12/01/2017 Look East (West)

In Look East tonight: Freezing rain, snow and wind -

councils prepare for travel disruption tomorrow morning

They joked about hiding a body - the brother of a woman found dead

gives evidence at her partner's murder trial.

And the risk of ice tonight as temperatures drop below freezing.

Wintry conditions have been sweeping across our region tonight,

Councils and highways authorities have spent the day trying to prepare

for an ever-changing weather picture, with freezing conditions

for tomorrow morning's rush hour the big worry.

Stuart Ratcliffe has been out with the gritters.

This is the scene at highways depots across the region,

as teams prepare for the white stuff, forecast for both tonight

Each truck does approximately about 50 miles.

We have 36 dedicated gritters for the highway

and one that goes down our guided busway network.

We've also got some quad bikes that do the cycleways

Teams have already been out on one gritting run.

They will be out on the road again before dawn.

There are around 3,000 tonnes of gritting salt here in this depot,

and across Cambridgeshire and there is around 8,000 tonnes in store.

They say that is enough to continually grit the county's

Now, four years ago, when we had a prolonged cold snap,

salt supplies ran critically low, but I'm told this time

the county is prepared for pretty much anything.

We have learnt our lessons from that, which is why we do this

salt stock level management system now,

so 8,000 tonnes is what we have in Cambridgeshire, and we keep it

And it is not only highways teams who have been on stand-by -

at Luton and Stansted Airports, they have well-rehearsed snow plans.

We have all the equipment on site that we need in the event of snow.

Our firefighters help clear the runway.

Our operations team clear the taxiways, and the aprons,

and the passenger areas, to keep the operation

Back on the roads, and the concern now is ice.

If temperatures drop, wet roads will freeze,

and with the prospect of another band of snow overnight,

drivers on the road tomorrow morning are being warned

Meanwhile, Milton Keynes Council has promised emergency accommodation

to rough sleepers in the town to keep them out of

Around 100 people sleep rough on the streets of Milton Keynes.

Council Leader Pete Marland joined me earlier to explain.

There are volunteers here that are helping coordinate some

People will be, if they're assessed as homeless,

taken to hotels or emergency accommodation that we

It is about making sure that people are put in contact

If they phone or if they come down to the council,

This is a legal obligation on councils, isn't it,

when the temperature gets to a certain level?

It is a legal obligation, absolutely, that we provide

that safe place and the roof over someone's head,

but it's not our obligation to publicise it as widely as we've

done, and I think we need to make sure that every homeless person out

there on the streets knows that this service is available to them.

We've got three hotels in Milton Keynes.

It's temporary accommodation but we will be making sure that

we've got enough beds for those people, and it all depends

on how many people come to the council or need our help.

It's especially cold for the next few days,

but Milton Keynes does have a growing problem with

What are you doing to tackle and longer term?

I don't think Milton Keynes is unique in our growing

homelessness and rough sleeping problem, but we are unique

We're investing ?200,000 of council money in

the Milton Keynes Homelessness Partnership.

We've just won around about ?600,000 with some

other local authorities, like Luton, for an outreach service,

and we've got brilliant charities that will go out and help

homeless people out on the streets of Milton Keynes.

Councillor Pete Marland speaking a short time ago.

Well, if you, or someone you know, needs help with accommodation

in Milton Keynes, the emergency number to call is on the screen now.

Next tonight, the brother of the murdered children's author

Helen Bailey has told a court how he heard Helen and her partner

Ian Stewart joke about an old well in their garage being a good place

He was giving evidence at the trial of Mr Stewart,

Helen Bailey's brother John, seen here on the left,

told the court his sister was an intelligent,

He said that while looking around Helen's Royston home in August 2013,

He said both she and the accused, Ian Stewart, were present,

and that there was some banter, instigated by Helen,

that it would be a good place to hide a body.

Three years later, her own body was discovered there.

The prosecution claimed Helen Bailey was sedated with sleeping pills

before being killed by partner Ian Stewart for her money.

John Bailey said that, after Helen went missing,

Ian Stewart told him Helen had left a note, saying she'd gone

to her house in Broadstairs and not to contact her.

