10/01/2017 Look North (Yorkshire)

Good evening and welcome to Tuesday's Look North.

A seven-year-old girl dies after being found

A 15-year-old is questioned by police.

A woman ran up the street. That was the mother of the daughter. She

shouted, help, call for an ambulance.

We'll be live in the city with the latest on the ongoing

The impact of funding cuts on Yorkshire's schools.

Now there's claims funding cuts could have a "catastrophic impact"

We'll investigate the unprecedented pressures at hospitals in our region

at one of the busiest times of year for the NHS.

And how new powers could stop a repeat of an anti-social bike ride

that brought a city centre to a standstill.

And it is a windy night to come with a warning from the Met Office for

severe gales. I will be back later in the programme with all the

details. Witnesses have described

the moment a distraught mother found her daughter dying

on a playing field in York. Seven-year-old girl Katie Ruff

was seriously injured following an incident

in the Woodthorpe area of the city A 15 year-old girl

has been arrested. Flowers have been laid

at the scene throughout the day. One tribute was written

to "darling princess Katie". This is horrific news.

I am afraid so. This is a quiet, well-to-do street on the

north-western outskirts of York. Large, detached houses in a wooded

area. The peace and tranquillity here was shattered late yesterday

afternoon and into the evening by intense police activity. For 24

hours, the street behind me has been sealed off as a crime scene.

A police tent covers an area of grassland where a seven-year-old

girl was found with serious injuries yesterday afternoon.

Tonight, the girl has been named as Katie Ruff.

She was rushed to York Hospital but later died.

Neighbours living nearby explained what they saw.

That was obviously the mother of the daughter.

She was shouting, help, call for an ambulance.

I put my shoes on and went to go up the alley way.

I got halfway up and I could see a body lying in the field,

but the police were already there attending.

Today, the normally quiet Alness Drive in Woodthorpe

was cordoned off as police pieced together the circumstances

Specially trained officers are supporting the victim's family

at this extremely difficult time for them.

Clearly, the circumstances require the investigation to be conducted

Emergency services were called here at around 4:30pm and found

the little girl on a footpath that leads to a playing field.

A 15-year-old girl was arrested and is being questioned by detectives.

Throughout today, friends and family have been laying

She was a very close friend to my daughter and a truly unique,

Respect their family, beautiful family.

Both involved are so young and it is such a shame,

because she has not even started her life, really, has she?

It is not known if the victim lived in the area, but one local

councillor said support would be given to those who need it.

I spoke to the local vicar this morning and going to see what we can

organise to have the church open for a couple of days to make sure

that there's somewhere local for people to go and have a cup

of tea or chat, somewhere if they have any problems

or anything to talk about, they can get it off

Tonight, the number of flowers and tributes continue to grow,

and the community shaken by yesterday's tragic events

has to try and absorb the impact of the death

Alongside the police operation here on Alness Drive, there has been

other police activity nearby. Addresses got to be in connection

with this incident. This has been a difficult operation for police. The

neighbourhood team last night we did it had been a tough shift for all

involved with the tragic death of a seven-year-old girl. Rachael

Maskell, the local MP, has expressed her sing the data the family and

friends of those involved. Tonight, police are appealing for anyone

might have been in the area yesterday afternoon and into the

evening you might have seen something, to come forward and

assist with enquiries. It is hoped more information might emerge about

what happened here in coming days. We'll bring you an update on this

story in our late bulletin as part 46 pupils in one class

and claims funding cuts could have a "catastrophic impact"

