06/07/2011 BBC Wales Today

Welcome to Wales Today. Tonight's headlines... Nearly 20 years after

the Cardiff Three were cleared of killing Lynette White, eight former

police officers stand trial for perverting the course of justice in

what may be the biggest case of its Also tonight... Three abstentions.

Relief for Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams as one of her

party's two new AMs is finally allowed to take up his seat after

breaking electoral rules. A social worker claims he is being made a

scapegoat after a fostered teenager seriously sexually abused two young

children. Made in Wales. We are looking at a manufacturing success

story. One of the world's biggest silicon plants on our doorstep.

end product is find in a diverse range of make-up to photocopying

And back with the Bluebirds. Robert Earnshaw says he is going home. It

is the biggest trial of police officers in British legal history.

Today, a jury heard how eight corrupt policemen colluded to send

five innocent men to jail for the brutal murder of a Cardiff

prostitute. Lynette White was killed in 1988 in a flat in the

docks area of Cardiff. The officers all deny conspiracy to pervert the

course of justice and two other people deny perjury. It is thought

to be the biggest trial of police officers in legal history. It is

more than 20 years since Lynette White was murdered in the flat she

work from as a prostitute. She was stabbed more than 50 times. A court

was told how former police officers may be debated, influenced and

fabricated evidence. In the opening statement of the prosecution, they

said it resulted in five innocent people being prosecuted. Three were

convicted for murder. It was story emerged as part of the case.

The prosecutors said it was exactly that, a story. It was a fiction.

That explains how Lynette White and these five men came together. But

why would they want to carry out an attack against a woman somebody

barely knew? It was entirely a fabrication and was largely in the

product of the imagination, theories and the least of the

officers on the case, said the prosecution. It resulted in these

men being convicted of the murder of Lynette White in 1990. In 1992,

the convictions of the Cardiff Three as they were called, were

quashed by the Court of Appeal and they were released. 11 years later,

the real killer was brought to justice. He was a former client of

Lynette White and was caught by DNA technology. He was sentenced to

life imprisonment. An inquiry was launched to establish what went

wrong in the original investigation. It resulted in a trial of eight

former police officers and two witnesses from the original trial

accused of perverting the course of justice. The court was given

evidence from one of the witnesses who also faces a charge of perjury.

The prosecution says the statement contains lies. The prosecutor asked

why did she like in a statement, we cannot say. It is possible she had

been primed by police officers working on a case that had already

stalled. For men and a police officer also jointly accused of

perverting the course of justice and will stand trial separately

next year. The commission says they think it is the biggest police a

trial in British legal history. The jury has been told it could last

six months or longer. A disqualified member of the assembly

has been reinstated. He stood down after the election because he

belonged to a public body from which AMs are barred. But it was

revealed he was misled by guidance for election candidates published

This was about a crucial point of constitutional legislation. It was

also about one man had one empty seat. Should Aled Roberts, a former

council leader at Wrexham be reinstated? Investigation found he

had done everything he reasonably could to get everything right. The

legislation as he saw it was wrong. That for some, was enough.

question is whether it is reasonable and credible that he

access to the Welsh Language Web site without cross referencing to

the English side? This is what he claims he did and as a natural

Welsh speaker, that seems perfectly credible. This was not about the

Welsh language, others argued. It was about ignorance. It sets an

important precedent. Many were sympathetic but not convinced he

should return. I am very sorry for the candidate. I think he has been

reasonable but ignorance of the law is not an excuse. The individual

question for members to judge is whether this will be used an

extraordinary occasion where the law and the consequences should be

set aside. I cannot agree that this is such an extraordinary

circumstance. Then, the vote. abstentions. 20 against. The motion

is carried. With strong support from the Labour Cabinet, Aled

Roberts was back. Among the people taking part was this woman, saving

the second of the two from the Liberal Democrats, abandoned

yesterday. It meant a return for the woman that would have replaced

Aled Roberts. I am taking a deep breath and trying to get my life

back because it has been on hold and very difficult. The party

admitted they could have done more to check the legislation. They

criticised the party that should help candidates get things right

and not give them unhelpful information. I have apologised for

that and it is not where we are meant to be. It is very important

for the election in Wales. We have changed procedures under Bentley.

after eight weeks, one of the two from the Liberal Democrats had

supplied. But after the party described the situation as a

shambles, every single political party and the Electoral Commission

will redouble their efforts to make certain this never happens again.

With me now is the reinstated assembly member, Aled Roberts.

relieved because it has been a very difficult time for me and my family.

