12/01/2017 Look North (North East and Cumbria)

Hello, welcome to Thursday's Look North.

The trial begins of a man accused of murdering

a pensioner and setting fire to her home.

Flood warnings in place and temporary flood barriers are put

along the River Tyne after forecasts of extremely high tides

The level will come to views on the Quayside and the

The level will come to views on the Quayside and the barrier. It but the

danger is on the coast. It's a dangerous place to be and we would

ask people to stay away from the coast for the next few days.

A council considers going back to court over the future

And could birds of prey be the answer to deter

seagulls from stealing food from our seaside tourists?

In sport, what next for Sunderland Ladies,

as the football team is forced to go part-time?

And just five years after leading them to a Wembley double,

can this man save York City from dropping another rung down

A man has been accused of strangling an elderly grandmother to death

before using her phone to ring a sex chatline.

79-year-old Norma Bell from Hartlepool fostered more

than 50 children but was found dead at her home last April.

Today the man accused of her killing her, 33-year-old

He's accused of strangling the pensioner to death

with an electrical cable and then starting a fire at her home.

Norma Bell had nine children of her own and for over 35 years,

she and her husband had fostered and cared for more than 50 babies

and toddlers, but last April, fire crews were called

As officers carried her out of the property, they found that

79-year-old's trousers had been pulled down to below her

knees and her tights and underwear had been cut.

An electrical cable had also been tightly wrapped around her neck.

The prosecution claim Gareth Dack strangled Norma Bell and then

The court heard Dack was a drug user who were short of money and had

borrowed ?10 from the pensioner a week before her death.

His DNA was found on a match on the gas hob and on the

In the hours before her body was discovered, the prosecution

claim Gareth Dack used Norma Bell's telephone to call a soft

porn channel to speak to what were described in court

The court also heard Gareth Dack sold a new TV the night before

Norma Bell's body was found, which had been stolen

The police found ?405 in the glove box of his car nearby.

The prosecution claimed that money was stolen from her house.

Now, temporary flood barriers have been put in place

on Newcastle's Quayside to protect against flooding for the first time.

The Environment Agency says the high tides combined with high winds

could see the Tyne overtopping in the early hours of

tomorrow morning and again tomorrow afternoon.

Our reporter Alison Freeman is on the Quayside for us now.

Alison, what's it like there at the moment?

It's pretty calm at the moment. We did see the water rise a bit this

afternoon but it has subsided again. The high tides they are concerned

about overnight tonight and tomorrow afternoon. The reason why these

flood barriers have been put in place, but there are now 12 flood

warnings in place across our region. A red warning, which means flooding

is expected and immediate action is required. We know it's taking in the

northeast coast were some properties could be affected. Let's look at the

affected areas. They run from Seahouses in the north taking in

Whitley Bay down to Sunderland, Victoria Harbour in Hartlepool were

a significant number of properties could be affected and then into

North Yorkshire, Whitby, and Scarborough which have three and

four alerts respectively. There are less serious ones across the North

East coast and kids are being warned to be prepared. We spent the day

with the Environment Agency finding out how the events of 2013 lead them

to get these temporary flood barriers.

The water suddenly took hold of the Quayside.

Three years ago, a tidal surge saw the River Tyne

reach its highest level for 30 years, engulfing the roads and

Since then, the Environment Agency has acquired 700 metres

of temporary barriers, which can be deployed

It's like flatpack furniture, it comes as a modulated system,

flat, and creates a triangular frame.

The steel panels then sit on the front to form the barrier

and then what we do is be put a membrane across the front

and water pressure against the barrier holds it in place.

You can do long lengths really quickly.

It's a really effective system for extra protection

Today, a 200-metre stretch is being put up along the lowest

It's the first in the barrier has been used to protect

We haven't had these barriers very long.

We got them at the back end of last year and did a test in December

so it is really timely that we've got these defences

We're expecting quite a significant tide tonight,

the highest of the year, plus with the strong conditions,

there is a surge where the sea level will raise up plus onshore wind

is driving the waves against the coastline

and up the estuaries so these temporary defences

out of the River Tyne onto the Quayside.

The water levels were noticeably higher this afternoon,

but the high tides that are causing most concern I expected at around

3am tomorrow morning and then again at 4pm tomorrow afternoon.

