:00:02. > :00:10.Hello and welcome to Midlands Today with Nick Owen and Suzanne Virdee.
:00:10. > :00:15.The headlines tonight: give yourself up: A relative's
:00:15. > :00:23.impassioned plea to the suspected killer of a family of four.
:00:23. > :00:27.How could you stab a night into an innocent girl's heart?
:00:27. > :00:34.Good news for Stafford as it is announced two brigades of troops
:00:34. > :00:39.will be moving to the MoD base. wanted a defence based remain in
:00:39. > :00:44.Stafford and clearly any increase in the town is going to be welcome.
:00:44. > :00:47.How doctors are using pioneering treatment to try to save five year-
:00:47. > :00:51.old traversed. And what prompted men and women of
:00:51. > :01:01.all ages half a century ago to leave the rural beauty of Jamaica
:01:01. > :01:07.
:01:07. > :01:12.Good evening and welcome to Midlands Today from the BBC.
:01:12. > :01:15.Tonight: Give you sell part - that is the plea from relatives of a
:01:15. > :01:20.family found murdered in their home to a Coventry man suspected of
:01:20. > :01:24.killing them. Jeff Ding, his wife and two daughters were found dead
:01:24. > :01:30.at their home in Northampton. Police have named Anxiang Du as the
:01:30. > :01:32.prime suspect. Theirs was a brutal end. Jeff Ding,
:01:32. > :01:40.his wife Helen, their daughters Xing, aged 18, and Alice, 12,
:01:40. > :01:50.stabbed to death in their home. want to ask him, how could you stab
:01:50. > :01:54.
:01:54. > :01:58.a knife into an innocent girl's heart? Not once, but wise? Jee Shun
:01:58. > :02:02.is Jeff Ding brother. His anguish and horror is focused on Anxiang Du
:02:02. > :02:06.from Coventry. He ran a shop in Birmingham in which the family had
:02:06. > :02:11.invested. The partnership soured and he is the prime suspect for the
:02:11. > :02:15.murders. The problem is the trail has gone cold. It was able 29, the
:02:15. > :02:18.day of the royal wedding, when Anxiang Du was seen at locking up
:02:18. > :02:26.his business in the shopping centre here and heading for the train
:02:26. > :02:31.station. Today's later, the bodies were found. -- two days later.
:02:31. > :02:35.Since then, there has been no trace. CCTV images trailed him nearly
:02:35. > :02:38.every step of his journey but still police are hoping for a break
:02:38. > :02:48.through. They think either he has left the country or someone is
:02:48. > :02:57.shielding him. This is Helen's sister-in-law. She does not want to
:02:57. > :03:01.show their base - her words are spoken by an interpreter.
:03:01. > :03:05.brutality has shocked the world. He has destroyed our happy family.
:03:05. > :03:12.What is more, he has broken the peace and tranquillity for the rest
:03:12. > :03:17.of our family. Much respected and missed, last week, more than 200
:03:17. > :03:24.people attended a memorial service for the family. A �10,000 reward
:03:24. > :03:28.remains on offer for information that brings their killer to justice.
:03:28. > :03:35.Behind the Anxiang Du is being co- ordinated from Northampton police
:03:35. > :03:40.headquarters. You can call them on this number.
:03:41. > :03:48.Still ahead: Hereford and has the space race - could high-tech firms
:03:48. > :03:51.be the key to the city's future? The future of the large military
:03:51. > :03:56.base in stuff that looks secured tonight after Defence Secretary
:03:56. > :04:00.Liam Fox announced a wide-ranging shake-up of the UK's military. MoD
:04:00. > :04:07.Stafford has played a central part in Stafford like since the 1930s.
:04:07. > :04:11.It employs 850 military personnel and 400 civilian workers. Now, it
:04:11. > :04:18.two brigades of troops are heading to the base and the news has been
:04:18. > :04:21.welcomed by the Town's MP. We were concerned to ensure they MoD
:04:21. > :04:28.remained in Stafford. Clearly, any increase in their presence in the
:04:28. > :04:38.town was going to be welcome. I am delighted it will be to this extent.
:04:38. > :04:41.
:04:41. > :04:46.A final decision to confirm today's news will be made in 2013.
