Browse content similar to 21/07/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello and welcome to Midlands Today with Suzanne Virdee and Nick Owen. | :00:06. | :00:13. | |
The headlines tonight: an end to the former career search for | :00:13. | :00:18. | |
justice for the family of Lindsay Hawker murdered in Japan. We can | :00:18. | :00:21. | |
try to rebuild the life which must have been on hold for the past four | :00:22. | :00:26. | |
years. On time and on budget, the new New Street station that will be | :00:26. | :00:30. | |
a gateway to the second city. schedule and on budget, and the | :00:30. | :00:34. | |
first phase which will lead us towards 2012. Union fears for what | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
they say is the creeping privatisation of the police force. | :00:38. | :00:42. | |
And a million pounds of lottery money to preserve a monument to the | :00:42. | :00:52. | |
:00:52. | :00:58. | ||
Good evening and welcome to Thursday's Midlands Today. It's | :00:58. | :01:01. | |
taken four years but tonight one family's determination to bring a | :01:01. | :01:08. | |
killer to justice has finally paid off. When Lindsay Hawker was found | :01:08. | :01:11. | |
murdered in Tokyo in 2007, it changed the life of her family for | :01:11. | :01:16. | |
ever. Lindsay's parents have been back and forth from Coventry to | :01:16. | :01:20. | |
Japan fighting to keep the investigation going. And today they | :01:20. | :01:24. | |
were in court to see the man who killed her jailed for life. Joanne | :01:24. | :01:27. | |
Writtle has the background to the fight for justice for Lindsay. A | :01:27. | :01:37. | |
warning - this report contains flash photography. Lindsay loves | :01:37. | :01:43. | |
Japan, and you have not let her down. Thank you. -- loved Japan. | :01:43. | :01:46. | |
Four years of grief and emotion flooded out as Lindsay Hawker's | :01:46. | :01:49. | |
father, surrounded by his wife and other two daughters, spoke briefly | :01:49. | :01:52. | |
after watching Tatsuya Ichihashi receive a life sentence in a packed | :01:52. | :01:58. | |
Japanese court. We have waited four-and-a-half years to get | :01:58. | :02:01. | |
justice for Lynsey and we have achieved that and we are very | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
pleased. -- for Lindsay Hawker. Ichihashi admitted raping and | :02:05. | :02:07. | |
strangling 22-year-old Lindsay, from Brandon near Coventry, but | :02:07. | :02:13. | |
said he did not intend to kill her. Her body was found in a bath of | :02:13. | :02:16. | |
sand and soil on the balcony of Ichihashi's flat in Ichikawa, east | :02:16. | :02:22. | |
of Tokyo. Lindsay's death made a lasting impact on her community | :02:22. | :02:32. | |
:02:32. | :02:33. | ||
back here at home, as her former headteacher described. the she was | :02:33. | :02:37. | |
the daughter we would all love to have and the commemoration service | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
at Coventry cathedral was packed. It shows just how many other people | :02:41. | :02:49. | |
she had touched by the age of 22. It was in March 2007 that Lindsay | :02:49. | :02:52. | |
gave an English class to Ichihashi in a Tokyo coffee shop. Afterwards | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
she went to his apartment, telling a taxi driver to wait. But after | :02:55. | :02:58. | |
seven minutes the driver left. The following day, the language | :02:58. | :03:00. | |
school called Lindsay's father to say she was missing. Ichihashi | :03:00. | :03:05. | |
escaped when police arrived at his apartment. Officers found her body | :03:05. | :03:08. | |
on the balcony. In the months that followed the family's appeals for | :03:08. | :03:14. | |
help attracted massive media attention. In 2008 Lindsay's family | :03:14. | :03:20. | |
marked the first anniversary of her death with a fresh appeal in Japan. | :03:20. | :03:23. | |
Then in November 2009, Ichihashi was arrested at a ferry terminal in | :03:23. | :03:28. | |
Osaka. Earlier this month, Bill and Julia Hawker arrived in Chiba to | :03:28. | :03:33. | |
watch the trial of the man who killed their daughter. | :03:33. | :03:39. | |
Pictures of Lindsay Ann Hawker made headline news around the world. For | :03:39. | :03:42. | |
her family here in the Midlands, the pain will never cease, but | :03:42. | :03:47. | |