In Cumbria there's been snowfall on higher ground,

so far travel disruption has been minimal but the county's gritting

teams are continuing to work into the night ahead

100,000 tonnes of grit has been spread on Cumbrian roads

No heavy snowfall yet, but preparations just in case have

We have a very sophisticated weather forecasting system in Cumbria that

indicated towards the end of the week it was going to be

difficult weather, so we've got all of our gritters with ploughs

fitted and the guys are now on 12 hours shift

38 gritters are in action across Cumbria.

Drizzle has meant many routes have

The gritters don't have to treat just roads around towns and cities,

but Lake District passes like this one to content with.

Snow here in January isn't that unusual, but it

I can from Blackpool just for the day for something

She's from Germany and she leaves in a few days so we wanted

We thought we would come up for a little peek.

We don't want to stay too long because we don't want to get stuck!

And with weather conditions due to worsen overnight,

these are definitely views worth admiring.

The advice from police is to try and avoid travelling over

Back here in the North East, the message from the Environment Agency

is clear, no matter how tempting it is, don't go to the coastline, don't

go to have a look, because it could be quite dangerous.

Two teenagers have appeared in court jointly charged with robbing a post

office in Ravenglass in West Cumbria.

19-year-old Reece Kirk, and a 17-year-old boy

are accused of taking ?130 in cash yesterday morning.

Today magistrates in Carlisle remanded Kirk in custody and bailed

the younger teenager to local authority accommodation.

More than ?17,000 has been raised by well-wishers for the family

of a seven-year-old girl who was killed in York.

Katie Rough was found critically injured on a playing field

in the city on Monday and died later in hospital.

A 15-year-old girl's been charged with her murder.

Hartlepool Council says it's considering going back to court

to keep fertility services at the town's hospital.

A year ago health managers announced they wanted to shut the unit

because of staff shortages which would mean women travelling

The unit was given a reprieve in the summer, but now

Last summer, we told you about three generations of one family.

Two wouldn't be here without Hartlepool

Bev had treatment there and had Rachel.

Health managers wanted to shut the fertility unit with women

travelling as far as Newcastle for treatment but last

We pursue option one, a comprehensive assisted

A private provider should have been running fertility services

here from this month, but celebrations have turned

It's been a year of uncertainty for fertility patients in Hartlepool

A year ago, the health trust said it wanted to close the unit

because of staff recruitment problems,

but in April, Hartlepool Council went to the High Court

A judge ruled the unit could not be closed without another consultation.

In July, the local Clinical Commissioning Group announced it

would stay open and be run by a private provider,

but now they cannot find a provider in Hartlepool with the full range

Just devastating news because it's such a difficult

To go through the treatment in Hartlepool was difficult enough

but to move further afield puts more pressure on couples.

Back in October, we were contacted by interested

parties who were finding it extremely difficult to get

the information that they required to put things together.

I contacted the Clinical Commissioning Group

and was disappointed - instead of them coming back

and asking how they could help, they wanted to know the names

of the bidders so they could remove them from the list.

At this stage, I wouldn't rule anything out.

So, Mark, what are health service managers saying?

The local Clinical Commissioning Group, wanting the names of the

bidders to strike them out, the clinical commissioning groups say

there are clear regulations for procurement in the NHS and that due

process has been followed and it would not be appropriate for it to

be influenced. They say there were only a small number of bidders and

the quality was not to the required standard.

Could birds of prey be used to help scare away some of Whitby

and Scarborough's seagulls and stop them swooping in to steal food

It's one of the ideas the council's agreed to look at to tackle

Seagulls and Scarborough just go together, but in recent years,

the relationship has been turning slightly sour.

A number of birds in this town has grown to a few thousand

especially in the summer, it's claimed they are

I've seen them actually take food out of people's hands and things

like that but for children it can be quite scary.

People feed them tidbits and they shouldn't, they should not

I think one or two people are complaining too

The council has been discussing what to do about the seagulls.

Councillors could decide to hire a firm to work on reducing

the number of birds over the next few years.

We would use egg and nest removal, and that's not removing

We will work with Natural England on that and report back the numbers

The natural assumption from the birds' point of view

is that the bird of prey is taking them.

We're not going out to kill anything, that's for sure.

Visitors are already urged not to feed the seagulls but some

traders say the signs are not working and action is needed.

All other restauranteurs and traders here to try to discuss and speak

to the public if they are seen feeding the gulls,

but understandably, the reaction is go away, it's not your business,

but it is our business because we see this

If action is going to be taken, it will need to happen soon.