on some of Yorkshire's schools. A BBC Yorkshire investigation has

found that schools in our region lost ?8.8 million in real terms

from their budgets this academic One school has 46 children

in a maths class, and there An MP we spoke to

earlier is defending We'll show you that

interview in a moment. Silas is 13 and goes to

Brighouse High School in Calderdale. When he started his Year Nine maths

lessons, he noticed something It looked more like a university

lecture theatre, with one It's quite difficult because there

are so many people around you, and you are distracted to talk

to them a lot more and you are not focusing so much on the lesson,

so it is quite difficult. And you've not got much room

to put your stuff in front of you, which makes it confusing

and dropping things and stuff. Everyone agrees it is too

much for one class. There is no legal limit

to the size of the class. Headteacher Liz Creswell says

the move was prompted by changes to the GCSE maths exam,

and difficulties recruiting She says the school,

like many others, have had to make Teaching unions are worried cuts

across the country will mean more children are taught

in super-sized classes. I am a maths teacher myself,

actually, and I would find that I understand they are the top set

of maths, but I still think they would learn an awful lot more

if they were in a smaller class. Keeping control of them

will be more difficult. There is only one adult in the class

with them is my understanding, so it would be difficult to ensure

they are all safe, and the NUT's position is it is unacceptable

to have a class of more than 30. When budgets run low,

bigger classes aren't the only thing Other schools have told me

they are having to cut back on things like books,

equipment and even teachers. Ofsted inspectors say 37 staff

have left this school since September 2015,

without being replaced, Broadly speaking, changes

to the Government's funding formula mean rural areas will get slightly

more money for schools The Bradford Schools Forum,

which includes head teachers Potentially catastrophic

impact on certain schools. Immediately, I think

you look at that and think, We asked the Government

for an interview but they said They did tell us that school funding

was at its highest level on record, with over ?40 billion

being invested in 2016-17. But the National Audit Office says

that is not keeping up with rising pupil numbers and higher costs

of staff pensions and In the end, it is the children

who are affected when Craig Whittaker, starting with you,

would you be happy with your children being in a class with a

ratio of 46 pupils to one teacher? The example you gave in the clip is

a style of teaching that the school decides to use. It is not used in

every lesson and we use that style of teaching in universities as well.

Is it more of a necessity than choice? How can you meet the needs

of every child when there is only one teacher up to 46 pupils? The

head teachers and professionals at the school have chosen to teach in

that fashion. As your clip said, it is because they have a shortage of

mathematics teachers at that school. They have chosen to teach students

in that way. Having been on the Education Select Committee for five

years in last Parliament, one thing is certain. From the research we

have done, unless you have class sizes under 14, there is not that

much difference at all. The head teacher will have made that call

when she entered team decided to teach in that fashion. Dominik,

livestock specifically about the national funding formula. -- let's

talk specifically. You have concerns about this, don't you? We would lose

?5 million from schools immediately in Bradford. Although the four years

of implementation of this, we would see ?40 million go out of schools in

Bradford. Don't schools have to be smarter now? You have to look at the

budgets and use them to the absolute any. You're talking about

redundancies already? In my school, because the costs and unfunded

growths in cost, we are facing thousands of pounds worth of costs

and we are making redundancies as a result. The national funding formula

moves money around the country, in pursuit of a very good proposition,

in fairness, but in Bradford, 89% of schools will was money. Why are we

not doing somewhat things in terms of budgets as we do for the NHS for

education? We're spending a record ?14 billion on education in our

country. What I would say to you is, is it right that people in

Calderdale, my schools get less than those in Bradford? Because someone

in government has deemed that over the years, Calderdale not have any

deprivation. That is silly. We know that it has. It is incredibly

important that we get the funding for also that all children get the

same opportunities in life, whether they live in Bradford or Calderdale

or anywhere else. Final word to Dominic. Craig Whittaker seems to

dispute everything we have said. What you say to that? Overall

implementation means there will be a small amount of money in Bradford,

but the problem is the national growth in demand for them was

vulnerable learners and those especially is, we have a high growth

in that in this area. That has a massive impact from the National

former. Till million pencils come -- ?12 million come from mainstream

schools, but other schools need the money now as well.

We'll meet the Yorkshire women preparing to represent England

A number of hospitals across Yorkshire are reporting

"unprecedented" levels of demand as they continue to try and cope

While some have been forced to cancel planned operations,

others have been placed on a high level of alert.

Our health correspondent Jamie Coulson looks

On New Year's Day, Pat McIntosh was taken to A in Dewsbury

When she and her family arrived, they say that they were confronted

with chaotic scenes as staff struggled with demand.

The trust say they are doing what they can to relieve pressure,

but Pat faced a 19-hour wait before bed became available.

It was just so chaotic, queueing and waiting.

And they were trying to do their best but it just...

Winter pressures at hospitals are nothing new.

Two years ago, Scarborough Hospital was forced to declare a major

incident when they were no longer able to cope.

This year, many trusts say that they are operating under extreme

At these hospitals, like elsewhere in the NHS,

they say that they are experiencing unprecedented levels of demand.

