:00:00. > :00:00.Hello and welcome to the lunchtime Look North.
:00:00. > :00:08.Police hunt three men after a pensioner
:00:09. > :00:10.was brutally assaulted in his own home in
:00:11. > :00:16.And jail for the callous bogus callers, whose
:00:17. > :00:29.knock on the door lead to an elderly woman's death.
:00:30. > :00:31.Durham Police are hunting three men, who attacked a pensioner
:00:32. > :00:37.It happened on Saturday night in the village of Coronation,
:00:38. > :00:40.Alison Freeman joins us for there now.
:00:41. > :00:56.Police are describing this as a terrifying and horrendous attack on
:00:57. > :01:01.an elderly man in his own home. Officers were called here just after
:01:02. > :01:05.8:30pm on Saturday evening. The 77-year-old victim had simply gone
:01:06. > :01:10.out to his call shed when three men wearing face coverings tackled him.
:01:11. > :01:14.The shovel from him and hit him over the head with it. They then dragged
:01:15. > :01:19.him into the house, pinned him down and searched his property. They fled
:01:20. > :01:24.with his life savings. The victim had to be treated in hospital, but
:01:25. > :01:26.fortunately his injuries were not serious. Today officers have
:01:27. > :01:27.described the impact of that attack on him.
:01:28. > :01:31.He is alone in his own home, the one place
:01:32. > :01:34.you're supposed to feel safe and comfortable in and this type of
:01:35. > :01:38.He's too old to put up much of a fight and there were
:01:39. > :01:41.So, it's an absolutely terrifying ordeal and
:01:42. > :01:43.something which no one should have to go through.
:01:44. > :01:46.I've spoken to him every day since this has taken place,
:01:47. > :01:48.several times, and he is just devastated at the moment.
:01:49. > :01:51.He is just really struggling to come to terms with it.
:01:52. > :01:53.He has a great family behind him, though.
:01:54. > :02:05.Police are saying that people should not keep large sums of money in
:02:06. > :02:08.their own home for their own safety. Their priority is putting as much
:02:09. > :02:10.effort as possible to catch these three men.
:02:11. > :02:13.Three men who were part of a fraud gang targetting vulnerable elderly
:02:14. > :02:15.people across the region have been given jail sentences.
:02:16. > :02:18.In one case, a pensioner was robbed of his life savings.
:02:19. > :02:25.Our news correspondent Mark Denten is outside Newcastle Crown Court.
:02:26. > :02:32.The judge passing sentence this lunchtime describes this as a
:02:33. > :02:38.despicable case of criminal conduct. This was a gang travelled around the
:02:39. > :02:42.north east deliberately targeting vulnerable people, especially
:02:43. > :02:46.pensioners, posing as builders, but actually carrying out virtually no
:02:47. > :02:52.work. In one case as you mentioned a former miner lost nearly all his
:02:53. > :02:59.life savings, ?30,000. Today three of the gang, Lee Davidson, Philip
:03:00. > :03:04.and Scott were jailed for five years, three years nine months and
:03:05. > :03:07.2.5 years respectively. Speaking outside court, the detective said
:03:08. > :03:14.those sentences handed down a clear message. They send out a clear
:03:15. > :03:19.message that we will relentlessly pursue offenders. This is a humorous
:03:20. > :03:20.crime that has taken almost two years to bring these offenders to
:03:21. > :03:29.justice. Highness crime. As we had justice. Highness crime. As we had
:03:30. > :03:32.in court today, this was widespread fraud. There were some individual
:03:33. > :03:37.cases we have heard about, but this was the gang operating right across
:03:38. > :03:42.the region. That is correct. We believe they have operated across
:03:43. > :03:46.the region and possibly even in Scotland, so I would appeal from
:03:47. > :03:49.anyone who sees these photographs of these individuals involved, worried
:03:50. > :03:56.and let us know if they think they might been victims of this crime as
:03:57. > :03:59.well. One victim of the gang, Jonah Barnett who was 87 was knocked over
:04:00. > :04:07.in the gang entered her home in Sunderland. She died three months
:04:08. > :04:11.later in hospital. Another man who was 44 was charged with
:04:12. > :04:17.manslaughter. He has since died. And one more member of the gang
:04:18. > :04:20.described as one of the leaders of the whole enterprise, he is still on
:04:21. > :04:23.the run and police are hunting for him.
:04:24. > :04:26.One in five children in the North East, and more
:04:27. > :04:29.than one in ten in Cumbria, is brought up in a home
:04:30. > :04:33.Tonight on BBC One Inside Out looks at how, in extreme cases
:04:34. > :04:36.over the winter months, some families are being forced to
:04:37. > :04:41.Kirsten O'Brien visits Durham, where there's a scheme
:04:42. > :04:44.through the county's network of 27 food bank to provide longer term
:04:45. > :04:55.It came about because we found people who were coming to the food
:04:56. > :04:58.bank weren't just in crisis for food, they also needed money
:04:59. > :05:02.And in some cases, couldn't even cook the food that we gave
:05:03. > :05:04.them, because they had no gas or electric.
