:00:00. > :00:13.question is whether the Games will deliver a
:00:14. > :00:19.Good evening. One of the region's top police officers says he wants to
:00:20. > :00:22.see the Government provide free heroin for addicts. Speaking
:00:23. > :00:25.publicly on the subject for the first time, Durham's Chief Constable
:00:26. > :00:28.Mike Barton says it's the only way to beat the drug gangs. On tonight's
:00:29. > :00:31.Inside Out programme, Mr Barton explained why a scheme in Denmark
:00:32. > :00:36.offering addicts freedom from prosecution could be the way forward
:00:37. > :00:39.here. It's a stance that will undoubtedly
:00:40. > :00:42.make him unpopular with many politicians, but he says the money
:00:43. > :00:46.we spend locking up drug addicts would be better spent on trying to
:00:47. > :00:59.help them recover which led to the fact`finding mission to Denmark. I'm
:01:00. > :01:03.here to see something different. Drug consumption rooms where addicts
:01:04. > :01:06.are given free injection kits and a safe environment to shoot up. But he
:01:07. > :01:10.wants to go much further than that. As well as a safe environment like
:01:11. > :01:13.that available to addicts in Copenhagen, he wants to provide free
:01:14. > :01:18.heroin and he says addicts like this 22`year`old woman help prove his
:01:19. > :01:24.point. What will make you stop, do you think? I really do not know
:01:25. > :01:34.because I've been through a lot of death and I have overdosed myself a
:01:35. > :01:45.lot of times. I don't get scared. I hope that maybe there comes a time
:01:46. > :01:49.when I feel I want to be clean. She is part of a much bigger problem.
:01:50. > :01:52.She blows ?600 that she gets from the state every month on drugs,
:01:53. > :01:56.gives it to her drug dealer. What I'm suggesting is that ?600 should
:01:57. > :02:00.go towards her recovery so she is free from drugs and the state
:02:01. > :02:05.provides the heroin so we take ?600 out of the drug dealer's pocket. Mr
:02:06. > :02:09.Barton also faced one of his biggest critics. What is the answer then?
:02:10. > :02:17.What are you advocating because I am up for it? I will tell you very
:02:18. > :02:20.simply. I'm advocating the pursuit of the possessors of drugs, rather
:02:21. > :02:23.than the pursuit of dealers as your primary purpose. If anybody is
:02:24. > :02:27.caught in possession of drugs, they are arrested and prosecuted and if
:02:28. > :02:30.found guilty, they are punished in a fashion, both to deter them from
:02:31. > :02:34.future action and to deter other people from possessing drugs. This
:02:35. > :02:38.is what you do not do. He knows the criticism will not end there, but he
:02:39. > :02:41.says an angry debate is better than no debate at all.
:02:42. > :02:44.And you can see the full report from Inside Out, on the BBC iPlayer, for
:02:45. > :02:47.the next seven days. The former Newcastle United player
:02:48. > :02:50.Nile Ranger has gone on trial accused of rape. The 22`year`old
:02:51. > :02:53.striker denied the charge at Newcastle Crown Court. It's claimed
:02:54. > :02:56.the offence took place at a hotel in the city, as Andrew Hartley reports.
:02:57. > :03:01.Nile Ranger arriving at Newcastle Crown Court with a companion. The
:03:02. > :03:05.trial was told that Mr Ranger and his alleged victim had been friends,
:03:06. > :03:09.they had been in regular contact by text. They met at the Empress Bar in
:03:10. > :03:12.Newcastle City Centre on a Tuesday night in January last year. The
:03:13. > :03:15.court heard the woman remembers dancing and drinking for the first
:03:16. > :03:20.hour of their date but has no memory of what happened until she woke the
:03:21. > :03:23.next morning in a bed in a hotel room with Mr Ranger lying next to
:03:24. > :03:27.her. The jury was shown CCTV footage of the woman and Mr Ranger arriving
:03:28. > :03:34.at this hotel in the Jesmond area of Newcastle in the small hours of
:03:35. > :03:38.Wednesday morning. The prosecution says the footage shows that the
:03:39. > :03:41.woman fell out of a taxi and was left lying on the pavement for some
:03:42. > :03:51.time before Mr Ranger assists her into the hotel. It's claimed this
:03:52. > :03:57.footage shows the woman was incapacitated through drink or
:03:58. > :04:00.drugs. The court heard that Mr Ranger admits having sex with the
:04:01. > :04:04.woman but says physical contact was totally consensual. He denies the
:04:05. > :04:14.charge of rape and the trial continues.
