18/01/2012 East Midlands Today

This is East Midlands Today with Anne Davies and me, Dominic Heale.

Our top story tonight: the Government's under fire over the

death of a serviceman in Afghanistan.

For family accused the MoD of catastrophic failures. -- the

family. We hope the lessons learnt will be taken up and used to

advantage to savour their lives. Also tonight: a Nordic nightmare.

They couple's dream of a new life in Norway lies in ruins. Suicidal,

really. The whole thing has completely ruined our lives.

Plus, attacked in class but did the punch that almost Kilcullen

actually saved his life? And join me for a live rocket

Good evening. Welcome to Wednesday's programme. First

tonight, a grieving mother has said there is a catastrophic failure by

the Government to meet the requirements of our troops. Teresa

Woods was speaking after the inquest into the death of her son

Corporal Marcin Wojtak, from Leicestershire.

He died in Afghanistan in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan.

The coroner ruled he had been unlawfully killed by insurgents.

Our reporter has been following the inquest and joins us now from

Loughborough. Good evening. The coroner said that

his death was a tragic event. He died having been in Afghanistan for

just over two weeks. He was killed by a roadside bomb. It has been a

complicated inquest, agonising for the family, his mother sobbed as

the verdict was delivered. His wing commander described him as

an amazing human being. It was an honour to be his commanding officer,

he said. Throughout the inquest, his colleagues have paid tribute to

him. The questions were answered. He died in October 2009. He was on

a routine patrol. His vehicle hit a roadside bomb. This is one of the

lightly armoured vehicles. Questions have been raised as to

its suitability. The vehicles were withdrawn six months after he died.

He used to joke that they were like a coffin on wheels. He and his

colleagues had been waiting for these two vehicles, mastiffs,

heavily protected vehicles weighing 28 tonnes. To date, they have been

208 strikes on a master finds no one has been killed. During the

inquest, it emerged that he would probably have survived if he had

been in a massive but supply lines were haphazard and no one knew for

certain when they would arrive. They did arrive 48 hours after he

died. After the verdict, his family spoke outside court. It is not

surprising that so one met their deaths in effect off. This vehicle

was no longer suitable to deal with the increased threat of Afghanistan

and that was abolished as well today. I feel there has been a

catastrophic failure by the Government to meet the requirements

for our troops. Our family is heartbroken in losing him. It's a

loss from which we will never recover. He was a kind and loving

Gentleman and a gentle man who has paid the ultimate price for our

freedom. And we will really, truly this and for ever. He did not die

in vain. He was a brave young man and roast all the challenges placed

before him. His early talent had been recognised with the award of

acting corporal Reich. His girl friend said he had bright plans for

the future. We were in the process of buying a house, we had discussed

Weddings and what we wanted. He would leave hence for engagement

rings around the house! We all knew it was coming. We just needed the

time. These are the last lone -- last known photographs, taking --

taken in the vehicle in which he died.

The coroner is going to write to the MoD, asking for confirmation

that the vehicles have been withdrawn in certain areas. Outside

court this afternoon, his mother accused the RAF of closing ranks,

as evidence given today said that Master Oats, the vehicles which

could have saved him, were available a week after he died. --

Mastiffs. We will leave it there but thank

you. Next tonight, a young teenager left

fighting for his life after being assaulted by a classmate is back at

school. Callum Massey was knocked unconscious and spent three weeks

in hospital. Callum's life was saved by the

quick action of specially trained school staff and bizarrely the

punch that almost killed him could well have actually saved his life.

It uncovered a serious heart condition.

Happy to be back in the classroom at last. It is exciting because I

can see my friends and by teachers. Cullen is 13 and has Asperger's.

Last September, he was punched in their head by another schoolboy in

the classroom. Luckily, the Academy principle is keen on first aid

training for staff. It was the worst nightmare you could ever

imagine and I'm thankful that Dr Edwards has -- had the notion to

send his staff on Thursday it because it literally saves lives.

Without Eddie, my son would not be here. It was a surreal moment. The

child was in front of me, unconscious, not breathing and

dying. I had to make a decision on what I was going to do next. Are

sent him... In hospital, doctors discovered that he had a

potentially life-threatening heart condition. It was previously

undetected. The people who hate him is not at the Academy any more but

he has not been charged with a crime. Because of the circumstances

and because of the boys' ages, Nottinghamshire police tried a new

approach. It is called restorative justice to what they did was work

closely with both the boys' families so the boy who hit Callum

is fully aware that what he did was wrong in the heat of the moment. He

can now move forward without a criminal record. He has suffered

enough. It has not just affected our family, it has affected his

family as well. I think he has learnt from his mistakes. Lessons

have been learnt all round. Now all Callum wants to do is to carry on

with his lessons at the school he enjoys.

