:00:00. > :00:08.An investigation is launched after one person dies
:00:09. > :00:13.Hartlepool's Iain Wright becomes the second MP in our region
:00:14. > :00:16.to announce he won't be fighting the General Election.
:00:17. > :00:19.The outcry after a 95-year-old war veteran is charged ?130
:00:20. > :00:25.for over-staying his welcome in a hospital car park.
:00:26. > :00:28.Thousands of excited fans queue to see singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran,
:00:29. > :00:34.And the Great North 10K is ready for the off.
:00:35. > :00:50.Good thing there's time for this lot to be given a bit of coaching!
:00:51. > :00:53.First tonight, one person has died in a fire at a tower block
:00:54. > :00:57.The top three floors of the 12-storey building
:00:58. > :01:00.were evacuated after the fire broke shortly before two
:01:01. > :01:05.Ten fire engines were needed to bring the blaze under control.
:01:06. > :01:07.No other injuries have been reported.
:01:08. > :01:10.So far no details of the dead person have been released,
:01:11. > :01:12.and investigators are looking into the cause.
:01:13. > :01:22.Gerry Jackson joins us live from the scene.
:01:23. > :01:31.it was around 12 hours after a fierce fire swept through a top
:01:32. > :01:35.floor flat here in Thornaby with the body being a woman who lived here
:01:36. > :01:44.for a number of years was finally removed. Frenzied lovers is moving
:01:45. > :01:51.in and out of this property and for the residents, it was a night of
:01:52. > :01:57.shock and up evil. The pictures tell of the bare facts, but data tails
:01:58. > :02:04.are yet to emerge. The house is one of the tower blocks that dominated
:02:05. > :02:08.the town centre skyline. Just after 1:30am, fire crews from the
:02:09. > :02:13.stranding area were sent here. The rat number was rapidly doubled. The
:02:14. > :02:20.fires are complex by nature, and if they spread, they can cause mass
:02:21. > :02:25.casualties and mass evacuations. You can see from the outside that the
:02:26. > :02:31.flames have linked up the building. Unfortunately with it being on the
:02:32. > :02:38.top floor, -- fortunately with it being on the top floor, the fire did
:02:39. > :02:42.not spread to other floors. It was like a couple more as the fire was
:02:43. > :02:49.going on, exploding. It must have been a shock for you. Seeing it in
:02:50. > :02:55.real life, you see it on TV, but seeing it in front of you, where you
:02:56. > :02:59.live, it is very shocking. Dozens of residents from the top three floors
:03:00. > :03:07.were evacuated and sent to the pavilion leisure centre in the early
:03:08. > :03:11.hours. A joint police and fire brigade investigation has continued
:03:12. > :03:15.since the first light. The top floor of the building still sealed. So far
:03:16. > :03:21.there is no indication that the death is being treated as
:03:22. > :03:29.suspicious. A postmortem examination is due to be taken on the victim.
:03:30. > :03:33.This will be an indication of whether the investigation as to what
:03:34. > :03:36.caused this tragedy is to be taken further. Thank you for that.
:03:37. > :03:38.Meanwhile, firefighters on Wearside have been tackling a blaze
:03:39. > :03:40.at a former soft play centre in Washington.
:03:41. > :03:51.It broke out at Junglerama on Victoria Road this afternoon.
:03:52. > :03:58.The blaze is now out and it is not believed anyone was inside.
:03:59. > :04:01.Go North East said the nearby Concord Bus Station was closed,
:04:02. > :04:04.and services were avoiding the area due to the number of people
:04:05. > :04:08.A second politician in our region has announced he won't be standing
:04:09. > :04:11.in the snap general election on June the 8th.
:04:12. > :04:14.The decision by Iain Wright not to fight the Hartlepool seat comes
:04:15. > :04:15.after Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP
:04:16. > :04:17.Tom Blenkinsop revealed yesterday he was leaving Parliament.
