18/01/2017 Look North (North East and Cumbria)

That's all from the BBC News at Six, so it's goodbye from me,

Hello and welcome to Wednesday's Look North.

A call for longer prison sentences for people found guilty

The people who do these kinds of acts have no place

in our community and it's really important we send that message out,

The clamp-down on drivers with no vehicle tax.

The DVLA launches a blitz to catch those evading

Winter warmer - the free weekly meals for elderly

and vulnerable people to stop them becoming undernourished.

The weather might be relatively mild at the minute but we have still

managed to find you some icy conditions.

In sport, Middlesbrough announce their second signing

Newcastle hope to join Boro in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Whatever happens Sunderland have missed out on a home tie

with Bristol City after slumping to another defeat at

They say their officers deal with unimaginable cruelty.

Animals being scalded with boiling water, stabbed, shot and poisoned.

Now the RSPCA says a new study reveals eight out of ten people

in the North East want to see longer prison sentences for people guilty

The current maximum sentence is just six months.

The findings have been welcomed by one MP, who next month tables

a private Members' Bill in Parliament calling

We must warn you, you may find the content at the beginning of

Filmed on a mobile phone, this footage sparked outrage.

Too horrific to broadcast, it shows the Frankish brothers

repeatedly throwing their dog down the stairs and stamping on it.

The dog later died but, remarkably, the brothers avoided jail.

This shocking case led the Redcar MP Anna Turley

She wants longer prison sentences for those guilty of animal cruelty.

I think it is about sending a message that this is abhorrent

and society as a whole rejects this, and they say people who do these

kinds of acts have no place in our community and it is really

important that we send that message out, and that deterrent.

The current maximum sentence in England for animal cruelty is six

months in prison and a fine of up to ?20,000.

Now a survey commissioned by the RSPCA shows eight out of ten

people in the North East want to see the Government introduce longer

prison sentences for the most serious animal cruelty offences.

And 59% of those questioned wanted to see sentences in excess of two

Last October, RSPCA officers discovered a small dog that had been

buried alive at Kirkleathem woods near Redcar.

It had a five-inch nail hammered through its head.

While shocking, officers say such cruelty is not uncommon.

I dealt with a horrible case where some young men

were setting their dogs on badgers and deer and foxes,

like wildlife in the local area, and they were filming it

while they were doing it and I had to obviously review all of that

footage and it is just unimaginable cruelty that those animals

Every day the RSPCA says its officers deal with animals

who have been stabbed, shot and poisoned.

Now the charity says it's time those guilty of such horrendous

cruelty were punished with longer prison sentences.

A Hartlepool man who killed three members of the same family

in the 1980s has lost a human rights challenge against his

Arthur Hutchinson was jailed in 1984.

He broke into the home of Basil and Avril Laitner in Sheffield hours

after their daughter's wedding and murdered them

He also raped a teenage girl at the scene.

The European Court of Human Rights dismissed Hutchinson's claim

that the punishment amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment.

Three people who were convicted over the death of a Newcastle man

with learning difficulties are to have their sentences reviewed

James Wheatley was jailed for life in December last year

But prosecutors argued that the sentences handed

to Wheatley's girlfriend, her mother, and another man,

Nicola Lawrence was jailed for four years, Julie Mills eight years

and Barry Imray three years for their parts in Lee's murder.

There'll be a hearing at the Court of Appeal in March.

A desperate plea for new information has been made by the family

of an 83-year-old man who was killed in a hit-and-run accident

as he walked home from visiting his daughter's grave 25 years ago.

Charles Trueman died in hospital from his injuries after being hit

by a car on Station Road in his hometown of Hexham

His Children say they've never got over the tragedy and hope this

New Year will bring them the closure and answers they need.

Demolition work's due to start this week on a row of houses

on a North Tyneside estate after they were affected

by subsidence thought to be caused by former mine works.

Five houses in Bayfield, on West Allotment, are being knocked

down after cracks started to show and the buildings shifted.

Home owners affected have been given the market value for their homes

by the Coal Authority and most people moved out by

More houses are suffering from subsidence, although

The authority says it's been working closely with those affected.

More than 100 cars have been clamped on Tyneside over the past two days

as the DVLA mounts a blitz on people who haven't paid their vehicle tax.

And people who've failed to pay for the clamp to be removed

within 24 hours have seen their cars removed from the street.

