08/10/2013 Look East - East

Hello and welcome to Look East with Susie and me.

In the programme tonight: A year after a fire in Essex which killed a

mother and five young children, their father tell us he needs to

know who was responsible. I hope someone will come forward and

help my family and the community to come to terms with this terrible

episode. We do not want anything else to happen again.

Hours of delays for hundreds of commuters as the Main Line to London

closes during the morning rush hour. I have been on the station for two

hours and I am going home because I cannot get into my work.

Bikes stolen in broad daylight by police officers — they say nobody

tried to stop them. And Prince Philip is on top form as

he makes a solo outing in the region.

Good evening. A father who's lost his entire family in a suspected

arson attack on his home has today appealed for anybody with

information to help bring the killers to justice. Tonight for the

first time he has spoken personally to BBC Look East.

The fire ripped through the downstairs of the terrace in Harlow

last October. Dr Sabah Usmani and her five young children were killed.

Their father, Dr Abdul Shakoor, was the only survivor. The police

launched a murder investigation, their biggest to date. Nearly a year

on, no—one has been charged. In a moment we'll hear from Dr Shakoor

after this report from Jenny Kirk. It is the stuff of nightmares. To

watch your house burn and find out that your wife and three of your

children have died in that fire, but more tragedy was to follow. Dr

Abdul Shakoor's remaining sons died soon after and his remaining

daughter, days later. Another asked few minutes I have found out there

have been more deaths. There is no easy way to break this news. Her

burns were too extreme for her three—year—old body to cope with.

The site of a burnt out house and the sex hearses carrying six Kovtun

is brought the community to grieve. Friday prayers that evening was open

to all. —— six hearses. How can that man cope with losing all of his

family. Police believe the fire started after it was targeted by

burglars. There were appeals on Crimewatch but despite the arrests

and a £10,000 reward, no one has been charged with the murders. The

friends remember them on benches on a local school. The children are

known as Hira, Sohaib, Muneeb, Rayyan and Maheen and they are

sheltered by the canopy of their mother.

Earlier I went to see Dr Shakoor and I began by asking him what the past

year had been like for him. The last year was very tough.

Obviously one year has almost passed but the memories of that tragic

night are still very fresh in my mind. That had separated my family

from me. The bad because of the calamity was enormous. The strong

belief and faith is that at and faith that I have an Abba has given

me great solace. —— a la. The faith that I have in God has given me

great strength but I still suffer from flashbacks. You mention the

memories of the children, can you tell us more about the children, one

of them would have been five this month. Yes, she was a beautiful

daughter. Everyone loved her. She also used to bring a smile to

everyone. She always had a smile. We were always thankful to God that he

had blisters —— blessed us. How helpful has the support of the local

community and the memorial for the children at the school been for you?

The support has been amazing, especially the Princess Alexandra

Hospital. They helped us right from the beginning. They have given

ongoing support to me. It is such a beautiful memorial that has been

installed in the school. Five beautiful benches. The names of my

five beautiful children are engraved on them. The whole team stood beside

me during this difficult time and they have helped me to stand up

basically. The community has been fantastic and my recovery. How

difficult has it been for you that no one has yet been charged in

relation to this claim? —— crime? My family has suffered a lot from what

has gone on. My mother, my grandmother and other relatives.

Their lives have all changed totally. We are all anxiously

waiting to see the killers of these innocent people be brought to

justice as soon as possible. If there is anyone out there who is

watching this and knows something that happened that night, what would

you say to them? I hope and I believe that someone will definitely

come forward. To help me, my family and the whole community so that we

can get closure and can come to terms with this episode. We do not

want anything like this to happen again. We want all families in that

United to be safe. —— in the community. Justice must prevail.

This is regardless of our relations. Regardless of any

bindings and associations. It is important that children feel safe on

the streets and in their homes. Thank you for talking to me, Dr

Abdul Shakoor. The train company, Greater Anglia,

has apologised today after one of our busiest lines into London was

closed during the morning rush hour. Hundreds of passengers in Norfolk,

Suffolk and Essex were left stranded. Gareth George is in

Colchester now. Here at Colchester station commuters

who struggled down to London this morning are now struggling back. It

has been a very, very frustrating day for them. Signal problems very

early this morning meant trains from Norwich to London could only get as

far as Chelmsford. At one point, Greater Anglia, the rail operator

advised passengers not to travel. A packed platform at Colchester

station with commuters trying to get into London. Some gave up and went

home. What will your work think about the fact you have had to take

the day off? They probably won't be too impressed because I was meant to

be at a meeting at 12 o'clock. We try to get on a train at 8:30am but

it was totally packed. I have given up and I am going home. I cannot get

into London, so I am going home. I am very restricted but it is one of

those things that happens. This is the train station at what, a

commuter town in Essex but at the height of the rush hour this morning

passengers were advised not to travel and Greater Anglia said

replacement buses were difficult to find because they were taking

children to school. Network Rail said the delays were due to a

problem with signals in the Chelmsford area but it was repaired

at 1130 and the line was running back to normal at 1:30pm. Getting

the branch line is fully open took longer. Greater Anglia apologise to

passengers. For many commuters, what should have been a busy morning at

work was spent standing on a platform. To be fair to Greater

Anglia this would be frustrating to them. It is Network Rail who is

responsible and they have apologised to passengers. For the latest

information, tune into your local radio stations tomorrow morning.