:04:46. > :04:52.This is very good news. Among the 1,200 military and civilian staff
:04:52. > :04:59.leaving to go home for dinner, lots of smiles. The relief is finally
:04:59. > :05:06.arrived. Members of one of the Brigade in Germany, two regiments,
:05:06. > :05:12.they hope to come here between 2015 and 2018. That is a bit later than
:05:12. > :05:17.planned, but it is reassuring that the space is here to stay. Let us
:05:17. > :05:22.talk to the leader of the county council here. First, your reaction?
:05:22. > :05:29.This is good news for the town. And the whole of Staffordshire as well.
:05:29. > :05:33.It safeguards MoD Stafford for the future. It brings certainty for the
:05:33. > :05:36.troops and the town. This has been a very late afternoon decision.
:05:36. > :05:44.Offices he were telling me they were still digesting the
:05:44. > :05:48.information. -- officers here. have always said MoD Stafford has a
:05:48. > :05:52.future. It is a good base with many facilities. We have been lobbying
:05:53. > :05:57.hard about the things that are required, like the new school and
:05:57. > :06:01.houses. We're talking about potentially 600 families moving
:06:02. > :06:08.into the area. What sort of infrastructure is needed? Will you
:06:08. > :06:13.be building schools at this time? We have looked at the demographics
:06:13. > :06:18.across the town. There probably will be the need for a new primary
:06:18. > :06:28.school here. In all plans that went forward, 1,000 houses would also be
:06:28. > :06:29.
:06:29. > :06:34.needed. 50 % of all jobs in this town are public sector. We know
:06:34. > :06:38.tonight that the public sector still has a pulse.
:06:38. > :06:45.A man has been jailed for murdering a woman in one of the city's parks.
:06:45. > :06:51.He strangled a 34-year-old woman in October last year. He then left her
:06:51. > :06:55.body in a brook in a park. The leader of deadly council has
:06:55. > :06:59.defended plans to cut the wages of more than 1,000 staff. Talks began
:06:59. > :07:05.with 14 % of the authority's workforce affected by changes
:07:05. > :07:10.making men and women's pay the same. Although many will get their pay
:07:10. > :07:13.cut, more than a third will see their pay increased. We must
:07:13. > :07:18.recognise the people that will lose are doing so not because they are
:07:18. > :07:22.not doing a good job, but because the iniquity of the system has to
:07:22. > :07:27.be addressed. That is a shame for them but it is the right thing to
:07:27. > :07:29.do for public services. The Crown Prosecution Service says
:07:29. > :07:33.there is not enough evidence to prosecute lawyers for perverting
:07:33. > :07:37.the course of justice over a death at Stafford Hospital. John Moore-
:07:37. > :07:41.Robinson bled to death with a ruptured spleen. A doctor was asked
:07:42. > :07:45.by the hospital's solicitor, Kate Levy, to take out criticism about
:07:45. > :07:51.poor cat from his report. Another solicitor did not mention the
:07:51. > :07:54.report at all during the inquest. Hereford is hoping to attract new
:07:54. > :07:58.high-tech businesses into the city as part of ambitious plans for in
:07:58. > :08:02.the enterprise zone. Hereford has joined Coventry and Staffordshire
:08:02. > :08:05.and Stoke-on-Trent in the scramble for zones which provide firms with
:08:05. > :08:09.business tax breaks and simpler planning rules. But only 10 more
:08:09. > :08:15.regions of the UK will win such status and there are at least 28
:08:15. > :08:22.bits. It is not paved with gold yet, but
:08:22. > :08:25.this road could lead to the future of horror fit and 6,500 jobs.
:08:25. > :08:31.aim is to create an exciting at high quality business park that
:08:31. > :08:35.will transform our local economy. That will be done by turning this
:08:35. > :08:40.164 acre site into an enterprise zone with the tax breaks to entice
:08:40. > :08:44.tomorrow's world. Cutting edge technology - this is the kind of
:08:44. > :08:51.industry they hope to attract. If you want to know what workers at
:08:51. > :08:55.ETL Systems in Herefordshire are doing, take a look at this. A live
:08:55. > :09:00.broadcast on today's lunchtime news is made possible through satellite
:09:01. > :09:06.signal Engineering, the kind this company specialising. An enterprise
:09:06. > :09:10.zone on their doorstep would bring benefits. We have a recruitment
:09:10. > :09:13.problem as well as a supply chains problem. So having similar
:09:14. > :09:18.companies in the area would help to put Hereford and Herefordshire on
:09:18. > :09:21.the map when it comes to recruiting high-quality people into the area.
