27/02/2014 Look East - West

Good evening. First tonight, a scientist from Cambridge who was

gored in the throat by a red stag while she was on holiday in Scotland

has spoken about the accident for the first time. I'm very lucky that

I can talk and walk. I'm totally lucky to be alive. Caught on

camera, the motorists turning their temper on Peterborough's traffic

wardens. And a weather story with a twist.

One trader pays the price for one of the warmest winters on record.

I meet the pop star turned thicker as he retraces the steps of a World

War I hero. `` pop star turned vicar.

Good evening. A scientist from Cambridge who was gored in the

throat by a red stag on holiday in Scotland has spoken about the

accident for the first time. Dr Kate Stone says she feels "lucky to be

alive". The deer's antlers penetrated her spine and came very

close to paralysing her. Dr Stone, who runs a print technology firm in

Cottenham, spoke exclusively to our reporter, Alex Dunlop.

Seven weeks after she was brought out of a medically induced coma

Kate Stone still feeds herself through a tube. The actors punched

her windpipe and entered her spine, stopping two millimetres short of

paralysing her. It went through my trachea, my oesophagus and damaged

my vocal chords, fractured my neck and went into my spine. I am top ``

told it stopped a few millimetres from my spinal`cord so I am very

lucky I can talk, walk... You are lucky to be alive. Totally. She had

been enjoying a short break in the Highlands with friends and after a

late`night party, they were invited by a musician to it `` his home for

a nightcap where a stag had wandered into the garden. As they approached,

it panicked and bolted. I felt a big third and then a second third and I

knew I had been hit by an animal. I knew my neck was in a bad way. I

remained very calm and I just took one breath in and one breath out and

I did that for about 40 minutes So you are giving instructions? Kind

of. I was telling people a bit what to do. I was very self`aware. Red

stags are common and are by nature shy. Attacks on humans are virtually

unheard of. The stag was panicked and in the darkness, it ran into the

first person on the path. After two operations, Kate still

faces more surgery. For now, she is managing her Cambridge `based rent

firm from Dundee where she is recuperating with her family.

Weirdly, I don't wish it never happened because I am alive. If I

could change anything, who knows what the outcome could be. It

strengthens how I feel and when I communicate to people about life and

how to be positive... What do you hope to take away from this? I am

one of those people who tells my friends and people I meet that life

is short. It is something I have felt for quite awhile I always

thought it would be a car accident. A stag accident is much more my

style! While Kate lay in hospital, her

16`year`old niece, Charlotte, wrote and dedicated this song to her. It

is about family and friends coming together and looking after each

other. Any moment, something can take us

away. It made me cry a lot. Dr Kate Stone talking to Alex

Dunlop. Next tonight, parents fighting to

save a network of children's centres across Peterborough have vowed to

continue their campaign despite the council confirming closures. There

are 15 Sure Start centres in Peterborough, but under the plans,

that would change to four super hubs and three outreach centres, saving

the City Council just over a million pounds. In a moment, we'll hear from

the council's cabinet member for Children's Services, but first this

report from Emma Baugh. Refusing to give up, campaigners

plan their next move after the council said the budget could not be

changed to save the centres which parents say are a lifeline. There is

a lot of social isolation in Peterborough. A lot of people don't

have parents around so a lot of people struggle in silence. They are

often ashamed or embarrassed to admit they are having problems.

There are 15 children centres across Peterborough, four of them will be

turned into super hubs and there will also be three outreach centres.

But they will not be open to everyone as they are now. Only the

family is seen as being in the most need. Last night, an extraordinary

meeting of the council discussed changing the budget to keep the

centres as they are but it was rejected by 26 votes to 23.

Opposition is `` campaigners have been coming up with alternative

budget plans. We said other schemes could maybe be stopped. They want to

replace pavements but we do not need to do that. We are also suggesting

they cut the trees every so many years rather than every two or three

years. I am suggesting some of them give up some of their expenses.

A final decision is due next week but parents say they are still

prepared to take their campaign National.

Sheila Scott is the cabinet member for Children's Services. A few

moments ago, I put it to her that these changes would isolate mothers

and children at one of the most vulnerable times.

I have set from the beginning that to do nothing is not an option

because of changes in local government funding. What we have

tried to do is maintain a service in all parts of the city and where

people need specialist services outreach workers will go to their

homes or communities to deliver those services. We will not deprive

any body of the essential services they need.

But at the moment, everyone can access these 15 Sure Start Centre

and that will not be the case in the future, will it?

We will continue with some of the services because we consulted widely

with parents and we discovered which services they value the most. We

identified an additional ?100,0 0 which will be used to deliver their

services to the families in Peterborough.

But the parents say that is a drop in the ocean.

I don't think that is fair. The services we will be able to provide

` midwives, child development services, they are all essential.

But you want the super hubs to be in the most deprived areas of

Peterborough. Someone who is vulnerable might not necessarily

come from a deprived area. A first`time mother might suddenly

become very vulnerable whatever background she is from?

That is right. And we do it now We provide outreach services to people

in local communities and we will continue to do that.

