25/01/2012 East Midlands Today

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

Our top story tonight: A convicted conman is back in court

for duping the elderly. Carl Mould took money for mobility aids that

were never delivered. I felt a complete idiot for handing the

money over... As I said, I trusted the man.

Also, tales of regret from women who did not turn up for their

cervical smear test. I have got friends whose mothers have got to a

certain age and now have cancer because they did not go for it.

Plus, a mayor for Nottingham if the voters a vote yes. Who will be in

the race for the top job? And why Melvis from Matlock wants

to be buried with his hero. wasn't born a king and I haven't

lived like one, but, by God, I want Good evening and welcome to the

programme. First tonight, the convicted conman back in court

after his company took thousands of pounds from the elderly and

vulnerable for mobility aids that were never delivered. A judge

branded Carl Mould and his former business partner unfit to trade

with old folk. And he warned them that if they appeared before him

again, he'd send them to prison. Mike O'Sullivan has this report.

Leaving the county court in Nottingham, convicted conman, Vic -

- Carl Mould, in trouble again. This time for John be running a

company that charged the elderly and vulnerable thousands of pounds

for mobility age that never arrived. The judge said you were unfit to

sell goods and services to the elderly in their own homes? What do

you say? His business partner was more apologetic. I am very sorry to

have been part of any business to do with that. I hope to rectify the

situation. What went wrong? I went into business with the wrong person.

Carl Mould, who called himself Nick, and his partner ran a business from

Nottinghamshire. They would use a cynical ploy during visits to a

customer's home. Winning up the office pretending to get a discount.

-- phoning up. As complaints came in, the pair abandoned a firm. One

victim was this 82-year-old, who handed over thousands of pounds for

a reclining chair. I felt a complete idiot for handing the

cheque over. But... As I say, I trusted the man. The judge said

both men were unfit to sell goods and services to the elderly in

their own homes. The sentence has been adjourned until 2014 and he

said if they were ever in this sort of trouble again, he would send

them to prison. Trading Standards have had at 120 complaints in 12

months'. Obviously, we would have liked them to be sent to prison

today but it is quite a good decision the judge has made because

it has given them a three-year monitoring period, so if they

commit an offence, they will be sent straight to prison. Both men

said they have reimbursed the customers they have personally

dealt with. And Mike is with us now. You've

reported on the actions of Carl Mould before? Yes, that's right.

East Midlands Today and our sister programme, Inside Out, have

featured Carl Mould's activities before. In 2001, he was jailed for

three years for deception. He was a builder back then who overcharged

an elderly lady by around �30,000 for some dodgy building work. In

2008, he was in the broadcasting game, charging thousands of pounds

to train up people who wanted to work as TV presenters. The trouble

was that many people were disappointed with the results. Then,

despite being exposed on Inside Out, he set up a second media training

firm. One man spent �5,000. The police investigated but the matter

has remained on file. Almost 1,000 women a year die from

cervical cancer - a stark figure and perhaps enough to persuade you

to go for a smear test when it's offered. In Derbyshire, 25% of

women fail to attend their appointments. And when we asked

women in the centre of Nottingham today, some of them admitted they

failed to get regular checks, too. I go every time they asked me to go.

When they send my letter I booked my appointment and I go. I didn't

used to go but when I did and it was abnormal, is get me to death.

Friends whose mothers have got was certain age have now got cancer

because they did not go. But others took the option and did. I had one

and then I didn't go for 13 years, but then I wanted to try for a baby

so I went and got checked out. haven't had the time at the minute

to go. Women have got to take responsibility for their health, so

they should go. We always get letters reminding us to go. So they

should. Mel Davies from Derbyshire put off

her test by 18 months and now believes she could have received

vital medical treatment much sooner if she'd made an appointment, as

Geeta Pendse reports. On the road to recovery now, but

three years ago, Mel Davies' life changed dramatically when she was

diagnosed with cervical cancer. She had put off Bopara routine smear

test 18 months, an action she now regrets. If I hadn't left is so

long and had gone when they called me, I could have gone and my

treatment might... It might not have been but it might have been

less severe and just pre-cancerous cells that might not have developed

into early stages of cancer. It has been tough for Mel and her partner.

She now is unable to have children but now she is determined to stop

other women making the same mistake. Everybody thinks it won't happen to

them. I was like that. I didn't understand how important it was and

that it would pick up pre-cancerous cells. The whole connection between

the Tests and cancer. Figures from last year show around a quarter of

women ignored letters inviting them to attend a smear test. Mel is

hoping this will make women think twice and attend that appointment.

