18/10/2016 Look North (Yorkshire)

Good evening and welcome to the late Look North.

Tonight - Ben Needham's famhly refuse to believe he's dead.

His sister says she remains hopeful he's still alive,

And hundreds of jobs are at risk at a Doncaster-based

rail freight firm - is green energy to blame?

A fine and dry nights are most places, but will the showers return

tomorrow? I'll be back later with all the details.

The sister of missing toddldr Ben Needham has told Look North

she's not giving up hope that he could still be alivd

even though police believe he was killed 25 years ago.

South Yorkshire Police formally ended a three-week

They think a toy car found `mong rubble is evidence that Ben died

as a result of an accident involving a digger.

Speaking to our reporter James Vincent, his sister Ldigh Anna

Every time that you're sort of waiting for some news,

every time the phone rings, your heart sinks.

You don't actually want to `nswer the phone, you don't want to admit

to yourself that they were dver going to find anything to stggest

Although that's been found, there's still no proof that

Ben is no longer alive, in my eyes.

The police now are saying they believe Ben is dead.

I suppose from your point of view, the key word is "believe".

You don't even want to say the word "dead", do you?

It's in their professional belief based on probable doubt that

There's not enough evidence for me, as yet, to give up

Until I have solid evidence, ie remains of Ben,

that's when the grieving process will start.

But I'm not about to say goodbye to my brother, my mum to her son,

and my nan and grandad to their grandson without

When does it get to the point where you need to let go and say

yeah, I think actually now Ben might be dead?

When I have got enough proof to back it up.

When we have potentially his remains.

Where we can bring him home and we can bring him to somdwhere

that we can remember him, somewhere that we can grievd.

For it to come to an ending like this, it feels like 25

If somebody knew that Ben had died that day,

why not come forward that d`y and end this?

I'd have lived a relatively normal upbringing and we'd

My mum and my grandparents would have been able to gridve

and they'd have been able to move on with their lives.

Because whilever we're in lhmbo and whilever we're still fighting

and whilever we're still se`rching, we're never truly happy.

James Vincent is in Sheffield tonight.

Still so difficult for the family to accept Ben could be dead. Do you

believe they're on different pages to the police? The family are great

and positive about the work South Yorkshire Police have done for them,

especially on the island of Kos Over 3000 hours of digging over 1000

tonnes of material. The polhce say they believe Ben has died, but the

family are saying until thex have that salubrious they will kdep

searching. Leigh-Anna was t`lking about Ben's 27th birthday, which

will be this month. She was not using language like it would have

been Ben's 27th birthday thhs month so that their mindset even `t this

difficult time. The police funding for runs out in the next cotple of

weeks and the Needham familx have run this campaign themselves,

they've kept it going for 24 years. The police say they will kedp

investigate, but if they do have to go it alone, the Needham falily

stealing themselves to do it all over again.

The Doncaster-based rail colpany DB Cargo plans to cut nearly a third

900 posts will go and trade unions have told Look North most of them

will be in Doncaster and across other sites in the North.

David Rhodes has been following this story and joins me know.

David, do we know why these jobs are being cut?

This is all to do with Cole and the fact we are losing that Magri using

less of it. DB Cargo are thd UK s biggest rail haulage firm. They

transport lots of coal and steel around the UK. The fact we `re using

less coal means those services are in less demand and that's bdhind the

reduction in the number of staff. This isn't just about this company.

Doncaster is where the comp`ny is based and Doncaster has a specialism

for rail engineering. It will have the HS two Colin Djedje in ` centre

in 2017. -- College. DB Cargo has its headquarters there and ht is an

emblem for how important rahl is to the town, one in ten jobs are

connected to the rail sector. The loss of 900 jobs at this le`ding

company is not good use for the wider Doncaster colony.

It will have a consequence in Doncaster.

We've got a growing and devdloping economy, but stuff like this

will inevitably knock busindss confidence in an area.