The seagull mating season is about to begin.

You're watching Thursday's Look North.

Jeff with tonight's sport, plus: Dry January, what's that?

Why these pampered cows are thriving on a tipple of cider vinegar.

The weather forecast features of snow, ice, Gill force wind and

flooding, and that's just tonight! It's an issue for many

of our rural areas. As house prices rise

in the most popular villages, local people find their children

can't afford to buy locally. And today the Princess Royal has

been in North Yorkshire to see a scheme providing

more affordable homes. It's an issue the Princess has shown

an interest in. Schemes like this provide houses per local people who

might otherwise be squeezed out of Village life. She met Nick and his

family. After his marriage broke up, he feared he couldn't afford to buy

here. Now he can rent this one. It was really expensive. The house

prices went further up. Now I can spend my life here and the kids can

stay. It's a nice community we've got here. The 16 homes in rugby in

North Yorkshire were allocated to people with village connections. One

of the that as house prices rise, villages like this won't end up as

commuter towns really, where local people are squeezed out and it means

that as a knock-on effect with schools if there are no young

families here and local shops. It draws the life out of the village.

Young people and families are the lifeblood and future of the

communities but that the community being refreshed, if you like, by

young people remaining here, then they just become a dying village.

The Princess's Village brought some local excitement. This, a housing

scheme that breathes new life into a rural village.

A Darlington farmer's turning his back on Dry January -

when it comes to his 300-strong herd of cows that is!

At the organic Acorn Dairy, the cows are thriving on a tipple

The dairy's trying to keep the cows as healthy as possible to avoid

Steph Cleasby's been to find out more.

At Acorn dearly, they're using the humble apple to guard against

infection but not as you might expect. You're we're giving 90 mills

to the cows per day. Farmer Graham gives his cows a swig of apple cider

vinegar every day to boost the immune systems. He got the idea from

milk producers in the US and years of seeing positive results. We seen

a 20% reduction in ill health in the cows so the cows' own immune systems

are doing the work. We can monitor the cows' health. the cows here have

something of a luxury cow shed with memory foam mattresses, but taking,

scratching brushes and a daily tipple of apple cider vinegar. For

the farmer, it's about keeping them as healthy as possible. Each cow

produces around 6500 litres of milk a year. If we can stop them being

ill on the first place, we don't have to resort to antibiotics if an

animal is ill. Do the cows think it is tasty? I haven't left a bucket

long enough in front of what to see if they will drink it! I'm told they

will drink it neat but I'm cautious about that, I got wanted to take the

milk and have customers ringing up saying its taste of vinegar!

We'll start by congratulating one of our colleagues!

The regional branch of the Football Writers' Association

announced today it's to honour my Team Talk team mate,

the former Newcastle and - briefly, Sunderland -

goalkeeper Steve Harper, at their annual dinner next month.

Steve is their North East Personality of the Year.

It's for the charity work he's done since leaving the game,

especially in highlighting the problem of depression which can

Staying with football, a new Spring Series has been

introduced for Women's Super League teams.

The short tournament will bridge the gap as the women's game looks

to fall in line with the men's season, by starting in the autumn.

But for Sunderland Ladies it's a time of uncertainty.

In terms of promoting the women's game in our region,

Sunderland football club has led the way.

Jen O'Neill produces women's football magazine She Kicks

and played for the club for 15 years.

She says the decision to revert to part-time status has

Anybody involved in the game across the country and the world

I don't think my reaction even measures on the scale

They have to completely rethink their seasons.

It's just a big setback for women's football in the North East,

not just for the women's team at Sunderland.

After finishing an impressive fourth in their first season in women's

Super League in 2015, last year was disappointing

Although the avoided relegation, home attendance fell by 24%

to an average of 710, but the club's claim the decision

was made to benefit the team seems disingenuous when Sunderland has

a ?140 million debt and is having to cut costs.

If we're being candid, that's what it is, the budget has

been cut and they have to go part-time and that's a decision

to be made with the resources that they have.

To say that it is better to be part-time rather than a mix

of part-time and full-time, I'm not sure how that could be true.

The teams we were coming up against two years on spending money,

not the other big three, teams like Reading are

It will be much more difficult to compete on a part-time basis.

it's likely that those with England ambitions like Beth Mead

will feel they have to leave to further their careers.

Current England internationals including Steph Houghton,

Jill Scott, Lucy Bronze and Jordan all started out at Sunderland.

