:00:00. > :00:11.First Minister, Alex Salmond, what he would
:00:12. > :00:17.Good evening. They were befriended, given alcohol and taken to parties.
:00:18. > :00:20.Then they were exploited and abused. This afternoon, two men who
:00:21. > :00:23."groomed" and had sex with six vulnerable young girls were
:00:24. > :00:28.sentenced to a combined total of 16 years in prison. A 17`year`old youth
:00:29. > :00:31.was sent to a young offenders' institution for his role in helping
:00:32. > :00:39.the men meet the girls. Stuart Whincup reports. Under the cover of
:00:40. > :00:43.darkness, some girls were picked up from their homes in the early hours
:00:44. > :00:46.of the morning ` given free taxi rides, drink, drugs... They were
:00:47. > :00:50.taken to nightclubs and parties. They were all befriended and
:00:51. > :00:58.exploited. This woman's daughter was one of six girls sexually abused by
:00:59. > :01:02.the men. I was devastated. I couldn't believe a person could do
:01:03. > :01:06.that to a child. That's what she is ` a child. This was the man who
:01:07. > :01:10.abused her daughter ` a 32`year`old local taxi driver, it was claimed
:01:11. > :01:17.he'd been in contact and messaged 200 girls. Today he was sentenced to
:01:18. > :01:21.eight years in prison. He picked up one girl in the middle of the night
:01:22. > :01:25.while she was in her pyjamas and slippers. He had sex with her in a
:01:26. > :01:28.lay`by. Young people don't see what's happening to them. They don't
:01:29. > :01:36.see the grooming. They don't see the fact this is a huge con. They want
:01:37. > :01:44.to believe in the goodness ` that he wouldn't really treat me that way...
:01:45. > :01:47.He didn't act alone. This 19`year`old was also sentenced to
:01:48. > :01:52.eight years in prison for sexually assaulting five girls. A 17`year`old
:01:53. > :01:56.was found to have helped him meet the girls and was sentenced to three
:01:57. > :02:00.years in a young offenders' institution. Parents have now been
:02:01. > :02:03.warned to monitor their children's social network sites after all three
:02:04. > :02:11.men used Facebook and BlackBerry Messenger. Some children, perhaps
:02:12. > :02:17.for the first time, are being showered with affection. Gifts.
:02:18. > :02:25.Mobile phones. Drink. Drugs. Further down the journey, they realise
:02:26. > :02:29.they've been exploited. Thousands of people in the south and
:02:30. > :02:32.west of England are going through misery because of the floods. But
:02:33. > :02:34.spot the difference. These are scenes from Morpeth in
:02:35. > :02:38.Northumberland ` also flooded in 2008 and 2012. The Prime Minister
:02:39. > :02:41.has said that "money's no object" in helping victims down South. But
:02:42. > :02:47.that's brought an angry response from one of our MPs ` as Jonathan
:02:48. > :02:51.Swingler reports. The destruction the weather's caused down south has
:02:52. > :02:56.dominated the national headlines. The government has responded with
:02:57. > :03:01.firm offers of financial support. Money is no object in this relief
:03:02. > :03:09.effort. Whatever money is needed, will be spent. What about here? This
:03:10. > :03:14.place has had a rough time of it. There were floods in 2008 and 2012.
:03:15. > :03:22.One MP says there's a north south divide when it comes to the response
:03:23. > :03:25.to flooding. We've seen the Prime Minister saying there's an open
:03:26. > :03:29.chequebook, that finances aren't a problem with regard to defences in
:03:30. > :03:40.that area. That wasn't the case when we had problems here in the north.
:03:41. > :03:47.Money was tight. People are entitled to ask why that's the case. It's
:03:48. > :03:56.running behind schedule, but work is continuing to finish the fences
:03:57. > :03:59.here. `` defences. People we spoke to believe there's more support for
:04:00. > :04:03.those down south, compared to what's happened here. David Cameron on the
:04:04. > :04:14.television.. He said money was no object. I've got sympathy. It would
:04:15. > :04:20.have been nice if money were no object when we needed help up here.
:04:21. > :04:27.Now it's in the south, there seems to be more of a response. It feels
:04:28. > :04:33.unfair. We do feel sorry for them though. As a nation, we get obsessed
:04:34. > :04:36.about the weather, but moreso if you live here. Hopefully they won't have
:04:37. > :04:49.any more problems with flooding in the future. So Jonathan, it sounds
:04:50. > :04:59.like the government is going to be in trouble whatever it does? The
:05:00. > :05:08.government can argue that what has happened in the south was on a far
:05:09. > :05:20.larger scale. Being in Morpeth, people are annoyed. It has added to
:05:21. > :05:22.the perception of a north south divide.