:04:18. > :04:28.Here's our news correspondent Mark Denten.
:04:29. > :04:34.2004, Ian Wright born and bred in Hartlepool still in his early 30s
:04:35. > :04:38.and only a couple of years is a local councillor suddenly found
:04:39. > :04:43.himself in the political deep end. Peter Mandelson steps down, Ian
:04:44. > :04:47.Wright held the seat for Labour at a by-election, a key issue in that
:04:48. > :04:52.contest was the future of T-Town oh, my God spittle. Labour said it was
:04:53. > :04:59.safe in hands, but it was soon circling. Despite pledges, there
:05:00. > :05:06.were soon threatens to maternity services. He resigned. He came back
:05:07. > :05:11.later but found his niche in the cut and thrust of chairing a select
:05:12. > :05:19.committee. Last summer his finest moment,. The docking of 15 minutes a
:05:20. > :05:24.if you are led, who said that up? I honestly don't know is the truth. I
:05:25. > :05:29.do not know when that started. It definitely was not a policy I put
:05:30. > :05:36.them. But since 2005, Ukip have been closing in on his seat, going from
:05:37. > :05:43.fourth place to second in 2015, bullets by others, they came within
:05:44. > :05:47.3000 votes of victory. They believe Ukip will take the seat in June. I
:05:48. > :05:51.got the best results against the Labour country in the whole country.
:05:52. > :05:54.If people want change in Hartlepool, they have got to go further you
:05:55. > :06:00.because we are the only ones that can beat the Labour Party in Halep
:06:01. > :06:04.all. What they make of the departure of their MP? I think it is sad
:06:05. > :06:09.because I do not know whether they will get anyone else suitable in the
:06:10. > :06:15.town. I have always found him approachable, so it depends who
:06:16. > :06:20.comes into replace him. I do not know why he is not standing for the
:06:21. > :06:28.election because he was a good with the people here. Hanley Bob's man
:06:29. > :06:31.heads for other projects, his successor will be plunged straight
:06:32. > :06:34.into the middle of a crucial election contest.
:06:35. > :06:39.So Mark, do we know any more about why Iain Wright is stepping down?
:06:40. > :06:45.To be honest, not an awful lot. We have been calling him all day to
:06:46. > :06:50.find out a bit more detail. He put this tweet out about nine o'clock
:06:51. > :06:55.saying it was a privilege to serve as the MP, you wanted to do other
:06:56. > :07:01.things with his life. Half an hour after, you was chairing the business
:07:02. > :07:01.committee and in front of him, Greg Clark.
:07:02. > :07:03.In all of the areas in which you have
:07:04. > :07:05.concentrated, you have achieved great progress on some of
:07:06. > :07:08.the most difficult and controversial issues and you will be very greatly
:07:09. > :07:13.I know in this house and I know as a fellow north-easterner and via
:07:14. > :07:31.So he is not standing at the next election, but another collision we
:07:32. > :07:36.thought was going to be off isn't. Roy Campbell, he said at the 2015
:07:37. > :07:41.election it was probably going to be his last election. Today he said no,
:07:42. > :07:47.I am going to fight the election in June, but stay with me on this one,
:07:48. > :07:50.also today, he was one of only 13 MPs who fated against having that
:07:51. > :07:58.election in June. We know it will happen in June.
:07:59. > :08:04.A soldier, who's denied murdering his ex-girlfriend,
:08:05. > :08:07.has told a court she was "insecure" and had accused of him
:08:08. > :08:11.Alice Ruggles, who was 24, was found dead in her flat
:08:12. > :08:12.in Rawlings Road in Gateshead in October, 2015.
:08:13. > :08:17.Lance Corporal Trimaan Dillon - who's 26 - is accused of breaking
:08:18. > :08:19.into her home to kill her, after she ended the relationship.
:08:20. > :08:22.Today the defendant told the court he'd been behaving "immaturely"
:08:23. > :08:24.when he received a restraining order against another former partner,
:08:25. > :08:27.after she accused him of spitting in her face.
