26/04/2012 Look East - East

Hello and welcome to Look East. In the programme tonight:

A trail of destruction as a tornado wreaks havoc in an Essex village.

Next thing I knew the wind blew me over backwards onto the ground. I

saw these bits of debris coming towards me, I managed to scramble

out the way into the woodshed. The convicted murderer Jeremy

Bamber has lost his latest bid to prove his innocence. 26 years later,

we're still coming up and he's still pleading his innocence. I

find it quite extraordinary. Criticism of the expenses system at

Essex County Council when the disgraced peer Lord Hanningfield

was in charge. And find out why we made a beeline

Parts of a farm in Essex have been left in ruins after a tornado. It

lasted just a few minutes but buildings were sent into the air

and trees were uprooted. Brook Street Farm near Halstead was hit

late yesterday afternoon as violent storms passed across the region.

The winds were so strong that one man said he was lifted off his feet.

Our Essex reporter Gareth George is Welcome to Brook Street Farm or

should I say what is left of it. This was at the epicentre of the

damage. You can see some of it now. Some of the smashed roofing tiles

on the ground. And look at what has happened to this barn. The roof has

completely gone. It was here at 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon but

within minutes, it was reduced to splinters. You might be able to see

some of what is left of it in piles here. This was just some of the

damage caused when the tornado The Borough brothers look at the

wreckage of their farm -- barrow brothers. It took the tornado just

seconds to cause around �100,000 worth of damage. This route is the

main piece of damage. -- this roof and two chicken sheds with the

chickens right in it and took it down the field. We had to rescue

them before the fox got to them all too chicken sheds, picked up and

thrown around. Every river has a -- every roof has a gaping hole. The

farmer said it was frightening. heard this rush of the wind and the

wind and to see what was happening. The next thing I knew, the wind

blew me backwards onto the ground. I saw these bits of debris and a

complete roof coming towards me and take cover in the workshop. I saw

it all come down in front of me. Nearby in the hamlet of White Ash

Green, more damage. Trees uprooted and debris strewn around. I have

got two Chicken shed blown away and cattle sheds without rooves, some

cattle slightly injured. No electricity. The police say it is

amazing nobody was hurt and that Brook Street Farm, the repairs

could take months for all stopped we have moved to one of the other

outbuildings here and we can show you some more of the damage.

You should be able to see a great big gaping hole in the roof of this

plan and there were cattle in here when they tornado struck,

incredible that none of those were seriously injured when the roof

crashed to the ground. But talking to the farmer, the damage minus six

figures. He is trying to work out whether he is insured because

apparently insuring yourself for storm damage if you are a farmer is

extremely expensive and many of them do not do so so the farmer

here going through his insurance papers just try to work out what

the situation is that there's real relief here that no one was

seriously injured by this tornado. Thank you.

For the rest of us it's just miserable and wet and for our

biggest industry. Tourism the season is starting badly. It's

worth �6.2 billion a year to the region's economy and in a recession

traders are looking for a strong start to 2012. But today some

businesses said that takings are 70% down on this time last year.

Easter weekend a year ago. 26 Celsius - hotter than Madrid.

Lowestoft today, 13 Celsius and very wet. Regulars at the Tide's

Reach tearooms sought shelter in a doorway. Takings here this Easter

were down 70%. High winds, rain, it really is doom and gloom. People's

spirits are low. We just wanted the sun to start shining so people

start feeling happier, and can enjoy the seafront here at

Lowestoft. Nearby, part of the sea wall has collapsed. The stormy

weather and strong onshore winds have eaten away the beach.

analogy I would draw is like a chainsaw. Winds driven at the top,

undercurrents and water, drawing the material out. Material comes

from the upper beach and converts it into something that looked like

this prior to the more significant weather, it would flatten out and

perhaps lead a steeper face of it at the top edge.

With no immediate end in sight to the wet weather, punts stood idle

on the River Cam in Cambridge. comparison to previous Aprils, a

couple of 1,000 pounds per day and now as you can see, it has calmed

down dramatically. Today those behind some of the region's leading

tourist attractions met in Bury St Edmunds. The board of Visit East

Anglia all aware that customers are becoming increasingly savvy. There

are still an awful lot of visitors out there an awful lot to do in

rain but yes, it has had an effect with us. We are slightly down on

where we would like to be. five-day forecast is an influence

on what people decide to do the following weekend and we look at

the BBC weather forecasts and see what the likely outcome will be.