Coming up on the programme: higher, lower. Sally takes a look at our

see-sawing winter weather. The ice on that this lake has

melted but will this mild spell Unemployment in the East Midlands

is rising again. That's after months of bucking the national

trend. The latest quarterly figures reveal that the jobless total

increased by 7,000 to 190,000. That's an unemployment rate of 8.3%,

still slightly lower than the national average.

Let's find out more from Westminster and our Political

Editor. Recent sets of quarterly figures

for unemployment in the East Midlands may have given a false

sense of security. Last year, and employers in the West Midlands

started to increase but in the East Midlands, it looks like we were

able to ride the economic downturn. That is not the case today. The

regional TUC says the East Midlands figures are, truly depressing and

worse than expected. It's certainly not the start to 2012 that

coalition ministers would have wanted. So I asked the employment

minister Chris Grayling why he thought finding jobs in the East

Midlands was getting more difficult. The East Midlands has faced

particular challenges. It has depended upon manufacturing in the

past. We want to see business growth encouraged through changes

to red tape and regulation, through targeted financial support. We went

to see that to come -- come together so that prisoners can grow

and develop. Isn't there a real danger that the push will get young

people and student into work but for people over 50, they will end

up on the unemployment scrapheap? We have specific measures targeting

young people but we have first-rate support for those who are over 50.

The work programme is offering specialist support to those

jobseeker's from specialist organisations to what only paid

when they are successful at getting somebody in to work and helping

them stay there. Alongside that, we have schemes like the new

enterprise allowance to help people move from employment into self-

employment. They are particularly relevant to older people with

experience that can be taken into building them and this has.

While the headlines in the papers tomorrow will once again focus on

the problems of young people trying to get work, the figures in the

East Midlands, when you drill down, reveal that for the over-fifties,

there are now getting on for one third of that age group who won a

finding it difficult to get work. As we've heard, many older workers

say finding another job is extremely difficult. It's an issue

we've been looking at this week on East Midlands Today, focusing on

the reality of being over 50 and out of work.

Today Sarah Teale, in the third of her special reports, has been to

one company which says it wants to employ more older staff because of

the many benefits they bring to the firm.

Trevor knows just how hard it can be finding a job in that your 50s.

The 57 year-old wanted to leave the late nights of the sales industry

behind him but he had to spend two years hunting for a different job.

In the for market place, it is not easy for so one of my age because

you are competing with people of younger years. Would you do speak

to employers, they may be thinking of the longer term but also

thinking about you being past it. Eventually, Trevor got a job here,

domestic and General in at Nottingham. You can show that you

are worthwhile and bring your experience to the job, rather than

your youth and inexperience. Call centres traditionally employ large

numbers of younger workers and they have a high staff turnover. But

here, the company tries to recruit and retain older workers, who they

say bring experience, loyalty and reliability. The company says it

recognises the value that mature workers can bring and not just that,

they firmly believe that older members of staff have a positive

influence on the younger people who work here as well. A also, older

workers and the younger workers make a great team the balance.

older workers often so that working with younger people queued for the

young. Older workers obviously have greater loyalty to the company. You

tend to find that sickness absence is often lower and they will stay

with us longer as well which is great. A positive message which are

older workers hope more firms will heed.

A new multi-million pound project led by Leicester University aims to

use space technology to help ease road congestion. The scheme began

at the National Space Centre today. The plan is to develop new traffic

management systems which could cut pollution and increase road safety.

The �2.4 million project will be funded by the European Commission.

Nottinghamshire police are hunting for an armed robber who's targetted

shops and old people's homes. The attacks happened in West Bridgford

and Edwalton. Police are warning people to be on the lookout for the

man who was filmed on CCTV. He's been seen with a knife and a gun.

At the weekend he targeted two care homes.

A couple say they've been driven to despair, after their dream of a new

life in Norway was shattered. Paul and Andrea Hodgkinson sold

everything they owned in Derbyshire, to embrace a new life in rural

Norway. But they say the government there has tried to drive them out.

The idyllic Norwegian home they bought may be forcibly sold and

they're facing living in a tent back in Derbyshire.

