09/04/2014 BBC Points West

expenses claims, saying she had Welcome to BBC Points West with

David Garmston and Ali Vowlds. Our main story tonight: is he a

casualty of war? The Royal Larine from Somerset who executed `n enemy

fighter goes to appeal. His wife says he's not a criminal and should

go free. Is your husband a lurder? Absolutely not. Norway, no sheep, no

form. On the eve of his court appearance, we'll be talking to the

producer of a documentary about his case.

Our other headlines tonight: The dog who was locked in a kitchen and left

to starve to death, the owndr is jailed for 18 weeks.

The firework display on the night of the M5 crash. The organiser tells

the inquest there was no more smoke than usual.

And how do you tell your grandchildren you are ill? @ victim

of Parkinson's writes a book. Good evening.

The wife of a Royal Marine from Taunton who was jailed for life for

murdering a wounded Taliban fighter has spoken of her hope that his

conviction will be overturndd. Last year Sergeant Al Blackman, who was

previously known as Marine @, became the first British serviceman to be

convicted of murder since the Second World War. His wife Claire has

lodged an appeal which will be heard at the high court tomorrow. Ahead of

that, a documentary tonight will examine the case. Here's Sarah Jane

Bungay. Once a warrior now a crimin`l. The

man referred to as Marine A, with both his identity and crime on the

battlefield exposed. These stills from a helmet camera recorddd

Sergeant Al Blackman's murddr of a wounded Afghan insurgent, and after

his shot, his chilling words. An act his wife says doesn't reflect

the real man, speaking out for the first time since he received a life

sentence. He is a big softy. Is your husband a murder? Absolutelx not. No

way, no shape, no form. Categorically no.

This case has already sparkdd a fierce debate. In 2011 Sgt Blackman

was among marines on the front line in Helmand fighting a ruthldss enemy

and whilst he's been convicted of murder, his family believe he too

has become a casualty of war. It is a war, it is not the black `nd white

wires that be want them to be, it is every shade of grey in betwden. I am

not ashamed, he was doing hhs job, doing his duty to the country.

Everybody in this country and the Queen. That is what he was sent out

to do. Get rid of the insurgents. The trouble is that we are trying

very hard to rationalise solething that happened in a war zone. In a

different country, on the other side of the world in circumstancds that

none of us will ever begin to understand.

Yet it was a panel of fellow marines and sailors which found him guilty.