Will it be wet or dry? And make plans accordingly. It is a really

important influencing factor when people decide what to do.

unfortunately for the next few days at least, unsettled is the word.

The convicted murderer Jeremy Bamber has lost another attempt to

clear his name. He was jailed in 1986 for murdering five members of

his family in their farmhouse at Tolleshunt D'Arcy in Essex. He has

never stopped claiming he is innocent. Today the Criminal Cases

Review Commission refused permission to allow the case to go

back to the Court of Appeal. Nowhere was today's decision been

more eagerly anticipated that at Full Sutton prison in Yorkshire.

From inside, prisoner A5355 to Aseat broke the news on his Twitter

page. To some that is a relief. have made it clear that we think it

is guilty and we wanted the guilty person to come out and therefore

you wanted retribution to the people who have suggested that he

is guilty. Bamber's denials of guilt have never changed over 26

years behind bars but his appearance has. Essex police found

the bodies of his adoptive parents, his sister and her two six-year-

olds. They had been shot in his farmhouse. He insisted that

somebody else did the killings and then turned the gun on herself.

Bamber said he was shocked and extremely disappointed adding that

"I shall continue to campaign to prove my innocence in every way I

can". Campaigners have gathered around his campaign. If we

Transport Today the way we deal with crime looking at the evidence

that existed in 1985, if the evidence today was put before a

court, I did believe he would be found guilty. Bamber faces the rest

of his life behind bars. Today's decision has not changed that but

it also has not ended his campaign Earlier I spoke to Simon McKay,

Jeremy Bamber's lawyer. He told me the notoriety of the case made the

situation more complicated. In my professional experience which now

extends over 20 years, I have never known a case polarised groups of

people in the way that this case does. I have been involved in

politically sensitive cases in my career as well as orthodox cases.

It seems that this case falls into two distinct camps. Those that the

amendment to lead -- that that BM - - vehemently believe he is a cold-

blooded killer and those that do not. Resolving the polarisation is

typically done. -- difficult play dumb. -- difficult. This is as we

say a very clear dismissal by the Commission. What can your next move

the? Is this the end of the road was Mike no, it is not. We are

already considering a major judicial review -- is this the end

They have overstepped their functioned as the organisation that

is to determine whether the statutory tests for referral back

is made out as opposed to testing the evidence itself. Looking

already at challenging this decision before the High Court to

see if we can persuade the High Court to direct that the commission

reconsider the matter. We have heard from family members to say

that every time this comes up, it is very difficult and traumatic for

them. Do you have sympathy for them? Listen, at any level, this

case is deeply, deeply tragic. Five people lost their lives. Of course,

I have got the deepest sympathy for the victims of the White House Farm

shooting. But my function here is to advise my client on the merits

of an appeal against his conviction. In my view, the submission that

went to the commission in January was sufficient to justify a

referral back and it was a matter for the Court of Appeal to test

quite properly the validity of that evidence. That is what must happen.

Jeremy Bamber is quite right to continue to pursue this matter.

Until he has no avenues or exhaust every opportunity open to him to do

Thank you. Still to come: The weight loss plan

invented here and now doing very well around the world. And Kevin

Burch surrounded by silk and sequins. You're going to a fancy-

dress party, but you're never too sure what to wear. Here, you're

spoilt for choice. 8,000 costumes in total and they are all going

under the hammer. More on that Major flaws have been highlighted

in the expenses system at Essex County Council. Auditors have

expressed serious concerns about the lack of control over claims

made by councillors when Lord Hanningfield was leader. He was

sent to prison for fiddling his own For council tax payers here in

Essex, this is about how their money was spent and the money that

should have been in place. The auditors looked at the systems

operating at County Hall back in and expressed serious concerns

about the lack of control over corporate credit cards. They said

poor record-keeping made it hard to see if chauffeur-driven cars were

being misused, and that gifts and hospitality weren't always being

registered properly. This was while Lord Hanningfield was leader of

Essex County Council. 2009 it has only just been made public. Overall,

auditors felt the guidance on expenses wasn't clear and that

there was no system to properly scrutinise or question claims put

in by councillors and officers. These are not small amounts of

money, in 2008/9, the total claim came to �140,000. The sort of

amount of money you would assume would be carefully counted. But the

auditors also... Feel significant progress has been made as the

current leaders of Essex County Council are keen to point out.

have a new constitution, new members' expenses system. We

publish every night and lot numbers' expenses on our website.