We first met Paul and Andrea in the 1990s, had their horse blogging

business. They had long dreamt of owning their own farm and in 2006

Sport this apparently idyllic property in Norway. -- Court. Even

in winter, it looked beautiful. This winter, the couple are back on

the only piece of land they have left in Derbyshire. The Norwegian

government department say their farm in no way is being forcibly

sold. There are not telling us how nor what happens of possessions.

Removed personal and business items over there, never expecting the

saga like this. A the couple had hoped to run a B&B and logging

business from the farm that a long running dispute with the Ministry

of Transport said that -- meant they couldn't move in. Now they say

that because they have not lived in, they must go. Then they have to

live on this land in a tent. But as a wood burner. It is not really

suitable as somewhere to live. Hodgkinson's have started a paper

and online petition but with no money, they cannot mount a legal

challenge to the Norwegian government. It should not have got

the stage and they don't seem to respect the fact that we are

fighting it by ourselves. Over a number of years, it has been very

stressful and is a big worry. Suicidal, really. The whole thing

has completely ruined our lives. This is a government that gives out

the Nobel Peace Prize. I think it is a disgrace.

A spokeswoman for the Norwegian Agricultural Authority said she

understood the Hodgkinsons had been warned several times that under

Norwegian law they must live at the farm permanently to keep it. Since

they haven't, the law stipulates the farm must be sold.

A new centre is to be built for patients from the East Midlands who

have a chronic, debilitating, life limiting condition.

The Nottingham hospitals charity has begun a �2.1 million

fundraising campaign towards the development which aims to provide a

homely place for patients with cystic fibrosis.

Stewart says he dreads hospital but with cystic fibrosis, is a fact of

life. At Nottingham City hospital, patients are put on a generous

spirit reward. It is not ideal. These patients have a different set

of new routes -- set of needs and the nurses are torn in terms of

where they direct their care. Cystic fibrosis affects around 9000

people in the UK. It affects the glance that produce body fluids. It

hinders the functions of organs like the lungs. Average life

expectancy is 36 years. This is the dream, a perfect -- purpose-built

centre in the East Midlands. The NHS is putting in �4.5 million. A

fund-raising appeal has been started to get the rest. Building

should start here later this year. By the way, the parking will be

replaced by new spaces created near by. When I heard the news, it was

amazing. I have been coming to this hospital since I was three years

old. Stewart has never met a never adult cystic fibrosis patients.

They are kept apart because of the risk of passing on infections. In

the UK is, they are hoping people will be able to talk to each other

using video conferencing. At the minute, a there are social networks.

There's only so much you can do. The aim to make hospital with the

extras feel more like home. It's expected to generate millions

of pounds of business with people attending from all over the world.

The Agricultural Machinery Show at Newark Showground is the country's

largest fair of its kind. But this year, the emphasis has

been security. From a combine harvesters to muck

spreaders, everything you might need on a farm on the -- at this

event. Over two days, thousands of people are expected to visit but

attention this time round was turned to ways in which farmers can

protect their property. Last year, there was a 61 % rise in

agricultural crime in the East Midlands, costing the region near

the �10 million. But the forefront of everyone's minds is security.

Much of the machinery you see here is usually expensive. Combine Farm

vistas of �350,000. -- combine harvesters. Regrettably, rural

crime is on the increase because fields and farms are large and

difficult to Secure. Many farmers here know only too well what it is

like to be targeted by thieves. had a trailer pinched last year, a

plant trailer. That was 10 grounds with. Somebody came with a tractor

and took it away. Kit with �1 billion is stolen every week in the

UK. Security companies are coming up with new techniques to deal with

a problem. -- kit worth �1 million. The way our scheme works is by

using technology to give our sector, each piece of equipment, a unique

and indelible identity which renders it relatively useless to

the fees. They cannot shifted on. - - shift it on. To a security is

more important than ever to farmers. It is hoped that this will put them

back in control of their livelihoods.

Good evening. For Leicester City, it's a taste of what's possible.

For Nottingham Forest, the question is where do they go from here?

Leicester had a convincing 4-0 win over Forest in the FA Cup replay

last night. But for all Leicester's domination, Forest can still ask

what might have been after a miss as bad as many people have seen.

Thanks to these two, it was goalless in the original tie but it

did not stay that way for long last night. The tempo was fast from the

start and his cross was turned into the net. Six minutes gone, 1-0

Leicester. Forrester are having a torrid time. They were hanging on.

