29/03/2017 East Midlands Today

And now the news for the East Midlands, I'm Maurice Flynn.

A coroner has criticised two staff at a Nottingham primary school

who she says undermined the safety of a little girl who died

because they failed to pass on concerns about abuse.

Seven year old Shanay Walker died three years ago.

Her aunt and grandmother were jailed for cruelty.

Today the coroner overseeing Shanay's inquest delivered

Shanay Walker's mother, Leanne, suffered anxiety and postnatal

depression after giving birth to another child.

Shanay went into care at the age of four.

I go to my friend's house and had a midnight feast.

And eat my breakfast and go to sleep.

People started noticing a change in Shanay.

Eight months after getting permanent guardianship,

this video was taken by child psychologists as they assessed

how Shanay and her aunt got on together.

They roleplayed different games given to them by the assessors.

The experts thought they had a good relationship but the inquest heard

Kay-Ann Morris recorded a meeting with Shanay's teacher at school.

As they walked away after the meeting, her own recording

continues as she shouts abuse at Shanay.

Shanay was at Southglade Primary School in Nottingham.

At the inquest, assistant headteacher Lisa Hyland said

Multiple child safeguarding concerns were raised when Shanay lived

at her aunt's home but throughout the inquest, questions were asked

about information not being passed on effectively.

In September 2013, the inquest heard Shanay told her school she had been

beaten with a belt and hit over the knuckles with a wooden

Kay-Ann Morris, who had experienced violence from her mother,

was allowed to dominate meetings with professionals.

She was even permitted to bring so-called spiritual

They were her friends who backed up what she was claiming about Shanay

It emerged during the inquest that soon after Shanay's death,

Southglade School headteacher Peter Smalling and teaching

assistant Laura Shreeves recreated a child safeguarding document.

It had gone missing, the inquest was told,

Shanay's aunt, Kay-Ann Morris, was cleared of murder.

She and Shanay's grandmother, Juanila Smikle, were jailed

The Nottingham coroner, Maureen Casey, gave a narrative

conclusion, saying that Shanay Walker died by

She was critical of the headteacher of Southglade Primary School

in Nottingham, Peter Smalley, and teaching assistant

Laura Shreeves, saying they failed to pass on child safeguarding

concerns, despite other teachers at the school coming forward

with those concerns, having seen the bruises on Shanay.

When she died, she had more than 50 injuries on her body.

Alison Michalska is the Nottingham City Council corporate director

She said changes have been made since Shanay's death.

One of the things that we have improved as the local authority

working with all the schools in the city is improve the strength

and training of the designated safeguarding lead in schools,

but we've also introduced a professionals phone

line whereby teachers, nurses, GPs, anybody working

with children who is concerned can ring and speak to one

A Serious Case Review report is due to come out soon and the coroner

said any changes from that to child safeguarding and improvements

Simon Ward, BBC East Midlands Today, Nottingham.

Police say they're now treating the search for a mother who's

vanished with her two young sons as an abduction.

Samantha Baldwin, who's 42 and from Newark,

Jo Healey has been at a police briefing tonight -

Good evening, Morris. As you say, this has gone from being a missing

persons appeal to an abduction investigation. Samantha Baldwin is

now wanted on suspicion of abducting her two sons. Lewis, nine, and

Dylan, six. She has no legal custody of them. I can tell you that the

police admit to make arrests. Two children delete them women aged 62

and 36 are in police custody tonight accused of assisting an offender.

But they need to find the mother and the boys. My first appeal would be

to some answer. For her to return the two boys safe and well. My

second appeal is for anybody who has any information about the

whereabouts of Samantha and the two boys to contact us on the numbers we

have given. Our primary focus is to get those two boys back safe and

well. There are now 100 officers well. There are now 100 officers

from the region and nationally who are working on this. There have been

thousands of calls and messages and eight sightings. Six have been ruled

out. Two are still being investigated. But the police say

they need more help to find those young boys.

They do very much, Jo. -- thank you very much.

A retired teacher from Nottinghamshire has taken

the witness stand to deny a string of historical child sex offences.