:09:21. > :09:25.This may also be a chance for Herefordshire to update its image.
:09:26. > :09:30.You think a caricature and you probably think of agriculture or
:09:31. > :09:37.even the SAS. But the new buzzword is high-tech. The focus initially
:09:37. > :09:40.is to focus on defence. We have a reputation for special forces. But
:09:40. > :09:44.we have many successful companies in the area and this will create
:09:44. > :09:48.the sort of centre of excellence in that field. This former Army
:09:48. > :09:55.captain is already on site supplying the defence industry. But
:09:55. > :09:58.one thing is still missing. There is a lot of high-tech
:09:58. > :10:05.communications here. They can provide services as well. They can
:10:05. > :10:11.only provide services at a higher level of internet, which will be
:10:11. > :10:15.fibre-optic. Super-fast broadband is on the way but Hereford will
:10:15. > :10:21.have to wait until August to hear from the government regarding their
:10:21. > :10:25.enterprise zone status. Shropshire council has and �96,000
:10:25. > :10:29.relocating its management team to new offices within its headquarters.
:10:29. > :10:32.The figures were released after a Freedom of Information request. The
:10:32. > :10:36.council said moving the chief executive and his team that made
:10:36. > :10:39.more efficient use of space and allowed for better teamwork. The
:10:39. > :10:45.move has been criticised by the union Unison which is fighting
:10:45. > :10:51.plans to cut staff pay. The use of fake IDs at pubs and
:10:51. > :10:54.clubs has been tackled throughout Stoke on Trent. The operation
:10:54. > :11:03.includes businesses and agencies such as the police and City Council.
:11:03. > :11:06.Fake IDs will be seized. Doctors are using pioneering
:11:06. > :11:10.treatment on a little boy who would almost certainly be turned away
:11:10. > :11:14.from any other hospital in the world. Five year-old Travis Rogers
:11:14. > :11:22.is in desperate need of a heart transplant but the risk of his body
:11:22. > :11:25.rejecting a new organ is too great after previous surgery.
:11:25. > :11:31.Travers is only five. He has already died twice and then brought
:11:32. > :11:35.back to life. On another occasion, he was given just one hour to live.
:11:35. > :11:39.He was fitted with a pacemaker in Birmingham when he was six months
:11:39. > :11:44.old. Recently, he went into heart failure and was going to Newcastle.
:11:44. > :11:49.We came up here because they said in Birmingham we could change his
:11:49. > :11:55.pacemaker. So we thought we were coming up here to have it changed.
:11:55. > :11:58.We thought we would be easier for three days. There when we got here,
:11:58. > :12:02.the doctor had a look and said there is no point putting it in. We
:12:02. > :12:07.cannot do anything. He needs a transplant. But there was another
:12:07. > :12:15.problem. He was not suitable for transplant. He was clearly
:12:15. > :12:19.extremely sick. We were working him up for transplant and discovered he
:12:19. > :12:25.had lots of antibodies in his bloodstream. Because he has had
:12:25. > :12:29.surgeries and blood transfusions in the past, he cannot have a
:12:29. > :12:34.transplant. Rather than give up, doctors here are pioneering a
:12:34. > :12:38.solution. Those antibodies will attack his new heart if we put one
:12:38. > :12:42.in straight away. So the exceptional treatment he has had
:12:42. > :12:47.his eyes to try to remove these antibodies so that he will be able
:12:47. > :12:50.to accept a heart without rejecting it. Hospitals around the world are
:12:50. > :13:00.keeping a close eye. His plight has not been washed 10 times through
:13:00. > :13:11.
:13:11. > :13:19.the night. Now, he is on that People have been helping to raise
:13:20. > :13:26.money. This staff at the electrical firm are raising money by going up
:13:26. > :13:29.the Wreckin. They are starting this Sunday. Good luck to them.