Joining us from our Leicester studio now is Mike McHugh, from the

city's Primary Care Trust. Good evening.

Mel's story shows just how important it is for women to attend

their screening appointments. is correct. We are very lucky to

have a test like this. We have very few tests of cancer which can

detect cancer at the precancer stage, which is what cervical

cancer screening tests do. And yet we still have considerable numbers

of women who do not come forward. Why do so many fail to turn up?

think there is a variety of reasons. Sometimes his is to do with the

procedure issues -- it is to do with. To be called, you must be

registered with a GP. Your address that is recorded must be current.

And a lot of patients move and then do not tell their GP they have

moved. Or they changed address and don't say and they get lost in the

system. The other big reason is to do with lack of understanding and

awareness and appreciation of the benefits of having screening.

Hopefully, tonight's report will put that to rest.

A man from Derbyshire has been charged with manslaughter after the

death of another man. It's alleged that he injected drugs into a 36-

year-old man at a house in Derby Road in Ripley last September. The

man subsequently died. The 40-year- old will appear before magistrates

in February. Two men from Derbyshire who were

jailed for using bullying and aggressive techniques to sell

mobility aids have had their sentences reduced. Former director

of REO Marketing Rodney Stone will now serve two years. Former Sales

Manager Geoffrey Moore has had his term cut to two and-a-half years.

The Court of Appeal ruled that they should have been sentenced on the

basis that they neglected their duty, rather than having an

involvement in what their staff were doing.

You're watching East Midlands Today. Still to come, make the most of the

mild weather, as there's a change on the way. Yes. The milder weather

hardly had a chance to come in before it is on its way out again

her and we are turning wet and windy tonight. More weather towards

Nearly 350 cases of harrassment on social networking sites were

reported to Leicestershire Police last year. It comes as the

Leicester City striker David Nugent has been receiving a series of

abusive messages on Twitter from a Southampton supporter, following

their match this week. An internet expert believes this type of

behaviour will be less common in the future. The internet has

evolved very quickly before we have even thought about how it changes

people's behaviour, so I think as we think more about it and change

the design and learn more about how we ought to behave online, I hope

this will change. And we need to be mindful that people can be quite

positive online as well. Well, it's not just social

networking sites that are a source of hate crimes. A project set up to

monitor hate incidents in Leicestershire recorded more than

1,000 in a 12-month period. Now a new campaign is underway to

encourage people, particularly those with mental health

difficulties, to report when they've been bullied or harassed.

Fiona Pilkington killed herself and her 18-year-old daughter in 2007

after a decade of violence, vandalism and taunts by local

teenagers. More than four years later, hate crimes are still a

problem for Leicestershire. The monitoring project has recorded

more than 1,200 incidents in a year. I have had trouble if I have been

out somewhere and people have made comments about me being

schizophrenic. You know, being crazy and things like that. Here

they come to give me pain, here they come to give me grief, let

alone the heartache, I never thought they would be so cruel...

Too Reza's experiences inspired her to write this poem about harassment.

She has helped to set up a support group. Today's conference brought

together health professionals, support groups, councils and the

police. They focused on what else can be done to help hate crime

victims, particularly those with health and mental health issues.

gives the message that we, the statutory bodies, do take it

seriously and we want to help them and bring the people to account to

hurt them on a daily basis. message of this year's campaign is

that nobody should suffer in silence.

London's got one. So has Leicester and Mansfield. Now an all-powerful

directly-elected mayor could be running Nottingham within months if

city voters back the idea. The Government today said mayoral

elections for Nottingham and ten other big English cities would be

brought forward and held in November. But all that depends on a

Yes vote for the whole idea in a referendum in early May. So is big

political change on the cards for Nottingham? Let's find out from our

political editor, John Hess, who is outside Nottingham Council House.

David Cameron has had some political bust-ups with the Labour

leadership here before. Now he's facing another. That's because

Labour Nottingham is to campaign for a No vote in the mayoral

referendum in the city. Undaunted, the Government today pressed ahead

with its plans for London-style mayors for our big cities. If the

people of Nottingham vote yes, Nottingham's very own Mayor Boris

or Ken could be in charge of this city and the council's multi-

If you look around the world, most cities of the kind of standing at

Nottingham has are led by individuals who have a clear

mandate. They punch above their weight on its national and

international levels. We think it is right for the people of

Nottingham to make a decision as to whether they want that, too. Other

Midland cities such as Birmingham and Coventry will also have a

referendum in May on whether to have a mayor in charge. So why is

Nottingham's current council leader, Jon Collins, so opposed? The Labour

group in the city council will be campaigning very vigorously against

the proposals because at �1 million extra cost over the next few years,

we just think it is a waste of money and we think that local

people will recognise that and not supported.