If they're not reclaimed, they'll be sold or scrapped.

Adrian Pitches has been out on patrol with the DVLA hit squad.

This car is not where its owner left it.

Now the car has been seized and the owner will have to pay

Obviously, most people are disgruntled.

A lot of people realise that they should have

It isn't the first course of action, it's the very last course of action.

They will have had these reminders, so the message is that it is very

important that you keep DVLA up to date with your current

address so they don't find themselves in this position.

The DVLA enforcement vans are on our streets

year-round but they've brought in reinforcements for

The vans are equipped with automatic number plate recognition cameras.

Attention! Attention!

If a vehicle has not been taxed, the van driver is alerted

Last year, more than 10,000 motorists in the North East

were issued with penalties for nonpayment of vehicle tax.

A further 1,700 vehicles were clamped or seized.

The majority of vehicles that actually come into this pound,

they are not collected by their keepers.

So that's a good story for road safety because many of them

But we dispose of them in three ways.

If the vehicles are capable of going back on the road,

Otherwise, they are dismantled and sold for parts or they're scrapped.

So it's all good for the environment.

There was a predictable spike in nonpayment of vehicle tax

after paper tax discs were abolished two years ago.

But the DVLA says the payment rate has now returned

to the normal level and in 2017, 80% of people pay their car tax

online rather than at the Post Office.

Unemployment in the north east fell by 1,000 between September

The fall takes the number of those without a job to 87,000,

Meanwhile in Cumbria, 4,430 people claimed Jobseekers'

Allowance in December, a very slight rise

However, North Yorkshire saw a larger rise of about 240,

to stand at 4,235 people claiming Jobseekers' Allowance.

The North East still has the highest rate of unemployment in the country.

A Government minister visiting Tyneside today says they're

focussing on helping the region's young people into work.

Of course we recognise we always have to do more,

and so here in this region, particularly with young people,

we've been working closely with schools, piloting having

Job Centre Plus advisers, our work coaches actually

going into schools so, before young people leave school,

making sure, if people are unemployed in the early days

when they leave school, they're getting all the support

to get work experience placements, and we'll be working

closely with businesses, particularly the Tees Valley

for example, to encourage more businesses to get those places,

what we call set to based work academies were businesses themselves

are running training courses and showcasing,

if you like, their industry to young people to make sure

For Labour, Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald says the Conservatives

have given tax breaks to millionaires and slashed

corporation tax while neglecting the steel industry and failing

to invest in the jobs, skills and infrastructure

He said Middlesbrough needed a government prepared to implement

an industrial strategy and invest to grow key industries and create

a high skill, high wage economy, something only Labour could deliver.

Yorkshire Air Ambulance has unveiled its second

The ?6 million aircraft will be based at RAF Topcliffe near Thirsk.

The charity's other new helicopter came into operation in September

last year and is based in West Yorkshire.

You're watching Wednesday's Look North.

Plenty still to come tonight including the latest

We've also news of a royal visit to the region.

Keeping warm and well nourished this winter -

the scheme in Darlington to help elderly and vulnerable people.