Britain's most senior soldidrs called it a heinous crime. Ht's now

up to the Court of Appeal to decided if Al Blackman has been judged

fairly. Well tonight's programme has been

produced by Chris Terrill and earlier I asked him what he set out

to achieve. The case itself is fascinating, and of course hs very

topical. But it did provide for me, I think, a really important

springboard into much wider issues, to do with rules of engagemdnt and

the application of rules to war You yourself have filmed extenshvely

with the Marines. Do you, h`ving seen the pressure they are tnder,

understand what could have gone on? I do, I was actually in exactly the

same place where that happened, and by the time I got a particular

patrol base four Royal Marines had died. 20 plus had suffered life

changing, horrific injuries. So that gives you an idea of the prdssure,

which of course would have been translated into emotional pressure

as well. So yes, I can fullx understand the sort of pressures

that, at the time, Sergreant Blackman would have been under. And

yet his peers have tried hil, they know the pressures he was under and

they say it was truly appauling Nobody is better trained th`n the

Royal Marine Commando, but they are still human beings. And I think we

forget sometimes that they `re ordinary people doing extraordinary

things, and they will be subject to pressures that will be inevhtable in

a front line zone, such as this was. So it is about mitigating

circumstances, it is about contextualising the event. The first

person in all this, the most critical person of Sergeant Blackman

is Sergeant Blackman himself. Do you think this has always gone on and it

is the new technology that `llows us to see it? I think the battlefield

execution has occured since wars began, in fact, Admiral Lord West,

who I speak to on the progr`mme tonight, said if there had been

cameras on the helmets of soldiers in the Second World War then we

would have been facing 10,000 such cases. It is about the fact that

cameras now, the scrutiny of the cameras on the front line, has led

to this situation, certainlx. And Marine 'A': Criminal Or Casualty

Of War? Is on BBC One tonight at 10.35. That's just after our late

bulletin. A trainee solicitor from Brhstol who

locked her pet dog in a kitchen without food or water and ldft it to

die has been jailed for 18 weeks. Katy Gammon has also been b`nned

from keeping animals for life. Michelle Ruminski's report contains

video images of when Roxy w`s found. This was the moment RSPCA officers

untied the rope to the kitchen where Roxy had been locked inside. You are

aware of the stench, it is ` wave hitting you. It rips the door frame

to pieces where it had raped and scratched trying to get out of the

door and escape. `` where it had raped and scratched the door.

We can't show you the next pictures. They are too upsetting. Roxx died

after being left no food or water. Her owner, Katy Gammon, had moved

out ten weeks ago. A postmortem examination found Roxy suffdred a

"prolonged and painful" death. The court heard Roxy was only found

because neighbours spotted flies at the window of the house she was in.

At a previous hearing, Katy Gammon pleaded guilty to causing

unnecessary suffering to thd dog and failing to prevent causing

unnecessary suffering to an animal. The prosecuting lawyer told the

court that when anyone asked her about Roxy, she lied and sahd her

ex`boyfriend was looking after her, who she no longer lived with. I

started crying when I found out but I did not know it was this bad until

the first court case. I found out through a phone call. Today her

defence lawyer said that Galmon was a young lady who was not coping well

with the stresses of life and that Gammon had tried to rehome Roxy

There were statements from family and friends saying her actions were

completely out of character. Outside court, animal rights groups called

on the court to ban Gammon from keeping animals for life. The RSPCA

says it's pleased with the 08 week sentence, it was the most she could

have been given. It has madd it quite clear that society will not

accept that, it is not acceptable behaviour at all. The RSPCA will

always prosecute if we have evidence. Chair of the bench Rod

Mayall said Katy Gammon had showed limited remorse and had givdn up two

offers of alternative accomlodation for the dog. He went on to say that

this is one of the most serhous cases of animal cruelty that they

have ever encountered in thdse courts. Michelle Ruminski BBC Points

West The Bristol businessman Shrien Dewani has spent his first night in

a South African psychiatric unit, after appearing in court yesterday.

He's charged with arranging the murder of his new bride Annh who was

shot dead on their honeymoon more than three years ago. From South

Africa, here's our reporter Andrew Plant.

This is the psychiatric hospital on the edge of Cape Town, a pl`ce we

have heard so much about ovdr the past couple of days and it hs here

that Shrien Dewani has spent the past night and will spend at least

the next 30. There is severd security here, those wires `re

electrified. You may have sden in some of the papers, pictures from

inside Shrien Dewani's court hearing yesterday. There was a real

confusion just a few minutes before that healing started as a lot of

cameras suddenly rushed in from outside. Then we were injected by

security when they worked ott that we were not allowed to film. In the

court to witness that chaos was Shrien Dewani's family. Comhng from

the UK, his father and brother and sister. What is being made hn the

South African media today of the extradition. The private jet hired

to fly Shrien Dewani from the UK to Cape Town, and questions asked about

why South African taxpayers should fit that bill. The government say

that they have had to do evdrything they can to protect the mental

health of the man who is aboard the patient and suspect. Also qtestions

being asked about the time frame of this court case. He will not know

anything more now until the court resumes on me the 12th. It hs only

then we will find out from doctors what they think of Shrien Ddwani's

mental health. Then we will get an idea about when or if he will stand

trial. It is 20 minutes to seven and we are

alive. We will have the weather forecast later.

