:00:00. > :00:11.50 years on, it is still being felt. That's all from
:00:12. > :00:16.Good evening. Police investigating alleged sexual exploitation of girls
:00:17. > :00:22.and young women on Tyneside say they now need to speak to 80 women. At
:00:23. > :00:25.least 15 of them, they say, are the victims of sexual assault.
:00:26. > :00:29.Detectives working on Operation Sanctuary have arrested 30 people on
:00:30. > :00:32.suspicion of conspiracy to rape ` 28 men and two women ` at addresses in
:00:33. > :00:40.Newcastle, Gateshead and South Tyneside. Earlier I spoke to our
:00:41. > :00:45.news correspondent Adrian Pitches, and he explained the latest
:00:46. > :00:51.developments. Initially, we were told there were
:00:52. > :00:56.30 potential victims or witnesses, but today the police told us that
:00:57. > :01:03.figure is actually 80, three times as many almost. Not all of them will
:01:04. > :01:07.be victims, some will be witnesses, but at least 15 seem to be victims
:01:08. > :01:15.of sexual assault, and what links them all is their vulnerability.
:01:16. > :01:18.What is consistent so far in this investigation is that there is a
:01:19. > :01:24.common factor in the victims, and that is their vulnerability, by
:01:25. > :01:28.virtue of their age in some cases, and in many cases because of their
:01:29. > :01:34.susceptibility to grooming, their addiction to alcohol or other
:01:35. > :01:36.substances. From the start of the investigation, Northumbria Police
:01:37. > :01:41.said that no single group is responsible for these crimes. Is
:01:42. > :01:45.that still the case? Indeed. No particular community is
:01:46. > :01:49.implicated in these crimes, in fact it goes across communities. What
:01:50. > :01:54.links them is their appalling behaviour. They are from a priority
:01:55. > :01:58.of backgrounds and nationalities from right across the force area, so
:01:59. > :02:02.it is difficult to pinpoint one factor which binds them altogether
:02:03. > :02:10.except their appalling conduct towards vulnerable women and girls.
:02:11. > :02:14.And there was police activity this evening, with police and listing
:02:15. > :02:18.taxi drivers and business owners to help with this investigation?
:02:19. > :02:22.That's right. They are leafleting this evening in Newcastle city
:02:23. > :02:26.centre because they want to raise awareness of this investigation.
:02:27. > :02:31.They are saying that if it looks wrong, it feels wrong, it probably
:02:32. > :02:35.is wrong. If you are seeing young girls with older men, if they are
:02:36. > :02:41.drunk or under the influence of drugs, being taken into houses where
:02:42. > :02:46.parties are going on, if you see something you feel is going on, ring
:02:47. > :02:49.101. Adrian, thank you very much.
:02:50. > :02:52.A care worker has pleaded guilty to abusing elderly residents at a
:02:53. > :02:55.Cumbrian nursing home. Claire Strong, who's 20 and from Penrith,
:02:56. > :02:57.admitted three charges of ill`treatment and wilful neglect
:02:58. > :03:09.when she appeared at Carlisle Magistrates Court. Mark McAlindon
:03:10. > :03:12.reports. Claire Strong pleaded guilty to
:03:13. > :03:15.three charges of ill`treatment or neglect of residents at the Beacon
:03:16. > :03:18.Edge Nursing Home in Penrith. They happened on three separate occasions
:03:19. > :03:22.between January and June last year. It was revealed in court that Strong
:03:23. > :03:24.had taken pictures of residents in humiliating circumstances. Speaking
:03:25. > :03:28.on her behalf, Strong's solicitor said she was highly immature and
:03:29. > :03:33.that her mother, also a care worker, was appalled by her behaviour. It
:03:34. > :03:36.comes after an investigation was carried out into behaviour at the
:03:37. > :03:40.nursing home last year. Two other people are also facing a total of 18
:03:41. > :03:43.charges between them. Chevonne Benson, who's 22 and also from
:03:44. > :03:47.Penrith, faces seven counts of ill`treatment or neglect of
:03:48. > :03:50.residents at Beacon Edge. And William Bowman, who's 21 and also
:03:51. > :03:55.from Penrith, faces ten charges of ill`treatment or neglect of
:03:56. > :03:58.residents at Beacon Edge. He's also charged with carrying out a sexual
:03:59. > :04:04.offence against a woman in the Penrith area. Claire Strong will
