Browse content similar to 28/07/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Welcome to Wales Today. The headlines. Guilty of murder. Two | :00:07. | :00:12. | |
men are convicted of killing honeymoon couple Benn and Catherine | :00:12. | :00:17. | |
Mullany in Antigua. There is no joy at the verdict, just relief that | :00:17. | :00:23. | |
after three years of waiting there is justice for our children. | :00:23. | :00:27. | |
The murder of this couple three years ago shocked this island. The | :00:27. | :00:37. | |
:00:37. | :00:46. | ||
authorities here may call for the Also on the programme. Almost 2000 | :00:46. | :00:49. | |
cows are intensively milked at this mega dairy in Carmarthenshire. | :00:49. | :00:55. | |
Opponents claim it was built illegally. | :00:55. | :01:01. | |
We are live for the last in our series on Wales'' national parks. | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
And he is dreaming of Paralympic glory. Nathan Stephens tells us why | :01:05. | :01:10. | |
he can't cut any corners of the year to go. This doesn't feel that | :01:10. | :01:14. | |
long away, just around the corner. You don't want to miss any sessions | :01:14. | :01:24. | |
:01:24. | :01:25. | ||
at all. I have been in the gym Good evening. Three years ago Ben | :01:25. | :01:29. | |
and Catherine Mullany were murdered while on their honeymoon in Antigua. | :01:29. | :01:34. | |
Today, two men were convicted of killing them. The couple from | :01:34. | :01:38. | |
Contador had been married for two weeks when they were shot in their | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
hotel room. Officials on a Caribbean island say they may ask | :01:41. | :01:45. | |
for the death penalty. Let's head to Antigua and our reporter Roger | :01:45. | :01:51. | |
Penny is there. I think it was the longest day in | :01:51. | :01:57. | |
court I will ever experience. The jury came back at 11:20am local | :01:57. | :02:00. | |
time last night -- 11:20pm. They had been deliberating for more than | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
ten hours. Avie Howell and Kaniel Martin stood impassively. They did | :02:05. | :02:11. | |
not flinch as the guilty verdicts were read out. They were taken away, | :02:11. | :02:15. | |
escorted by ten police officers. I watched Ben Mullany's parents had | :02:15. | :02:21. | |
each other. And Catherine Mullany's parents, sighs of relief. | :02:21. | :02:25. | |
In court to hear the but verdicts, then and Catherine Mullany's | :02:25. | :02:29. | |
parents. They said coming to Antigua was hard for them, bearing | :02:29. | :02:33. | |
the loss of their children for three years so much harder. A | :02:33. | :02:37. | |
statement was read on their behalf. A we will never be able to | :02:37. | :02:42. | |
comprehend the censors nature of their deaths, the total disregard | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
shown for human life and that no remorse has ever been shown -- | :02:46. | :02:50. | |
sensuous nature of their deaths. There is no joy at the verdict, | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
just a sense of relief that after three years of there -- of waiting | :02:54. | :02:58. | |
there is justice for our children and the hope that these two | :02:58. | :03:00. | |
individuals can never regain inflict the same anguish and | :03:00. | :03:07. | |
devastation to any other family as they have to hours. Ben and | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
Catherine will live in our hearts forever. They made our lives happy | :03:10. | :03:15. | |
beyond measure and enriched every day that they were with us. I had | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
hoped that this trial would have established the reasons why such | :03:18. | :03:22. | |
levels of violence were inflicted, however neither defendant has shown | :03:22. | :03:27. | |
any signs of remorse throughout the investigation. Or the trial, even | :03:27. | :03:29. | |
though the families of their victims have been present | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
throughout. Catherine, a young doctor, then, the trainee | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
physiotherapist. They had so much to offer and the future had much to | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
offer them. Avie Howell, that younger of the two defendants and | :03:41. | :03:46. | |