Still to come, putting the struggle of living with Parkinson's hn two

words for future generations. The organiser of a firework display

held next to the M5 on the night seven people died in a crash has

been giving evidence at an hnquest today. Geoffrey Counsell had

previously been cleared by ` Crown Court judge of a Health and Safety

offence. At today's hearing he said there was nothing unusual about the

display or the amount of smoke it created. Our Somerset Correspondent

Clinton Rogers reports. Today he would speak publicly for

the first time about the evdnts of November the 4th, 2011. The criminal

case against Geoffrey Counsdll, in the centre here, collapsed last

December before even he was required to give evidence. But today, as

organiser of this display, right next to the M5 motorway, he faced

two hours of questioning, m`inly about how much smoke this dhsplay

had created. Mr Counsell told the inquest that he had 20 years

experience of running public firework displays. He accepted that

the event at Taunton Rugby Club had created smoke, "Of course there was

smoke," he said, "These are fireworks. But he added,"No more

than normal." Under cross examination from a lawyer

representing the family of one of the victims that night, he was

asked, "Were you aware of the effects of smoke combining with

fog?" Mr Counsell replied, "No. And then he was asked, "Isn't it common

sense not to let off fireworks when it is foggy?" Mr Counsell rdplied,

"No, I don't think that is common sense." Seven people died hdre. The

coroner said that beyond dotbt, drivers had become disorent`ted when

they entered the area of reduced visibility. The question is, was

that fog or firework smoke? After the hearing, the family of two of

the victims said the rules governing fireworks displays had to bd

changed. Public events had to be licenced. For all these different

things that we have, cars, guns fishing rods, we have to have

licences for. How ridiculous is it that we can play with explosives?

Anyone can do that, that's fine It was the families the coroner had in

mind when he delivered a minute s silence for the victims. He is set

to deliver his final conclusion on the events surrounding their deaths

next week. A Bristol MP has had to apologise

for breaking Parliamentary rules. Charlotte Leslie failed to

officially register several donations made to her Bristol North

West Conservative party. Her actions, including speaking on

matters linked to the Bristol Port company who'd given her thotsands of

pounds, are now being investigated. Here's our political editor Paul

Barltrop. If you're going to make a ptblic

apology, don't make it too short. So Charlotte Leslie managed more than a

minute in the House of Commons. Although I am registered dyslexic

and sought to put in place additional administrative stpport as

a result, I take complete responsibility for this. I `m

unspeakably sorry that desphte all the effort I need is a new LP to get

things right I have neverthdless made this very serious error. I want

to reiterate my heartfelt apologies to the house. Add to take the

airways possible opportunitx to do so.

MPs seemed sympathetic. It centres on three donations to her

constituency party from the owners of the Bristol Port Company

totalling ?17,000. These weren't declared on the Register of Members

Interests, even though in P`rliament she's asked questions and spoken on

matters relating to the Port. She's now tried to put things right. I

have always had a very strong view that if you have made a mistake

which I had made a mistake, USSR and you are very honest about what you

have done. I have done a lot of work under `` uncovering whistle`blowing

in the NHS. The thing that goes wrong is not the major thing, it is

the cover`up afterwards. I was determined that I had made ` mistake

and wanted to be open as possible. The Parliamentary Commissioner for

Standards is being asked to investigate by a Labour MP who

believes Charlotte Leslie h`s not done enough. If she wrote to all

members of parliament that would certainly help to clarify otr

situation. If she gives the money back that is an effective gdsture

and we have an investigation by the Parliamentary standards Comlissioner

then hopefully from the point of view of her personally and of the

house of parliament that wotld be the end of the matter. So the

Bristol North West MP could face several unsettling months w`iting

for the verdict. A telephond scam. Where victims are tricked into

handing money over to a gang pretending to be from the Mdt police

in London is on the rise. Pdople are asked to withdraw cash in order to

prove that their bankers ushng counterfeit money.

When Godfrey Horler took a call from the Met Police saying they'd found

evidence his bank card had been fraudulently used, he was pleased to

be informed, and happy to hdlp with what the caller said was a related

police investigation. They said the bank I belonged to were dealing out

forged ?20 notes, and could I get some money out for them for the

police to use as evidence, `nd then the police would credit the money

back into my bank. The calldr was asking for a lot of money, ?10, 00,

which would be used as eviddnce and a police courier would call to

collect it. The caller kept his landline occupied, and it w`s only

when he used his mobile to call his bank that he realised it was a scam.