And join me out and about on the ice, albeit man-made ice, for your

full regional forecast later. The demands facing the National

Health Service over the winter months are rarely out

of the headlines at the moment. But now a scheme launched

in Darlington might just help Age UK and the local health trust

are giving vulnerable older people a free weekly meal to try to keep

them well and stop them Peter Harris has been to see

the scheme in action It's a square meal but the nutrition

served up here might just help the NHS as well as the older people

who come for the weekly free lunch served up

at Darlington Fire Station, as part of an effort to keep

the elderly fed and well. By bringing people here,

we are trying to get people to be more socially engaging

and interacting as well as providing a nutritious meal and monitoring

their weight and trying It's believed there are thousands

in Darlington alone who are undernourished,

and the health trust is trying to identify them to make sure

they take advantage of this service. Now, what they're running

here isn't directly connected Are you finished

with your food, there? But as well as bringing

people in here, giving them something to eat,

making sure they get well fed, while they're here, they can also

check on their weight and that can be referred back to their GP and it

might make a contribution in keeping some older people out

of the hospital wards. The main priority for everybody

who works in health and social care is to keep people in their own homes

with their own families If we can do that, it prevents some

of the pressures on our NHS and particularly our A departments

which are rather If you can just take yourself

onto the scales for me. The weekly sessions also mean weight

can be monitored week by week. Undernutrition is a big problem

in the UK and it's often overlooked and it's a problem for our most

vulnerable patients, so often people who are older,

who potentially have got other illnesses happening,

and it is often seen as growing old, you lose weight because you're

getting older, and it Actually, if you are losing weight,

that can have a big implication on your health and your

quality of life. And, for the old folk, of course,

clubs like this are a chance to get You must be about 15 stone

and now after all that. Yeah, I put on a bit

today, so it's good. A warning's been issued for people

to only use mobile phone chargers issued with their devices

after a house caught The mobile phone caught

fire within 20 minutes of being put on to charge

with an incompatible lead. The warning is being given by Tyne

and Wear Fire Service The phone and charger were tested

by Gateshed Council which found the phone caught fire

after overheating and melted Fortunately no-one

was hurt in the fire. Prince Andrew paid a visit

to Sunderland this afternoon as it hosted a regional heat of The Duke

of York's Pitch at The scheme founded by The Duke

supports Entrepreneurs across the UK and helps develop their business

ideas by putting them in contact with potential

supporters and investors. The three winners from today

will now compete to win the chance of pitching their idea to judges

at St James's Palace. We want to raise awareness

about entrepreneurs and start-up businesses around the UK

so we will be conducting, we are conducting Pitch tours

around the countryside, about 6-8 per year,

and it's very important to the North East gets,

as it were, its profile raised and that businesses

from here are shown and showcased. A Cumbrian charity is hoping locally

brewed beer can help raise enough Eden Mencap currently rents

a building in Penrith but it can't make improvements to the facilities

unless it owns So the group's taken

to the brew house to try This is the start of a hoppy IPA,

crafted and brewed by Eden Mencap. It is a beer that aims to be more

than just refreshing. Vanya Yam is the name of our beer

and in Cumbrian dialect, We're almost home because we're

buying our own building, so it's the key link

to having that home. So every time you buy our beer,

you are contributing to the longevity of people

with learning For 30 years, Eden Mencap has been

helping people learn new skills, make friends

and build independent lives. The charity specialises

in empowering people Having a permanent home

for its members will Having that building means that

we've always got a home, we've always got something we can

use, we've always got a permanent base that guys come

to recognise where they are. It means we can establish

lots more things there, we don't have to worry about moving

in the next three years And we can start evolving projects

that meet the community needs much more because we have our own home

and we know we are always So far, a third of the ?200,000

asking price has been raised. The idea of making more money

from beer came from Mencap staff who have helped members

get stuck in. We've been out a few times before

Christmas and we've learnt about the process and it means

when we've been back at the building we've been able to put some photos

up and actually go through the whole process so the guys are learning

the whole brewing process and that It means that it's a totally

new activity for the guys as well As well as the learning, there's

been plenty of bar room banter too. We're a small brewery and often

times it's just me here on my own, so to have company is nice

and they're so full of joy and enthusiasm

for the project, it's been great. Vanya Yam will have its first

official supping in March, when raising a glass will hopefully

raise enough money to buy Now it is time for sport. You have

breaking news. Let's start with Middlesbrough's

second signing of the January transfer window and,

looking at early postings on social Boro have tonight signed striker

Patrick Bamford from Chelsea for an undisclosed fee

on a 4.5-year deal. The 23-year-old returns to Teesside

after impressing during a loan spell two seasons ago,

when he scored 19 goals and helped Aitor Karanka's side reach

the Championship play-Off final. Emilio Nsue has left Boro

for Birmingham by the way. Newcastle can join Middlesbrough

in the fourth round of the FA Cup with victory this evening

in a third-round replay. Sunderland, though, have missed out

on a home tie against Bristol City. The Black Cats crashed out

of the competition last night after suffering a hugely

disappointing 2-0 defeat at Burnley. Burnley and Sunderland know each

other pretty well now. This was their third meeting

in less than three weeks. Ex-Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton

