :13:30.regulate his speech -- sleep patterns. His narcolepsy came on
:13:30. > :13:35.just after he was vaccinated against swine flu in January 2010.
:13:35. > :13:40.He has also been diagnosed with an associated condition which makes
:13:40. > :13:44.his muscles collapse when he laughs. It is heartbreaking to see what has
:13:44. > :13:50.happened and to know that this is his life now. He copes
:13:50. > :13:54.fantastically, but he should not have to. From the start of the
:13:55. > :14:03.pandemic, Pandemrix was offered to all under-fives and was eventually
:14:03. > :14:07.given to almost one million children in the UK. There is
:14:07. > :14:13.evidence from Finland that the vaccine may have something to do
:14:13. > :14:17.with George's illness. Sleep experts started not seen cases of
:14:17. > :14:22.narcolepsy -- noticing cases of narcolepsy here in the spring of
:14:22. > :14:31.2010. This expert raised the alarm after he Allsop observed that the
:14:31. > :14:38.symptoms were more severe. We have had one child less than nine years
:14:38. > :14:44.of age diagnosed before 2010. By June I had five.
:14:44. > :14:48.More cases of childhood narcolepsy then came to light. In 2010,
:14:48. > :14:53.Fenland withdrew Pandemrix and informed the European regulator and
:14:53. > :14:56.the British government. I think our responsibility was to come out with
:14:56. > :15:01.these results come of whether or not you report the manufacturer
:15:01. > :15:04.liked them. This woman from Liverpool was not
:15:04. > :15:10.happy that she was not told about these concerns about the vaccine
:15:10. > :15:16.before she allowed her son to be given Pandemrix earlier this year.
:15:16. > :15:23.8-year-old Lucas developed the condition within eight weeks.
:15:23. > :15:27.has left him with a disability for the rest of his live for us up the
:15:27. > :15:31.vaccine's manufacturers do not think there is a link between
:15:31. > :15:35.Pandemrix and narcolepsy. At the end of the day, patient
:15:35. > :15:40.safety is of the utmost importance to us and we would never put out a
:15:40. > :15:48.drug or leave it out there if we believed that it actually was a
:15:48. > :15:58.risk. The Department of Health risk. The Department of Health
:15:58. > :15:59.
:15:59. > :16:04.would not comment but the watchdog Caroline believes that many other
:16:04. > :16:08.families could be suffering in ignorance and silence. And Matthew
:16:08. > :16:11.joins us in the studio. Matthew, the advice during the swine flu
:16:11. > :16:16.outbreak was very clear - that high risk groups should be vaccinated -
:16:16. > :16:23.and all children under five were offered the jab.
:16:23. > :16:27.And that was based on good evidence. There were signs from Australia
:16:27. > :16:31.that this was a serious buyer is that could be fatal of caused
:16:31. > :16:38.lifelong complications. What happens now for families to
:16:38. > :16:43.have been affected? -- who have been affected?
:16:43. > :16:51.Part of the problem is that there is research going on at all the
:16:51. > :16:54.sleep centres, including the one at Bristol, and researchers are flat -
:16:54. > :17:00.- getting in touch defined if they have cases of narcolepsy.
:17:00. > :17:07.It is time for the normal flu jab. What is the advice there?
:17:07. > :17:12.Absolutely it needs to be given to those people who are at risk.
:17:12. > :17:22.Influenza is a serious illness and people can be hospitalised if they
:17:22. > :17:25.
:17:25. > :17:29.are not treated. The NHS is giving out its annual
:17:29. > :17:33.message not to clog up accident and emergency departments with minor
:17:33. > :17:37.ailments during Christmas. Yes, that was the advice that is
:17:37. > :17:43.being given today. From a GP perspective, our services
:17:43. > :17:50.are available day and night. You can call NHS Direct or neuron
:17:50. > :17:53.surgery. There are walk-in centres. There are lots of options for
:17:53. > :18:03.people and the first choice is not the emergency department and really
:18:03. > :18:06.
:18:06. > :18:08.a -- unless it really is an emergency.