:08:28. > :08:29.It seems the experience of a 95-year-old war veteran
:08:30. > :08:31.could have forced a change to parking policy at
:08:32. > :08:35.There was an outcry when former World War II airman Douglas Newham
:08:36. > :08:38.was charged ?130 by a firm which manages car parks at the
:08:39. > :08:42.Douglas had been attending a routine appointment which over-ran.
:08:43. > :08:49.Douglas Newham had been at the hospital for an appointment
:08:50. > :08:50.that was usually over within the hour.
:08:51. > :08:54.Instead, it was late, and outside, on the windscreen of the 95 year
:08:55. > :09:06.I just think it is totally unjust, not just for me, but I mean,
:09:07. > :09:10.For Douglas, it was less an inconvenience than a show
:09:11. > :09:14.of heartless inflexibility, and he was determined
:09:15. > :09:20.It got to the point that never mind the money,
:09:21. > :09:23.let's just try and get the company to have some feeling
:09:24. > :09:32.All I can do is top stir public opinion.
:09:33. > :09:37.It is not a supermarket car park, it is a hospital car park,
:09:38. > :09:41.and I think they should have appropriate procedures.
:09:42. > :09:46.Douglas Newham has now coughed up the ?130 he was charged,
:09:47. > :09:49.but his refusal to accept what he believes is the injustice
:09:50. > :09:53.of that levy seems to have forced the hand of the trust here.
:09:54. > :09:56.It told us in a statement today that by the end of the year,
:09:57. > :09:59.pay-as-you-leave gates will be installed here.
:10:00. > :10:04.If they have a lifting barrier system and you go in and you only
:10:05. > :10:09.pay for the period that you are there, that would be
:10:10. > :10:14.an infinitely fairer system than what they have got
:10:15. > :10:27.Mark McAlindon, BBC Look North, Carlisle.
:10:28. > :10:31.A Teesside engineering company is looking to bring shipbuilding
:10:32. > :10:35.Macdonald Offshore and Marine is building a fishing
:10:36. > :10:37.vessel 20 metres long, with other contracts in the offing.
:10:38. > :10:40.The river was once home to about 30 shipbuilding yards,
:10:41. > :10:42.but the last major launch was in 1986.
:10:43. > :10:47.Our business correspondent Ian Reeve reports.
:10:48. > :10:49.VOICE-OVER: The second of two 45,000 toners
:10:50. > :10:51.from the Furness Yard at Haverton Hill .
:10:52. > :10:55.The Tees has a long and notable history of shipbuilding,
:10:56. > :11:02.An industry that sustained work on the river for 600 years.
:11:03. > :11:07.This, though, was the last major launch, Smiths Dock in 1986.
:11:08. > :11:11.This Middlesbrough workshop, making a fishing vessel
:11:12. > :11:17.15 people work here, but the aim, with more contracts,
:11:18. > :11:22.It was a great skillset in shipbuilding and there
:11:23. > :11:28.is still a lot of guys and shipwrights around in the area.
:11:29. > :11:30.Hopefully bring more of those skills that
:11:31. > :11:33.were here on the river some years ago, bring some new guys in,
:11:34. > :11:36.hopefully get the apprentices coming in and take it from there.
:11:37. > :11:41.It's a subcontracted job, won by the Whitby boat builder Parkol.
:11:42. > :11:48.But he's happy to see it bring work to the Tees.
:11:49. > :11:51.We are delighted to see that other people are benefiting out of
:11:52. > :12:03.It is excellent to see Work coming to places
:12:04. > :12:08.He lost his job when Redcar's steel works closed.
:12:09. > :12:09.Boat building ensures his skills aren't lost.
:12:10. > :12:14.At my age, I though I would see it out through to retirement.
:12:15. > :12:17.Obviously, that did not happen, so I am starting again.
