:00:10. > :00:13.Victims of a holiday scam run by a South Shields woman say they've
:00:14. > :00:16.been let down by the justice system after she escaped with a two year
:00:17. > :00:21.suspended prison sentence - because she had a baby.
:00:22. > :00:23.Ashleigh Turbitt pocketed nearly ?50,000 from families
:00:24. > :00:26.with the promise of cheap holidays to Disneyland.
:00:27. > :00:37.Sharuna Sagar met one angry grandmother who lost nearly ?8,500.
:00:38. > :00:40.It's been a difficult few years for Hilda Clayton.
:00:41. > :00:42.She's nursed both her ill parents till their deaths
:00:43. > :00:45.and then she nearly lost one of her grandchildren.
:00:46. > :00:48.Me grandson was in Freeman's hospital.
:00:49. > :00:51.He was on life support and had to have a Berlin heart in.
:00:52. > :00:54.He came through it, it's cutting a long story short,
:00:55. > :00:58.and we were so happy, so we decided to book him a holiday.
:00:59. > :01:01.We couldn't get him on a flight for his heart condition.
:01:02. > :01:05.And it was just a little thing and then people added on for to try
:01:06. > :01:10.and celebrate and before we knew it, there were 17 going.
:01:11. > :01:13.And so a dream trip to Disney Land in Paris was booked.
:01:14. > :01:15.And everything was perfect right up until the night before
:01:16. > :01:21.The bairns were packed and ready to go and had their Minnie Mouse
:01:22. > :01:25.ears on, their euros in their little purses.
:01:26. > :01:30.We were just going to order curry, chill, have an early night,
:01:31. > :01:36.And then we just found out it wasn't happening,
:01:37. > :01:43.It turned out that nothing had been booked and the whole
:01:44. > :01:48.The woman behind it was Ashleigh Turbitt from South Shields.
:01:49. > :01:51.She looked like a genuine person to me, she was with her husband and
:01:52. > :01:55.children on day trips that we'd booked and she seemed like a lovely
:01:56. > :01:58.person to me. I had no inkling whatsoever.
:01:59. > :02:07.And Turbitt admitted pocketing ?46,000 of their money
:02:08. > :02:10.but she was spared jail because the judge didn't
:02:11. > :02:14.It's not about the money, I have forgotten about that now.
:02:15. > :02:16.I feel more angry that she is getting away with it.
:02:17. > :02:20.People have been sent to jail for less than what she has done.
:02:21. > :02:30.Was the judge thinking about our children? I don't think so.
:02:31. > :02:32.It was a terrifying experience for disabled couple
:02:33. > :02:37.One night last November, a drunken man broke into their home
:02:38. > :02:39.in Chester-le-Street while they slept.
:02:40. > :02:41.When they woke, they found Michael Lee Gray asleep
:02:42. > :02:44.Gray later pleaded guilty to criminal damage but the couple's
:02:45. > :02:46.disabilities meant they couldn't travel to court
:02:47. > :02:49.But thanks to new technology - the court came to them.
:02:50. > :02:59.Here's our News Correspondent Mark Denten.
:03:00. > :03:01.Marie's nearly blind, Tom has cancer.
:03:02. > :03:11.In anyone's book they are a vulnerable couple -
:03:12. > :03:14.but this man Michael Lee Gray broke into their home in Chester-le-Street
:03:15. > :03:19.He was drunk - and then eventually fell asleep
:03:20. > :03:23.When they woke up they found him there...but in the front room
:03:24. > :03:25.there was something else waiting for them.
:03:26. > :03:28.He was sick here and he had wet himself there.
:03:29. > :03:31.You must've felt your home had been desecrated.
:03:32. > :03:35.Yes. We have had a lovely life here.
:03:36. > :03:51.The couple's disability meant it was impossible for them to travel
:03:52. > :04:07.A temporary video link was installed in the couple's home,
:04:08. > :04:09.so they could watch Gray being sentenced in court,
:04:10. > :04:12.I didn't believe they could do that sort of thing.
:04:13. > :04:26.And the judge was speaking to us and asking things.
:04:27. > :04:50.In a statement His Honour Judge Christopher Prince told Look North
:04:51. > :04:53.It was really traumatic. It was good for them to see that justice was
:04:54. > :05:03.Michael Lee Gray was sentenced to four and a half months in jail.
:05:04. > :05:05.Mark Denten, BBC Look North, Chester-le-Street.
:05:06. > :05:10.A jury has retired to consider its verdict in the case
:05:11. > :05:12.of a North Yorkshire care home accused of failing to protect
:05:13. > :05:16.Red Lodge - a retirement home in York - is owned
:05:17. > :05:17.by the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust.
:05:18. > :05:20.The case follows the death of an elderly resident in 2011 -
:05:21. > :05:31.who committed suicide by jumping from an upstairs window.
:05:32. > :05:37.Northumbria Police has criticised plans for 3,000 people
:05:38. > :05:41.The Governor of Durham Prison has rejected
:05:42. > :05:43.criticism of the way the jail treats mentally ill prisoners.
:05:44. > :05:45.The Prison Independent Monitoring Board's annual inspection said
:05:46. > :05:47.the issue of mentally ill patients waiting for treatment,
:05:48. > :05:50.had been brushed under the carpet, but the Governor says he's
:05:51. > :05:53.The delays in transfers from the prison, from the prison
:05:54. > :05:56.to the community hospitals, we have always had to manage that process,
:05:57. > :05:59.but the care that the men receive from the mental health team,
:06:00. > :06:01.on the inreach team in the prison, is of
:06:02. > :06:11.Northumbria Police has criticised plans for 3,000 people
:06:12. > :06:14.to float down the River Tyne on inflatables while drinking beer.