:05:05. > :05:06.We are able to put them forward for a voucher, so they've
:05:07. > :05:17.then got fuel to be able to heat and cook the food that we give them.
:05:18. > :05:19.And you can hear from Energy UK, the organisation representing energy
:05:20. > :05:22.suppliers, whether it's prepared to roll out the scheme nationally
:05:23. > :05:29.on tonight's Inside Out on BBC One tonight at 7:30pm.
:05:30. > :05:32.A leisure centre closed by council cuts in the deprived west end
:05:33. > :05:34.of Newcastle could reopen this summer and be run
:05:35. > :05:38.The Friends of Elswick Pool have presented a business plan
:05:39. > :05:41.to the City Council and hope to become a successful trust,
:05:42. > :05:43.like the one that has run Jesmond Pool in the city
:05:44. > :05:51.It's only been closed for 15 months, but green algae already clouds
:05:52. > :05:56.However, a community group plans to clean up the pool and re-open it
:05:57. > :05:58.by the end of the summer, if the City Council
:05:59. > :06:02.There is so much about the pool that was really great before.
:06:03. > :06:04.So, we had the steam room, sauna, swimming
:06:05. > :06:06.lessons, women only, but there is so much more
:06:07. > :06:11.When we did community consultation, people overwhelmingly
:06:12. > :06:13.said that they wanted things like a soft play
:06:14. > :06:17.So, we are really listening to the community and we want to be
:06:18. > :06:21.The man who has helped community groups in both Jesmond and Fenham
:06:22. > :06:26.to run their own pools is now advising the Elswick group.
:06:27. > :06:35.And he sees a bright future for the site.
:06:36. > :06:36.It's a very, very good building, Elswick Pool.
:06:37. > :06:40.And if I think of the ones I have looked at around the country,
:06:41. > :06:43.It's a modern pool, has fantastic facilities,
:06:44. > :06:46.but it needs a little bit of work to get it back before we
:06:47. > :06:48.can open doors and let people in for a swim.
:06:49. > :06:51.Newcastle City Council says it's worked with the Friends for a year
:06:52. > :06:54.now and is committed to the pool's reopening, but only when a long-term
:06:55. > :07:09.And hot on the heels of its five BAFTA nominations,
:07:10. > :07:11.the Newcastle-based film, I, Daniel Blake has picked up
:07:12. > :07:14.At the Critics' Circle Film Awards last night,
:07:15. > :07:29.It was a very cold and frosty start this
:07:30. > :07:32.morning, but that didn't stop our weather watchers from getting out
:07:33. > :07:36.This picture taken from Margo in Cumbria earlier on, showing
:07:37. > :07:38.the sunshine just trying to poke through the clouds with the frosty
:07:39. > :07:42.Now, through this afternoon, it is actually going to
:07:43. > :07:45.There will be some sunny spells to be had as well.
:07:46. > :07:47.You can see from the satellite picture, most
:07:48. > :07:50.of the cloud is actually across parts of Cumbria, whereas the
:07:51. > :07:53.north-east is seeing those spells of sunshine.
:07:54. > :07:58.And that's the way it's going to continue through the rest
:07:59. > :08:01.It is going to be feeling cold, though, the
:08:02. > :08:04.temperature only reaching a high of around six Celsius at best.
:08:05. > :08:07.As we go through this evening and overnight, we are
:08:08. > :08:09.expecting another widespread, sharp frost.
:08:10. > :08:11.We could well see some practice of freezing fog forming
:08:12. > :08:13.once again across parts of north Yorkshire.
:08:14. > :08:15.For all parts it's going to be called, though.
:08:16. > :08:16.Temperatures dipping just above freezing.
:08:17. > :08:18.Then produced the morning, he called,
:08:19. > :08:21.Watch out for those patches of fog once first thing.
:08:22. > :08:23.Generally, though, there should be some sunny spells
:08:24. > :08:26.across more eastern parts, but for Cumbria we will start to see
:08:27. > :08:29.a weather front pushing in, which will introduce more in the way
:08:30. > :08:32.of cloud and there will be a fewer outbreaks of rain, mostly on
:08:33. > :08:35.Temperatures tomorrow will get up to a high of around eight
:08:36. > :08:38.Celsius, that's 46 in Fahrenheit, and it will be much breezy tomorrow
:08:39. > :08:42.As we head through the rest of the week, we keep that breeze.
:08:43. > :08:45.There should be some decent sunny spells on both Wednesday and
:08:46. > :08:48.Thursday, but it is going to be turning colder as we head towards
:08:49. > :08:51.That's all from the lunchtime team for now.
:08:52. > :08:54.We'll be back at 6:30pm this evening.