:00:14. > :00:19.Good evening. Two County Durham men are starting lengthy jail sdntences
:00:20. > :00:22.tonight following a killing so horrific it shocked even thd police.
:00:23. > :00:25.Their victim was 47`year`old granddad John Hall, mercilessly
:00:26. > :00:30.beaten with a baseball bat `t a house party at Shiney Row on the
:00:31. > :00:31.outskirts of Sunderland. At Newcastle Crown Court this
:00:32. > :00:38.afternoon, 45`year`old Nicholas Rought was given life for mtrder.
:00:39. > :00:41.He'll serve a minimum of 19 years. And 42`year`old Stuart Smith will
:00:42. > :00:48.serve 15 years after being convicted of manslaughter. Our Chief Reporter
:00:49. > :00:51.Chris Stewart has a story the police say could have had another outcome
:00:52. > :00:55.without the bravery of witndsses. At the start of this investhgation,
:00:56. > :00:58.we did not know where John Hall had been murdered. But during the course
:00:59. > :01:02.of our enquiries we discovered that John had been murdered here. It was
:01:03. > :01:06.an horrific murder. So horrific that he was
:01:07. > :01:13.unrecognisable. His head be`ten to a pulp with a baseball bat, hhs throat
:01:14. > :01:17.cut, 20 fractures to his ribs. His body was hidden at first in this
:01:18. > :01:20.builders yard. It was less than 20 yards from where he died whdn a
:01:21. > :01:24.drinking party descended into violence the judge described as
:01:25. > :01:28.hideous. Rought and Smith thought that nobody in this neighbotrhood
:01:29. > :01:35.would help the police. They were very wrong. We, the police, cannot
:01:36. > :01:40.do these investigations on our own. We need the help of the public and
:01:41. > :01:43.the police and the family are really grateful for the assitance that the
:01:44. > :01:48.community here have given us. Mr Hall's daughter had gone looking for
:01:49. > :01:53.him that night. Today, she had this to say. The man that we knew and
:01:54. > :01:57.loved was a family man loved nature and the outdoors and who go out of
:01:58. > :02:01.his way to help anyone he could Nothing can justify what happened to
:02:02. > :02:05.our dad. He will be sadly mhssed by all those who loved him. Rotght and
:02:06. > :02:11.Smith decided to move the body. A CCTV camera at a filling st`tion
:02:12. > :02:18.caught Rought's car. This is about three or four miles away from where
:02:19. > :02:22.Mr Hall was murdered. This hs where Rought decided to dump the body Bad
:02:23. > :02:26.choice. It is a very popular area with dog walkers. It wasn't long
:02:27. > :02:29.before a dog walker discovered it. Judge John Milford said that while
:02:30. > :02:31.Rought had said he had a long`standing grudge against Mr
:02:32. > :02:34.Hall, it seemed excessive drinking was the real reason for the
:02:35. > :02:38.murderous attack. An attack that without the courage of a colmunity
:02:39. > :02:48.might not have ended in the conviction of the killers.
:02:49. > :02:53.There've been calls today for York's transport boss to resign after a
:02:54. > :02:56.tribunal found that fines h`nded out to motorists crossing Lendal Bridge
:02:57. > :02:59.might have been unlawful. The council has issued more than ?1
:03:00. > :03:05.million in fines so far durhng a controversial traffic trial on the
:03:06. > :03:08.bridge and in nearby Coppergate One driver appealed and York's Traffic
:03:09. > :03:11.Penalty Tribunal ruled that the council should not be issuing
:03:12. > :03:14.penalty notices. The Liberal Democrats say the Labour cotncillor
:03:15. > :03:18.who was the architect of thd scheme should now consider his poshtion.
:03:19. > :03:24.But the council says it will continue to give out fines, while
:03:25. > :03:26.seeking legal advice. The difficulties from many
:03:27. > :03:30.adjudicated decisions that the authorities receive, we havd to look
:03:31. > :03:34.at what they are, decide if we wish to challenge them, get that advice
:03:35. > :03:38.and then we can form a view. At this time, we don't accept it. In your
:03:39. > :03:41.view, were I tomorrow morning to drive over the bridge in my car
:03:42. > :03:49.would you issue an enforcemdnt notice and would I have to pay it?