Kaniel Martin, Petrova -- trigger- happy robbers, out for easy because | :03:47. | :03:51. | |
-- pickings and prepared to take lives without thought. This is the | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
beach that Ben and Catherine would have known well. The hotel is at | :03:55. | :04:01. | |
one end. Kaniel Martin' phone records put him here at the time of | :04:01. | :04:04. | |
the shootings. He said he had come for a swim. The opening parade of | :04:04. | :04:09. | |
this year's Antigua carnival, the start of a week in which the whole | :04:09. | :04:12. | |
island lets its hair down. Ben and Catherine were shot at carnival | :04:12. | :04:17. | |
time in 2008. The Antiguan authorities turned to Scotland Yard | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
for help. They provided team of detectives and vital technical | :04:21. | :04:27. | |
back-up. Then the third shooting, local shopkeeper -- a local | :04:27. | :04:32. | |
shopkeeper killed with a single shot to the head. We felt it as | :04:32. | :04:39. | |
heavy as anyone. We are a very small island and we do prize our | :04:39. | :04:41. | |
trade an-hour tourism product and to have something of that | :04:41. | :04:46. | |
particular nature happen on your island certainly it was felt all | :04:46. | :04:52. | |
around the island. It is a small island and I guess folks felt | :04:52. | :04:58. | |
aggrieved. Many of Antigua hope this trial closes a chapter most on | :04:58. | :05:02. | |
the island want to get. Ben and Catherine's family of course will | :05:02. | :05:06. | |
not have that luxury. It has taken three years to bring | :05:06. | :05:11. | |
the killers of Ben and Catherine Mullany to justice. Their murders | :05:11. | :05:15. | |
sent shockwaves through this holiday island. | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
It was the best of times. Benn and Catherine Mullany on their wedding | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
day. The honeymoon in Antigua should have been the perfect start | :05:23. | :05:28. | |
to married life. On their last day they were shot, execution style, | :05:28. | :05:34. | |
with a single bullet each to the head. And the killers, Kaniel | :05:34. | :05:38. | |
Martin and David Howell, young men from the wrong side of the tracks, | :05:38. | :05:44. | |
robbery was the motive. Cash and a mobile phone. This is downtown St | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
John's, Antigua's capital. We're not far from the beaches but you do | :05:48. | :05:51. | |
get a sense of contrast. The affluence of the tourists alongside | :05:51. | :05:56. | |
the relative poverty of many local people. Then and Catherine Mullany | :05:56. | :06:01. | |
were staying in a cottage at the luxury has Cocos resort up on a | :06:01. | :06:06. | |
hill above one of Antigua's most beautiful beaches. Security was lax | :06:06. | :06:10. | |
and the number of guards had been cut. One admitted to appear on duty. | :06:10. | :06:16. | |
It is thought the killers got into a back entrance. Why they picked | :06:16. | :06:20. | |
the couple's Cottage, only they will know. Witnesses described | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
finding Catherine lying on the floor, bruises on her body | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
suggested she had tried to fight off her attackers. Ben was slumped | :06:27. | :06:33. | |
over the bed, their room had been ransacked. Beverley Stairs from | :06:33. | :06:36. | |
Teddington near London was staying in NAA by cottage. She heard a | :06:36. | :06:41. | |
commotion but did not discovered what had happened until later. | :06:41. | :06:46. | |
came out of our room and it was cordoned off. We said, what has | :06:46. | :06:52. | |
happened? They said, the people in number 15 had been shot. She had | :06:52. | :06:57. | |
died, that is when I realised it was Catherine and Ben. Immediately | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
after the shootings, Ben and Catherine Mullany's parents flee to | :07:01. | :07:04. | |
Antigua. Ben was brought home to Wales on a life-support machine. He | :07:04. | :07:10. | |
died a week later. What happened in July 2008 sent shockwaves around | :07:10. | :07:15. | |
the world. Hundreds attended a memorial service for Ben and | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