Norfolk County Council has decided to continue its contract with a home

care provider, despite numerous complaints. Last month the BBC

highlighted problems with Care UK after it took over services for

vulnerable people in Broadland. The company has been told it could still

lose the contract, but it insists its service is getting better.

Roger Hadlee has cerebral palsy but has lived independently for the last

15 years with the help of carers who visit him every day. He was one of

100 people who complained about the service winnable council switch

providers to kill UK. Last month the company was told it had to improve.

First of all the hard on time and we have regular carers. —— carers UK.

It now works superbly and that is great. I am able to maintain my

lifestyle. Roger Israel bees that the care he gets is back to normal,

but not all of the 100 people who complained to Broadland District

Council are happy with the changes that have been made. Out of 270

clients, nearly one quarter have opted not to continue using the

services. The council is concerned about the company's reliance on

agency staff. We have outlined in the areas upon which they must

improve. Because the contract was provided that if we had to get a

service from a more expensive swords, be to charge them the

difference from what we would have paid to them and what we have had to

be, so we have invoked that. In response Care UK said...

Broadland District Council says it will continue to monitor the

situation. A former world champion speedway

rider has been charged with rape and other sexual offences.

Michael Lee is co—promoter of the Mildenhall Fen Tigers speedway team.

The charges relate to two women and are alleged to have taken place

between June 2008 and December 2012. Michael Lee is due in court later

this month. During his racing career he rode for King's Lynn and was

individual world champion in 1980. He left the sport six years later

and in 1997 was jailed for three years for possessing and supplying

cannabis. Bosses at a factory in Suffolk say

they'll decide whether it will close by the end of the month. More than

600 people work at the 2 Sisters chicken plant at Haughley. Workers

say they are being kept in the dark about their futures.

Colin Webb has been implied by this factory for 28 years and worked his

way up to becoming a maintenance engineer. He and his wife Karen had

planned to get married next year but the uncertainty is getting to them.

If you are doing a job well and you have a future, that is good. But

when you do not know you have a future, it is difficult to stay

motivated. How difficult will it be for both of you when you still work

there? It will be difficult come Christmas. What will people do? The

factory is one of the biggest producers of food in the country.

The company says the building is ageing but it has five other sites

in the East and it is hoped that some workers can be redeployed. If

the redundancies go ahead, other tell the jobs, where they have sites

in South Norfolk Council of luck, can they be rotated, that is the

question? The Scottish Parliament has offered a firm Breivik sleigh ——

recently bought over by the 2 Sisters company a good source to

locate two. Why would you move the factory from Suffolk to Cambuslang?

Any statement, the 2 Sisters Food Group told us the consultation here

has nothing to do with acquisition of the site in Scotland and they

will meet with unions in the coming weeks and update workers once that

process has finished. Colin says he is concerned that after 50 years the

factory is now being overlooked and the future of its workers ignored.

Still to come on Look East tonight: Chris Bell will be here with your

weather and news of a cold snap on the way.

And who was the Duke so pleased to see on a visit to this region?

One in ten of us get on a bike at least once a week and in some parts

of the region it's almost half of us. So, of course, there are more

bikes on the road and more opportunities for them to be stolen.

The latest figures show that more than 26,000 bikes were stolen in

this region over the last year. The biggest number were taken from

Cambridgeshire, which is why the police have decided to try something

a bit different. Cambridge city centre and a bike

thief appears to be busy at work using a bolt cutter he breaks the

lock. This is actually a lock—up stage by Cambridge police. The

officer is wearing plain clothes and with a cutter in his hand he rides

away through a busy street and not one person reported it. I think

Google raleigh on others to do it for them. They watch the theft

occurring and we think someone else will contact the police. We would

contact —— we would urge people to contact the police and we will

assist you. As part of a push to stop the thefts, they were at the

student fair trying to help students to keep their bikes said. The

campaign has been timed to coincide with Freshers' Week when hundreds of

new students arrive in Cambridge and will be buying new bikes like

these, in some cases spending more than £2500 on the bike itself but

not buying a decent enough lock to keep it safe. Across East angler,

Cambridgeshire was the worst area for bike theft.

Here are this this this text... —— statistics...

Some locks are said to be no better than using a piece of ribbon to

secure your bike, but with no industry standard to gauge people,

how do cyclists choose a lot? I suppose if it looked newer and

stronger, I would take that one. Cambridgeshire Police said more

bikes are stolen in October than any other month and we hope this

campaign will make life more difficult for the thieves.