:03:50. > :03:52.You certainly would. I would not want you to think that just because
:03:53. > :03:55.this adjudicator's decision has come out, you would be in any wax free
:03:56. > :04:00.from that restriction. Enforcement continues, fines will continue. It
:04:01. > :04:05.is a serious matter that we are looking into and that is whx we will
:04:06. > :04:13.get advice to check it is rhght and we will continue to enforce.
:04:14. > :04:17.A report into the partial ddrailment of a train in west Cumbria which was
:04:18. > :04:21.carrying more than 100 passdngers says more needs to be done to reduce
:04:22. > :04:25.the risks from landslips. The 6am train from Maryport to Lanc`ster was
:04:26. > :04:30.south of St Bees Station whdn it hit two landslips in August 2012. No`one
:04:31. > :04:33.was seriously hurt. But investigators from the Rail Accident
:04:34. > :04:38.Investigation Branch say if more of the train had derailed, it could
:04:39. > :04:41.have fallen down a cliff. Sunderland has experienced the
:04:42. > :04:45.lowest rise in house prices in the country according to latest figures.
:04:46. > :04:49.The Nationwide Building Sochety says prices in the city have onlx gone up
:04:50. > :04:53.by one per cent year on year compared with a UK average of 9 5
:04:54. > :04:57.per cent. The City of Newcastle today honoured
:04:58. > :05:00.the man who cracked some of the secrets of how our world began.
:05:01. > :05:04.Professor Peter Higgs was born in the west end of the city in 192
:05:05. > :05:11.before achieving fame for hhs work. Now he's been awarded the Freedom of
:05:12. > :05:14.the City. Peter Harris reports. He is one of our own and today,
:05:15. > :05:18.Newcastle honoured the great scientist. The freedom of the city
:05:19. > :05:23.and a plaque at the new scidnce Park.
:05:24. > :05:29.I was born here, even though I didn't stay here long. It's an
:05:30. > :05:33.honour and a pleasure to cole here to receive it. You've achieved a
:05:34. > :05:38.degree of celebrity. Notoridty I think is the word. Is that something
:05:39. > :05:45.you regret, do you enjoy thd attention? It's something I am
:05:46. > :05:49.trying to scale down at the moment by pointing out that I am about to
:05:50. > :05:55.have my 85th birthday and I think it is time I retired.
:05:56. > :06:03.When he retires, he'll be rdmembered for his great achievement. From the
:06:04. > :06:06.Big Bang, he proposed the Hhggs Boson came into being which gave all
:06:07. > :06:13.the other particles mass. The Large Hadron Collider proved he w`s right.
:06:14. > :06:17.The fact that he was born jtst up the road from here and is hdre
:06:18. > :06:20.today, I think it is a tribtte to the work that he has done and a
:06:21. > :06:23.celebration of the science endeavours that we are making in
:06:24. > :06:25.Newcastle. Those endeavours include this science Park which will one day
:06:26. > :06:54.be home to scientific busindsses. We have some thicker cloud producing
:06:55. > :06:59.heavy showers through the nhght Perhaps the odd rumble of thunder.
:07:00. > :07:06.Very murky along the east coast But not called, six Celsius the
:07:07. > :07:11.overnight low. Tomorrow, those showers will clear away verx
:07:12. > :07:17.quickly. Still some misty conditions in the East. A range of aftdrnoon
:07:18. > :07:31.temperatures from seven on the east coast, but 15 in the West. By the
:07:32. > :07:33.time we get to the weekend, brighter spells in the East.
:07:34. > :07:37.be dry. The air pollution has been hitting the headlines today. For
:07:38. > :07:44.more information on that, here is my colleague.
:07:45. > :07:49.Good evening. Very hazy skies in London today and many other towns
:07:50. > :07:54.and cities across the UK. On Thursday there is the chance of some
:07:55. > :07:57.pretty high pollution in the south-east and East Anglia but by
:07:58. > :08:03.the time we get towards the end of the week, we will see clearer
:08:04. > :08:07.Atlantique air coming in and we should get rid of the Saharan dust
:08:08. > :08:12.which has been making services grubby in the last few days. You can
:08:13. > :08:21.see the pattern across the Atlantic. We also have a weather
:08:22. > :08:29.front. The beginning of that change is affecting many western areas of
:08:30. > :08:30.the UK. This particular cloud across the North Sea,