Catherine in Wales, including the Duchess of York. She had met the | :07:19. | :07:23. | |
parents on the flight home from Antigua and agreed to become a | :07:23. | :07:28. | |
patron of a fund set up in their name. It provides financial help to | :07:28. | :07:32. | |
students wanting to be doctors and physiotherapists. The couple's | :07:32. | :07:38. | |
professions. I thought that if we could provide a way of helping the | :07:38. | :07:44. | |
parents to be able to live on with their children. Avie Howell and | :07:44. | :07:48. | |
Kaniel Martin were arrested three weeks after the murders by then | :07:48. | :07:52. | |
Scotland Yard detectives were in directing the inquiry. In that time | :07:52. | :07:55. | |
between the killings and the arrests, three other people on | :07:55. | :08:02. | |
Antigua had been shot. A five victims be accorded to local police. | :08:02. | :08:05. | |
Purcell in Antigua's prison was bugged. The killers were recorded | :08:05. | :08:10. | |
talking about a gun. They are still to Tran -- stand trial for two of | :08:10. | :08:14. | |
the murders. But if the deaths of Beragh and Catherine Mullany were | :08:14. | :08:18. | |
personal tragedies for their families and all who knew them, on | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
Antigua it hit the economy which relies on almost -- which relies | :08:22. | :08:27. | |
almost totally on tourism. I felt it very strongly in terms of what | :08:27. | :08:35. | |
has happened. It is like if this was done to a family member. | :08:35. | :08:40. | |
Generally this is how people in Antigua and Barbuda Bude this and | :08:40. | :08:45. | |
that is why we speared -- and that is why we spared no effort in | :08:45. | :08:52. | |
trying to break the situation and get to the root of it. Three years | :08:52. | :08:56. | |
on the shine is beginning to return to Antigua's somewhat tarnished | :08:56. | :09:01. | |
reputation. These convictions will help. But in many people's mind, | :09:01. | :09:04. | |
the island will always be associated with what happened to | :09:04. | :09:09. | |
Ben and Catherine Mullany, when Paradise became a kind of health. | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
The MoD to, there is the possibility of the death penalty | :09:13. | :09:18. | |
for the two men? -- Roger. That is right. The death | :09:18. | :09:22. | |
penalty remains on the statute book here, although no one in Antigua | :09:22. | :09:27. | |
has been hanged for 30 years now. Sentencing of the killers will take | :09:27. | :09:32. | |
place in September at the next session of the island's assizes. | :09:32. | :09:36. | |
The DPP says he really -- reserves the right to call for the death | :09:36. | :09:40. | |
penalty, although I understand that because Avie Howell was 17 when the | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
offences were committed he can't be its -- excluded. That is not the | :09:44. | :09:49. | |
case for Kaniel Martin. If the death penalty is imposed, there | :09:49. | :09:52. | |
will be a string of appeals. That will end with the Privy Council | :09:52. | :09:56. | |
sitting in London. The recent history of the Caribbean has been | :09:56. | :09:59. | |
that those death penalties will be overturned. That is as far as we | :09:59. | :10:04. | |
know so far. The men are also being linked to two more murders on the | :10:04. | :10:11. | |
island? That is right, two more alleged victims of Avie Howell and | :10:11. | :10:16. | |
Kaniel Martin, also shot at around the same time as the couple. I | :10:16. | :10:19. | |
understand the authorities are keen for that trial to go ahead. I | :10:19. | :10:22. | |
understand the families of those alleged victims are also keen for | :10:22. | :10:28. | |
that trial to go ahead and today, detectives from Scotland Yard who | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
were here to investigate that case as well are meeting with the | :10:31. | :10:35. | |
authorities to decide their next step. Roger Pinney in Antigua, | :10:35. | :10:40. | |
thank you. A 23-year-old mother who stabbed | :10:40. | :10:44. | |
her baby girl to death days before her first birthday has been ordered | :10:44. | :10:49. | |
to be detained in hospital indefinitely. Harley Ruck died as a | :10:49. | :10:54. | |