John Bailey said Ian Stewart later told him he thought the note had

We heard Helen was not in Broadstairs, and when Ian Stewart

went to look he sent text messages to both John Bailey and Helen's

friend to say, maybe, just maybe, some of her clothes were missing.

John Bailey said that during that time, Ian Stewart

The jury also heard that Helen's close friend, Tracey Stratton,

said they often exchanged e-mails, most recently about wedding plans.

She said Helen and Ian had decided to get married in September 2016.

Ian Stewart denies murder, preventing a lawful burial,

fraud and perverting the course of justice.

The case will continue tomorrow, when the jury will be taken

Kate Bradbrook, BBC Look East at St Albans Crown Court.

Hospital Accident Emergency departments in our region

performed worse in November, on average, than those

The latest NHS figures, published today, show one in six

patients waited longer than the Government

Here's our political reporter Tom Barton.

We've heard a lot about winter pressures on Accident Emergency

in the last few years, and heading into this winter,

the situation isn't looking any better.

The Government wants 95% of patients who show up at A to be treated,

admitted or discharged within four hours.

In November, nationally, only 88% of patients were

And in our region, it was worse still, at just 83%.

And the picture has changed over time -

this graph looks at the figures for November in each

and from 2010 to 2013, the target was more or less being met,

but in 2014 and 2015, there was a significant

And last November it got worse again, with one in six emergency

The first is an increasing number of people going to A,

and there are a number of reasons for this,

including that they don't always know how to access primary care

services, particularly out of hours, and there are things that could be

But the greater problem is probably the increasing number of

older people who are sick and need to be admitted to hospital,

and the hospitals are having real difficulty getting people from A

into beds because the beds are just full.

And that problem, bed-blocking, doesn't just affect older people.

Last August, Andrew Jameson from Northamptonshire

was diagnosed with throat cancer, and had an operation

But he ended up in hospital for longer than he needed,

in a bed that could have been used by someone else,

because the care wasn't in place for him to go home.

Andrew was in hospital for two and a half weeks extra

because he was waiting for funding, and then when they got

the funding they then were waiting to get carers to come in.

It was frustrating for Andrew, because he obviously

needed to get home to, you know, try to recover.

So, how do the different hospitals in our region compare?

Well, right at the top of the list is the Luton Dunstable,

where 99% of patients are dealt with in four hours.

A few of our hospitals are just below the Government target,

while Hinchingbrooke, Addenbrooke's and Kettering

The worst-performing hospital is Peterborough,

where one in four patients waited longer than four hours.

Across our part of the region, 12,000 patients waited for longer

As ever, the NHS is asking people to ensure they only go

to hospital if their condition is a genuine emergency.

That's the late news from the team here at Look East,

but there'll be weather and travel updates on your local

BBC radio station from 6am, and details of any school closures

You also update you on any flood warnings. Now the weather.

Sleet and snow showers have now cleared eastwards and we're left

with a largely dry night, but under clear skies,

temperatures dropping and the risk of ice right across the region

tonight, so it could make roads quite treacherous.

As we go into the early hours of tomorrow morning,

there could be a few snow showers moving down from the north,

so there is still the possibility that you might wake up to a covering

But temperatures, well, they're going to be a degree or two

below freezing as we start the day tomorrow.

We've got another area of low pressure moving down

from the north tomorrow, and this is going to bring some

snow showers first thing, but it's also going to bring

So, strong to near gale force with a possibility

of gusts of around 50 mph, particularly into the afternoon.

So we start the day with one or two sleet or snow showers,

and then it'll look largely dry across the region,

with some sunshine, but feeling bitterly cold in that wind.

Temperatures three or four Celsius at best -

factor in the wind chill, it will feel much colder.

And into the afternoon, it looks largely dry,

but certainly still very windy and cold.

The national weather's coming up, but here's the outlook.

And another cold day expected on Saturday, mainly dry,

A sharp frost follows before rain spreads in on Sunday.

Good evening. It was such a mild December, wasn't it, but winter has

arrived. Tomorrow morning, again, could be prising the wipers off the

frozen windscreen. Yes, it's going to be cold tonight, whether it is

liquid,/ or snow, it will freeze solid late at night with

temperatures close to