:00:11. > :00:13.Good evening. A family of travellers who conned up to
:00:13. > :00:16.�1million from vulnerable pensioners have been jailed. Five
:00:16. > :00:18.members of the Price family, whose last address was a caravan site in
:00:18. > :00:24.Lincolnshire, overcharged elderly victims in North Yorkshire and
:00:24. > :00:30.Cumbria for roofing and gardening jobs. Richard Thomas has the story.
:00:30. > :00:35.Thirsk in North Yorkshire, a picturesque market town. For many,
:00:35. > :00:38.a place to retire and enjoy a quiet life. For one family Thirsk had a
:00:38. > :00:45.different attraction, its wealthy elderly population, seen as a rich
:00:45. > :00:48.pickings for the Price's. Over a four-year period this was a place
:00:48. > :00:58.where many people fell victim to the Price's rooffing and gardening
:00:58. > :01:01.
:01:01. > :01:08.scam. �52,000 from one woman alone. They basically cold-called old
:01:08. > :01:15.people and tell them they roof is damaged, and work needs to be done.
:01:15. > :01:18.Here is the action, filmed as part of the investigation. David Price
:01:18. > :01:28.Senior is sawing furs, this earned him a �300, not a bad price, except
:01:28. > :01:36.he dumps the branches in the trees rather than taking away. Here he is
:01:36. > :01:41.again, clearing away shrubs. This cost the homeowner �200. There were
:01:42. > :01:48.dozens more. When he told me how much it was, I told him I was
:01:48. > :01:52.shocked, not as much as this. I had been conned. When he started
:01:52. > :01:56.shouting, by God I was frightened. He kept shouting, he wanted more
:01:56. > :02:01.money. North Yorkshire Police's investigation was called Operation
:02:01. > :02:08.Violet, it is one of their biggest investigations. They took hundreds
:02:08. > :02:17.of statements. They would change their name, they would change their
:02:17. > :02:24.business names. They would wear hats, and flat caps to change their
:02:24. > :02:29.appearance. The true scale of this con will never be uncovered. It is
:02:29. > :02:33.thought the number of victims could be in the hundreds. Too many to
:02:33. > :02:36.question about what was done. Even when the Price family had been
:02:36. > :02:46.sentenced, there are plenty of more unscrupulous tradesmen to fill
:02:46. > :02:48.
:02:48. > :02:52.BT has announced it's to create up to 280 new jobs at its new complex
:02:52. > :02:58.in South Shields. BT is expanding its flagship ten and a half million
:02:58. > :03:02.pounds complex at Harton Staithes. The company will begin recruiting
:03:02. > :03:05.for the call centre jobs later this month and expects to have the new
:03:05. > :03:08.staff in place by November. The news was welcomed by Ian Malcolm,
:03:08. > :03:11.leader of South Tyneside Council. We desperately needed jobs, we said
:03:11. > :03:13.all along by developing a partnership with BT it will act as
:03:13. > :03:20.a catalyst to bring new employment to South Shields, and help
:03:20. > :03:23.regenerate the North Bank. The Great North Museum in Newcastle
:03:23. > :03:26.is hosting the largest ever UK exhibition of ancient Egyptian
:03:26. > :03:28.artifacts on loan from the British Museum. The "Pharaoh:the king of
:03:29. > :03:33.Egypt exhibition" contain priceless objects which span over three
:03:33. > :03:38.millenia of ancient Egyptian history. Its made up of one hundred
:03:38. > :03:42.and thirty objects from tiny sculptures to giant tomb guardians.
:03:42. > :03:46.I think it is really important for the people of the north-east to see
:03:46. > :03:51.the national collections. They come from the British Museum, they
:03:51. > :03:54.belong to Britain. Just having this fantastic partnership with the
:03:54. > :04:00.British Museum is letting us show them to local people, it is a great
:04:00. > :04:04.a thrill. Rothbury's traditional Music
:04:04. > :04:06.Festival starts today. It runs until Sunday. And the Duke and
:04:06. > :04:10.Duchess of Northumberland will be attending tomorrow for the launch
:04:10. > :04:16.of a CD of the late Northumbrian of a CD of the late Northumbrian
:04:16. > :04:24.piper Tom Matthews' music. Let's take a look at the weather.
:04:24. > :04:28.Cooler, outbreaks of showers. Plenty of rain tonight. It is going
:04:28. > :04:31.to be a warm night, minimun temperatures of 14 Celsius. First
:04:31. > :04:41.thing tomorrow the the rain will be with us again, it will disburse as
:04:41. > :04:45.we go through the day. The weekend we go through the day. The weekend
:04:45. > :04:48.is going to be on the wet side. That's all from our shorter than