:13:29. > :13:32.Still ahead here on Midlands Today, ready to welcome their 2012 Olympic
:13:32. > :13:35.heroes, the Jamaicans who already call Birmingham home. And after a
:13:35. > :13:38.weekend washout for some of us, the next few days aren't looking much
:13:39. > :13:48.better. Join me for a look ahead to yet another unsettled week, in just
:13:49. > :13:50.
:13:50. > :13:53.The war in Afghanistan has claimed another British victim with the
:13:53. > :13:56.death confirmed today of Lance Corporal Paul Watkins, of The 9th
:13:56. > :13:59.12th Royal Lancers. He was killed in Central Helmand province, which
:13:59. > :14:05.is home to the biggest British military base to be built overseas
:14:05. > :14:11.in modern times. Camp Bastion in Afghanistan has a population of 20
:14:11. > :14:21.thousand - the size of a small town. And, as Louise Brierley now reports,
:14:21. > :14:22.
:14:22. > :14:25.people from across the Midlands are doing many different jobs there.
:14:25. > :14:31.Set in the middle of the desert, this is Britain's biggest military
:14:31. > :14:34.base in Afghanistan. If it's airfield was in the UK it would be
:14:34. > :14:37.the third busiest in the country. It's field hospital is state of the
:14:37. > :14:43.art. Craig McDoogal, usually works as a radiographer at the Queen
:14:43. > :14:49.Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham but is out here for two months.
:14:49. > :14:54.level of trauma is more extreme. We have things we have to deal with
:14:54. > :15:00.that we would not see back in the UK. We are training, working with
:15:00. > :15:03.civilians, it is working very well. Hundreds of vehicles come in and
:15:03. > :15:11.out of Camp Bastion everyday. Sam Plant from Sutton Coldfield is a
:15:11. > :15:17.dog handler in charge of searching for explosives. I have told these
:15:17. > :15:20.dogs they are searching for bombs. They think they are the king foray
:15:20. > :15:24.doorway. Service personnel work seven day
:15:24. > :15:27.weeks here and long hours. But away from work there's the chance to go
:15:27. > :15:29.to the gym or even to play some rounders. And there are no rations
:15:29. > :15:32.here with three canteens to choose from
:15:32. > :15:34.And for these two neighbours from Rubery in Worcestershire it was
:15:34. > :15:44.here at Camp Bastion that they renewed their friendship after
:15:44. > :15:56.
:15:56. > :16:02.finding each other on facebook. realised we were both out here, we
:16:02. > :16:12.said we had to meet up. She found me in the galley. I was in the
:16:12. > :16:13.
:16:13. > :16:16.cookhouse. I saw you later on in his stories. A small world.
:16:16. > :16:26.A small world but home to 20,000 people. Louise Brierley, BBC
:16:26. > :16:26.
:16:26. > :16:29.Midlands Today, Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. That is amazing, such
:16:29. > :16:32.And you can watch all Louise's films from Camp Bastion in
:16:32. > :16:35.Afghanistan on our Facebook page. A Birmingham based charity just
:16:35. > :16:40.back from drought stricken Kenya is appealing for more donations to
:16:40. > :16:44.help prevent millions from starving. Islamic Relief is working in the
:16:44. > :16:46.region to try and provide water, food and medical help. The Disaster
:16:46. > :16:52.Emergencies Committee East Africa Crisis Appeal has already received
:16:52. > :16:55.�20m in donations. But Islamic Relief says much more help is
:16:55. > :17:05.needed to avert catastrophe. Bob Hockenhull is at the charity's
:17:05. > :17:05.
:17:05. > :17:11.depot in Birmingham now. Islamic Relief is used to dealing
:17:11. > :17:17.with disasters all over the world. The charity admits it is shocked
:17:17. > :17:22.with the scale of the crisis in East Africa. So much so, the
:17:23. > :17:26.charity's committee agreed to donate a further �100,000, that his
:17:26. > :17:31.money from they have received from the sale of clothes that were
:17:31. > :17:34.donated here. Aid workers returned with striking footage of the
:17:34. > :17:36.suffering that people are having to endure.
:17:36. > :17:40.Eight month old Mamood Humbradeen, severely malnourished and close to
:17:40. > :17:43.death. Charity workers from Birmingham helped save his life,
:17:43. > :17:46.taking him to hospital nearly 40 miles away Back in the Midlands
:17:46. > :17:56.after a 9 day trip to Kenya, Islamic Relief's Assed Baig was
:17:56. > :17:57.