We publish every about over �500 at the County Council spent on our

website. We are totally open and transparent about everything we

spend. Lord Hanningfield, the former leader, was convicted over

his parliamentary expenses and the City of London police are still

Five employees have been suspended after an animal rights group

carried out secret filming at two farms in Norfolk. The East Anglian

Pig Company which runs the farms says it won't tolerate animal

mistreatment. But the RSPCA says it won't be prosecuting.

A nightclub in Norwich has been stripped of its licence. The police

say there had been high levels of drunkenness and crime at the Wafou

club in Prince of Wales Road. The city council withdrew its licence

after hearing that discussions with the club to clean up its act had

failed. More than 700 people have signed a

petition against a plans for an Islamic community centre in King's

Lynn. If it goes ahead it would be opened in a former pub. A final

decision will be made next week. This used to be a thriving pub. But

for the past year, The Queen's Arms has been boarded up and abandoned.

Now the West Norfolk Islamic Association want to convert it into

a centre for prayers, meetings and social gatherings. The vast

majority of people would not know it is there. People are being

invited from out of the region to discuss religion. It's great that

they can go to a community centre in King's Lynn. But objectors say

there are already enough community centres. We have got one here which

is going out of use. Down here in Hillington square two minutes' walk

which is quite adequate for them. Why do they need an exclusive

community centre for themselves? The council has also removed some

of what it has called offensive messages from its website in fact

early today, it was shut down completely.

This is obviously a sensitive issue. I have spoken to a number of people

who live near here and none of whom would appear on camera. It seems

that their main concerns are that the centre would make this area a

target for community tensions. Not so, say those working to make

King's Lynn more integrated. People need to learn about the differences

that exist between all the different people that live and work

in King's Lynn and West Norfolk and once people know and understand

those differences, I think it is a lot easier for them to accept them

and for everybody to work and live alongside each other haply.

council will make the final decision on Monday.

A troubled hospital in Norfolk has appointed a new chairman. The James

Paget Hospital in Gorleston has been given a number of critical

reports by inspectors. David Wright who was previously the Director of

Social Services at Norfolk County Council will take up the post in

June. The Red Arrows will be performing

again at the Clacton Air Show this summer. It was forced to pull out

last year after a plane crashed during a display just a week before.

This time next week, voting will be under way in 19 councils across the

region. The Conservatives are likely to stay in control of most

of them but Labour are hoping for some notable gains. One of their

targets is Norwich where no party The politics of Norwich City

council regularly confounds the best of political analyst. For most

of the last 40 years, it has been dominated by the Labour Party. But

another party keeps getting in the way. I am from the Green Party.

just three seats less than Labour, the greens and that the main

opposition on the city council. Once again they are hoping that

this will be the year they take control. But it is going to be hard

- many of their councillors have decided not to seek re-election so

there's a lot of new faces on the doorstep and Labour are doing well

in the opinion polls. We would bring services in-house which means

that the council would be directly responsible for providing services

and the other one is that we would improve communication. I think

there are enough votes for us in Norwich and people will work for us.

Labour has been running City Hall as a minority administration for

the last few years. It boasts that despite government cuts, it has

been able to find savings of �4.6 million without harming services.

Housing is a big issue here and Labour say the quality and quantity

has improved. To move from a situation three years ago were the

ordered Commission was telling us that we will not delivering and not

very good, we were an old fashioned kind of housing department to an

organisation which has been building houses, won national

awards for tenant involvement. It has been really positive. But it

has not all gone smoothly. The collapse of the Council Contractor

and then fountains which replaced it is being used by opposition

parties and particularly Conservatives as proof that Labour

cannot be trusted to run the council. Contracts collapsing left

right and centre, they cannot collect council tax, business rates

and the City Council Trust is not fit for purpose. The Tories who

only have two seat on the council know that the current lack of

popularity of the Government will make things hard for them and also

the Lib Dems, down to just four councillors and hoping voters will

vote on local bother about national issues. It is clear on the doorstep

that people recognise that we are strong local campaigners for them

and we have councillors, people respond but positively. People

coming out and thanking us for the work we have done. Butler dams and

Conservatives would like to make gains here but the main battle in

Norwich is between Labour and the Greens -- both the Lib Dems and the

Conservatives would like to make gains.