We understand that last week at St James's Hospital,

there were two days when there were no beds available for patients

Last week, Rotherham Hospital spent a day and a half

at the highest level of alert, which means there is

the potential for some patient care to be compromised.

And Airedale Hospital has been cancelling all nonurgent operations

Over the past few months, the departments have

unfortunately become busier, more overcrowded, and figures

are clear that they show that unfortunately our performance

is probably the worst in over a decade.

Last week, I met a constituent whose husband died...

Sheffield MP Louise Hague believes people are being let down

by a system in crisis after a constituent died

after waiting for an ambulance for two hours and 40 minutes.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the NHS is in crisis now.

We have held that from NHS leaders right down to people

People are struggling to get the most basic services.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service say that they are aware

of the incident and are liaising with the patient's family.

Meanwhile, the message to patients who do not need urgent

hospital treatment remains to seek help elsewhere.

The pressure on hospitals remains intense and winter

Meanwhile, the family of a man from South Yorkshire

who was stranded in France after a stroke say they're

frustrated it took so long to find a bed in the UK.

David Collings, from Aston, fell ill before Christmas.

Doctors now believe he may have locked in syndrome,

a condition where the patient can't move their body.

After a wait of 11 days, a bed has now been found for him

Mr Collings has been flown to Doncaster Airport this afternoon.

