03/07/2014 Look East - East

Dan Roan, BBC News, Rio. That's all from us.

First tonight, there are major delays on the M11 in Essex, near

Stansted Airport, after a lorry overturned containing chemicals.

Some people have been stuck for five hours and the road may be

The M11 is currently closed in both directions between Harlow and

junction eight. This started at around 5pm and there are still

queues. Police are advising motorists to find alternative

routes. The lorry was carryhng routes. The lorry was carrying

chemicals. We have been advhsed that chemicals. We have been advised that

the spill is not dangerous and clean`up crews are on the scene

This is also affecting people who are trying to get to Stanstdd

Airport. The police spoke to us earlier.

We do anticipate it being blocked for a number of hours yet.

I want to get the message out for two reasons.

One, we do not want you stuck in traffic, even with the evening heat.

We do not want people going without fluids and food.

Secondly, if you have an appointment at the airport because you `re going

on holiday, please make surd that you choose an alternative route.

When is the road expected to re`open?

It will probably still be closed into the early hours of tomorrow

morning. There is no access to the motorway just now. You can get the

latest on the travel situathon motorway just now. You can get the

latest on the travel situation on your local BBC Radio station.

Essex Police say they may never know how many people truly fell prey to

a gang of cowboy builders, who targeted the elderly and vulnerable.

Today, a judge at Chelmsford Crown Court sentenced the gang to a total

The police dealt with 140 vhctims, but they believe there

Some of them lost more than ?10 ,000 and detectives say it is unlikely

Footage of a con man in action, showing just how brazen he was.

James Brown had taken 92`ye`r`old, dementia`sufferer Helen Reeve`Smith

to the bank so she could cash cheques and give him the money.

Today, Brown and members of his gang were

It is feared that they conndd scores of pensioners out of

The gang cold`called pensioners, befriended them, and then charged

them extortionate amounts of money for building work that was

Some vulnerable and lonely householders,

unlucky enough to get a knock on the door, lost their life s`vings.

One of the victims ` 86`year`old Andrew Miller from Colchestdr,

He says that he lost between ?250,000 and ?300,000.

I have no money left if I had to go into a retirement home and should

Holidays abroad and things like that they have gone out of the window

and things that a blind person needs to buy are often quite expensive.

James Brown gained his victims' trust and even their affecthon.

William Brown, his brother, got seven years.

James Brown Jr was described as a willing apprentice.

Van Purdy, who laundered sole of the money, got two years.

Anthony Symes, who compensated people he had overcharged,

Passing sentence, the judge told the gang that they had a total absence

That had been replaced by naked greed, he said.

The work on Helen Reeve`Smith's house was never completed.

She died before James Brown was brought to justice.

Earlier, Detective Superintendent Keith Davies,

from the Kent and Essex Serhous Economic Crime Unit, explained

Over an 18`month period we actually spoke to around 140 elderly victims.

A number of those people, 70 or more, did not feel th`t they

wanted to engage for a variety of reasons ` mainly

because sometimes they are a little embarrassed at what has takdn place,

I am of the firm view that they probably

were victims but we were not able to progress in their particular cases.

Do you have any idea, still, what the scale of this operation was

As the investigation went on, we discovered more ` but I think

the enormity of it is difficult to estimate, as is the loss.

We will be seeking compensation through the confiscation system

There is not a lot of money available to them, so in thd broader

scheme of things they will get very little back in way of compensation.

How does this case compare with others that you have tackled?

After coming on 30 years of service, I have dealt with most types

But it dawned on me today that this is ond of

the saddest cases that I have been involved in ` predominantly because

of the numbers of victims, but also because of their vulnerabilhty.

This was alluded to by the trial judge today.

I think it is a despicable act against the most

That is what makes it such a sad indictment.

A doctor from Suffolk has bden charged with a number

Doctor Myles Bradbury, who hs 4 , comes from Herringswell,

He worked as a paediatric haematologist at Addenbrookd's

A woman, arrested as police cleared the Dale

Farm travellers' site near Basildon, has won ?15,000 in compensation.

Ellen Yianni, who was protesting there three years

ago, took legal action against Essex Police ` but settled out of court.

She claimed she was pulled from this scaffolding by two policemen, hit on

the back of her knees with ` shield, and then detained for 13 hours.

There were damages in terms of her own mental health.

Her previous condition was exasperated and she had nightmares

about what had happened and symptoms such as social

Yes, this was not a trivial incident for her ` it was something that

So that is all from us, so it is goodnight from me.

I'll leave you with Alex and the weather.

It will be a warm night tonhght It may not be comfortable.

Temperatures, 15 Celsius. Tomorrow it will start warm and bright. The

temperatures will increase. Tomorrow, many places may reach

27`28 Celsius. There is a weather front on its way to ask that will

bring us some rain overnight. In a moment, the national forecast. Here

is our outlook. On Saturday, there will be rain

outlook for the weekend is quite different.

For those of you who haven't already heard, we've recorded our highest

temperature so far this year, and that was in Writtle in Essex. It

looks highly likely as well that we could see temperatures of a similar

value for tomorrow. Anywhere through central London to the east could see

highs of 27 to 29 degrees. But that is only one part of the story. The

second part of the story is rain moving in as we speak across the far

north and west. Some of that rain will turn heavy through the night

across Northern Ireland and into western Scotland. I had a bit, cloud

with pieces of rain but it will be a pretty mild night to follow. We

start off tomorrow with these two stories. Plenty of sunshine and

already warm building in the south-east corner, but the cloud

continues to march steadily east and will be a bit of a nuisance

throughout the day. We should see some improvement into Northern

Ireland by the afternoon and for the Western Isles. The rain perhaps not

quite as heavy into eastern