John is not in the same position as I am receding. It was very close.

30 in favour and 20 against. Not a ringing endorsement. 30 obviously

looked at the report provided. I thought it was very comprehensive.

I think the one thing that has happened is that the matter has

been fully investigated in the last two months. I am thankful to the

assembly members that supported me today. As you have pointed out, we

have had to do some convincing for the other 20 people. How is it the

guide in English is different compared to the Welsh language?

guidance in English and Welsh was actually incorrect in the printed

version. The difference between the languages was the e-mail forwarded

back in March. Until the police interview, I believed both e-mails

were incorrect. I think there are lessons to be learnt by a number of

organisations, including my party as a result. The circumstances put

me in a bad situation. One of your party members described it as a

cock up. What lessons do you think your party needs to learn? In the

first instance, the assembly must learn that this is a law-making

body. I think the procedures within Westminster appear to be more

detailed and in the assembly. Certainly there appears to be an

issue with regard to communication between the assembly and the

Electoral Commission. There are issues between the administration

of candidates, and nominations from my party. It is clear that there

are issues for our houses and I am sure as has been stated, all

parties will be anxious to make Our Welsh affairs editor is in the

Senedd. Not the finest hour for the Liberal Democrats? It is not their

finest hour. There were cheers on the first floor of the Liberal

Democrat offices. But they just got one of the two candidates back. The

parties had to put a lot of effort and struggle in the past couple of

months to achieving even that. With me is the leader of the Welsh

Liberal Democrats, Kirsty Williams. You must be relieved but you must

accept some responsibility. We have come back from the very beginning.

We have apologised to the assembly as a whole for our involvement in

that and they will be an internal inquiry. We will find a final

resolution and the will or lessons to make certain this never happens

again. It makes the party look amateur, doesn't it? Does that not

reflect on your leadership? We will reflect on how we have handled

advised to candidates after this debacle. We have asked people to

come to the conference and had training sessions. We will need to

do more and I acknowledge that. We will not find ourselves in that

position again. What deals did you do and what favours do you now own?

What did you promise Carwyn Jones? Nothing at all. The assembly

members were asked to vote on a set of legal principles on the basis of

an independent report and I am very grateful that they took the

findings and the legal advice into consideration and did what I think

is the right thing in allowing Aled Roberts to come back to do what he

was elected to do and represents the people of North Wales. Do the

electoral commission have a price to pay? A number of organisations

will have to reflect on their part in this case, not least my party as

I said at the beginning. That is not for today but we will do that

in the weeks and months to come. The post-mortem begins not just for

the Liberal Democrats but the organisations involved in this

extraordinary soap opera that has A social worker said to have missed

opportunities to prevent a teenager seriously sexually abusing two

young children has said he has been made a scapegoat. The 19 year old

was placed by social services with a foster family who were not told

about his previous inappropriate sexual behaviour. Social worker

Julian Swan denies allegations of misconduct at the hearing of the

Care Council for Wales. Here is our correspondent. What is the

background to this case? Is it goes back to 2008 when he teenager about

to depart the care system was being placed with a foster family. They

did not realise he posed a serious risk to young children are. They

were not told and he went on to sexually abuse their two young

children. He was later jailed and the council has unreservedly

apologised to the family. The hearing today was to establish

whether the social worker was guilty of misconduct, a accusation

that he denies. What has been said in the hearing? The main issue

examines today was whether it was his job to look at the past history

on the files or if he could take the word of his colleagues who were

passing the case on to him as fact. He did the latter and as a result a

critical report was not noticed in the files. He said, he gave his

evidence today and he said he felt he was being made a scapegoat. He

said he would have acted differently with hindsight but he

had acted in good faith. He said there is a shared responsibility. I

have been instigated by the Vale of Glamorgan council. It was a

colleague but found the relevant information. He said he had been

alerted to previous problems by the father of the teenager who said

something like this had happened before. He said he pulled the files

onto the floor and found the information in about half an hour,

45 minutes. Proceedings continue 122 jobs are to go at Zurich

Insurance Office. The company says it is restructuring its business

after going into partnership with Endsleigh Insurance.

Police have confirmed the body of a man fired close to a reservoir in

Devon is that of a missing Monmouthshire man. 24-year-old Gill

Andrews from Caldicot disappeared after attending a rave on Dartmoor.

A 20-year-old man has appeared before magistrates in Llandrindod

Wells charged with the murder of Lewis Clarke. The 19-year-old from

Newtown died after an incident in Llanidloes on Saturday. Blaine

Daniel Kirkham will now appear in Caernarfon Crown Court tomorrow.