This locked-in syndrome has been bandied about. We cannot say it is a

definite diagnosis. We have been told frequently, you do know this is

serious, you do know this is serious. Yes, we do. You have to

hope, don't you? You have to hope this man will come back to us in

some she perform. -- some shape or form. So, yes, that is our next

mountain to climb. Together, we will stay strong for him, as he would for

us. Let's get some other news in brief

now, and five Yorkshire post offices are among 300 nationally

which are at risk of closure. The Post Office says

branches in Huddersfield, Rotherham, Pontefract,

Pudsey and Ossett may be franchised It blames the high cost

of prime high street The Bradford-based supermarket

Morrisons has seen its best performance over Christmas

for seven years. It posted an almost 3% rise

in like-for-like sales. The supermarket said additions

to its premium range - including macarons and gold-dusted

salmon - had helped It comes as Morrisons announced

it was pulling out of plans to build a new store in Shipley,

citing commercial reasons. One of the most influential

sociologists of the 20th Zygmunt Bauman, who was 91,

began lecturing at the University In 2010, the university founded

the Bauman Institute, which promotes studies in social

and political life in recognition A five-year ban's been introduced

on bikers taking part The council went to court to ask

a judge to approve the restrictions after a group caused chaos

in the city centre. You may remember the scenes

on the night of Halloween last year. But one motorbike action group says

they fear they could be unfairly Anti-social bikers flooding

pedestrianised parts of town, pulling wheelies and driving

against the flow of oncoming traffic in scenes some

compared to a horror film. But now the council has gone

to court to try to stop this Leeds City Council have been

granted this injunction. It gives police the power to arrest

anyone organising or involved in By anti-social, they mean anything

causing alarm, distress, harming someone else,

or putting someone's Some say that the injunction

was rushed and put If we are doing a run

or a funeral escort, something like that,

and some hooligan was to tag onto the end of our

convoy of motorcycles, if they were to start acting

around, pulling wheelies, revving their exhaust,

that sort of thing, I would be revving their exhaust, that sort

of thing, I would be liable, We would all be basically tarred

with the same brush and have this We know it is aimed

at hooligans, etc. We don't have a problem

with trying to do something But our concerns are that somebody

could say, three motorbikes drove past my house and it bothered me,

and, in theory, they could drag you to ourt for something

that was previously legal. The council says that today's ruling

sends a clear message and stresses it will not

affect law-abiding bikers. Three more arrests have been

made in the last week for the Halloween ride-out,

bringing the total And police say that they have

already used the injunction as a warning to prevent two similar

ride-outs in last month. Viewing this footage, the judge

criticised the perpetrators. She said that they were knowingly

putting the public at risk The hope now is to protect

the people of Leeds without unfairly Sport now, and Leeds United safely

got through their tricky FA Cup third round tie at League Two side

Cambridge United last night. Cambridge went ahead

after 25 minutes through But Stuart Dallas headed

an equaliser for Leeds 11 minutes after half-time and Alex Mowatt

scored the winner seven minutes later to set up a fourth-round tie

at either AFC Wimbledon or Sutton Elsewhere, in the fourth round draw,

Huddersfield face a short trip And if Barnsley win their replay

against Blackpool, they'll be away If you're a rugby league fan,

you'll probably know that it's World Cup year,

but it's not just for the men. The women's competition

will run alongside it, with the finals taking place

as a double-header in Brisbane. The England's women's captain is

Featherstone Rovers' Andrea Dobson. She joins us now. What a massive

year for women's rugby league, alongside the men in Brisbane. What

will be going through your head on December the 2nd? Hopefully, when we

had in the final, competing. It is massive for the women's game. For

the first time ever, it runs alongside the men. It is normally a

stand-alone festival. Like you say, this year, it runs alongside the

men's. For the women's game, then there until four years well, it will

be massive. I hope it puts our game into the spotlight and gets interest

up. Are much is that neither? -- how much is that needed? A lot. The

coverage for the women's game could be a lot more. Get out in the media

more and gets more support. That was quite a comfortable win you had

against France. Yes and it was needed as well. We won one of the

games and drew one of the games. We had quite a young development squad.

We did not really get the result of the performance we wanted, so this

year, World Cup year, we needed to do well. They were looking to get a

win over us after last year, so was important to get a good win. Yes.

Here you are in your rugby league gear. And yet you're a full-time

employee of the rugby league football union. How'd you get away

with Quite easily. My job is to grow the game of rugby union in

Sheffield. Get more people involved. They have so much money in that

game, but the women's rugby union side has more resources than the

Rugby football side? They probably do, yes. It has not always been like

that. The support and focus on the women's game is the big drive we

have as a governing body, and this rugby league that is out there a bit

more and more full Cassano 's, we could hopefully be in some

opposition. Let's quickly talk about the

weather. It will be so hot in Brisbane. You are at an unfair

disadvantage, training in Featherstone? Probably! We're used

to the cold weather and it is better when they come here, really. It will

be warm and hopefully we will have a few days to get used to the climate

as much as possible. Warm weather training for us. The Australians

like to beat us on at the peak of their temperatures as well. I bet

they do! Best of luck.

Snow might be on the way, so let's get a taster.

Jamie Nicholls centres his best bits of 2016. -- Jamie Nicholl.

Here is a little taste. That is fantastic. He is such a

daredevil! Let's have the weather prospects. Hinting at snow?

Snow showers perhaps on Thursday and Friday across the hills. We have a

warning first Friday in the East. Some accumulation is possible in the

north York. What we are to content within the short-term is a wind

warning. Let's look at some photographs that have come in.

Lovely blue sky here and a cloud developing across the top of the

picture. The second picture, sunny spell at Stoodley Pike. Lots of

pictures coming in today that a lovely. You can always send them

into us here. We're starting this evening's forecast with concern

about wind. We have had a warning from the Met Office, gales

developing overnight and into the Russia of the morning as well.

Perhaps even severe gales in the Pennines and on the East allied

ground as well. -- of the high ground. Strong wind on Monday will

definitely mean windy conditions for the coast, but could blow in some

snow showers as well. More on that as the week progresses. You can see

cloud spreading in from the Northwest Elia. It will be cloudy

initially overnight. All the time, becoming windy with gales

developing. That is quite widely happening across Yorkshire. 65-70

mph. Across high ground, that could cause disruption, particularly

lapsing into tomorrow's rush hour. The sun will rise at 20 past eight

tomorrow. It is a windy rush hour. Take care first thing if you're out.

It is generally a dusty day. Mixture of sunny spells and scattered

showers. You can find showers in the Northwest turning wintry later,

across the south and east of Yorkshire, dry and bright weather

with some sunshine. It will feel chilly. Numerically, not

particularly called for the time of year. But factored in that

north-westerly breeze and it will feel cool. It will feel cold later

into the week. Widespread frost on Thursday. We are looking out for

snow showers in the East on Friday. We have to be careful of a Marilyn

Monroe moment, don't we, as ladies? Anyway, that is as far as we go.

These two will be back with the late news at ten o'clock.

It's back... Let's get ready to grumble. ..with more belligerence...

Can you imagine anything more diabolical? ..moaning...

..and nonsensical items... Don't send me a curve-ball, Nigel.