result of multiple stab wounds last November in a good third -- in | :10:54. | :10:58. | |
Abergavenny. Jade Ruck pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the | :10:58. | :11:00. | |
grounds of diminished responsibility, which was accepted | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
at Swansea Crown Court. A Gwynedd county councillor has | :11:04. | :11:10. | |
resigned after admitting today that he stole more than �53,000 while | :11:10. | :11:12. | |
working as a sub-post master. Magistrates heard how Dewi Lewis, | :11:12. | :11:16. | |
who run the Post Office in Penrhyndeudraeth, transferred money | :11:16. | :11:19. | |
into his personal account to help his failing business. He will be | :11:19. | :11:23. | |
sentenced next month. The Welsh government has stepped in | :11:23. | :11:27. | |
to halt the granting of a licence for a controversial water cooling | :11:27. | :11:32. | |
system in a power plant currently under construction in Pembrokeshire. | :11:32. | :11:35. | |
The �1 billion gas-fired power station is due to open next year. | :11:35. | :11:38. | |
The government says it wants clarification on a number of | :11:38. | :11:42. | |
matters before a decision is taken on whether to grant the permit. The | :11:42. | :11:44. | |
cooling system has attracted opposition from environmental | :11:44. | :11:49. | |
groups. A we want the Welsh government to | :11:49. | :11:51. | |
call in this application and looking up from the beginning, to | :11:51. | :11:55. | |
make sure the power-station is adapted to use a cooling station | :11:55. | :12:00. | |
which will not have majorette first impact on the marine environment in | :12:00. | :12:02. | |
Pembrokeshire, one of the most important marine environments in | :12:02. | :12:05. | |
Europe. Opponents call it battery farming | :12:05. | :12:10. | |
for cows. An intensive method of milking, where cattle spend most of | :12:10. | :12:15. | |
their lives inside. But Wales' only mega dairy is under threat tonight. | :12:15. | :12:18. | |
There are calls for it to be shut down because it was built without | :12:18. | :12:27. | |
Home to 1800 cows. Cwrt Malle in Llangynog near Carmarthen is Wales' | :12:27. | :12:35. | |
biggest dairy farm.. The cows I used to living indoors, FED high- | :12:35. | :12:42. | |
energy processed food and producing milk on a massive scale. The farm | :12:42. | :12:48. | |
is milking 350 cows are now. A cow is never away from food, water, or | :12:48. | :12:51. | |
the ability to lie down for more than an hour at a time. Howell | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
Richards got the idea from the United States, where you can find | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
herds tens of thousands strong. But his sheds come up and running for | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
more than a year, were built without full planning permission, | :13:03. | :13:09. | |
upsetting some neighbours. How can people put up a building and then | :13:10. | :13:13. | |
say, I've built it now, what are you going to do about it? It is | :13:13. | :13:18. | |
wrong. When we were building these sheds we were not looking at the | :13:18. | :13:22. | |
risks from the planning side of things. We had lost so much stock | :13:22. | :13:27. | |
to TB, so the idea was to build the shed to house the cows, three had | :13:27. | :13:31. | |
and 65 days, to take the animals away from wildlife and if we could | :13:31. | :13:37. | |
stop the link between the animal and the badger then hopefully we | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
would be free of TB. If Howell Richards does not get retrospective | :13:41. | :13:44. | |
planning permission he could be forced did demolish these sheds. | :13:45. | :13:49. | |
But they could be other mega dairy is coming to Wales for stopping | :13:49. | :13:53. | |
Welshpool, Fraser Jones wants to increase his heard five fold to | :13:53. | :14:03. | |
:14:03. | :14:05. | ||
come, to 1000. Those plans have There is more on mega dairies on a | :14:05. | :14:12. | |
special programme tonight. The data in this programme, David Davies is | :14:12. | :14:15. | |
really hurting. It few suffered as much for their | :14:16. | :14:20. | |
medal in Beijing. With a year to go with the -- to the London Olympics, | :14:20. | :14:26. | |
we catch up with a swimmer David Davies. | :14:26. | :14:32. | |