:06:15. > :06:16.The event's been publicised on social media and is
:06:17. > :06:19.planned for July 1st - ending at the Quayside.
:06:20. > :06:20.Organisers claim it's based on a Finnish event.
:06:21. > :06:23.The police say the Tyne has a strong current,
:06:24. > :06:25.they're concerned about safety and they will speak
:06:26. > :06:32.York Minster has confirmed that its bells will ring
:06:33. > :06:35.The bells were last rung in December.
:06:36. > :06:37.The original team of 30 volunteers were sacked last October
:06:38. > :06:40.due to safeguarding issues, and since then the bells have only
:06:41. > :06:49.been rung a handful of times by volunteers from across Yorkshire.
:06:50. > :06:52.A music festival which was expected to attract 35 thousand
:06:53. > :06:53.people to Northumberland has been cancelled.
:06:54. > :06:56.Organisers of the Festival On The Wall, which was due
:06:57. > :07:01.to take place in August, made the announcement this evening,
:07:02. > :07:05.The line up at the private farm, near Horsley, was to include
:07:06. > :07:10.The Pet Shop Boys, Maximo Park and Mark Ronson.
:07:11. > :07:12.It's 20 years since England's last working slate mine
:07:13. > :07:16.Honister, in the Lake District, is now a big tourist attraction -
:07:17. > :07:19.famed for its Via Ferrata - which allows climbers access
:07:20. > :07:22.The owners say they're hoping to create more jobs
:07:23. > :07:34.They have been digging slate from this mine
:07:35. > :07:41.Over the centuries, huge caverns have been carved out by hand.
:07:42. > :07:46.It is very low because they would never stand up straight,
:07:47. > :07:50.We're in the middle of Honister, right under
:07:51. > :07:58.This goes on for seven or eight miles.
:07:59. > :08:00.All dug out by hand. Amazing.
:08:01. > :08:04.I know the work in drilling and suchlike.
:08:05. > :08:06.With mechanisation, but to do it by hand,
:08:07. > :08:15.When Joe's family took over the mine it was little more than a tin shed
:08:16. > :08:19.and today it produces 100 tonnes of roofing slate a year
:08:20. > :08:25.Today, Honister is about tourism and some of them remember what it
:08:26. > :08:33.You used to be able to park free if you bought
:08:34. > :08:36.something like a coaster. This is totally different.
:08:37. > :08:42.I remember it was all quite rudimentary.
:08:43. > :08:44.When you came up to the mine, you could help yourself
:08:45. > :08:49.to tea and coffee, you didn't have to pay for it.
:08:50. > :08:51.Joe's brother Mark was tragically killed in a helicopter crash
:08:52. > :08:54.at the time when he was fighting for planning consent for a zip wire.
:08:55. > :08:58.The consent was refused but he is going to try again.
:08:59. > :09:06.There's a few things boiling away. I'm very excited.
:09:07. > :09:15.June might be keeping his powder dry for the moment but it won't be too
:09:16. > :09:24.long before we hear what plans he has in mind.
:09:25. > :09:27.That's it from me, time for the weather with Paul Mooney.
:09:28. > :09:46.It would be boring if it was sunny all the time, Alison. A lot of cloud
:09:47. > :09:53.around and that is producing patchy rain here and there. Staying cloudy
:09:54. > :10:01.and misty, with the blanket of cloud and a southerly breeze. Tomorrow,
:10:02. > :10:07.early brightness will fade in the east as cloud thickens up quickly
:10:08. > :10:12.from the West. That will bring outbreaks of rain and most places
:10:13. > :10:22.will see rain at times, most persistent across Cumbria.
:10:23. > :10:28.Temperatures relatively mild. Thanks in part to that southerly breeze. A
:10:29. > :10:34.messy chart as we head through the middle of the week. Weather fronts
:10:35. > :10:39.bringing cloud and rain and it will be Friday before we see this front
:10:40. > :10:44.finally clear the way and introducing something fresher and
:10:45. > :10:50.brighter into the weekend. A lot of cloud around, the heaviest of the
:10:51. > :10:53.rain in the West. Temperatures in North Yorkshire could reach 16
:10:54. > :10:57.Celsius. The national forecast is coming up,
:10:58. > :11:02.here's tomorrow's outlook. times, but fairly mild for the time
:11:03. > :11:06.of year. This stay tuned for the national weather forecasts with John
:11:07. > :11:10.Hammond. Good evening. Your parents might
:11:11. > :11:14.have told you once that life 's not fair and they were right. He is the
:11:15. > :11:17.proof. Over the next few days some of us will enjoy some lovely
:11:18. > :11:21.sunshine, temperatures in the low 20s. It will feel like early summer.
:11:22. > :11:27.For others, quite a lot of rain around and it will feel like late
:11:28. > :11:30.March. This is showers earlier on today and dampness this evening in
:11:31. > :11:34.the West Country and Wales. That is heading north eastwards. A different
:11:35. > :11:38.sort of night. A lot of cloud around, quite damp and misty in
:11:39. > :11:39.places. Cloud cover will prevent temperatures