:18:08. > :18:12.You may remember the Emperor of Exmoor, a mighty nine-foot-tall
:18:12. > :18:16.stag who was shot dead in October last year. His body was never found,
:18:16. > :18:19.so his death became a bit of a mystery. But now the head of a stag
:18:19. > :18:22.has been mounted on the wall of a hotel near Exmoor, and many locals
:18:22. > :18:25.are convinced it's him. Here is Liz Beacon.
:18:25. > :18:31.Renowned and respected for his antlers and his height, this
:18:31. > :18:41.magnificent beast is captured in the wild. Quite a contrast to his
:18:41. > :18:41.
:18:41. > :18:45.new home here, if indeed it is him. The story that it might be the
:18:45. > :18:50.emperor has come from various shooting parties who have joked
:18:50. > :18:53.about it and asked me if it was the Emperor. The Emperor boasted 14
:18:53. > :18:59.points on his antlers, for that alone he'd always risk becoming a
:18:59. > :19:06.trophy. But the hotel's owner claims he is still admired. We are
:19:07. > :19:12.in the midst of hunting country here, and many of the hotels and
:19:12. > :19:15.pubs in the locality have this kind of thing on the wall. For others,
:19:15. > :19:17.seeing a stag like this is less impressive. Photographer Richard
:19:17. > :19:26.Austin spent years tracking the Emperor and is 95% convinced this
:19:26. > :19:36.is him. I grew to like him a lot. It was not just the antlers, it was
:19:36. > :19:38.
:19:38. > :19:43.his body. He had all the things he needed to fight other stags. And
:19:43. > :19:47.the way he strutted across the field as if he knew I was there, it
:19:47. > :19:52.was like he was strutting for me and telling me to back off. I would
:19:52. > :19:55.not have gone the way it -- anywhere near him, I can tell you!
:19:55. > :20:03.As word spreads, Claire says she has had to deal with a number of
:20:03. > :20:06.threatening phone calls. So today she made the decision to take the
:20:06. > :20:10.stag down for a while, as the mystery of the Emperor's fate
:20:10. > :20:13.continues to unravel. Liz Beacon, BBC Points West.
:20:13. > :20:16.Judd Trump, the young snooker player from Bristol, is �100,000
:20:16. > :20:19.richer today after the most important win of his career so far.
:20:19. > :20:23.Remember him? We first filmed him when he was nine, but last night he
:20:23. > :20:27.came of age as he beat Mark Allen in a thrilling final in the UK
:20:27. > :20:35.Championships. David Passmore was there to watch the celebrations
:20:35. > :20:37.commence. It was very much a family affair -
:20:37. > :20:42.Mum, Dad, brother Jack and numerous friends, although at first they
:20:42. > :20:46.barely got a look-in among the fans keen for a picture. They've always
:20:46. > :20:56.known he could win a major title, now, at just 22, Judd Trump has
:20:56. > :20:58.
:20:58. > :21:00.proved it. Here comes Judd Trump! seven-frame run with some
:21:00. > :21:04.characteristic bold potting put him characteristic bold potting put him
:21:04. > :21:07.in a commanding position. A strong fight back from Mark Allen gave the
:21:08. > :21:17.family watching in the gallery some very nervous times. But then the
:21:18. > :21:18.
:21:18. > :21:28.moment they had been waiting for. Judd Trump must be absolutely
:21:28. > :21:28.
:21:28. > :21:32.delighted. I was really feeling it for him.
:21:32. > :21:36.was all right until Mark Allen started to pull it back a bit. Then
:21:36. > :21:45.we all began to feel it. We were glad he got over the line in the
:21:45. > :21:55.end. It was agony. It was not nice. I just wanted to get over the line,
:21:55. > :21:55.
:21:55. > :22:02.and it was tough. Well done. Yeah, it was nerve-racking. It was
:22:02. > :22:05.probably the best snooker he has It is a remarkable achievement.