This week we have been making our way across Wales' three national | :14:32. | :14:37. | |
parks. We have already travelled to Pembrokeshire and Snowdonia, and | :14:37. | :14:41. | |
tonight we are focusing on the Brecon Beacons, established as a | :14:41. | :14:47. | |
national park in 1957. Iolo ap Dafydd joins us from the top of | :14:47. | :14:56. | |
South Wales' highest mountain, Pen y Fan. We are on the peak of Pen y | :14:56. | :15:01. | |
Fan. It is a very popular place, one of the most important and | :15:01. | :15:07. | |
famous landmarks in Wales, popular even at this time of night. About | :15:07. | :15:13. | |
half an hour ago I could have shown you the valley behind me. The mist | :15:13. | :15:19. | |
came in. It is always difficult for national parks across Wales to | :15:20. | :15:24. | |
balance conservation and tourism, especially with so many people | :15:24. | :15:30. | |
coming to national parks. One idea is to try and encourage a more | :15:30. | :15:34. | |
sustainable form of tourism, they want to attract people to come here | :15:34. | :15:39. | |
and watch the skies at night. They think they can because there is | :15:39. | :15:46. | |
less glare here from streetlights. Most people visit the Brecon | :15:46. | :15:50. | |
Beacons to watch landscapes like these, but now there is a new | :15:50. | :15:56. | |
attraction. They hope that visitors will be attracted to watch the | :15:56. | :16:02. | |
stars away from streetlights. are lots of opportunities for | :16:03. | :16:08. | |
amateur astronomers, because they will carry -- travel anywhere for | :16:08. | :16:14. | |
nice guys. They will take advantage of it. A quite a contrast to a | :16:14. | :16:22. | |
History Festival last weekend. The far more people came up and had | :16:22. | :16:26. | |
probably been anticipated. A it is great that lot of people have | :16:26. | :16:30. | |
turned up, but we are having trouble with the numbers. It is | :16:30. | :16:35. | |
difficult to contain, because there is no dual-carriageway that we can | :16:35. | :16:42. | |
negotiate. It is a balancing act between access to the almost 5 | :16:42. | :16:47. | |
million who come annually, and protecting the site. People want | :16:47. | :16:52. | |
more access to the site, but we have to be very careful that we do | :16:52. | :16:59. | |
not damage the area. Due to its remoteness, the Galloway Forest | :16:59. | :17:04. | |
Park in Scotland was awarded the dark sky status two years ago, | :17:04. | :17:11. | |
which means people come from far away to watch the stars. The people | :17:11. | :17:14. | |
in the Brecon Beacons now want the same status, which it hopes will | :17:14. | :17:23. | |
boost visitor numbers here. Joining the is a man from the | :17:23. | :17:27. | |
National Trust. Rob, there has to be an impact with everyone coming | :17:27. | :17:37. | |
:17:37. | :17:38. | ||
up it? Indeed. If you go back 50 years you are looking at a much | :17:38. | :17:44. | |
bigger place. A lot of erosion has taken place. You have a national | :17:44. | :17:50. | |
monument here. The we have a Bronze Age burial trained there -- burial | :17:50. | :17:56. | |
chamber here. I have seen the work on the path here, how much d'you | :17:56. | :18:04. | |
do? Consistently, we need more people. John, what about this | :18:04. | :18:09. | |
balancing act? You want to have access for everybody, but of course | :18:09. | :18:14. | |
conservation is important as well. It is a balance. We want people to | :18:14. | :18:19. | |
enjoy our national park, but at the same time we need to protect it for | :18:19. | :18:26. | |
ourselves and future generations. One of the key -- KE things is | :18:26. | :18:32. | |
enjoying the part sustainably. We would like people to stay longer. | :18:32. | :18:40. | |
Is that why this dark sky status is being aimed for? Yes. Star-gazing | :18:40. | :18:45. | |
is always sold out at the visitors' centre. We would like to attain | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
that designation, it would bring a new audience to the national park | :18:49. | :18:52. | |
and maybe they will stay overnight as well and enjoyed the Park the | :18:52. | :18:57. | |
following day. Lot of work to do on that. How long do you think it will | :18:57. | :19:02. | |
be before we can announce that you have got this status? It will be a | :19:02. | :19:07. | |
