12/02/2014 Look North (North East and Cumbria)

heavy rain is causing more misery as flood waters are on the rise.

Good evening. The people of Cumbria have been on the receiving end of

the latest storm to hit the country. It's thought the worst is now over,

but with 80 mile an hour winds and blizzards over high ground, it's

been a day of disruption for many. From Whitehaven, Alison Freeman sent

this report. The wind battered the coastline a

game. The gusts were just shy of 70 mph, but hurting people and anything

exposed. The low tide meant the waves were not threatening the sure

this afternoon, but a flood alert was issued for high tide at 10:30pm.

There was a red warning issued in the south of the county. In the

north, people were still being warned of gusts between 80 mph and

100 mph. Any nonessential journeys, we are urging people to stay

indoors. That is the best piece of Adlais we can give. If you are going

out, plan your journey and take a little bit more time. The powerful

whether this afternoon may not have made everyone stay inside but

precautions have been taken. Electricity Northwest has extra

engineers on stand`by in case of power failures and they have drafted

in volunteers from the British Red Cross to keep an eye on vulnerable

customers. Well, that's been the situation on

the West Coast of Cumbria. But there were problems further inland as

well. We can get the latest from Mark McAlindon in our Carlisle

newsroom. Dawn, confusion on the railways

tonight. Many Virgin services on the west coast mainline have been

cancelled up and down the country, leaving people at different stations

not knowing if they will reach their destinations tonight or even

tomorrow. These are some passengers we spoke to at Carlisle station this

evening. I am stuck here for an indefinite amount of time now. I

have been trying to get to my parents in the Lake District but I

can't even get that far. I am supposed to be flying tomorrow from

Manchester Airport. There are no coaches being offered, there are no

taxis. That was the situation at Carlisle Station earlier tonight.

And on the roads, an accident between two lorries has partially

blocked the M6 at Shap. The A66 is closed completely in both directions

at its highest point. And blizzard conditions are possible overnight.

And, finally, in the south of Cumbria, 5,000 homes have been

without power. A killer who stabbed his wife to

death at their home after she told him about an affair has been told he

faces life in prison. Heather Arthur had been in a relationship with the

saxophonist in the jazz band she sang with on Tyneside. When she told

her husband Mark, he stabbed her through the heart. This afternoon, a

jury found Arthur guilty of murder. Our news correspondent Peter Harris

reports. Guilty of murder. Mark Arthur was

the controlling husband. And when he found out his wife Heather was in a

relationship with the sax player in a band she sang with, he killed her.

We now know Heather had feared Arthur's reaction. In a series of

texts to her lover Paul Gowland, her concerns were laid bare. Two days

before she died she texted Mr Gowland that she was "shaking with

fear" at telling him it was over but that she had "resolved to end it."

The next day she said he was "worried about what he might do."

And on her final day alive she wrote "will have to go through his fury

and disappointment. I will stand firm." Her fears were tragically

appropriate. In the study of their home, she told her husband she had

been having an affair and she would be leaving him. On his account, he

lost control and stabbed her to the heart. He then left the home and

headed for their local GP surgery. Arriving here still in his boxer

shorts, he burst in on the GB and told him he had heard his wife. He

was vague about the details. They called the police who found her body

in a pool of blood at the house. In jazz circles, where Heather had

revealed her talent as a singer, there was shock. Outside of crying,

what can you say? It is a shock for anybody. She spent 30 years of her

life and was rewarded with being murdered. There are no words for

that. She is very kind and very lively and enthusiastic, very well

liked by all members of the group. People say that when someone has

died. In Heather's case, it is true. She was lovely. Heather and Mark

Arthur had moved here from the south of England. They ran an IT firm said

to have been struggling. The house had been inherited. Mark Harper

claimed he was guilty of only manslaughter on the grounds that he

had lost control but the jury just dock 90 minutes to convicted of

murder. He will be sentenced tomorrow but the judge warned him

there is only one sentence you can pass and that is life imprisonment.