was back at Turf Moor on a night when the visitors' boss rested star

striker Jermain Defoe. It was nearly all Burnley

in the first half, as it had been during the 4-1 victory on New Year's

Eve. Sunderland keeper Vito

Mannone had to be alert But he was beaten on the stroke

of half-time by this glancing In the second half, Sunderland

tried to up their game - Seb Larsson sensing a half-chance

to catch the keeper off his line. But in truth, Sunderland's

experimental back five didn't look comfortable all night and it was no

surprise when their nemesis This free kick from Seb Larsson

nearly provided the Black Cats with a consolation they probably

didn't deserve after a tame With all his injuries

and despite a minimal budget, David Moyes desperately needs some

new faces in this month's transfer window for his threadbare squad

to have any decent chance So Sunderland are out but,

as I mentioned, Newcastle have a great chance to join

Middlesbrough in round four. Tonight the Magpies are at home

to Birmingham City in a third-round replay, looking to earn themselves

a trip to Oxford United. However the focus of the manager's

press conference was not on the match but on his transfer

policy, and his relationship with the club's owner,

as Jeff Brown reports. If there were fans,

and others around the club, who questioned the summer signing

of 33-year-old Daryl Murphy, the Irishman has given his

answer in recent weeks. First the goal which ultimately

earned United their second And then the weekend

winner at Brentford, which took Newcastle back to the top

of the Championship. The suggestion is that Rafa Benitez

has managed to soften a policy which saw the club only signing

players with a sell-on value. People think that I like to sign

old players and it's not the case. Our team is one of the youngest,

or in the middle in terms of average age, in the division

so I like to sign young players to develop them, to improve them,

and at the same time to sign So you need a player like Murphy,

he can make a difference, so he has to be an important player

for us during the season, so we will try to do the same

and I am confident we can sign Benitez hopes to bring

in a couple of new faces before But the reappearance of owner

Mike Ashley at recent games has prompted the question -

who has the final say? It's a cheeky question

that the final say is simple to say so what I need is to be sure

we have the list of players I would like to sign

and after it is yes or no, it depends on a lot of things,

but it is not a problem. The question now is we are working

very hard, I am confident we will do well and we will sign what we need

and hope fully before the end of the window you will ask me

about the new signing or whatever. So the message is -

watch this space. And if you're not going to the game,

you can see highlights of tonight's replay on a special FA Cup Match

of the Day, here on BBC One, straight after our late

news bulletin, at 10.45. City of York Council has defeated

a legal challenge that it's claimed could have further delayed

York's Community Stadium project. A planning judge at London's High

Court dismissed a challenge brought by rival cinema operator Vue

Entertainment. Vue was contesting the authority's

decision to approve plans for a larger cinema on the stadium

site at Monks Cross There's still no timescale

on when the new complex Finally from me, the cricket world

is mourning the death, at the age of 76, of Yorkshire

bowler Peter Kippax. The leg-spinner played

for his native county for 14 years, But for 15 years he played

for Durham, in their Minor Counties heyday, before moving

across to join neighbours I am hoping that we can get through

the weather forecast because you are on an ice rink.

If you are hoping for some Torvill and Dean moves then you will be

disappointed. The Brownies from Chester-le-Street will be throwing

some fancy shapes. Things are relatively mild January as things

stand. I felt slightly milder weather might because in problems

with the ice rink but apparently they have special chillers. One

thing about this plank of -- blanket of cloud is it means the

temperatures are pretty flat. An awful lot of cloud tonight, maybe

the odd spot of drizzle, poor visibility on high ground

especially. But we should be frost free. Only the odd break in the

cloud. South-westerly breeze. A bit of a grey and murky and misty start

tomorrow. Should be mostly dry and we should see some breaks in the

cloud, the exception not the rule. Temperatures tomorrow around 8-9. We

maintain that very light south-westerly breeze. The pressure

sequence, the breezes coming round to the high-pressure anticyclone

which is keeping things settled. It looks like the high-pressure will

start to decline but it will hang on through the weekend probably to keep

things settled and keep the Atlantic weather fronts at bay. For the next

few days, Thursday and Friday, a lot of cloud, generally dry and

temperatures in single figures. For the weekend, a subtle change takes

place, the cloud will become more broken underneath the centre of the

high-pressure so we should see a little more brightness through the

day but clearer skies overnight could allow the temperatures to drop

cold enough for a touch of frost. Brighter skies for many on Saturday

and Sunday but paying the price with colder overnight temperatures. You

can keep up-to-date with the BBC weather app and the BBC local radio

station. Sorry, no fancy moves tonight but lots of people are

enjoying the ice rink here. I can't believe he didn't even trip

up once. We were all looking for it.

It spoiled the fun bit! Hello. I hope you're well.

I really do.