while yet. We need to take it a step at a time. We are in the | :19:07. | :19:11. | |
feasibility stage at the moment, to decide whether to go to a full | :19:11. | :19:16. | |
application, so it will be months rather than weeks. Thank you very | :19:16. | :19:24. | |
much. Believe it or not, half an hour ago, we had wonderful views! | :19:24. | :19:29. | |
We will have more from the summit of Pen y Fan later in the programme. | :19:30. | :19:32. | |
Wrexham Football Club have cancelled two pre-season friendlies, | :19:33. | :19:36. | |
after players were not paid this month. Dean Saunders has confirmed | :19:36. | :19:41. | |
his players have not received their wages. The Dragons were due to play | :19:41. | :19:46. | |
Colwyn Bay this evening and Vauxhall Motors at the weekend. | :19:46. | :19:50. | |
Cricket, and Glamorgan are struggling in their match at | :19:50. | :20:00. | |
:20:00. | :20:05. | ||
Swansea. Northamptonshire piled on This week we have been meeting five | :20:05. | :20:10. | |
Welsh athletes with dreams of meet -- making London 2012. Nathan | :20:10. | :20:16. | |
Stephens from Bridgend has overcome massive battles in his life, and it | :20:16. | :20:19. | |
is in the javelin at the Paralympics that he is dreaming of | :20:19. | :20:24. | |
gold. He is the best in the world that | :20:24. | :20:28. | |
what he does. Nathan Stephens is Paralympic world champion as | :20:28. | :20:34. | |
javelin. He is the one to beat next summer in London. Every time I | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
throw I am intending to win that gold medal, and every time in the | :20:38. | :20:43. | |
gym is getting me stronger. It feels round the corner, and so you | :20:43. | :20:48. | |
do not want to miss any sessions a tour. I have been in the Aegean it | :20:48. | :20:52. | |
yesterday and and in pain today! It does not matter if it does not go | :20:52. | :20:56. | |
too well now, as long as I get the timing right. You know if you miss | :20:56. | :21:02. | |
one session, your chances could be down the drain. | :21:02. | :21:07. | |
In my classification all athletes have to be sick -- seated to throw, | :21:07. | :21:13. | |
so we do not get the run up. We have got to sit down and fro and | :21:13. | :21:20. | |
use our trunks, a little bit of leg, and our arms as much as possible. | :21:20. | :21:24. | |
Nathan's life changed dramatically on his 9th birthday, he was playing | :21:24. | :21:29. | |
on a railway line, slipped and lost both his legs. He was left fighting | :21:29. | :21:34. | |
for his life. The pain I put my parents and brother through, I | :21:34. | :21:38. | |
cannot imagine what they put them through on that day. But I wants to | :21:38. | :21:43. | |
prove to them that all the help they gave me has all been worth it. | :21:43. | :21:49. | |
The they have always been behind me, when I used to play ice hockey at | :21:49. | :21:54. | |
midnight, and my dad would be up at 5am, he would not hesitate to take | :21:55. | :22:02. | |
me and bring me back. They want to be a part of my life as much as I | :22:02. | :22:07. | |
want them to be, as they want to push me as much as I can, which has | :22:07. | :22:14. | |
been fantastic. Nathan likes to cook. He has become the face of the | :22:14. | :22:21. | |
BT phone book, posted through homes throughout Wales. When we first | :22:21. | :22:27. | |
moved in that she came and introduced herself, and so I do not | :22:27. | :22:33. | |
know if she was happy there were three lads living next door! I said | :22:33. | :22:37. | |
I was a Paralympian, and she seemed excited, especially as I was on the | :22:37. | :22:44. | |
front of the phone book. My identity is boiled! Nathan his | :22:44. | :22:47. | |
death and the raising the profile of Paralympian athletes. Training | :22:47. | :22:52. | |
every day can be exhausting, but winning makes it all worthwhile. | :22:52. | :22:56. | |
This row won him gold at the World Championships in New Zealand | :22:56. | :22:59. | |
earlier this year, and he is hoping that his javelin will soar next | :23:00. | :23:06. | |
summer. This is the one that won the gold, it is a carbon fibre | :23:06. | :23:14. | |
javelin, a lot stiffer than most javelins, and this is a great one! | :23:14. | :23:21. | |
Serve at once that, we are in trouble! I am crying! -- if that | :23:21. | :23:29. | |