A man has been charged with the murder of his father and grandmother

at a house in North Tyneside. Police were called out to a street in

Benton last night after reports of a disturbance. Jonathan Swingler

reports. A detached Georgian house in

Benton, North Tyneside, today the scene of a double killing. Police

have released their names as Clara Patterson and Ray Patterson. Police

were called out at 9:15pm last night after reports of a disturbance. A

man was seen running in the road. The woman was well known to her

neighbours. She was smashing. She used to take parcels in for us and

vice versa. Just a nice enough neighbour. Just a nice woman to have

about. Glen Patterson has been charged with murder and remanded in

custody. It is believed the two people who died when his father and

grandmother. He will appear in court in the morning and there `` results

of a postmortem are expected. A Tyneside offshore engineering yard

has won another major order which will create more than a hundred new

contract jobs and secure hundreds of existing positions. OGN Group, based

at the Hadrian Yard in Wallsend, has been awarded the multi`million pound

contract by a leading international oil and gas operator for the

construction of a new process module in the North Sea.

Football, and Match of the Day follows this programme so if you

don't want to know how Newcastle did against Spurs, close your eyes and

ears now. Alan Pardew's side lost their fifth home game in a row after

two goals from Emmanuel Adebayor, one each from Paulinho and Nacer

Chadli gave Spurs their first win on Tyneside in ten years. Sunderland's

game at Manchester City was postponed around an hour before

kick`off for public safety reasons because of the high winds.

As we've heard, those high winds haven't just been affecting the

west. Let's find out what we can expect across the region over the

next 24 hours. We have had wind gusts of over 80

mph reported in parts of Cumbria as well as a number of lightning

strikes in the county and the worse is not over. There is a warning for

showers overnight tonight and into the early hours of tomorrow morning.

Over the hills, anything attitude ten centimetres of snow fall.

Tomorrow morning, bright and dry in places with a smattering of showers.

Lunchtime and into the afternoon, those snow showers will become more

widespread. Across the Northumberland National Park, we are

respecting a covering of snow fall. Temperatures as high as six

Celsius. The winds will stay strong from the south`west through

tomorrow. It is unsettled through Friday and Saturday with

low`pressure staying in charge. Meanwhile, strong winds

Good evening. What an incredible day of weather it has been. We saw gusts

of wind up to 108 mph in the West of Wales. The wind is easing down a

notch or two but we still have a high-level amber warning from the

Met Office for the strength of the wind over the next few hours over

quite a large swathe of the UK. Northern Ireland, northern England

and down across Wales, there is still potential for damaging and

disruptive gusts of wind. This huge curl of cloud is bringing wet and

windy weather across much of the West of Europe. It curls back across

the north of the UK and that's the centre of the area of low pressure

with the strongest winds just to the south of that. Let's focus on the

winds over the next few hours. The ease down by a notch or two but

still blustery conditions over most of Wales. High seas around the coast

and gusting up to 70 mph. Easily around the 80 mph mark across much

of northern England. Across the Pennines this evening and overnight,

travelling will be treacherous. Wind and rain at lower levels will

produce a lot of spray. You don t have to go to high up the Pennines

to see that turned to snow. One way or another, further disruption to

travel is more than likely. BBC local radio will keep you up-to date

on where you are and where you are trying to get to. The centre of the

low system moves northwards. Pretty heavy snow developing across the

hills of Scotland with several centimetres by dawn. A bit of snow

for Northern Ireland and wintry showers drifting across the southern

counties. A risk of ice with most races are seeing the temperatures a

degree or so either side of freezing. A cold, windy start

Thursday but I think it be a better day. No persistent rain to be seen.

There should be some spells of sunshine for many of us, as well.

Does it last until the end of the week? I'm afraid not. It goes

downhill on Friday. This low pressure will head our way. Lots of

isobars on the chart later in the day. Gusts of 60, 70 or 80 mph, with

rain spreading northwards. Significant snow for parts of

Northern Ireland and southern Scotland. Windy into the start of

the weekend. Saturday has outbreaks of rain. On Sunday, something of a

respite. The winds will ease down and it should