:22:05. > :22:08.Snooker needs a new exciting figurehead as much as he wants
:22:08. > :22:12.success. And it's hard to think that, with the backing of his team,
:22:12. > :22:16.he won't go on to win many more titles. Some think it will be as
:22:16. > :22:18.early as next April. But, for now, a chance to relax with his family,
:22:18. > :22:28.continue tweeting, consider which car to buy next, and which presents
:22:28. > :22:38.
:22:38. > :22:43.to buy from his �100,000 pay-day. What wonderfully tough choices!
:22:43. > :22:53.16-year-old Amelia Templeman Adams has returned home. She spent three
:22:53. > :22:54.
:22:54. > :22:57.weeks skiing across Antarctica. She's arrived on dried fruit that
:22:57. > :23:00.she dragged along with her. We went to meet her.
:23:01. > :23:05.Delighted but clearly exhausted, and nearly a return former record-
:23:05. > :23:08.breaker. At 16, she is the youngest person ever to ski to the south
:23:09. > :23:16.pole. We are all really tired and it just felt really amazing to
:23:16. > :23:19.reach it. We're all really happy. She trained for the cold by
:23:19. > :23:23.slipping in an industrial freezer, but an Tata cat threw up its on
:23:23. > :23:28.surprises. We were really lucky with the weather and had blue skies
:23:28. > :23:31.most days. At one point might we had a white-out, so we could not
:23:31. > :23:37.see anything for most of the morning, but it cleared up in the
:23:37. > :23:42.afternoon. We kept going at a slower pace. We wanted to keep our
:23:42. > :23:50.mileage up to stay on track. Over 17 days she has pulled tents
:23:50. > :23:59.and supplies to reach the polls, and all of that on no sleep.
:23:59. > :24:02.worst things were my dad and the tent, snoring all around me. It is
:24:02. > :24:07.sunshine all the time so it is really hard to slip its up she was
:24:07. > :24:12.in a tent with five people and she was the youngest by nearly 30 years.
:24:12. > :24:15.Unfortunately, all of us snore so there were one or two days where
:24:15. > :24:19.she got up and the morning and it was a struggle to wake her up
:24:19. > :24:25.because she had about one hour of slip a all night. As soon as I
:24:25. > :24:30.stopped someone else would start. She found that difficult. Amelia
:24:30. > :24:34.had written on line about missing her friends and stun brownies.
:24:34. > :24:42.Congratulations, some stun brownies. It was the least we could do for
:24:42. > :24:49.all of her efforts! 16-year-old son not meant to be
:24:49. > :24:54.easy to wake up, especially after an hour of sleep!
:24:54. > :25:04.I spent the weekend shopping with my daughter - equally hazardous, I
:25:04. > :25:05.
:25:05. > :25:09.would say! There is no uncertainty over the
:25:09. > :25:15.next 24 hours - a windy spell of weather and a wet one. Some of you
:25:15. > :25:20.will start to see snow showers appearing. This Atlantic storm is
:25:20. > :25:26.moving its way up to the north of the British Isles. It will be
:25:26. > :25:36.pretty chilly tomorrow. Towards the tail-end of the week there is some
:25:36. > :25:43.uncertain let -- uncertainty. We could have storm-force winds across
:25:43. > :25:53.the southern part of England. A band of heavy rain is sweeping its
:25:53. > :25:55.
:25:55. > :26:05.way eastwards as I speak. We will start to see a wintry element
:26:05. > :26:09.
:26:09. > :26:14.tomorrow. Heavy rain concerns as for the moment. -- concerns us.
:26:14. > :26:17.Through the rest of this evening, that band of rain continues into
:26:17. > :26:21.Wiltshire and East Gloucestershire. By around midnight I think the
:26:21. > :26:31.tail-end of it will just be clearing out of Wiltshiire. Behind
:26:31. > :26:41.that some further heavy showers. It will be gusty with wind of perhaps
:26:41. > :26:56.
:26:56. > :27:04.65 mph. It begins with strong wind tomorrow. We will start to see some
:27:04. > :27:14.accumulations of snow at higher levels. It may reach lower levels
:27:14. > :27:14.
:27:14. > :27:21.later. Things continue with the snow levels of between one