:04:05. > :04:07.next appear at Carlisle Crown Court in March, while Chevonne Benson and
:04:08. > :04:10.William Bowman face a plea and management hearing at the crown
:04:11. > :04:11.court in May. Mark McAlindon, BBC Look North, Carlisle Magistrates
:04:12. > :04:18.Court. There are calls for York College to
:04:19. > :04:21.apologise for the mistakes which led to the death of a three`year`old
:04:22. > :04:24.girl at its nursery. Yesterday, nursery assistant Sophee Redhead was
:04:25. > :04:27.cleared of all blame for the death, but the jury found the college had
:04:28. > :04:40.failed to ensure the safety of children in its care. John Cundy
:04:41. > :04:44.reports. Claire gives children were at the nursery the day Lydia Bishop
:04:45. > :04:54.tragically died, strangled a rope wrongly left on a slide. She said
:04:55. > :04:58.parents were kept in the dark. We had a message to say, come and
:04:59. > :05:01.collect your belongings from reception, and there was a carrier
:05:02. > :05:06.bag for each of my kids, and that was it. The nursery shut immediately
:05:07. > :05:13.after the tragedy, and will never reopen, and the college could face
:05:14. > :05:16.fines of tens of thousands of pounds after the jury found that the
:05:17. > :05:21.nursery had failed to ensure the safety of children in their daily
:05:22. > :05:24.care. There is no apology to Lydia's family, to the staff, to the
:05:25. > :05:29.parents and children. Nursing assistant Sophee Redhead was cleared
:05:30. > :05:35.yesterday by a jury of any blame in connection with the death. I don't
:05:36. > :05:40.think Sophee Redhead should have been held accountable. Somebody else
:05:41. > :05:43.didn't do their job properly, and a little girl lost her life as a
:05:44. > :06:06.result. In a statement today, York College said:
:06:07. > :06:12.A man accused of his wife's murder has told a jury he developed tunnel
:06:13. > :06:16.vision after his wife told him she was having an affair and wanted to
:06:17. > :06:19.leave him. Heather Arthur was stabbed at the couple's home in
:06:20. > :06:22.Gosforth in Newcastle last April. Her husband, Mark Arthur, who's 50,
:06:23. > :06:25.told Newcastle Crown Court his whole world collapsed in a second. He
:06:26. > :06:31.admits manslaughter but denies murder. The trial continues.
:06:32. > :06:34.That's all from me tonight. Have a great weekend. The national weather
:06:35. > :06:35.forecast is coming up, but first, here's Paul Mooney with the region's
:06:36. > :06:44.weekend forecast. After quite a pleasant day to day,
:06:45. > :06:49.things turning much more unsettled over the weekend. The reason is this
:06:50. > :06:54.big low`pressure area that takes charge of the weather through
:06:55. > :06:58.Saturday and Sunday. The rain will reach right across the north`east
:06:59. > :07:04.and North Yorkshire. Temperatures down to two or three Celsius, and a
:07:05. > :07:10.strong southerly wind picking up. Tomorrow, one to blustery spells,
:07:11. > :07:15.but then the tail end of that weather system comes back around and
:07:16. > :07:24.brings some sustained rain. Perhaps a little hill snow. A much stronger
:07:25. > :07:28.wind. As we head through Sunday, one or two blustery showers, the wind
:07:29. > :07:37.not as light. Most places dry for Monday.
:07:38. > :07:45.Hello again. Nelson's flag ship HMS victory, was launched in 1765 and
:07:46. > :07:48.you can still see it today in Portsmouth Harbour. But through the
:07:49. > :07:52.whole of that history, you will struggle to find a wetter winter
:07:53. > :07:56.than this one across southern England. Scotland has already been
:07:57. > :08:02.in the record books. Their December was the wettest since standardised
:08:03. > :08:06.records began about 100 years ago. There's plenty more where that came
:08:07. > :08:10.from. Another storm is knocking on the door and will affect the whole
:08:11. > :08:14.of Western Europe, steaming in from the Atlantic. Giving us a steady
:08:15. > :08:20.stream of rain in most places. Severe gales ahead of that rain
:08:21. > :08:25.gusts up to 60 mph. Battering the coasts once again. For the North,
:08:26. > :08:30.across the Scottish mountains yet more snow. It's really piling up
:08:31. > :08:32.here at the moment. A cold night for northern Scotland, elsewhere the
:08:33. > :08:33.temperature is holding up quite