:00:00. > :00:12.taken ill at a dance event tonight. There is also a first
:00:13. > :00:16.Good evening. Our top story: A children's assistant has been
:00:17. > :00:19.cleared of all blame for the death of a three`year`old girl on her
:00:20. > :00:22.first day at a nursery. Sophee Redhead was found not guilty of the
:00:23. > :00:26.manslaughter of Lydia Bishop by gross negligence and not guilty of
:00:27. > :00:28.failing to take care of her. But tonight police have strongly
:00:29. > :00:32.criticised York College, where the incident happened. A jury found they
:00:33. > :00:39.had failed to ensure the safety of children in their care. Our Crime
:00:40. > :00:43.Correspondent John Cundy reports. Sophie Redhead, hurrying from court
:00:44. > :00:48.with her parents this afternoon, after a jury had cleared her of
:00:49. > :00:54.charges which it had faced for the last 18 months. You must be very
:00:55. > :00:58.relieved. But still the tragedy of three`year`old Lydia Bishop, the
:00:59. > :01:03.little girl excited before her first day at nursery had said, love you,
:01:04. > :01:08.money, see you later. Hours later the little girl was dead, strangled
:01:09. > :01:13.by a rope on a slide. She should have been supervised but she was
:01:14. > :01:19.not. It was 20 minutes before staff knew she was missing. Today a jury
:01:20. > :01:23.decided that the York College had failed Lydia, their health and saved
:01:24. > :01:27.the precautions had tragically fallen short. The rope should never
:01:28. > :01:33.have been left on the slide. It took the jury less than four hours to
:01:34. > :01:38.clear Sophie Redhead of any blame in connection with the death of Lydia
:01:39. > :01:43.Bishop at the York College nursery. Sophie Redhead was in tears on
:01:44. > :01:47.hearing the verdict by the college itself has been found guilty of
:01:48. > :01:53.failing to insure the health and is a eel children at its nursery.
:01:54. > :01:55.Tonight the senior investigating officer in the case said in a
:01:56. > :02:18.statement: York College will be sentenced next
:02:19. > :02:36.Friday for their failings and they said in their statement:
:02:37. > :02:44.Sophie Redhead made no comment as she left court and Lydia Bishop's
:02:45. > :02:48.family hurried away as well. In everybody's minds, the memory of
:02:49. > :02:51.what happened to Lydia that terrible September day.
:02:52. > :02:54.A further ?15 million is to be spent on flood defences in Yorkshire this
:02:55. > :02:58.year, as the government gave the go`ahead to eight new schemes. Most
:02:59. > :03:01.of the money is being used to improve defences in Whitby, with
:03:02. > :03:03.smaller schemes in the Calder Valley, North Yorkshire and
:03:04. > :03:14.Doncaster. Joe Inwood has the details. Front `` from Todmorden to
:03:15. > :03:18.Whitby in recent years floods have devastated communities all across
:03:19. > :03:23.Yorkshire. Each time residents have called for action. Today some of
:03:24. > :03:29.them had their call is answered. We are announcing 42 new flood defence
:03:30. > :03:36.schemes for 2014 to 2015. Eight of those schemes will be in our region.
:03:37. > :03:42.The biggest in Whitby will cost eight 5p. The totally is ?14.6
:03:43. > :03:48.million. When finished they will protect 852 homes. We know they will
:03:49. > :03:52.make a real benefit to local residents, economically and in terms
:03:53. > :03:57.of protection for local homes. That is why we are putting extra money
:03:58. > :04:00.into delivering these schemes. The government will be investing ?2.3
:04:01. > :04:06.billion in terms of capital and expending review period but in this
:04:07. > :04:10.spending period we are glad we can move forward with things like
:04:11. > :04:13.Todmorden. And you flood dispense scheme for Leeds is on the way.