The Rhondda MP Chris Bryant has called for the resignation of

Rebekah Brooks, the Chief Executive of News of the Worlds' parent

company, News International. Mr Bryant told the commons, debating

the phone-hacking scandal, that the newspaper's actions were immoral.

It follows allegations that phones, including that of murdered

schoolgirl Milly Dowler, were hacked. Mr Bryant also believes his

mobile phone was hacked by the paper.

These are not just the a moral actions of some alone private

investigator, tied to a rogue 7/7 reporter. They are the immoral and

criminal deeds of an organisation which was appallingly lead and

completely lost sight of any decency or shared humanity.

The First Minister, Carwyn Jones, has been in London today to meet

the Chancellor, George Osborne. Mr Jones has been calling for changes

to the way the Welsh Government is funded from Westminster. Our

parliamentary correspondent, David Cornock, is in Westminster. David,

what happened? Relations between Wales and

Westminster have been thought of late. You could be forgiven for

expecting that today's first meeting between the First Minister

and the Chancellor would be equally tense, but it turned out to be

offended, positive vacation. Carwyn Jones got a free cup of copy -- cup

of coffee. He also got his chance to put the case that Wales is

underfunded compared to the rest of the UK, from the UK government, and

to put the case for Wales to have further borrowing powers so the

Welsh government can take more on schools and hospitals. He emerged

from the Treasury after about an hour to explain why he had been

surprised by the Chancellor. The fact that he was not closing of

any avenues, the fact that he understood to be under situation in

Wales. I look forward now to working with the Chancellor and

other ministers of the UK government to will move forward

with a funding package for Wales. Carwyn Jones sounding pleasantly

surprised by the Chancellor. What did the Treasury say?

George Osborne was in listening mode today and that has been

strengthened by what Carwyn Jones had to say. We will see some rapid

progress over the next few weeks, possibly within the next week we

will get the name of the man who -- of the person who will chair the

commission on how Wales is funded by the UK. We are expecting that

announcement to be made possibly as soon as next Tuesday, when senior

ministers are visiting Wales. They will have a year to come up with

their findings. That will be the crunch, will the UK government act

on it? Still to come in Wales Today. Star

somersaulting striker Robert Earnshaw is back with the Bluebirds

- but what do the fans make of it? Fantastic signing for the club.

Nice to see him coming back. And I am in Llangollen, where rain

held off for much of the day but we are in for a good soaking this

evening. Join me later for a full weather forecast.

The financial crisis led to -- The financial crisis led many to

call for the economic recovery to be driven by a growth in

manufacturing. Today the UK Business Secretary Vince Cable

launched a campaign to celebrate manufacturing excellence. This week,

we're doing the same with our own Made In Wales series. We start

tonight with the Dow Corning chemical plant in Barry. Here's our

business correspondent Nick Servini. Pipes, towers and warehouses on the

160 acre site of the Dow Corning chemical plant dominates the

streets around Barry. From here, a workforce of nearly 600 suppliers

Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Most people probably have

no idea what they supply a, so much of the world with.

What we make here is silicone us. It is a family of materials ranging

from watery, Fine fluids, all the way up to rubbers and sealant.

There you have the answer from the site manager. He also shows me the

closest thing they have to a finished silicone product.

Before it gets to this stage, the raw material, a treated form of

sand, is brought into the country from all over the world. It also

goes through the chemical process in the towers and pipes that are

here. The end product is found in a diverse range of goods from make-up

to the rollers found in photocopying machine to engine

parts. The unique thing about silicone is

that it tends to be highly resistant to weather conditions,

holding up under high temperatures. When they are put into products

like shampoos and and lotions, they tend to give products a silky

feeling. The miles of pipes on the site are

monitored from this control room. Maintenance is a big part of the

operation. They spend more than �2 million per year on paint alone.

Jobs here are said to be highly sought-after. The basic wage

including a shift allowance is �35,000 a year, that doesn't

include overtime and bonuses. For training of new recruits takes

three years. No surprise, then, that an advertisement for half a

dozen vacancies can generate around 400 replies. Gerry Adams is one of

the local workers. He is 62 but first came here on work experience

45 years ago. They will carry me out in a wooden

box from here. I want to work until I am 70. I am really, really happy.

There are lots of guys who like their job. I was doing an interview

with a man this afternoon, I don't want to retire when I am 65, I want

to go on. Why hasn't much of the work at

Barry gone to the Far East or Eastern Europe, like so much else

in manufacture in? That is because Labour is only part of the cost.