:05:23. > :05:26.Mark Arthur ` who stabbed his wife to death at the Newcastle home last
:05:27. > :05:29.April ` has been given a life sentence. Yesterday, at Newcastle
:05:30. > :05:33.Crown Court, he was convicted of murder ` and today he was told he'll
:05:34. > :05:36.serve a minimum of 18 years in jail. Here's our news correspondent, Peter
:05:37. > :05:40.Harris. Mark Arthur. A killer who showed no genuine remorse. Here at
:05:41. > :05:44.the family home he attacked his wife Heather with a knife after she told
:05:45. > :05:47.him she'd had an affair. Now we can report the Arthurs' lived here with
:05:48. > :05:53.their two children, a boy and girl aged seven and nine ` effectively
:05:54. > :05:57.orphaned. The court was addressed by Heather's dad Alan ` describing her
:05:58. > :06:03.as beautiful, he said she was the best daughter anyone could wish for.
:06:04. > :06:12.She was devoted to the children. He said they were the biggest losers in
:06:13. > :06:17.this tragedy. The tragedy is that Heather won't get to see her
:06:18. > :06:22.children grow up. They'll grow up without their mother, and in real
:06:23. > :06:26.terms, their father. Heather had been an enthusiastic jazz singer.
:06:27. > :06:32.Her marriage unhappy, she confided in sax player Paul Gowland and they
:06:33. > :06:40.started a relationship. Those in the region's jazz scene speak highly of
:06:41. > :06:51.her. She was lovely. You felt like you'd known her all your life. She
:06:52. > :06:54.had that personality. If it had been somebody who you thought wasn't so
:06:55. > :07:07.pleasant, you could halfway understand. But not her. Sentencing
:07:08. > :07:10.Mark Arthur at Newcastle Crown Court, the judge said he'd been a
:07:11. > :07:15.controlling husband who subjected Heather to emotional abuse. The day
:07:16. > :07:24.he stabbed he through the heart he'd been in a violent rage, his
:07:25. > :07:27.intention to kill. Jailing Mark Arthur for at least 18 years, the
:07:28. > :07:31.judge said Arthur would be haunted by the suffering he had inflicted on
:07:32. > :07:39.his children ` who will now grow up without a mother.
:07:40. > :07:43.High winds caused delays for rail travellers on both the East and West
:07:44. > :07:47.Coast Mainlines today. There were also power cuts in parts of Cumbria.
:07:48. > :07:51.The owner of this car in Carlisle woke up to a nasty surprise. The car
:07:52. > :07:54.was crushed by a tree in Currock Park Avenue. Elsewhere, this pylon
:07:55. > :07:59.near Houghton`le`Spring in County Durham took a battering, but the
:08:00. > :08:03.power lines remained intact. That's all from me for tonight `
:08:04. > :08:04.time for the weather forecast for tomorrow and the weekend, from Paul
:08:05. > :08:30.Mooney. Fairly quiet tonight. Many places
:08:31. > :08:44.will stay dry. However, temperatures dipping to freezing. Tomorrow starts
:08:45. > :08:57.off dry. There will be some hill snow as well. It will blow around
:08:58. > :09:03.with a gusty wind. Five or six Celsius. Sunday looks the better day
:09:04. > :09:10.weather centre for the national forecast from Nick Miller.
:09:11. > :09:16.Hello, in this winter of perpetual autumn, it seems we're never more
:09:17. > :09:20.than a day away from a storm so we must be due another one and as
:09:21. > :09:25.you've just heard, here it comes, deepening in the Atlantic Trio
:09:26. > :09:29.heading for us. Overall for the UK, we're not expecting this to be as
:09:30. > :09:33.severe as the storm yesterday that there will be some significant
:09:34. > :09:37.impact, particularly where the Met Office has weather warnings in force
:09:38. > :09:44.and that means more rain will serve to heighten the floods. All the
:09:45. > :09:48.while, the wind is picking up, reaching its peak tomorrow night in
:09:49. > :09:51.southern England. This is the rest of tonight and where we've had
:09:52. > :10:00.showers, south-west England and Northern Ireland and Scotland, as
:10:01. > :10:03.icy patches developing. Quite a cold start but, for Scotland, Northern
:10:04. > :10:10.Ireland and northern England, a dry start for most of us. Look at this -
:10:11. > :10:13.the rain from that area of low pressure I showed you is already
:10:14. > :10:18.across much of southern England and South Wales. These triangles are Met
:10:19. > :10:19.Office amber warning is for rain in south-west England,