Lucy Bronze's brother was one of the first people to comment.

"My sister had to move away from the North East which she loves

"She's one of the best players in the world so it feels

"like it is a big setback for women's football

Are we going to have to do this all again and lose

There will be no relegation at the end of the spring series,

giving Sunderland a chance to regroup and stabilise

and the club is still supporting the women's team.

And they're not the only ones with big problems.

The last time Gary Mills was in charge of York City,

he took them to promotion into Football League from what was

Three months into his second spell at Bootham Crescent,

he's trying to make sure they don't head in the opposite direction.

It was only back in May 2012 that York City enjoyed one

of the greatest weeks in the club's long history.

Winners of the FA Trophy, they were back at Wembley soon

after to beat Luton in the play-off final and reclaim their

It should have been the start of a glorious new chapter,

but less than five years later, the Minstermen sit at the bottom

of the renamed National League, with a very real threat of dropping

It was important they stayed in the football league

because we know how hard it was for them to get

in and they've done that before but they were out of the football

of the football league for eight, nine years so to come back out

where we are in the National League at the moment, you can't put

into words what it would mean to go out of this league.

If it's been tough for the players and management, spare a thought

I've not missed a game for 20 seasons and I've seen

some dire stuff but we've had good times as well, I haven't given up

hope that Gary can turn it all around and we can get back up

the table and avoid the bottom for the season.

If we go down, you have to hope that Gary can get us back up again.

After an encouraging draw at Dover, City go to Harlow in the FA

Trophy this weekend - and the boss is dreaming

I've just got this little thing in my head that we're

going to stay out that bottom four and we're going to celebrate

at Wembley and win the trophy, which would be a nice way

Finally, congratulations to South Shields Football Club,

whose 4-0 win at Morpeth last night ended Town's reign

The original tie - at Shields, last Saturday -

was abandoned when the floodlights failed.

I hope not too many of you listened to last night's Look North,

which failed to spot the tie had been switched to Morpeth

because the lights hadn't been fixed - otherwise,

like me, you would have turned up at Shields' ground and wondered why

It feels like winter has thrown everything at us all at once.

Tonight's picture shows the situation earlier in the Lake

District. That is typical of many parts of Cumbria at the minute and

parts of the northeast. Tonight, snow and ice, gale force winds and

as we head earlier, there is the risk of coastal flooding as well.

Through this evening and overnight, warnings for snow and ice from The

Met Office. There is a warning of gale force winds for eastern areas

through tonight into tomorrow. It is fairly quiet at the minute, just one

to wintry showers in the west and then we will have a quiet, dry spell

through the evening. That is before this next band of sleet and snow

comes down from the north overnight. That would produce huge amounts of

snow. It will give a covering in places and there it clears away from

most places by the end of the night, things will freeze over and textures

will be down 2-2 C and icy stretches are quite widespread tomorrow

morning. The northwesterly winds reached perhaps severe gale force,

coinciding with the spring tides at around three M, leading to the risk

of flooding -- three o'clock in the morning. Most places have a dry,

bright day tomorrow, otherwise it is dry with weak winter sunshine. We

continue to see severe gale force gusts right along the northeast

coast and the North Yorkshire coast is likely as well. There is another

spring tide expected around 4pm tomorrow and so the risk continues

for flooding tomorrow. Temperatures struggle at around four Celsius. It

will feel bitterly cold in the gusty wind. That's how it is looking for

tomorrow. If you need more information on the flood risk, the

environment agency information line will have it. Things quietened down

through the weekend. Still a wind but it is easing down and through

Sunday, although the cloud will bring some rain and sleet, things

will start to warm up and turn much milder through the weekend.

Tomorrow, gale force winds but generally dry and bright across the

northeast and Cumbria. Saturday is a mostly dry and bright day with the

wind that bit lighter. Not warmer, until Sunday when things turn

milder. We'll be live at 10:30pm from a

couple of those sports highlighted in the flood alerts earlier. Join us

then. Bye-bye. ..and keep telling yourself

over and over, "This will end." Ladies and gentlemen,

the bride and groom. So what if I forgot

our poxy anniversary? Er, I think this year

was copper. 14th is poxy. Marriage is a marathon,

not a sprint. Like a marathon,

you have to keep on going... ..drink as much as you can... Please

tell me you can see them, too. ..and keep telling yourself

over and over, "This will end." Ladies and gentlemen,

the bride and groom.