-- Forest. When they did break, they had chances. Two yards out,

what was he thinking? Finally, Leicester turned their domination

into a bigger league. A swift move from defence and at last, a goal

for Jermaine Beckford. Forest still managed to conjure up a chance but

Leicester looked more likely to score and they did. It was Beckford

again. This was a performance to warm up the fans on an Alice cold

fans. Leicester went on to win 4-0. It was their biggest win over

Forest for 99 years, and Beckford scored a hat-trick. He went off not

well after his goals. Forest at times were ripped apart. It was a

performance which left many fans bewildered. I really enjoyed

watching the players enjoy themselves tonight. I think that is

something that we have to try and build on. We go behind and we lose

heart. They spent probably the next five or 10 minutes' thinking we are

going to get a goal but get stung again. We have to get more battle-

hardened and it is the only way we would get out of it. The bigger

picture is that we've got to try to reproduce that sort of performance

more regularly. The presence of the former manager in the TV commentary

box filled third fans' frustration. Leicester can now look forward to a

home tie with Swindon in the 4th round.

Derby County have signed the Sunderland striker Ryan Noble on a

month's loan. And he's in contention for a place in the squad

to play Burnley this weekend. He had a spell at Derby cut short last

season. And Nigel Clough's persuaded Martin O'Neill to let him

come to the East Midlands again. didn't see her and a 4th and last

time. He has been fit for six weeks Aug -- six weeks or so. He has been

on the bench quite a bit but we are delighted that he has been let out

for a month initially and we will take it from their.

A finally from a, a new shirt unveiled by Notts County today

which they will be unveiling next season as part of their hundred and

50 if celebrations. Embedded in the black stripes are the names of 3000

supporters. They are the ones who bought their season tickets in the

last April. Cricket is going on general sale at the end of the

month. Tomorrow night, we will have more on Notts County as they have a

civic reception to mark the 100 and 50th year to March -- 100 and 50th

year. Last night thousands of people

turned out in the cold to stare at the sky as they became part of the

BBC's Stargazing Live week. Well, today there's a chance to

tour the inner solar system. You won't need a space suit or rocket

to visit Venus or Mercury. You just need to get down to Alvaston Park

in Derby. A smooth lift-off for rockets made

by students at two schools in Derby. These paper vessels would not make

it into space but they were one of the activities on offer at a new

science garden in Alvaston Park. is all about the world around us

and is an opportunity to explore and discover and discuss.

cannot write with his pencil. It helps to measure the Sun's movement.

This is the planet Venus, it is known as the morning and evening

star. The star Lloyd's -- besides the unknown, it is the brightest

object in the night sky. This is Mercury and it is the fastest

planet in the solar system. Visitors can become a human sundial.

You stand on the correct one for on a sunny day and your shadow helps

you to tell the time. If you don't have a watch or you don't have your

phone on you, you can simply stand on here when the sun is out and it

will show what time it is hopefully. This rocket will be on show during

tonight's star-gazing live event as Alveston Park. It can travel 100

kilometres into space. Visitors to the new science garden will be able

to explore our solar system without ever leaving Planet Earth.

Brilliant enthusiasm from all these Good evening. Yes, if you're hoping

to stargaze tonight, unfortunately it is pretty cloudy. We did see

that lovely sunset earlier on because the clouds broke up just

enough to see a lovely red sky but that is proof that tomorrow it will

be a much brighter day. Good news on the way. Further rain to come in

between. I thought I would shave his photograph that Beryl sent in.

She was out and about in Derbyshire yesterday and spotted the snowdrops

with the frost surrounding them. That sums up that topsy-turvy

weather we've had in January so far. We can see this rain that is coming

late on the ceiling is the next front that is working its way

through from the West. We will see that westerly breeze starting to

pick up as that rain putsches in overnight. For now, the staff of

the evening, cloudy skies for most areas. -- the start of the evening.

Today was quite mild and tonight remains the same. Around six

Celsius as your minimum temperature. His reign will start to sink

southwards very early on tomorrow morning so by the end of the rush-

hour, we should see that rain disappearing altogether. -- this

rain. We are left with a dry and bright day for Thursday. Good sunny

spells, the best of which will be the in the afternoon. Allow for the

odd shower in parts of Derbyshire. Temperatures are not quite as mild

tomorrow, highs of eight Celsius. As we look ahead, we will see a