If you are saying the service will continue to be just as good, how are

you going to be able to do that while saving over ?1 million?

I am not saying it will be the same service.

But you are saying it will be just as good.

There will be changes, but there have been changes to our funding.

Services will be different but children's services will continue to

be provided. Detectives have renewed their appeal

for information about the disappearance of a father of two

seven years ago. Terry McSpadden, who's 24, was last seen in March

2007 after a night out at the Locomotive pub in Wisbech. He didn't

return to his home in the nearby village of Elm. Police fear he may

have been murdered. Crimestoppers has offered a reward of ?5,000.

I am absolutely certain there are people out there who know why and

how Terry disappeared and I feel confident there are people with

significant information that could help us who perhaps didn't feel they

could come forward at the time. An inquest has been hearing that an

inmate at Woodhill Prison in Milton Keynes was found hanging in his cell

despite being on suicide watch. Kevin Scarlet had a history of self

harm and complex mental health problems. The hearing is due to

finish on Monday. An investigation is under way after

fire destroyed a car workshop in the centre of Northampton. Crews were

called to the JPS Commercial Automotive Works in Horsley Road in

Kingsthorpe just before nine o'clock last night. People living nearby

were asked to keep windows and doors shut because of gas cylinders and

asbestos in the roof. Recent assaults against traffic

wardens in Peterborough have led the council to fit them with CCTV

cameras. The body cams are for the safety of staff and will be used to

record intimidating or threatening behaviour. Footage can then be

passed onto the police if necessary. It is what every motorist dread a

ticket for parking illegally. Most drivers if they are in the wrong

accept the fine and pay gap, but some become abusive and their anger

is often directed towards the traffic warden.

People haven't got as much money as they did do ten years ago. Nobody

wants a parking fine. They only do their job. If you get a ticket or a

PCN you have done something wrong and there is no need to assault them

verbally abuse them. You just need to follow the appeals process.

In Peterborough, there are ten enforcement officers. Now they are

being kitted out with CCTV cameras attached to their chests. If someone

is aggressive, as in this demonstration, they will issue a

warning, flicked a switch and start filming. A PCN will be issued in the

post. In the past month, for wardens have

been assaulted. One was verbally abused, one pushed and two had eggs

thrown at them. The council hopes these cameras will cut the number of

attacks on their staff. Body cams like these are used increasingly by

councils and police forces. In Essex, officers wear them to

incidents of domestic abuse to record accurately what is said.

Another police force is trialling WebCams after someone died in

custody. It is said there has to be a balance to the public 's right to

privacy or so. In Peterborough, evidence can be passed to police but

they hope the cameras will act as deterrents soap traffic wardens can

do their jobs in peace. The National Bowl in Milton Keynes

looks set to be transformed into an indoor water park and sports village

at a cost of ?26 million. It's the first major scheme earmarked for the

concert venue which was built in 1973. The Milton Keynes Development

Partnership has granted More`rye Capital as its preferred bidder for

the work. Those are the top stories. Katherine

will be here just after ten with the late headlines. Now, over to Stewart

and Susie. those responsible for Terry

McSpadden's Beth. `` death.

Still to come, we have just had one of the mildest winters on record.

That is bad news for the trader who has stocked up with everything you

need for cold weather. Next tonight, a vicar, a pop star and the

First World War. Do you remember this?

There Yes, that was the Communards from the eighties. Jimmy Somerville,

of course, and on the keyboards, Richard Coles. These days the

Reverend Richard Coles is a vicar and broadcaster. For tonight's World

War One at Home series, Richard came in to tell me about a fellow vicar

from Northamptonshire who won The Victoria Cross. Bernard Vann went

from being a man of the cloth, to a man of war.

How interesting if you find it, following in this priest's

footsteps, when you have so many similarities in your background? I

was completely fascinated. He is someone I can identify with,

although First World War. Do you remember

this? We are trying to get a feel for what he did here. Imagine it,

dense fog, he has to get his men across this canal anyway he can. To

dry them back. This is where he won his Victoria Cross. He fought and to

hand combat. He did see the whites of their eyes as he took their

lives. It is very intense, very personal. He is actually killing. He

becomes a killing machine. He shoots the Germans, and shows a marvellous

example and drive the whole line forward, and for that he gets The

Victoria Cross. He never got to receive it. Just weeks before the

end of the war, he was killed by a German sniper. It was just before

sunrise he fell, shot through the heart. He would never return to his

beloved wife, never see his son she was carrying. Just three miles away

is the British centre where I find his grave. According to his

obituary, he never forgot he was a priest of God.

A great priest who pleased God. In some ways I feel quite close to him.

We are both priest 's, we come from the same place, but in other ways I

cannot imagine what it must have been like to have led his men in

battle so heroically full is all I feel close to him again. In the

cemetery as he lies alongside his fallen comrades. It reminds us that

we all come to the same place. The souls of the righteous are in the

hands of God. Such an interesting story, but it

begs the question of how a man of the cloth would go and kill people,

literally, up to their eyes. It is hard to imagine how that happens.

