17/03/2014 BBC Points West

Good evening. Police in Gloucestershire have carried out the

first ever arrests in the county for child trafficking. Four people were

moving young people around to be moving young people around to be

sexually exploited. The crackdown is the first major operation for a new

police unit. Our Gloucestershire reporter, Steve Knibbs, was given

exclusive access to the raids. Can you come down, please? No forced

entry needed by police this morning. This was a major step in a tnique

investigation for police in Gloucestershire as arrests were

quickly made. I'm arresting you on suspicion of child traffickhng by

arranging and facilitating the travel of a child within thd UK for

the purpose of sexual explohtation. Also arrested here, a 22`ye`r`old

man on suspicion of child trafficking, sexual or indecent

assault of a child and sexu`l grooming of a child. This operation

is being run by the police's child sexual exploitation unit. It was set

up just last September and `t that time, they'd already identified over

70 children in the county who were potentially at risk. This is their

first major case and the first time that anybody in Gloucestershire has

been arrested under child trafficking legislation. After

today's operation police and social care teams visited the nine alleged

victims in this case. They're all aged between 14 and 17 and police

believe they've been trafficked between different houses in the

city. Members of the public would tend to think that it's children

that get trafficked in and out of the country and it could be either

of those. But it could also mean people that are trafficked within

the country as well. It could be as simple as a child being movdd from

one area of Gloucester to another area of Gloucester with the purpose

of committing a sexaul act `nd that could be classed as child

trafficking. A few miles aw`y, a 19`year`old man was also arrested on

suspicion of child traffickhng and child rape as well as a wom`n in her

twenties on suspicion of chhld trafficking. All four are tonight

still in custody as part of a major crackdown on child sexual

exploitation in the county. Well, earlier I spoke with Sheila

Taylor from the charity NWG which works with children and young people

who are victims of exploitation I began by asking her how big a

problem child trafficking is. We don't really know. That's part of

the issue. We have only looked at smaller elements of it, such as

group and gang associated sdxual exploitation. How wide internal

trafficking of young people is, we have no idea. We always think of it

as being people from another country, but as we saw in Steve s

report, this is very local. Most people think people being involved

in trafficking from abroad hn the more traditional sense of the word,

but what we are seeing is movement, harbouring, receiving young people,

facilitating the movement, `nd these are all acts of trafficking, and as

we get more familiar with the legislation, we will be abld to

utilise it better, and as knowledge increases we are able to spot it

better. A teacher is facing a possible jail

sentence after she admitted four allegations of sexual offences

against a teenage schoolboy from Bristol. Kelly Burgess pleaded

guilty to charges of a breach of trust with the boy who was `ged

sixteen and seventeen at thd time. Our Home Affairs Corresponddnt,

Steve Brodie, was in court. Drama teacher 26`year`old Kdlly

Ann`Marie Burgess from Newport, arrived at court to hear thd

prosecution reveal how she had betrayed her position of trtst.

North Somerset magistrates were told how the offences came to light last

year when the teacher and the boy, who cannot be named for leg`l

reasons, went to a sexual hdalth clinic. The boy admitted having a

sexual relationship with Burgess and told the clinic nurse her n`me. But

when she was questioned, thd 26`year`old gave a false nale. When

she was first arrested by the police, the teacher denied the

offences but later when the police searched her home they discovered

text messages and she changdd her mind. When detectives seized Kelly

Burgess's mobile phone, thex found a text message from the boy. Ht said,

got the police round, don't text back. Get your story straight.

Burgess, who has since left her job, told the police she didn't think she

was doing anything illegal because as far as she was concerned, he s

reached the age of consent. This evening, North Somerset Council said

that the school takes safegtarding issues very seriously and this was

an isolated incident. The school followed the correct procedtres and

has co`operated fully with the police. Granting Burgess

unconditional bail, Chair of the magistrates, Jane Corke, told the

teacher that because the offences clearly deserve higher sentdnces

than the bench can hand out, the case would be adjourned to Bristol

Crown Court for sentence. A double`decker bus has had it's

roof completely ripped off `fter it drove under a bridge in Cheltenham.

There were no passengers on board when the crash happened just after

seven o'clock this morning, and the driver escaped uninjured. An

investigation is now underw`y. A sign that sprung up besidd the

Avon Gorge in Bristol mimicking the famous Hollywood sign in Los Angeles

has gone but not before unddrgoing a rewrite. The Bristoland sign, made

out of white plastic letters, appeared beside the Portway in

January. The anonymous artist said he thought it would be a cool thing

to do. Today though, someond changed the letters to read It's Bl`nd. And

by this evening the sign had been taken down altogether by thd

National Trust. The international comedy legend

Barry Humphries, has been in Bristol this evening to receive a special

award. Barry Humphries is known to millions for performing as his

alter`ego Dame Edna Everage. But he's also a renowned actor, musical

performer and artist. Tonight he's been presented with the Slapstick

Festival Comedy Legend Award, after a performance in central Brhstol.

You can see a full interview with Barry Humphries on the Points West

Facebook page, and don't forget if you're a football fan, Late Kick Off

is on BBC One tonight at 11.25. Now, let's get the weather with Han.

Tomorrow, some places will see rain for the first time in many days Not

much, a sprinkling in places during the morning with some cloud. It

would be at breezy and placds and quite windy. Five to seven Celsius.

A lot of cloud. In the mornhng, a weak cold front which will hntroduce

some light showers drifting to the east. In the afternoon, thex move

away and things will brightdn up. It would be a pretty breezy affair

Particularly on coastal fringes 35 mph. That will take the edgd of the

temperatures. In some places, 1 or 12 degrees. A mild story through mid

week, some rain on the way by Thursday and it will turn mtch

Thursday and it will turn much cooler. We now have the

going to be Wednesday. Unsettled from there on in. More on that now

with the UK forecast. A frost free night across the whole

of the UK across the whole of the UK.