:12:18. > :12:19.The scallop dredger should be finished in June.
:12:20. > :12:24.A seagoing vessel once again launched onto the River Tees.
:12:25. > :12:30.Ian Reeve, BBC Look North, Middlesbrough.
:12:31. > :12:31.You're watching Wednesday's Look North.
:12:32. > :12:35.We're live at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle as excited fans
:12:36. > :12:49.And the fairly quiet weather continues. It should be a little bit
:12:50. > :12:54.milder than today. Join me later. So, we know a general election
:12:55. > :12:57.is on the way in June, but there are also local elections
:12:58. > :12:59.to come next month. And all 126 seats on Durham County
:13:00. > :13:03.Council, the region's biggest, It looks to be Labour's safest
:13:04. > :13:09.bet, in an area it's There've been some turbulent times
:13:10. > :13:14.there, recently, but, as our political editor Richard Moss
:13:15. > :13:16.reports , there's no Durham Cathedral and Labour have
:13:17. > :13:24.that in common in this county, the party currently holds 94 of 126
:13:25. > :13:30.county council seats. So, a bit like this place,
:13:31. > :13:33.an imposing presence But just like the cathedral
:13:34. > :13:40.as well, Labour has had With significant cuts and big
:13:41. > :13:45.decisions have come protests, over teaching assistants' pay
:13:46. > :13:47.and the decision to close But Labour insists it has
:13:48. > :13:52.adapted to tough times. The DLI Museum may have gone,
:13:53. > :13:55.but some of its treasures, at least, are on display here at this free
:13:56. > :13:59.exhibition in the heart of Durham. Despite the huge budget cuts that
:14:00. > :14:02.have been forced upon us, Labour is delivering services
:14:03. > :14:04.across Durham and Labour is still looking to the future,
:14:05. > :14:06.in terms of job creation, in terms of economic regeneration,
:14:07. > :14:12.and I honestly believe that Labour are the only party with an ambitious
:14:13. > :14:15.vision to take But despite its dominance,
:14:16. > :14:26.Labour does have rivals, and some think they could have done
:14:27. > :14:29.even more with less by saving We proposed things in 2013
:14:30. > :14:33.that would have saved over ?5 million by now,
:14:34. > :14:35.and in that way, it would not have had to make savings
:14:36. > :14:38.like closing the DLI Museum Looking forward to the big issues
:14:39. > :14:42.like do we really need to be spending ?60 million on a new county
:14:43. > :14:46.hall which we do not think we do, and why is the council sitting
:14:47. > :14:49.on ?200 million plus of reserves? They have predicted ?62 million
:14:50. > :14:50.reduction in reserves, they have actually seen
:14:51. > :14:53.134 million increase. So what we would have done
:14:54. > :14:56.differently is we would not have We would certainly have
:14:57. > :15:00.protected youth services, we would have sought to protect
:15:01. > :15:04.education, transport and also day The Lib Dems and Conservatives
:15:05. > :15:09.aren't the only ones More than 80 independents
:15:10. > :15:13.are standing this time, convinced that people are tired
:15:14. > :15:17.of party politics. When a whole party, be
:15:18. > :15:22.it the Conservatives the Liberal Democrats
:15:23. > :15:23.or the Labour group, that they find, like me,
:15:24. > :15:28.difficult to swallow, they know that the independent group
:15:29. > :15:31.vote the way they want But two parties trying
:15:32. > :15:34.to win their first seats on the council think the key
:15:35. > :15:37.to avoiding protests is offering People feel excluded
:15:38. > :15:41.from decisions decision-making, even in simple things that are very
:15:42. > :15:43.basic, local level. Things that affect
:15:44. > :15:47.the quality of their lives. People feel that they can't really
:15:48. > :15:49.participate in this, so we have got a range of ideas
:15:50. > :15:52.and innovative solutions to try and get people
:15:53. > :15:55.to have more influence. We have got ideas for actually
:15:56. > :16:01.working with online systems, for bringing issues online to allow
:16:02. > :16:04.them to be debated online, There's no shortage of rivals
:16:05. > :16:07.who want to chip away It's unlikely to crumble,
:16:08. > :16:11.but it remains to be seen whether any damage will be cosmetic
:16:12. > :16:15.or leave more long-lasting cracks. Richard Moss, BBC Look
:16:16. > :16:21.North in County Durham. Right now, thousands
:16:22. > :16:23.of excited fans are converging on the Metro Radio Arena
:16:24. > :16:30.in Newcastle to see unquestionably Ed Sheeran, the singer/songwriter
:16:31. > :16:33.from Suffolk, has gone His two latest singles shot straight
:16:34. > :16:38.in at number one and two Jim Knight is live
:16:39. > :16:57.for us at the arena. Yes, do you realise that standing
:16:58. > :17:02.where I am now, I am just that far from the hottest thing in music in
:17:03. > :17:06.the world right now. Not my words, that is the words of Rollingstone
:17:07. > :17:13.Magazine. Ed Sheeran has usurped Justin Bieber to take that title.