Lots of warrior Christians in history. Whenever people content for

things, conflicts emerge and people get drawn into it. Perhaps they

discover themselves not to be the person they. They were. He probably

thought he was doing God's work. It takes a huge effort to imagine what

it must be like to raise a weapon as a priest and shoot and kill people.

I hope I do not find out what that feels like. Extraordinary to think

he was only 31 when he died. He lived such an enormous life in such

extraordinary circumstances. So many of those stories ended in that

church. Many of these young guys 18, 19, 20. You said you learn so much

by following one person's story. What do you take away from this? The

extraordinary tragic cost of the war, so many people cut down before

they really got going and it is terribly sad. People discovering

themselves not to be the people they. They were. I do not think

anything was the same. Thank you. Tomorrow, the tragic story of a

school in Norfolk and how 100 boys lost their lives in the war. Their

headmaster died soon after the war was over, it was said of the broken

heart. One of our universities received an

award for the tree surgeons of the sexual exploitation of children. The

University of Bedfordshire collected the Queens anniversary prize at

Buckingham Palace, the highest award available in higher education, and

reflects the growing problem of the sexual abuse of children often by

organised gangs and involving human trafficking.

We were driving through an area and we saw an opposite gang and they

were waving a gun at us. I was thinking, this is my life going to

be over. The tag line, it is wrong, but you get used to it, young women

talking about the fear and entrapment within gangs. Filmed the

complimentary University of Bedfordshire's ground`breaking

research into child sexual exploitation, violence and

trafficking. Today, at Buckingham Palace, awarded the anniversary

prize for further and higher education, the highest accolade

possible. We want to make some difference. We do not want to do the

search that sits on book shelves. We want to make a difference with

practitioners and policymakers. In the heart of Luton, the hub of

nationally important work into child sexual exploitation. The royal

anniversary trust described the work as exceptional and distinctive. Last

week, sentencing of two men, three teenagers, after the horrific sexual

abuse of five girls from Peter Brussels up another story on the

television, another tragic loss of innocence, proves there will always

be more to do. The destination has not been reached. This is a lovely

station to have passed through, but it is not a case of job done. The

University of Bedfordshire's work has influenced change and policy,

bettering the lives of young people like these.

It has been confirmed this winter has been one of the warmest in the

last 100 years, it has also been the wettest on record. The mild weather

has been good news if you dread snow and ice, but not so good for many

traders and companies. Last winter cold and snowy, this

winter mild and wet, it is a change that has caught many retailers.

Kevin and his son run a car park business with 45 shops across the

region. There might have a glut of stop including 100 pallets of

de`icer. Sales are down by ?250,000. The warehouse is bulging. Sledges,

snow shovels, all kinds of products. Not only that, if it is

wet, people do not come out unless they have to. The warm weather has

had us turning down the heating. This company supplies customers with

domestic heating oil from Norfolk. Demand has dropped about 25% on last

winter. It was a cold winter. Very wet this year. Not so much demand.

Every cloud has a silver lining. At this umbrella shop, they design and

supplies 700 types of umbrella. Sales are 50% higher than normal. If

it rains for one day we get areas enable interest `` a reasonable

increase in sales. It is as if everybody goes home and says, that

is it, I am getting an umbrella. They have not given up hope of

selling their stock, sledges do not have a best before date. Let's hope

it is going to sit there for a long time. I don't mean that in a

business sense. It is going to get quite cold tonight. Today's weather

has brought us all sorts. Rain first thing. Then the sunshine. And then

showers. Much of these showers have now cleared out into the North Sea.

For parts of ethics and Sussex, there are still a few around. They

will take time to clear away. The first part of the night looks

relatively calm. Overnight it will get chilly. Cold enough for Frost

and icy patches. For the second half of the night, it starts to change.

We have been closely following this area of low pressure. There was some

uncertainty about the track of it. As it moves in overnight, it is

expected to bring us here in the East mainly rain. There may be

something wintry across counties like Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire

and Hertfordshire. Heavy rain later tonight from most. This is really

going to set the scene for not the best of the day is tomorrow. ``

days. It is miserable, cold and wet. Into tomorrow morning. Outbreaks of

rain. Some could be on the heavy side. It will clear into the

afternoon and we'll see some showers. Not the best of days. The

winds picking up as well. Quite a cold day. Six or seven degrees. The

low is not really in a rush to go anywhere. It will hang on through

much of the afternoon. It is an improving picture through Saturday.

Although it may be cloudy and wet to start the weekend, it will gradually

improve. Then we have got the next low lining up. That will bring rain

but not until much later on Sunday. Much of Sunday does log drive. It

will stay quite cold by day. Still the risk of some frost. It looks

brighter on Sunday. The weather front gradually clearing away.

Sunshine on Sunday before the next low brings rain on Sunday night. An

unsettled start to next week. The winds picking up. A quick tap of

your barometer will give tonight's reading. 29.68 inches. Was it on

Tuesday when you said that spring was here? Yes! Goodbye.