:04:15. > :04:18.Heavy rain has caused problems with flooding in Cumbria. In Carlisle, a
:04:19. > :04:21.flood warning was in place on the River Eden after it burst its banks
:04:22. > :04:25.making the road through Rickerby Park impassable. Firefighters also
:04:26. > :04:29.pumped water from a close in Ellenbrough. Standing water also
:04:30. > :04:36.caused problems on the A595 near Cockermouth. And two golf courses in
:04:37. > :04:40.Carlisle were underwater. Newcastle Airport says up to 7,000
:04:41. > :04:43.jobs could be created by a new business park there. The initial
:04:44. > :04:46.phase of the development will see six new office blocks created on
:04:47. > :04:50.land close by. Today the plans got the backing of a government
:04:51. > :04:52.minister. It's a thriving airport, it's going
:04:53. > :04:56.places, it's got international flights to Dubai now and we are very
:04:57. > :04:59.optimistic about having further flights to the US. So I think
:05:00. > :05:03.Newcastle airport is a good example of how an effective and successful
:05:04. > :05:07.regional airport can be part of the whole local economy.
:05:08. > :05:10.The government's thought to be on the verge of ordering a fleet of new
:05:11. > :05:13.combat aircraft, bringing big benefits to a company in County
:05:14. > :05:16.Durham. The order could secure 24,000 jobs nationally, including
:05:17. > :05:21.some here in the region. Our Business Correspondent Ian Reeve
:05:22. > :05:25.reports. This is the Stealth combat jet that
:05:26. > :05:29.the Ministry of Defence is on the cusp of ordering. It's American, but
:05:30. > :05:33.the government will tell us it's good news for manufacturing here.
:05:34. > :05:37.The F35 will bring jobs to companies like this one in County Durham,
:05:38. > :05:42.supplying engine parts. We've done a lot of design work,
:05:43. > :05:44.we've created... Some of our products are absolutely unique and
:05:45. > :05:48.manufactured nowhere else in the world. So we provide something that
:05:49. > :05:50.is very distinct into that programme.
:05:51. > :05:55.500 UK companies will build 15% of the new jet, but just two are based
:05:56. > :05:59.in the region. This one and a paint company. For Steve, 23 years in the
:06:00. > :06:04.business, he attributes his involvement in the programme to
:06:05. > :06:08.becoming ever more sophisticated. Going way back when, to make a tool
:06:09. > :06:13.or a pressed gasket, you were having to file stuff down to size. Now, we
:06:14. > :06:18.have a machine that can cut to within microns.
:06:19. > :06:25.More than 4,000 F35s will be built and sold around the world. `` 3,000.
:06:26. > :06:31.Each boasting something made in this tiny part of County Durham.
:06:32. > :06:34.Football, and Sunderland will meet Hull in the FA Cup quarter final in
:06:35. > :06:39.a fortnight. They beat Brighton 2`1 in their fifth round replay tonight.
:06:40. > :06:41.So as we saw, it's been very wet for some of us. How's the back end of
:06:42. > :06:49.February looking, Paul Mooney? February looking, Paul
:06:50. > :06:56.Unsettled. Low pressure is in charge of the weather through tomorrow. And
:06:57. > :07:02.for much of the coming week. One area of rain moves from West to East
:07:03. > :07:09.tonight. Again, it is those saturated areas of Cumbria that has
:07:10. > :07:15.seen that heavy rain. I mostly dry start tomorrow, some decent bright
:07:16. > :07:25.spells through the morning. The next batch of snow showers comes in from
:07:26. > :07:31.the west. `` next batch of showers. For Wednesday and Thursday, further
:07:32. > :07:32.blustery showers, especially in the West. The best of the brightness
:07:33. > :07:37.will be more rain overnight into Thursday.
:07:38. > :07:43.Good evening. We have a spell of wet and windy weather working across the
:07:44. > :07:49.British Isles. Today brought many of us some decent spells of sunshine
:07:50. > :07:53.and it brought us some decent temperatures. In fact, our warmest
:07:54. > :07:59.day of the year so far. At the moment, though, things have
:08:00. > :08:05.changed. This is the gap in the satellite picture. Now, this curl of
:08:06. > :08:09.cloud looks like a snail's shell, it is an area of low pressure that is
:08:10. > :08:12.sweeping wind and rain across us. It's pushed into the west already
:08:13. > :08:17.and is now making rapid progress eastwards, moving into eastern
:08:18. > :08:20.England through the small hours Strong, gusty winds around the Irish
:08:21. > :08:22.Sea