:17:14. > :17:17.When he announced this to, can you believe 5 million people applied for
:17:18. > :17:21.tickets? I said 5 million. He is busily doing something right. That
:17:22. > :17:26.is probably why we came here earlier snaked all around the building work
:17:27. > :17:30.teenage girls here camping out all day to get first chance to get to
:17:31. > :17:40.the front of the stage. Here is what they had to say. Whose idea was it?
:17:41. > :17:48.Mine. What was it like at that time? Called. There was no one here. We
:17:49. > :17:54.went to Primax to get some blankets. You're going to be within touching
:17:55. > :18:01.distance, and you? Yeah! You can have a good relationship with Ed
:18:02. > :18:16.Sheeran at the front is. I will purchase hands and I will cry. -- if
:18:17. > :18:19.I touch his hands. As you can see, the excitement is mounting here was
:18:20. > :18:24.that I suppose the question is what is it that Ed Sheeran has that has
:18:25. > :18:31.catapulted him to the top of the music world, what is it about this
:18:32. > :18:34.acoustic folk with the rapper lyrics that has taken the music world by
:18:35. > :18:51.storm periods with one of his earlier hits.
:18:52. > :19:07.SINGS obviously quite a night in start.
:19:08. > :19:12.We're on a hunt for a ticket. It is sold out tonight, the whole two has
:19:13. > :19:16.sold out. Could be quite a night in style.
:19:17. > :19:19.Good luck thank you very much. She made her first Olympic
:19:20. > :19:23.final in Rio last summer, finishing behind her old rival
:19:24. > :19:24.Hannah Miley. Last night, Middlesbrough's Aimee
:19:25. > :19:27.Willmott, who was runner-up to Miley in the Commonwealth Games
:19:28. > :19:29.and the 2016 British Championships, was hoping to get the better
:19:30. > :19:32.of the Scot when GB's best swimmers gathered in Sheffield
:19:33. > :19:34.for this year's event. Willmott, who was third
:19:35. > :19:36.for much of the race, pushed hard in the 400 metres
:19:37. > :19:39.individual medley and forced her way into second place, but once again,
:19:40. > :19:42.Miley was just a bit too strong, finishing nearly
:19:43. > :19:44.three seconds ahead. Meanwhile, nearly four
:19:45. > :19:46.months after being named in the New Year Honours List,
:19:47. > :19:48.Matt Wylie, from Washington, The 20-year-old City of Sunderland
:19:49. > :19:56.para-swimmer was formally made an MBE by the Duke of Cambridge
:19:57. > :19:58.for services to swimming. It was partly in recognition of him
:19:59. > :20:00.becoming Paralympic, European and British Champion
:20:01. > :20:02.in his favoured event, the 50 metres freestyle,
:20:03. > :20:05.all in the same season. In basketball, Newcastle Eagles need
:20:06. > :20:13.one more win from their final three games to secure runners-up spot
:20:14. > :20:15.in the BBL. But tonight, they're away
:20:16. > :20:18.at the champions, Leicester Riders, who they'll meet again
:20:19. > :20:21.at Sport Central on Friday night. The Eagles will wrap
:20:22. > :20:23.up their regular season This year's Great North 10K
:20:24. > :20:30.in Gateshead will take It's one of the region's biggest
:20:31. > :20:34.road races, attracting Today's launch at the International