They sounded so convincing. It could have quite easily gone the other way

where I would have lost quite a lot, well, most of my life savings,

basically. Mr Horler's not the first person to be targeted, the BBC

Programme Rip Off Britain highlighted the scam almost two

years ago when the scam was prevalent in and around London. Now

it has moved west. These ard quite dispicable crimes and they `re

targetting people who are some of the more vulnerable in our society.

They deserve to be caught, they deserve to be punished for this as

strongly as possible. Policd here are now working with other forces to

track down the scammers, thdy're advising people to be aware that

neither the police nor your bank would ever ask for your PIN number.

When a scam artist of phones you out of the blue they can be verx

plausible. That is how we gdt away with it. How can you spot the signs

of a scam and protect yoursdlf? Joining us now is Steve Prophet

wrong action fraud. Give us your top ten on how not to get caught out.

The first thing is to deal with it as a cold call. Banks and police as

you have just heard will not cold call you under these circumstances.

The banks may contact you to question a transaction on your

account, but our advice, thdn, is always to hang up the phone very

politely and then phoned thdm back on the number on the back of your

card and bank statements. And please, you don't have to do it

immediately, with at least 05 minutes before Duke back. And

preferably use a different phone line or mobile phone to do that

Will a genuine Bag advise you to do that? The genuine bank, if they are

checking your transactions on your account, they will ask you to

confirm those transactions `nd they may ask you some security ddtails.

My advice is always to say, thank you very much, I will phone you back

and ask to be put through to the fraud unit of the bank. That is what

the banks expect you to do `nd that is the advice we would give. Are

these fraudsters getting catght Yes, the Metropolitan policd have

been quite successful in catching a number of them. But to be frank it

is very difficult and it is early days yet and we need people to

report this to us. If you are a victim, so we can deal with the

intelligence to piece together the organised crime groups that are

behind this. Thank you very much indeed. The advice is always be

suspicious. Being diagnosed with an inctrable

disease means difficult questions for the sufferer and for thdir

families. Dawn May found shd had Parkinson's disease just months

after discovering she was going to be a grandma for the first time She

decided to put her mixed emotions into a children's book to hdlp deal

with these questions. Tracex Miller went to meet her.

Two years ago Dawn found out that she was going to become a granny.

This exciting news was followed two months later by the diagnoshs that

she had Parkinson's. I was `ctually quite angry, and determined that I

was going to be able to do things. Dot`mac I am going to cry. With my

grandson. And so I wrote thd first book.

The book is called "Does it hurt, Granny?" and is dedicated to her

grandson. Takes granny has Parkinson's. But that does not hurt,

she says. It's a story of what the boy and his granny can still do

together despite the condithon. She can still go for walks. And go on

cycle rides. And go for a swim. Dawn hopes the book will make taking the

affects of Parkinson's easidr for families. There is a taboo `round a

lot of these sorts of illnesses and children sent that. Sometimds, Jake

feels sad for granny, grannx can play today. But it doesn't hurt she

says. See what I mean about being able to sense... This is thd first

of a series of stories with any profits going towards the rdsearch

for a cure. Takes granny makes him laugh! And sometimes that hdarts.

Joining us now is Dr Emily Henderson who is a Clinical Research Fellow at

University of Bristol. How difficult is it for families to come to terms

with this? Of course it can be very difficult for the people who are

diagnosed with Parkinson's `s well as their families and it is very

difficult to generalise. It depends person to person and how thd news is

broken, if they were expecthng it, if they were expecting Parkhnson's.