There was a time when you had to go to a dusty museum or an art gallery

if you wanted to see great paintings. Do they not have good

cleaners? ! But now a BBC project is trying to change all that for

children at schools across the country. It's called Your Paintings

and means that instead of going to see art, the art goes to see the

pupils. Today, one of them was at the Benjamin Britten High in

Lowestoft. Kevin Burch was there too.

There was a real buzz of Benjamin Britten High to the, so what could

create such clamour? Grand Theft Auto IV? No, they all wanted to see

this painting called That Conjurer. It is worth £14 million and is one

of several that is being taken into schools. The students can get closer

to it and see the detail rather than going to an old dusty gallery.

Slowly a story builds and in this case it is about how people can be

naive and be deceived. It is one of the early works by one of the

founders of the Pre—Raphaelite brotherhood. In terms of security we

have two members of staff here and we brought it over using a van

driven by proper art transporters and the van is secure. It has

environmental controls and all sorts of things. You know, it is pretty

safe where it is for the day. Normally the painting is kept at the

museum but this is every opportunity for the children and after studying

at the start to sketch their own images on the theme of the Conjurer.

I am not sure what I should be drawing. It is a good idea to

inspire younger people to get into art. I will let you carry on. I have

to say, it has been fantastic. I think a lot of people worry about

going to art galleries and the fuel that art is not for them. By

bringing a piece of really important art to a school where children are

in their own environments, they are used to it, it will stimulate the

curiosity without making them feel like they should be quiet, or they

should not ask questions, or they are in a beard or unusual

environment. This is one of a string of schools that will play host to

great pieces of work. The idea seems to be clever and captivating.

The headteacher is to blame, he thinks they are dusty!

And you can find out more about the project online at bbc.co.uk/your

paintings. It is just two months since the Duke

of Edinburgh resumed his public engagements following his operation

and spell in hospital in June. Today he was in Norfolk, touring a new

care complex in the market town of Aylsham. The £14 million development

has been described as a model for the future care of the elderly.

He was clearly in good form at the age of 92. During his visit to the

one with one of the people that the Duke met was older than him. He was

escorted by a retired pharmacist who was the founder of the Aylsham care

trust 22 years ago. The volunteers at its new centre are like a big

society in action. The Duke liked what he saw. The Broadlands School

Of Dance added to the festivities. They said Michael 's care complex

also includes a care home and pharmacy. He visited Giving Lane

View which has 30 apartments. It is promoting independent living backed

up by 24 hour in his care. I told him that we were living in flats but

we had our own sense of independence. It is the best of both

worlds, really. Do you think he was impressed by what he saw? Yes, he

was genuinely interested. Ted and Barbara presented the Duke with a

patchwork wall hanging adorned with words of us from all the tenants.

They are present to his new great—grandson Prince George. We

have put the initials of Kate and William and George on to patchwork.

Always tell them that you love them. The royal visit to mark the bringing

together of so many different amenities made it an emotional day

for rice. It was the highlight of my life. I have tried to make a few

lives better. Quite a few lives, hopefully.

He is now 87 and this centre has been his vision for almost 30 years.

Today the visit of the Duke marked a dream fulfilled.

The cold weather is set to return. A series of cold fronts are working

their way towards us. The first came through to the —— today slowly, and

some cloud with that cold front. Throughout this evening it will

continue to make its journey southwards and eastwards. There

could be some light patches of rain. Most of the night will be dry

but there are cloudy skies. Temperatures were the cloud breaks

will dip to nine or 10 Celsius. Mostly it will be 11 or 12 Celsius

with a light breeze. A pretty mild night coming up and that will be the

last mild night for a while. This cold front will move in and bring

some of the colder here tomorrow. You can see the blue the chart

indicating that colder here. It will start to feel colder as we get into

the afternoon. Mainly dry but some sunny intervals to. Some scattered

showers will move on from the North and West towards the late afternoon.

Temperatures are still quite high at around 14 or 15 Celsius. Slightly

lower than today. For the rest of the afternoon on Wednesday into the

evening, some of those blustery showers will move through, there

could be some heavy showers and places. On Wednesday night and two

Thursday morning, a few showers coming down the North Sea for

Norfolk and Suffolk. Some rumbles of thunder of of the North Norfolk

coast. Quite unsettled weather. Gusts of 30 mph. That will continue

to bring unsettled weather for Friday night into Saturday morning.

Henry Rayment possible across Easter and Anglia. —— Easter and parts of

Anglia. Temperatures made it up to 21 Celsius today and in those same

sports it will be 11 or 12 Celsius on Thursday, so quite a big

difference. For Thursday there is a high temperature of around 12

Celsius. It will stay unsettled on Friday into Saturday. Drier in the

West. Quite windy conditions for the East. Overnight lows of five or

eight Celsius. Feeling chilly at night.

Thank you, Chris. And just before we go, a reminder

that we're looking for this year's Sporting Unsung Hero. It's for

people who give up their own time to help others play sport. If you know

someone who fits the bill then you can nominate them for the award. For

all the details go to bbc.co.uk/unsunghero. Join us at

10:30pm. Goodbye.