:04:14. > :04:21.These new banks and walls are part of a wider plan to protect thousands
:04:22. > :04:26.of homes and businesses. We have had an issue of nearly flooding several
:04:27. > :04:30.times in the last decade or so so flood alleviation is a big issue for
:04:31. > :04:35.the city and we need to tackle it now. As it has been for so many
:04:36. > :04:43.parts of Yorkshire in recent years. Two for residents it could finally
:04:44. > :04:46.be `` today for residents of Yorkshire it is finally good news.
:04:47. > :04:49.South Yorkshire Police have applied to the government for a grant to
:04:50. > :04:52.cover some of the costs of the Hillsborough inquests. The force's
:04:53. > :04:54.commissioner is asking for special grant funding to meet legal,
:04:55. > :04:58.insurance, compensation and other costs. The inquests are due to start
:04:59. > :05:01.at the end of March. 96 Liverpool fans lost their lives
:05:02. > :05:04.in the Hillsborough stadium disaster in 1989. Fresh inquests into their
:05:05. > :05:06.deaths were ordered following a panel report which quashed the
:05:07. > :05:09.original verdicts. Council tax in Leeds will go up by
:05:10. > :05:12.nearly 2% next year, the biggest possible rise without needing a
:05:13. > :05:16.local referendum. As the council set out its spending plans for the next
:05:17. > :05:20.year, it also announced another 200 jobs will go and council house rents
:05:21. > :05:23.will go up by nearly 6%. The council says it's regrettable but necessary
:05:24. > :05:36.given the scale of funding cuts from central government. We can assure
:05:37. > :05:41.people that the money that we raise we will put to their priorities of
:05:42. > :05:46.looking after the vulnerable young, the old, disabled and those people
:05:47. > :05:50.struggling with welfare changes in our city.
:05:51. > :05:53.Bradford snowboarder Jamie Nicholls gave Great Britain a tremendous
:05:54. > :05:57.start to the Winter Olympics. The 20`year`old had the ride of his life
:05:58. > :06:00.in qualification in Sochi. It was so good he automatically earned a place
:06:01. > :06:03.in Saturday's final, without the need to compete in the semi finals.
:06:04. > :06:11.Nicholls managed a to complete one jump he'd never managed before.
:06:12. > :06:16.It is actually the first time I landed that so it is a new trick
:06:17. > :06:21.today for me. It is pretty crazy. I tried it once last season and it did
:06:22. > :06:25.not work out too well. The jumps are really big here so it makes it
:06:26. > :06:31.easier to do stuff like that. People are not holding back. They were
:06:32. > :06:34.going for it, all out. I can see you were one of those. I would love to
:06:35. > :06:38.see a bit of snow, I don't know about you I am sick of the rain.
:06:39. > :06:42.We have no snow forecast in the coming weeks but I have been proved
:06:43. > :07:04.wrong in the past. This is the summary for tomorrow. A
:07:05. > :07:06.damp start soon brightening up from the West. Not too bad a day because
:07:07. > :07:09.we are in between bad weather systems so the high pressure will
:07:10. > :07:11.settle things down for a time. Very wet out there with longer outbreaks
:07:12. > :07:14.of rain and a little bittersweet over the high`level routes. The rain
:07:15. > :07:16.will tend to ease off later tonight and the lowest temperatures are
:07:17. > :07:18.three or four degrees. Cloudy and damp tomorrow with patchy rain in
:07:19. > :07:21.places. The improvement comes through from the West. A few showers
:07:22. > :07:29.will follow and we should see some sunshine and an improved data come.
:07:30. > :07:32.`` and improved day to come. That is it from me and Harry and the look
:07:33. > :07:37.North team. This is the summary for tomorrow.
:07:38. > :07:44.Hello. I think the impact of this wet weather could be felt more
:07:45. > :07:50.widely as time goes on, even in areas which have been unscathed up
:07:51. > :07:52.until now. For now, the focus is on southern England. We have amber
:07:53. > :07:59.weather warnings right through until Saturday. We have another storm
:08:00. > :08:07.heading in. They are queueing up in the Atlantic. The storms will take
:08:08. > :08:10.place of this one which is giving a current spell of what weather this
:08:11. > :08:11.evening and overnight. Wet