:20:35. > :20:37.Stadium involved a group of toddlers, and as Andrew Hartley
:20:38. > :20:40.reports, all didn't quite An impromptu run for
:20:41. > :20:54.toddlers to launch one of the region's top road races -
:20:55. > :21:17.what could go wrong? they say don't work with animal and
:21:18. > :21:23.children. Juno what that means now? Yes, we are here to do it and have a
:21:24. > :21:28.great time. It will be a fantastic atmosphere on the day. The toddlers
:21:29. > :21:34.love it. When the on the track, they will continue to run. It will be a
:21:35. > :21:41.great day. The toddler dash over 70 metres is part of a series of events
:21:42. > :21:47.on the grown-up version, the Tang K. He actually broke his leg when he
:21:48. > :21:51.was younger, so he was in a cast for about six weeks or show. Ironically,
:21:52. > :21:57.he broke it whilst he was running. Since he had his cast off, he has
:21:58. > :22:01.not stopped running. He runs everywhere. He was born with a
:22:02. > :22:06.condition which meant his oesophagus was not connected all the way down,
:22:07. > :22:11.so he needed surgery immediately, so he spent the first month of his life
:22:12. > :22:16.in a special care unit which is why we are fundraising for this charity.
:22:17. > :22:19.Might want to lie down in a darkened room after this. Yes, I will lie
:22:20. > :22:40.down! Organised chaos. Very grey skies today. Some Cumbrian
:22:41. > :22:46.bluebells from Paul some Northumbrian tulips in a lovely
:22:47. > :22:53.light there. Oilseed rape in full bloom there. Lovely shot there.
:22:54. > :22:59.Tomorrow, there will be fairly cloudy skies again. Will be a mostly
:23:00. > :23:07.dry day and a few gaps in the cloud, a wee bit higher than they were
:23:08. > :23:12.today. Figures in the odd spot for rain, but most places will be dried
:23:13. > :23:16.and fairly cloudy. What the cloud will do is hold the temperatures up,
:23:17. > :23:20.nothing lower than seven, eight Celsius through the night with light
:23:21. > :23:25.winds. Tomorrow, a cloudy start, there will be a lot of cloud around
:23:26. > :23:30.on the whole. Figure enough to produce rain and drizzle over the
:23:31. > :23:35.fells. Most places will be dry and there will be a few breaks in the
:23:36. > :23:40.cloud. The odd glimpse of blue sky here and there and temperatures will
:23:41. > :23:47.be up. You can add a couple of degrees on today's's figures. That
:23:48. > :23:52.is 59 Fahrenheit. The Windsors stay fairly light. High pressure in
:23:53. > :24:01.charge of the weather chart. A couple of weather fronts coming,
:24:02. > :24:04.bringing some patchy rain at times. North-westerly direction of wind so
:24:05. > :24:10.things could turn cooler as we head into the weekend as well. Friday is
:24:11. > :24:15.fairly cloudy again, but fairly dry. Similar temperatures. The weekend
:24:16. > :24:21.sees the numbers take a bit of a dip, and especially overnight, we
:24:22. > :24:26.could see things cold enough for a touch of frost, say Saturday night.
:24:27. > :24:38.Sunday, mainly dry, highs around 13 Celsius.
:24:39. > :24:43.The weather almost as bright as our ties! We will see tomorrow goodbye.