one snaps. David Davies' dream of winning a | :23:29. | :23:34. | |
third Olympic medal seemed to be in disarray after he pulled out of | :23:34. | :23:37. | |
this year's world championships suffering from chronic fatigue | :23:37. | :23:44. | |
syndrome. While his peers were in China at | :23:44. | :23:47. | |
the World Championships, David Davies spent yesterday doing | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
interviews at the new Olympic pool. It is not where he plans to be, but | :23:51. | :23:56. | |
nothing has gone to plan this year. David has spent the last six weeks | :23:56. | :24:00. | |
out of the poor on the orders of his coach in a last-ditch bid to | :24:00. | :24:04. | |
lift him out of the rut which threaten to end his dream of | :24:04. | :24:12. | |
competing in London. I just felt lethargic and burnt out. There was | :24:12. | :24:17. | |
no point carrying on, we had to fix the problem, and so I saw some | :24:17. | :24:21. | |
doctors and sports scientists, and we decided that the best thing to | :24:21. | :24:26. | |
do was to take a break. It meant I had to pull out of the world | :24:26. | :24:30. | |
championships, but it is all about next year, and hopefully I can be | :24:30. | :24:36. | |
on form. Davies is a distance swimmer, and | :24:36. | :24:42. | |
one of Wales' greatest modern-day Olympians. He won bronze in the | :24:42. | :24:47. | |
pool at the age of 19 in Athens, and then four years later won a | :24:47. | :24:52. | |
silver in the open-water 10 kilometre race. That event will | :24:52. | :24:55. | |
provide the greatest chance of success in London, but until last | :24:55. | :25:00. | |
week it looked like he would not qualify. Two British swimmers | :25:00. | :25:04. | |
looked like they would qualify, but then performing poorly in Shanghai | :25:04. | :25:11. | |
has left the door open. It was out of my hands, but it was not totally | :25:11. | :25:16. | |
done and dusted. I am using it as a motivational tool to try and get | :25:16. | :25:21. | |
back. The qualifiers are next May, and I know that now I could | :25:21. | :25:26. | |
possibly be in, which is all I have wanted to do. It David only started | :25:26. | :25:31. | |
swimming again last week, and he will build up slowly in order to | :25:31. | :25:36. | |
avoid a repeat of his problems. body feels fresh already, and | :25:36. | :25:41. | |
mentally as well. Ear-biting get back to that form, it has been a | :25:41. | :25:47. | |
gamble, but it may pay off. I have got a second chance, and they do | :25:47. | :25:52. | |
not come around very often in sport, so I will do my best to make the | :25:52. | :25:56. | |
most of it. Let us go back to the top of Pen y | :25:56. | :26:06. | |
:26:06. | :26:09. | ||
Fan if. Derek, we can still see! is damp and foggy here this evening. | :26:09. | :26:15. | |
I have to tell you, I hitched a lift up on a buggy with the | :26:15. | :26:18. | |
lift up on a buggy with the National Trust. Hopefully will be | :26:18. | :26:26. | |
walking back this evening. When it is clear, you can see for miles | :26:26. | :26:30. | |
near. You can see right to the Bristol Channel and across to | :26:30. | :26:40. | |
:26:40. | :26:40. | ||
Swansea. The higher you walk, the higher you climb, the caller, | :26:40. | :26:47. | |
wetter and windier it gets. Tamara's forecast is for plenty of | :26:47. | :26:53. | |
cloud, but mostly dry. Tonight, a lot of cloud across the country, | :26:53. | :27:00. | |
the odd spot of light rain and drizzle. There will be some coastal | :27:00. | :27:08. | |
mist. Temperatures will be mild. High pressure will be close to | :27:08. | :27:15. | |
Islands tomorrow, so a lot of cloud. During the afternoon, most of the | :27:15. | :27:20. | |
country will be tried except for the odd shower in the south. Top | :27:20. | :27:28. | |
temperatures will be around 21 Celsius, with a light wind. A lot | :27:28. | :27:35. | |
of cloud across the Brecon Beacons tomorrow, otherwise dry. Tomorrow | :27:35. | :27:40. | |
night, generally dry. Saturday will be the best day of the weekend, | :27:40. | :27:46. | |
some warm sunshine. Sunday may start to dry, but we could see a | :27:46. | :27:53. | |
little rain on Sunday morning into the afternoon. That is it for me. | :27:53. | :27:58. | |
We are on top of Pen y Fan, the highest point in southern Britain. | :27:58. | :28:06. |