04/04/2017 Look North (North East and Cumbria)

Eyewitnesses say they were terrified as they watched a partly

demolished building collapse in Newcastle city centre.

The former Odeon Cinema on Pilgrim Street has been under

demolition since January, but last night metal and rubble spilled

onto the street after scaffolding appear to have been brought down.

Just after 11pm last night, a rumble in the darkness.

A tangle of scaffolding poles, dust and rubble.

A loud shock for those watching nearby.

It just sounded like a scary noise, in that sense, but just from this

It was the scariest thing I've ever seen.

JonPaul's been photographing the building's demolition

Last night's footage worrying and unexpected.

As I took the video, I kind of fell on my knees in a sense,

cos I honestly thought it was going to come

I've never seen anything like that in this life.

I mean, the dust everywhere, the scaffold and things,

and I think everybody was in shock for ages just after it happened.

But then, like, it felt like ages, but the guys were just out there

straight away trying to fix the situation in that sense.

Thankfully last night no one was injured here,

but for the people standing just a few metres away on the opposite

side of the road, it was a very frightening near miss.

One eyewitness describes a group of workmen underneath the building

Today, workers were back on site dealing with

The aftermath still of interest to passers by.

What led to the scaffolding collapse is still unclear here,

but the incident is being investigated by the

The developer responsible for this site, GVA, was not available

But in a statement, they said they were fully cooperating

Engineers and surveyors from Newcastle City Council

will also be involved, all three agencies keen to get

to the bottom of this incident and make sure the near miss

A man who held four people hostage in a bookmakers has been

Alistair Gallow was carrying an imitation shotgun and three

knives when he took over the Coral bookmakers in Jarrow in January.

The area was sealed off by armed police and a three

Our News Correspondent Mark Denten sent this report from

Alistair Gallow walked into the Coral bookmakers shop

He was carrying what appeared to be a sawn-off shotgun.

It was a fake weapon, but the four people inside the shop

Gallow told the manager of the shop to trigger the panic alarm so that

The police duly arrived on the scene, and Gallow asked them

A three-hour siege then ensued, during which he gradually

Eventually, he was arrested, taken from the scene,

It appeared then that it was a fake firearm.

The court heard that Gallow's marriage had broken down.

He was suffering from severe alcoholism and

He even apologised to his hostages, saying he had messed up.

His Honour Judge Sloan QC, said Gallow was remorseful.

He had pleaded guilty to all the offences,

but they were nonetheless very serious offences.

He sentenced Gallow to four years in prison.

A six-year-old boy has been taken to hospital after being hit by a bus

Emergency services were called to Dean Street at around

Police say his injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.

A Catholic priest has gone on trial, accused of the repeated sexual abuse

Father Michael Higginbottom, who's been suspended

from St Augustine's Church in Darlington, is accused

of abusing the boy, who was 13 or 14 at the time,

The priest, who's now 73 and lives in Newcastle,

denied eight offences at Liverpool Crown Court.

A nine-year-old boy who'd been reported missing from his home

in Gateshead this morning was found safe and well under his bed.

Josh Dinning's parents contacted police after they couldn't

find him when they went to wake him for school.

Police launched a helicopter and mounted a river search -

as well as searching the house and surrounding area.

Three hours later Josh was found hiding in a drawer

Northumbria Police said they would be carrying out a review

to try and find out why he was missed in

It's a largely preventable cancer that kills two women every day,

but the uptake for cervical cancer screening is at a 19-year low.

More than one in four women in the North East

don't attend the tests - and that figure is even higher

To try to reverse this trend, the country's first cervical cancer

prevention roadshow has come to Tyneside -

I was 27 when I got diagnosed with cervical cancer,

I had to have a hysterectomy, chemotherapy, radiotherapy.

Rachel Kershaw didn't for one moment think it

would happen to her, but it did.

She was young, healthy and busy, so she did not have a smear test

when she should have, and by the time she did,

I often wonder, you know, could all of this have been

prevented if I'd have just gone and been on time with my cervical

Cervical cancer is the most common cancer in women under 35,

but cervical screening does prevent up to 75% of cases.