So, John, who are the likely candidates? I have to tell you that

one national newspaper said Ken Clarke might throw his hat into the

ring! I wouldn't put money on that! Alan Simpson and other big names.

Even the fashion designer, Sir Paul Smith. And how about a job share?

Torvill and Dean? I wouldn't rule it out. The speculation won't end

there. Campaigners are fighting to stop

the sale of a historic building and claim the council has no right to

sell it. The Gilstrap Centre at Newark Castle was given to the town

by Sir William Gilstrap. It's currently used as a tourist

information centre. But the District Council wants to sell the

building to the County Council, who plan to turn it into a registry

office. Once it is sold and goes out of the scheme of the Trust, it

is then fair game. Once Notts County Council owns it, it is

outside the Trust, therefore it can be used for any purpose whatsoever.

It could become a cafe. A mother who campaigned for 26

years to bring her child's killer to justice has decided to tell the

world her story by publishing a book about the murder of her

daughter Colette Aram. Colette was just 16 and a trainee hairdresser

when she was abducted in the Nottinghamshire village of Keyworth.

She was raped and strangled before her body was dumped in a field. The

BBC's first ever Crimewatch programme featured the case, but it

wasn't until 2010 that Paul Hutchinson was convicted of murder.

After more than two decades, Jacqui Kirby has finally managed to find

some closure, and she joined us here in the studio earlier this

week. Why did you write the book? Because

I felt it was the one last thing I could do for Colette. And I also

wanted to give hope to other families that have gone through or

will go through what we went through for 26 years, to never give

up hope. And also to give Joe public an insight into the kind of

things that happen within families when something like this happens.

It is the devastation it leaves behind. It has a knock-on effect

within the family unit. It is an incredibly difficult book to read

for all sorts of reasons, but you think there is some positivity in

it because there is a message of hope in the end? Yes, I think so.

For me, it was a kind of healing process as well. I was going to ask

you that. Did you feel that by the end of writing the book, you were

in a better place than at the beginning? Are absolutely. Off and

I was sat at the computer writing it in tears. -- often. But since I

have written the book I can talk about the events and about Colette

much more easily than before. I couldn't have sat for any length of

time and spoken to anybody. When I did interviews before, they would

have to stop the interview because I would break down. But since I

have done that, I feel I have the ability to talk about it. It might

sound strange and I can't explain it myself. There is no forgiveness

in this book, is there? No. How can you forgive someone for doing that?

He not only destroyed her life, but he destroyed our lives as well.

you said you hoped it would give other families hope? I hope so.

Never give up. Always to hope that eventually, somebody... The

perpetrator will be brought to justice. It took a long time and

happened in the end. Thank you so much for coming in. Thank you.

Still to come on the programme, who lives in a house like this? We meet

the man from Matlock who lives for Elvis Presely, and now he wants to

Before that, we have the sport. Thank you. Good evening.

Starting with rugby, and are the days when Leicester Tigers are a

dominant force in European rugby over? The club's Director of Rugby

says a salary cap imposed on English clubs means this country

will continue to struggle. The Tigers' European campaign ended at

the weekend, with the quarter finals dominated by Irish and

French teams, who are free to have a much higher wage bill, as Jeremy

Nicholas reports. Leicester have developed a taste

for European travel, with the club having won the Heineken Cup twice.

But this year, they are out already. Perhaps they were not good enough

this year but in the end, we have played six, won four. Despite a big

win at the weekend, tigers are out of Europe. Only Saracens went

through out of the England teams. Are we missing out because of the

salary cap? French clubs have a higher salary cap of 7 million each

season. Edinburgh and Cardiff are joined by Saracens, the only

English club in the knockout stages, but English clubs have to keep

their wage bill to 4 million. have to be realistic in that, like

any sport, professional sport is about how much money you have and

what you do with it. If you don't have the funding, then it will be

difficult against teams that do have the funding. In previous

seasons, the Tigers have top their group. But this season, despite

having topped four of their groups, they are out. We were stung. It is

a shame. With the regionalised Celtic sides now more likely to

feature every season, this is what he said. When you battle hard to

make sure you have a qualifying Cup the next season, you have to put

your best side out as often as you can for obvious reasons. And the

French sides are working on two or three times the budget that we are.