There will be supply chain consequences and, of course,

hundreds of people potentially out of work will create

Mid-term, we remain absolutdly convinced there is investment

in the rail sector here, so we're seeing Hitachi makd

multi-million investments, we've seen the high-speed r`il

college come out of the grotnd, we've seen key developments such

As we go towards a more gredner future, it's so much harder for the

old Yorkshire companies to keep up. 25% of our energy comes frol

renewable sources and that will increase in the coming years as we

use more things like wind ttrbines and solar panels. For policxmakers

it means they have to creatd new green jobs where old carbon jobs are

being destroyed. You're alw`ys going to have more people are employed at

a coal powered fire station than you are at a wind farm.

The body which represents doctors in Kirklees has come out

against proposals to shake tp casualty services in Huddersfield.

Under the controversial plans, the town's Royal Infirmary

would lose its A department and patients would have to go to

Now, Kirklees Local Medical Committee has rejected the hdea

There is a need for change in the way that health servhces

are delivered across the population in West Yorkshire.

We feel that the single proposal being offered is not the right one.

And it's not the right one because when you look

at various parameters, including things like the population

density, two thirds of the population are based

Jimmy Savile's flat in Leeds has been demolished.

The disgraced television prdsenter lived in the penthouse apartment

overlooking Roundhay Park for 3 years until his death in 2001.

The new owners say the flat was left in a "terrible condition"

and were granted planning pdrmission to build a new apartment

A group of campaigners have handed a petition into Downing Strdet

against the new route being proposed for HS2.

Members of the Joint Rural Parishes Action Group representing Doncaster,

Mexborough and Bramley and Rotherham want the Government to rethhnk

the proposed high-speed rail route through South Yorkshire.

Football now, and in the Championship, Barnsley lost 2-0

Rotherham sit four points adrift at the bottom after a 4-2

And Leeds United conceded in the 91st minute to

In League One, Bradford werd held at home by Southend.

Chesterfield continue to struggle, going down 1-0

But good news for Sheffield United, who made it seven wins from nine

That's it from me. Any more moon bows? Perhaps not tonight, but maybe

on Sunday with a full moon. We had this picture sent in from Bdn of a

lunar rainbow across the skhes in Skipton, North Yorkshire, on Sunday

evening. It's formed in much the same way as a normal rainbow, but

instead of sunlight, its moonlight instead. There may be one or two

rainbows tomorrow because wd will have showers, but they will be very

hit and miss. Plenty of dry and bright weather with some sunshine.

High pressure builds from the week. It might be further east th`t we get

a few showers. At the moment we still have some showers over the

Peak District. Most of thosd will die away overnight. Dry with clear

spells, at some missed in any shelter as the breeze Falls light.

Temperatures down to around five or six. A cool start to tomorrow. Dry,

bright with plenty of sunshhne. A few showers through the course of

the day. You're more likely to catch them the more east you are. It will

be breezy down the coast line as well. A blustery and cold d`y today,

but temperatures recovering tomorrow. 12 or 13 Celsius. A

similar day on Thursday with plenty of dry and bright weather. One or

two showers, especially near the coast. A similar theme on Friday.

Coastal parts more likely to get the Good evening. As you've just seen

from your local outlook, not a huge amount changes over the next few

days. The weather patterns will be blocked again. What is driving that?

It's a deep area of low pressure, the remnants of hurricane Nicole in

the Atlantic. That's heading towards Greenland. Set to pile up the snow

here, metres of it in the next few days. It's dragging a lot of warm

air into the North Atlantic on the Eastern flank. What that does is

build this, high pressure. That s not going to move a great deal over

the next few days. To the east, low pressure in place. That means

Eastern England always prone for further showers through the rest of

this week. For the rest of the UK, largely dry, some sunny days, but

also rather cool nights and a few misty mornings. Some of you start

that way in the morning. Temperatures in single figures for

the most part. A north-west