I had my first one last year, and then every

I think women should have it done a lot younger as well.

If you get invited, you should always go.

It's the same as a man with bowel cancer.

I have a smear every two, three years.

I've experienced it myself, so it was scary, but I got

through it and had regular, you know, screening.

You're not going to know if there's anything wrong, are you,

if you're not going to go and get checked?

Please, please, please, prevention, prevention, prevention!

And that's the message the Cervix Savvy Roadshow is hoping

to drive home in Newcastle, which has the lowest uptake

of cervical screening in the north-east.

Last year, more than 30% of women in Newcastle did not attend

a cervical screening appointment when invited.

That is around 22,500 women not having their smear test.

And the figures or even worse for the 25-29 -year-old age bracket.

More than 50% of women did not get tested.

It is a worrying trend charity campaigners are trying to reverse.

We want to support women through their concerns and encourage

them that it is not something to be afraid of, and it is so important.

Those few minutes could make all the difference,

Rachel learned her lesson the hard way, but she hopes her traumatic

experience will inspire other women to get screened.

Don't put it off, just make the appointment.

I know it is a little bit of an inconvenience,

but what is that compared to, you know, what could happen

It's not clear whether two Cumbrian foods protected by Europe will have

Under the EU, both traditional Cumberland sausage and Lakeland

Herdwick can only be marketed if they meet strict

Some producers are worried this may not continue when the UK leaves.

The Government says it'll work to ensure these products

Onto this evening's football, and Sunderland are in ever-deeper

relegation trouble after losing 2-0

at Premier League champions Leicester City.

They stay bottom of the table, without a goal in six games.

The Black Cats' nearest rivals, Middlesbrough and Hull,

There will be analysis of this game in Look North tomorrow.

Meanwhile, in the National League tonight, York's mini-revival came

to an end as they lost 2-0 at home to Bromley.

Time for a look at the weather now with Paul Mooney.

Can we expect this weather to last as we get closer

I think it probably. High-pressure is in charge at the moment, so

things will change very slowly. The cloud is increasing overnight, so

clears belts disappearing. As clouds building, but that enough for the

odd spot of rain and drizzle. Most places in the night dry and cloudy.

That breeze will help temperatures to stop dropping any lower than six

Celsius. Mostly cloudy start tomorrow, many places will stay

cloudy through the day. Any sunny spells will be more fleeting than

they have been over the last few days, but most places should stay

dry. By the afternoon temperatures will peak at 12 Celsius, 54

Fahrenheit. But that north-westerly breeze, it might feel chilly at

times. High-pressure in charge, drifting slowly eastwards as we head

through the next few days, and that will bring a few subtle changes. One

of those changes is a change in wind direction from that chilly

north-westerly to a milder and lighter south-westerly. As we head

towards the end of the week, Wednesday and Thursday essentially

dry, if fairly cloudy days. Temperatures peaking around about 12

Celsius. On Friday and into the weekend, with that south-westerly

breeze, we should start to see the cloud become a broken, more in the

edging up to 13-14 C by the weekend. edging up to 13-14 C by the weekend.

With clear skies, it might turn a bit chilly overnight. I believe you

bit from the south, so we could get to 18 or higher on Sunday. Now the

national focus. Good evening, things are looking good in the next

few days, some pressure drifting in from the Atlantic, bringing some

finance settled with it. Just some questions about the amount of cloud

we will see under that. The cloud we saw the sea links gave rise to a

lovely sunsets are many areas. This is the view from one of our weather

watchers in Cornwall. Look at the tones in the sky in Warwickshire

this evening. Here is the satellite sequence which

shows it was pretty gloomy on the eastern side of England. Not much

rain, but a good swathe of sunshine for many early on. In the

north-west, showers. Gusty wind as well, northern Scotland seeing 60-70

miles an hour overnight, rattling though showers through. Also some

cloud toppling its way further sap. Keeping temperatures in the northern

half at seven or eight. In the south with light winds and clear skies it

will turn chilly, especially in rural spots.