:17:57. > :18:01.part of the team that rescued the boy. You see children of the age of
:18:01. > :18:07.three-year-old, they are malnourished, there is not enough
:18:07. > :18:10.water or food, you look around and there is plenty of food here, what
:18:10. > :18:13.is wrong? More harrowing footage filmed by
:18:13. > :18:16.the Birmingham aid workers, a boy struggles after walking miles to
:18:16. > :18:18.get water for his family in Somalia. This weekend International
:18:18. > :18:25.Development Secretary and Sutton Coldfield MP Andrew Mitchell
:18:25. > :18:32.witnessed the effects of the worst drought in sixty years for himself.
:18:32. > :18:36.Or areas and emergency developing of profound proportions. We need
:18:36. > :18:43.the whole of the international community to bend every muscle to
:18:43. > :18:48.help these poor people here, they are in desperate conditions. It is
:18:48. > :18:55.a world away from the comfort at Islamic Relief's offices in
:18:55. > :18:57.Birmingham. They are looking to provide a vital supply is.
:18:57. > :19:00.The charity is already established in remote parts of Somalia, areas
:19:00. > :19:02.considered too dangerous to go to by many other organisations. It's
:19:02. > :19:11.been distributing food, creating water wells and providing medical
:19:11. > :19:17.help but admits the task ahead is huge. To reach people is very
:19:17. > :19:20.difficult. We hope to get to people. The British Government has pledged
:19:20. > :19:26.�52m, but the hope is ordinary people will also be able to dig
:19:26. > :19:31.deep Bob Hockenhull BBC Midlands Today.
:19:31. > :19:39.It is money that they want donated, cloves can also be donated, that
:19:40. > :19:45.can be turned into cash. You should see the EC website below me. Go on
:19:45. > :19:50.there and help them. It's every footballers dream to
:19:50. > :19:53.play in a World Cup final. And today, the Birmingham City and
:19:53. > :19:55.England striker Karen Carney set her sights on Zimbabwe in four
:19:56. > :19:58.years time. Karen, from Solihull, flew home from Germany today, after
:19:59. > :20:06.watching Japan win the trophy in a penalty shoot-out. Ian Winter has
:20:06. > :20:12.been to meet her. Lunchtime today, Birmingham airport
:20:12. > :20:19.was very busy. They were coming to meet and international coming home
:20:20. > :20:25.from Frankfurt. Instead I saw a four-man -- a former England
:20:25. > :20:30.manager. I was at the Bob Karen Carney, she gave me the slip. She
:20:30. > :20:36.sat down to reflect on the women's World Cup finals. It was a
:20:36. > :20:42.fantastic show. The games were unbelievable. For the USA to go out
:20:42. > :20:50.on penalties, I know how that feels. We know all about penalty shoot-
:20:50. > :20:56.outs. She showed plenty of bottle by burying her kick from 12 yards.
:20:56. > :21:05.England lost 4-3. Some of the players seemed reluctant to follow
:21:05. > :21:09.her example. You're not really connected with your emotions. We
:21:09. > :21:15.hung on would probably nine fit players on the field. To get two
:21:15. > :21:25.penalties, and to sit there knowing we are going home the next day,
:21:25. > :21:30.that was it for four years. could not wait four years for the
:21:30. > :21:38.next World Cup in Canada, she returned to watch the final, Japan
:21:38. > :21:41.beat the USA to lift the World Cup for the first time. She is now
:21:41. > :21:50.focused on her next challenge, helping him at Birmingham City
:21:50. > :21:54.Ladies when they play their next match.
:21:54. > :21:57.I hate Penalties! In just over a year, the Jamaican
:21:57. > :21:59.track and field team will be using Birmingham as their training base
:21:59. > :22:02.for the London 2012 Olympics. It strengthens ties with the region,
:22:02. > :22:05.where thousands of Jamaicans have chosen to make their homes. In the
:22:05. > :22:08.first of three special reports on Jamaican Connections, our Arts &
:22:08. > :22:11.Culture reporter Satnam Rana speaks to one man who's become a leading
:22:11. > :22:14.figure in the Jamaican community. And you can join Joe Aldred on Chat
:22:14. > :22:17.Back on BBC West Midlands this Wednesday from 10pm when he'll be
:22:17. > :22:27.talking about the impact of On the West Midlands and what the
:22:27. > :22:28.