Staying with rugby, the legendary Barbarian side will be officially

opening Loughborough University's new 3,000-seater stadium in May.

The Ba Bas will play the students before matches against England,

Wales and Ireland. By all accounts, the game at Notts

County last night was some way from a classic. Notts had a goalless

draw with Preston, as Kirsty Edwards reports.

Notts County came into this game looking to put an end to their

slide down lead 1. You know a match isn't the best, though, when this

gets about the biggest reaction from the crowd. Thankfully, the

referee managed to stay on his feet for the rest of the night, but

there wasn't too much to get the fans on their feet. If the odd

glimpse of some nice passing football from Knox, but it was few

and far between. And in truth, neither goalkeeper had much to do.

There are now 11 points off the play-offs and 10 points off the

relegation zone. We're very sad to report the death

of Notts superfan Ian Mills after last night's game. Ian had missed

just one match home and away since 1970 and has seen the last 1,400

Notts games. When he wasn't watching Notts, he'd be supporting

local non-league teams and England. Ian, who was 61, was a fountain of

knowledge and Notts historian. Between now and the end of the

summer, we are going to try and feature all of the athletes

featuring in the London Olympics and Paralympics. Today, a gymnast

who is hoping for more in London. I am Becky and I am an artistic

gymnast. My Olympic dream is to try and improve on my Beijing position

and to help the team as much as I The medal opportunity is there but

I think we have all got that same goal in mind and we are willing to

work as hard as we can for it. I think it's such a big competition

for any athlete, especially it being barren country. This chance

will never come again so it means a lot to us.

And if you missed our special East Midlands Olympic Dreams on Sunday,

there's a chance to watch it again on the BBC iPlayer. Thank you, Mark.

Now, there are fans of Elvis, and then there's Matlock's "Melvis"!

Yes, that's the nickname enjoyed by Elvis Presley superfan Melvyn

Haymes. He's been toasting the memory of The King, who would have

just had his 77th birthday had he lived. Melvyn has turned his

Derbyshire home into a shrine to the singing superstar, and even

wants to be buried with him! James Roberson explains.

At first glance, this flat looks almost normal. But it hardly takes

a closer inspection to see who really dominates here. The Matlock

flap his full of Elvis. Melvyn has been collecting this memorabilia

since he was 12. There is no stopping yet because I have got

more room yet. Two or three suitcases and a good start in them

yet! It has gone on to become an obsession with everything about the

singer, who died prematurely in 1977. Even that has gone into a

home-made coffee table. Everybody in Matlock knows that Melvyn is mad

about all things Elvis. They nicknamed me Melvis and it has

stuck with me for years. But if Melvyn loves Elvis, the same cannot

be said of his family! My daughter says, when I go, this is going with

me. Everything will go! They are burying it all could be missing a

trick. Melvyn has spent thousands on the collection. However, when he

does finally go, he has the music all planned. I would like to be

dressed in my suit, which I had made, and in a cardboard cut-out

placed on the lid of the coffin. I wasn't born a King and I have never

lived like one, but, by God, I want to go out like one!

Well, it is literally his funeral. He can do what he wants!

That is true. But hopefully, not a long time yet.

We were trying to think of Elvis songs to go with the weather.

Thank you. We have had this lovely photo from Tom, just before his

camera battery ran out. Thank you for that. The cloud is increasing

and we have had rain sitting over here, bringing a soaking today.

Some showery bursts of rain but the wind will also be a big feature and

we could see gusts of up to 50 mph. It will be tracking its way to the

East into the early hours of the morning and producing some heavy

rainfall if you are travelling anywhere overnight. Some colder air

coming in overnight but the ice is further West. First thing tomorrow,

the band of rain is still with us, giving us a very wet start to the

day. Still very windy as well and a few showers around. You might even

notice the odd snow shower as well, affecting the Peak District. We

could even have hail and thunder as well. The rain will ease off later

in the day, leaving sunshine and fewer showers as well. A maximum

tomorrow of a degrees. The strength of the wind will make it feel

colder, however. Quite a bit of cloud on Friday and the chance of a

few wintry showers as well, but as we get to the weekend, we have high

pressure coming in from the South and a warm front trying to come in