Christopher Metcalfe's accused of raping a teenager,

Our Social Affairs Correspondent, Jeremy Ball,

Christopher Metcalfe was asked in detail about allegations that go

repeatedly denied sexually abusing repeatedly denied sexually abusing

19-year old girl who was in his class in Mansfield. She said that

Christopher Metcalfe kissed her and touched inappropriately. She says he

did it at a swimming pool during a story time class and at his own

farm. Today he told a jury that pupils sometimes visit there but

that was to see animals, he said. He also explained why he took a

teenager home after he moved onto the street in Ashfield. He said he

was simply stopping to drop his dogs off after agreeing to give her a

lift from the children at home where she was a resident. To college

nearby. His barrister said, did you rape her, Mr Metcalfe? He replied,

clearly and confidently, no, I did not. Under cross-examination this

afternoon he was challenged over why he had changed his initial account

of what happened, telling the police that he was not aware of whether he

had kissed the girl in the shower. Christopher Metcalfe told the jury

that was because he had only just been arrested. I was suffering from

shock, he said, I had a panic attack and I did not know what was going

on. So that letter has been signed,

sealed and sent ... Britain's separation

from the European Union "It's happened -

and there's no turning back." That's what Theresa May said

as she formally triggered Brexit. Our Political Editor Tony Roe

has been in Westminster The Article 50 process is now

underway. The moment long awaited by those so-called Eurosceptics. Now we

have what they have always wanted. This is a historic day for our

country and our democracy. On the 23rd of June we had a vote which the

majority of people in the UK voted to leave the European Union. The

overwhelming majority of people in the Midlands voted to leave the

European Union and the will of the British people is being enacted. We

will take back control of our laws. In Parliament, many European

languages could be heard among the journalists where a media village

had sprung up. Sorting out you can work in the UK from the EU is a

priority for those who are not Eurosceptics. People like the East

Midlands chamber, local businesses, they need to be very clear and the

NHS and public services, about the labour that they need from overseas,

the people that are coming, the contribution that they are making,

so that we can have a proper understanding of the immigration

needs of the East Midlands. As detail emerges, will be Prime

Minister ensure that everyone in her team stops the practice which has

been so prevalent of claiming that every awkward question is evidence

of a desire to overturn the will of the British people. Because nothing

will no more surely destroy that unity that she seeks. Echoing the

words from EU, not a happy day for everybody. One MP said she fears

that the country has lost the plot. She is worried about the future. The

Prime Minister said that now the process is underway, it is time to

come together as a nation. We are all Eurosceptics now. A week on from

the attack at Westminster, vigil has been held in Leicester.

Dozens of people from all faiths gathered on Welford Road this

It's one of a number of events being held

across the country to mark the attack, which left four people

Good evening. After a fairly cloudy and damp day today, it looks like

things will improve as we move into tomorrow. Those temperatures

creeping up into the high teens. That is thanks to a shift in the

wind direction from a south-westerly to a southerly. We still have low

pressure in charge of our weather. As we go through tonight, it will

stay fairly cloudy, with outbreaks of rain particularly as we move into

the early hours. But a mild night, with temperatures falling to an

overnight low of 11 degrees. That is how we start the day tomorrow.

Fairly cloudy but wild. Some outbreaks of rain. After we move

into the afternoon, things are brightening up with a fair amount of

cloud around. Some sunny spells with temperatures reaching a maximum of

18 or 19 Celsius. Feeling warm in any sunshine. Moving through Friday,

we've got a cold front making its way across from the West. That will

introduce some cooler air and showery outbreaks. There will be a

fresher feel to the weekend as we again April with some showers.

Temperatures on Saturday not doing quite as well. Still roundabout

average. A maximum of 14 Celsius. I will leave you with the Outlook.

That is far. The outlook for the next few

days, temperatures coming down a bit but staying decent for this time of

year. Here is Darren Bett with the national weather.

The warm air coming up on a southerly breeze all the way from

Iberia and across France into England and Wales. To achieve the

high temperatures we need to get into some of this dryer air and

sunshine. Even with the cloud today, 17 degrees. Not just about the

temperatures, let's not forget there is some rain around as well. Quite

wet in Pembrokeshire for much of the day. More rain overnight tonight,

some rain and drizzle in northern and western areas. Wetter weather

moving northwards across Scotland. Some rain in the south-west,

shuffling towards the Midlands. Overnight, a lot of cloud around. It

is going to be very mild indeed for the time of year, 11-12 in many

parts of the country. This is an sunshine beginning