As well as the three parties featured in that report, UKIP is

also standing in Norwich. There's a full list of candidates on the

As many businesses struggle in the recession, a slimming company in

this region has won a prestigious Queen's Award for Export. The

Cambridge Weight Plan used to be known as the Cambridge Diet. It's

actually based in Corby and now has a turnover of more than �30 million

a year. This Corby factory produces one

million milkshake sachets a week. It sells its flavoured bars, soup

and porridge around the world and has seen huge growth in South East

Asia and the Middle East. The basic criteria for the ward was growth in

export sales over a three-year period -- the award. We have grown

by nearly 120% in those three years. But I think it is a lot more than

that. We are working in a really important area. Combating obesity,

it is a growing problem around the world. Now based in Corby, the

original research was carried out in Cambridge in the 1970s by Dr

Alan Howard. It was regarded by some as Wishful thinking. Potential

health concerns were raised about the affects of rapid weight loss.

But it was launched as the Cambridge Diet more than a quarter

of a century ago. It involves eating between 440 and 1,500

calories a day and complies with all the legislation. It now employs

177 people, provides 2,000 weight plan consultants across the UK and

has sold that idea across the globe. It never ceases to amaze me that

the size of the company - we have five units now and we produce for

the whole world. It amazes me that it all comes out of this tiny

factory. It can now use this emblem to market the company for the next

five years, in which it hopes to So the invite comes for a fancy

dress party. The only problem - what to wear? In Bury St Edmunds,

there is something for everybody. From pop stars to pirates and sumo

wrestlers to spacemen. A total of 8,000 and they're all going under

There's so much choice that it is tough to decide what fancy dress

takes your fancy. It is great. I am like a child in a sweetie shop like

smack may be something to cap everything off? A bit too big.

Maybe not. But finding the kit that fits is also proving a tall order

for six-foot-five Richard. I came to look for the town crier but

being such a little bloke, I can't get into the close! -- clothes.

Rail upon rail, row upon row and no matter what you're after it's bound

to be here somewhere. Have you got any pirates? Lovely.

Thank you ever so much. The collection has been built over 30

years by Maureen Hammond. But now she's retiring from her costume

hire business. Everything is up for auction. It is not easy, it is very

hard. I had a pantomime group come back with a bunch of flowers and it

was I found it very unexpected, I had a few tears. It is very hard.

Especially to let something go or even all of them. You have got

8,000 costumes to get through. You will have to go fast. Luckily,

8,000 costumes but only 800 lots. It will take around six hours.

will have a bit of sweat on your brow? Yes, a strong bladder is all

you need! Always washing and ironing never stop. You will be sad

to see them go but not unhappy to have a rest? Yes. The sale starts

at ten. There's bound to be a real I think he was enjoying himself too

much there! I went to Swaffham and Here's a photograph of a double

rainbow taking in St Ives today, thank you for sending that in. I

will start with the satellite image to show you that some places are

enjoying some evening sunshine tonight as the skies clear. Winning

the radar pictures from earlier, -- running the radar pictures, you can

see the low pressure is driving the system at the moment and the

showers swelling around that area of low pressure. Right now, you

will see most places are dry right now. A few showers in the far west

of the region. Overnight, most places should have a dry night with

still a chance of some isolated shower was but only further west.

We should not be bothered by a frost tonight. Temperatures no

lower than six Celsius. It will stay pretty breezy and we are

recording some gusty winds around 40 mph which will ease slightly

overnight but we are looking at a freshening force around the coast.

Tomorrow could be a fairly cloudy day all in all and there will be

some scattered showers and some could be on the heavy side. And

perhaps a bright start for some first thing tomorrow but it will

quickly cloud over with a good scattering of the showers. They do

have a potential to turn heavily and thundery. An overall height of

14 Celsius with the winds variable, much lighter in and and turning

more north-westerly. A risk of some showers through the afternoon,

still potential for them to be on the heavy side. Looking to the

weekend, it might be dry to start with but there is an area of low

pressure moving from the Bay of Biscay looking like it will turn

things fairly wet and windy through the weekend so the unsettled

weather is certainly with us for a few days. You will see bright

intervals Black Wednesday. The start of May could be dry and a bit

warmer but before we get there, we have got some showery days with

some unsettled weather and some rain turning up later on Saturday,

bringing us some showers. All in all, a damp weekend. And our