21/03/2017 Look North (North East and Cumbria)

A former director at Middlesbrough Council has claimed

she was "bullied and threatened" after refusing to cover up failings

in the way the authority sold off some its assets.

Karen Whitmore was the Assistant Director of Organisation

and Governance, but was made redundant last June.

She claims she was targeted after raising concerns

about the sale of Acklam Hall and other buildings

She's now taken Middlesbrough Council to an employment tribunal.

We've heard some extraordinary claims during the first

Karen Whitmore said there was a laddish culture

at Middlesbrough Council between 2014-2015.

She said senior managers would refer to women as "fatty",

She said on one occasion she heard at a meeting a union official,

and the then-chief executive Mike Robinson, telling a joke,

The solicitor for Middlesbrough Council said this was an unfounded

slur and something that she hadn't actually witnessed herself.

But Karen Whitmore said she was targeted because she refused

to turn a blind eye to the sale of assets.

She said when she was asked to investigate the sale

of Acklam Hall in 2014 by external auditors, she was told officers had

agreed a significant price reduction of ?1.2 million.

When she raised concerns, she said she was told to hide

the way the sale was handled because the then-mayor Ray Mallon

She then raised concern about the sale of Middlesbrough's

training and development centre to Ray Mallon's election

She says an independent valuation of the centre was put

Also she says a higher bid was ruled out in favour of the offer

Karen Whitmore claims she was bullied by the current chief

executive, Tony Parkinson, here on the left.

And undermined by the former chief executive, who is next

And she says her concerns and complaints were ignored

by the Middlesbrough Mayor, David Budd.

All men contest the claims, and the tribunal continues.

A man's been charged with murdering a man in Whitley Bay last week.

Matthew Davis, who was 39, was found dead at the Bermuda Guest House

Tonight detectives charged local man Tony Dodds,

He'll appear before North Tyneside magistrates tomorrow.

A trial's heard how an elderly woman jumped from the second-floor window

of her retirement flat just weeks after claims she'd told carers

The Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust, which runs the home near York,

has been charged with failing to protect the safety

York Crown Court heard how the case has exposed

This is a case that goes back to the 1st of November 2011 -

the day Dora Strickland jumped from the second-floor

window of Red Lodge, the retirement home in York

where she lived with her husband, Jack.

The couple had lived at Red Lodge for five months,

after living in their previous family home for 54 years.

In the fall from the window, though, she suffered multiple injuries

In court this morning, we heard from Doctor Kevin Anderson,

who had been called to the home to see Mrs Strickland

after concerns had been raised about her mental well-being.

He believed she wasn't suicidal, but did think she was vulnerable.

In light of that, he put an action plan in place and told tough

-- and told staff to keep a close eye on her.

But Sandra Rudder, a general assistant at the home,

was today asked if she had been given any information on how

to treat Mrs Strickland or to look out for anything.

To that she replied, "No, absolutely nothing."

In court this afternoon, though, Gemma Casson,

the home's general manager, said Red Lodge wasn't

a nursing home, and there was an open door policy.

She said since Mrs Strickland's suicide, new procedures have been

put in place and windows were now fitted with restrictors to stop them

The housing trust has denied failing to protect

the safety of its residents, and the trial continues.

A former hospital manager made redundant by an NHS trust has won

the latest round of a legal fight over her pension pot.

Sandi Haywood lost her job with Newcastle NHS Foundation Trust,

which runs the RVI and Freeman Hospitals, in 2011.

The Appeal Court ruled it had to pay out a higher pension of ?200,000

because it failed to give her 12 weeks' notice before

Outside court, Mrs Haywood's family criticised the Trust

for running up large legal fees contesting the case.

A spokesman for the Trust said it plans to take it

The trustees of the former St Bees School in West Cumbria have

announced that the school will re-open its doors to pupils

Following its closure in 2015, the new Board of Trustees at St Bees

have been working hard to find new investors to support the school.

That's resulted in a partnership with a South East Asian education

group, which will enable the school to re-open next year.

Yesterday, we told you how head teachers in Darlington are asking

parents to lobby the Government over funding in education.

Now a headteacher has asked parents of two Tynedale

schools to donate money, to help maintain standards.

Graeme Atkinson, the executive head of Hexham Middle School

and Queen Elizabeth High School, says the Government's new funding

formula will mean bigger class sizes and a smaller curriculum.

The pupils in this class at Queen Elizabeth High School

That's because it's deemed a "good" school by Ofsted,

with above average GCSE and A-level results.

With the headteacher says that's in spite of constant underfunding,

which will only get worse under the government's proposed

And now he's taken the unprecedented step of writing to parents

at the two schools he leads, asking them to make

Having made significant cuts in recent times,

we really feel that we are pretty much to the bone.

Further cuts will mean greater class sizes, poor resources,

and it raises a good question - at what point does it

We are not necessarily too far away from that.

In essence, that's why I've taken the decision as we have done.

It's not something that we've done lightly.

Ultimately, what does that mean for the children's education?

In our position as a trust of two schools, our finances

The future does not look bright with that in mind.

In a statement, the Department for Education told us that funding

for schools was at a record level, and the new funding formula would

see schools in Northumberland gets an increase of around ?2 million.

As a result of that, 80% of schools would benefit.

But the headteacher of these two schools has told

us that in real terms, it going to lose out by around three

quarters of a million over the next three years.

The parents we spoke to worry that making donations could lead

For the teaching staff and the management to sit down

and decide that they are going to actually effectively beg

the families for funds means, they must be really at the end

Its Department for Education cuts, and it's affecting our children.

Is it acceptable that school funding is that such a lower level?

You know, I don't think it is a step down by going to have bigger

classes, less teachers and how are they going to fare?

The Princess Royal has been in Cumbria today.

At Kirkby Stephen Grammar School she unveiled a plaque celebrating

450 years of the school's existence in the town.

She also visited the headquarters of Kirkby Stephen Mountain Rescue Team,

As part of her visit she also opened the new parish hall

In football, a couple of National League results tonight.

Play-off contenders Gateshead drew 1-1 at home to Guiseley.

And a precious win for York, who came back from 3-1 down

Time now to look at the weather with Paul Mooney.

We really going to see any more of this lie that been predicted?

I think some of us are either 90 night and into tomorrow morning. We

warning from the Met office. A risk warning from the Met office. A risk

of snow settling in places through tonight and tomorrow morning. We

watch this band of rain coming up from the south. Temperatures

dropping the way ahead. As the rain comes over, that's one it will start

to turn to sleet and snow. Mostly in parts of Cumbria, County Durham,

perhaps southern of Northumbria and North Yorkshire. That's where most

of the suckling snow will fall. Forget any heavier, -- temperatures

hovering just above freezing. The risk of some snow continues as we

head into the morning. It moves northwards. It tends to turn to rain

and Peter out for many places through the day. More rain missiles.

-- mal rain in the south. A moderate to fresh wind will make it feel more

if you out and about. A messy weather chart for tomorrow. That's a

frontal system bringing the risk of sleet and snow. As it slips away,

high pressure begins to build towards the end of the week. For the

weekend itself that brings in goods settled weather. The rain, sleet and

snow cleared away through tomorrow. Drier and brighter but still cool in

the east, especially on Thursday. A bit warmer by date by the weekend. I

will leave you with the summary for our region.

Heavy rain, snow and ice are all in the forecast once again. It was

quite a wintry scene today, especially in Scotland. Some very

cold looking winter skies here, and we had some snow falling at times in

West Lothian. For a while earlier today, there were quite a few

showers running through central Scotland, all in that cold air.

Right now, we have two areas of cloud, one