:22:29. > :22:37.2012 Olympics means for the Citizens of the British Empire,
:22:37. > :22:43.coming to help out. Hundreds of their countrymen followed.
:22:43. > :22:48.Birmingham's industrial might was an attraction. Jobs were plentiful,
:22:48. > :22:55.they began to settle in the community. Among them was the BBC
:22:55. > :23:03.presenter Joe Aldred. He left the sunny skies of Jamaica to settle
:23:03. > :23:11.here in 1968. The first thing I did when I got here was to strip off
:23:11. > :23:18.and run outside, it was so much colder, I was not used to it. The
:23:18. > :23:28.people were different to. Back then there were lots of white people
:23:28. > :23:29.
:23:29. > :23:39.around, it was interesting getting to know them. Jesus, I am coming
:23:39. > :23:42.
:23:42. > :23:48.Sunday. This may have been home for Joe, his spiritual to home was here.
:23:48. > :23:56.-- his spiritual home was here. had not seen my father for all my
:23:56. > :24:04.life. When I came to church, it was like, I am back home again. It was
:24:04. > :24:08.interesting, and strange, and exhilarating. 28,000 a Jamaican-
:24:08. > :24:15.born people live in the West Midlands. You only have to take a
:24:15. > :24:19.look at the places of worship, culture to get a sense of their
:24:19. > :24:23.contribution. How are the next generation of Jamaican scene
:24:23. > :24:32.themselves, especially in light of Birmingham hosting the Jamaican
:24:32. > :24:38.athletics team at the next Olympics. I asked his daughter BBC weather
:24:38. > :24:44.presenter Genelle Aldred. There are many Jamaicans here, people of
:24:44. > :24:50.Jamaican heritage. There is a lot of Jamaican in my life, the food, I
:24:50. > :24:57.still cook the food, I feel very Jamaican, part of me feel very
:24:57. > :25:02.British as well. It is that bridge culture which makes Birmingham and
:25:02. > :25:11.the West Midlands home to show my - - so many nationalities, a place to
:25:11. > :25:17.celebrate diversity. You can join in Joe Aldred tonight
:25:17. > :25:23.on chat back from 10pm. He'll be talking about the Jamaican
:25:23. > :25:27.immigration, and its impact on the West Midlands.
:25:27. > :25:33.After a dismal, and depressing weekend, what has the weather in
:25:33. > :25:41.weekend, what has the weather in store for Russ? -- what has it in
:25:41. > :25:50.store for us? It is going to stay quite unsettled.
:25:50. > :25:57.It was a miserable weekend. We saw 60 mm of rain. Things are not
:25:57. > :26:03.getting much better in the week ahead. The reason is low pressure,
:26:03. > :26:08.he Ritter's. It is coming up to the East Midlands. Bands of cloud are
:26:08. > :26:12.spiralling around it. It will bring some outbreaks are showers, some of
:26:12. > :26:17.those showers will continue to three tonight. It will stay quite
:26:17. > :26:22.cloudy. It means things are going to stay fairly mild, temperatures
:26:22. > :26:26.no lower than 11-12 degrees. Tomorrow, and mostly cloudy day.
:26:26. > :26:32.There will be some showers. The focus of the showers will be across
:26:32. > :26:36.the eastern half of the region. In the afternoon a things in the
:26:36. > :26:43.western areas are not looking too bad. We will see some dry
:26:43. > :26:49.conditions, the sheltered from the hills may bring some brightness.
:26:49. > :26:55.Further east we will bump into them showers. They could be quite heavy.
:26:55. > :27:03.In evening, the showers will keep going, a lot of cloud in the sky.
:27:03. > :27:08.Another showery day on Wednesday. Showers will break out everywhere.
:27:08. > :27:14.It will feel cool, temperatures around the 19 degrees. Thursday,
:27:14. > :27:20.showers will turn quite heavy, the odd rumble of thunder. Friday may
:27:20. > :27:22.be slightly drier. A look at tonight's main headlines,
:27:22. > :27:25.Metropolitan police in chaos, Assistant Commissioner John Yates,
:27:25. > :27:32.the man in charge of counter terrorism, quits in the phone