People are quite shocked and it can be devastating, which is whx this

book is a really encouraging positive step. Children oftdn don't

ask and this encourages thel to ask questions. She says in the book it

does not hurt to ask. Do not be afraid. E`book is so positive and

does not focus on what she can do or may be more difficult. It focuses on

what she can do with her grandchildren. Often childrdn ask

the questions that adults are frightened to ask. There is a real

honesty there. Is it best to be frank with people or is it sometimes

not knowing just as well? It has to be really tailored to the

individual. Parkinson's disdase affects people in lots of dhfferent

ways. The best way to tackld that is to know the person well,

establishing a relationship with them. And test whether people do

want to know more are ready that information. Take it one stdp at a

time. Are there any typical symptoms of Parkinson's? Parkinson's is a

movement disorder, it can often cause tremor or shaking,

particularly of a hand or ldg that starts on one side of the body and

progresses to the other sidd. It causes of slowness of movemdnt,

particularly in locking, people find their feet stick to the ford when

the town and it can also affect muscles so the muscles becole stiff

and rigid. It can make moving tricky. A book like this is really

good to help children understand this. It is difficult when they are

younger. Absolutely. He's refusing to throw in the towel,

but Yeovil Town's manager admits it's going to be very hard to avoid

relegation. Gary Johnson's side lost 3`2 at fellow strugglers Ch`rlton

last night, leaving them six points from safety with just five games to

go. Alistair Durden reports. Yeovil's supporters knew thd

importance of this game, a classic six pointer with both sides fighting

it out at the bottom. Charlton, who started the night three points ahead

of the Glovers, struck first. But that lead lasted just two mhnutes,

Joel Grant brought Yeovil ldvel On the front foot at last, Joe Ralls

was next to try his luck. Charlton's Somerset`born keeper Ben Haler kept

him out. A disastrous start to the second half proved costly, two

Charlton goals in the space of four minutes. And despite a goal back

from Kieffer Moore setting tp a tight`finish, defeat means Xeovil

will need to win at least three of their remaining five games to stand

any chance at all of staying up Alistair Durden, BBC Points West.

Lets see what the weather is going to be doing. It is a lovely

evening! It has been a lovely evening, the

latest challenge is seagulls in the blue sky undertaking daylight

precision bombing raids! Fortunately we have been missed. He weather at

least is going to see a good deal of dry conditions across the rdgion for

the next few days, there will be the possibilities through the course of

the second half of the model of a few light showers around but many of

you will avoid them entirelx so in many respects it will be a similar

the two today, " in competition with sunshine. I pressure sits ott to the

west of us there, that is kdeping the fronts at the to the north`west

and the cold front you can see slipping down will be in ovdr a

weakening affair by the timd it gets to a sublimate in the LA hotrs of

Friday. Ahead of it, just enough destabilisation to prop up the

showers in the afternoon and that will take the shine off a good deal

of dry weather. Many of you under a good deal of sunshine. Therd has

been more clout to the south of us, there has been a mixture of clear

spells and cloud cover. We could see some mist or fog forming. This

should readily be dispensing fairly early tomorrow morning. Temperatures

donate getting down to quit call values, these and fours in some

parts of the countryside. `` quite cold values. A touch of grotnd frost

but literally nothing more than that. Tomorrow, variable amounts of

cloud and sunny spells, it liked or moderate breeze and you will see the

signal for one or two of thdse showers are starting to pop up

through the course of the afternoon. The gold to pin down where this will

occur but as many viewers h`ve said we will have dry weather through the

day. Temperatures tomorrow will be on par with today, 13 or 14 degrees.

The lowest will be 11 or 12 degrees. Most of you should be getting higher

than that. Into the tail end of the week, the weak front I showdd you

will be out of the way by three or 4am on Friday, taking cloud cover

with it. If you spot of light rain had it will improve readily through

fading itself, a good deal of sunshine around and a simil`r study

into the weekend. It gets tricky to gauge what will happen in the next

week, but certainly the first part of the week we will see a good deal

of dry weather, perhaps a good bet unsettled but the dry bits will be

the headline. Thank you. This can be right, it is

the holidays and good weathdr! B endive or by seagulls. I have

trained them. I am back with an update that 10pm. You call the

returns tomorrow. That's all for now. Goodbye.

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