The big-ticket items here are energy and raw materials. They are

around the same wherever you are. And on tomorrow night's programme,

we'll be at one of the last of the underwear makers in the Gwent

Valleys. It was once an industry that employed thousands of people

in the area, making underwear for some of Britain's biggest companies.

Today, AJM Sewing in New Tredegar employs 40 people and makes some of

the most expensive underwear found on the British high street. That's

at 6:30pm tomorrow night. The governing body of the

University of Wales has been accused of significant failure over

its handling of controversial overseas partnerships. The claim

comes in a leaked letter from the Higher Education Funding Council

for Wales. Last year the BBC revealed that a Malaysian college

with links to the university was run by a pop star with two bogus

degrees, while another in Bangkok was operating illegally. The

University has refused to comment. The Welsh Ambulance service has

recorded its best ever performance results for response to emergency

calls. They reached just over 71% of life-threatening calls within

eight minutes. Football, and Robert Earnshaw has

described re-joining Cardiff City as "going home". The Wales striker

has decided not to renew his contract at Nottingham Forest,

instead he's heading for the Bluebirds where he enjoyed great

success before leaving seven years ago.

Robert Earnshaw could have stayed with Nottingham Forest. He has been

there for the past three years. After turning down a new contract,

he has rejoined the club where he started his career, much to the

delight of fans. Superb signing. Nice to see him

coming back. There is no transfer fee so we are

more than happy. He has more -- he has never fallen

out of love with the club. I have seen him on Wales trips and he has

always been chatting with the Cardiff fans. He will be a fans'

favourite. He is the 4th signing for mucky

Mackay this summer. Robert Earnshaw will provide them much needed

attacking threat following the loss of the likes of Chris Burke,

Michael Chopra, Jay Bothroyd and Craig Bellamy.

He will always score goals and when you are looking at a successful

side, as we are trying to look at, he need somebody who will put the

ball in the net. We have lost a lot of goals in Michael to opera. He

could be the man to step in and fill the gap.

Robert Earnshaw was a firm favourite at Cardiff, scoring well

over 100 goals in 200 games. It also led to his breakthrough in the

Wales set-up. He will be hoping to similar success of the Bluebirds

look to follow Swansea City into the Premier League. The Swans have

opened talks with Fulham goalkeeper David Stockdale. He has had limited

chances at the London club but was called into an England squad last

season. Cycling and Geraint Thomas finished

fifth in today's fifth stage of the Tour de France. Thomas was in

contention to win, but ultimately lost out to Mark Cavendish. He will

however still wear the white jersey as the best young rider and lies

seventh overall, 12 seconds off the leader.

Performers from around the world have been taking to the stage on

the third day of the International Eisteddfod at Llangollen.

The show has managed to hold off for much of the day and everybody

seems to be having a blast. We are in for a good soaking this evening.

Tomorrow is another day of sunny spells and a few showers. First

thing tomorrow morning, you will probably wake-up and it is rather

probably wake-up and it is rather cloudy. You will see some showers

first thing in the morning which could be heavy at times. Also, some

brighter intervals between those showers. First bring this evening

we have a band of rain making its way north and eastwards. Heavy at

times. With that comes strong winds, at 40-50 mph gusts. The rain will

clear through the evening and we will see some showers in the

overnight period. Tomorrow morning will start of cloudy and we will

see a few showers. Perhaps some bright or sunny spells, thanks to

an area of low pressure across the UK. An unsettled day tomorrow.

Breezy with sunny intervals and showers. Becoming drier by the

evening. Overnight we will see more rain arriving in the early hours of

Friday morning. Another unsettled day on Friday but the weekend is

looking promising. We can look forward to lighter showers and more

in the way of sunshine. If you would like to see more on

Llangollen, or there is a highlights programme on tomorrow

evening on BBC Two at 7:30pm. To two men, it will be a great

programme to watch. Back to the studio.

Tonight's headlines: the Prime Minister has promised a public

inquiry into the phone hacking scandal engulfing the News of the

World. Rupert Murdoch, the chair and CEO

of the News Corporation called the allegations deplorable and

unacceptable. In Wales, a jury has heard how

eight policemen colluded to send five innocent men to jail for the

murder of a prostitute. Lynette White was killed in 1988 in the

docks area of Cardiff. Officers denied conspiracy to be forged --

to pervert the course of justice. And that's Wales Today. Don't