today brings closure to a four-year nightmare. It was the power of | :03:47. | :03:50. | |
fresh images showing Ichihashi's new face after cosmetic surgery | :03:50. | :03:56. | |
which marked a breakthrough in the hunt for him. He had changed his | :03:56. | :04:00. | |
appearance. A month after these images of him were released, he was | :04:00. | :04:06. | |
spotted by a member of the public. Lindsay's family travelled to Japan | :04:06. | :04:08. | |
frequently, determined to keep fighting for justice. They spoke | :04:08. | :04:18. | |
:04:18. | :04:20. | ||
out many times. I read in press reports that this man was a | :04:20. | :04:24. | |
businessman. This was not a businessman, I believe this man was | :04:24. | :04:32. | |
a loner. I had planned to join her in June, we were going to live | :04:32. | :04:38. | |
together and then travel the world together. I loved her, so, so much. | :04:38. | :04:41. | |
Lindsay Hawker went to Japan as a young graduate to teach English, | :04:41. | :04:44. | |
never to return. As Ichihashi begins a life behind bars, | :04:44. | :04:54. | |
Lindsay's family will try to A little earlier I spoke to the | :04:54. | :04:57. | |
BBC's correspondent Roland Buerk who has followed the case from the | :04:57. | :05:00. | |
start. I asked him about the Hawker family's reaction to the sentence | :05:00. | :05:10. | |
:05:10. | :05:14. | ||
of life imprisonment. Again there The prosecution were calling for a | :05:14. | :05:18. | |
life sentence even though as you say, the Hawkers had asked for the | :05:18. | :05:22. | |
maximum punishment under the law. Today it was not a possibility, the | :05:22. | :05:27. | |
judge and the jury could have delivered a death sentence and the | :05:27. | :05:30. | |
Hawkers said they were satisfied with the trial. | :05:30. | :05:36. | |
So will he be freed up some point, do you think? He has been given an | :05:36. | :05:41. | |
indefinite sentence. No minimum paraffin number of years or maximum | :05:41. | :05:50. | |
tariff either. -- no minimum tariff in terms of numbers. This has been | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
extremely high profile here in Japan, Ichihashi was the most | :05:54. | :06:00. | |
wanted man in the country. That might affect whether he gets | :06:00. | :06:05. | |
released. You did say, it has been high profile. What has the reaction | :06:05. | :06:12. | |
been for ordinary citizens? Dozens of television crews were covering | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
this trial and in terms of the number of people who wanted to get | :06:16. | :06:21. | |
in, hundreds of people queued up today to try to get into the few | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
seats available for the public in the public gallery. So many in fact, | :06:25. | :06:29. | |
that the court officials had to organise a lottery to distribute | :06:29. | :06:32. | |
those seats. Incredible. We have heard during the trial that | :06:32. | :06:38. | |
Ichihashi wrote a book confessing to the killing. Will that be freely | :06:38. | :06:42. | |
on sale, now the verdict has been passed? The book is extraordinary | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
because it is full of drawings he made while he was on the run. | :06:47. | :06:54. | |
Ichihashi has in fact while on remand offered the Hawkers offered | :06:54. | :06:58. | |
the rights to the book as a gesture of apology. But they say they want | :06:58. | :07:02. | |
nothing to do with that money. understandable, thank you for | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
joining us. Still ahead tonight, what it's like | :07:05. | :07:07. | |
trying to run a business in the region's worst unemployment | :07:07. | :07:17. | |
:07:17. | :07:19. | ||
blackspot. It is a month-by-month prices at the moment. We really | :07:19. | :07:29. | |
:07:29. | :07:30. | ||
Police have begun a murder inquiry after a teenage boy was stabbed to | :07:30. | :07:32. | |
death in Birmingham. The 17-year- old was attacked on the Coventry | :07:32. | :07:35. | |
Road near the Small Heath Retail Park at around 5pm yesterday | :07:35. | :07:41. | |
afternoon. He was taken to hospital where he later died. Police say | :07:41. | :07:49. | |
they believe the teenager was specifically targeted. It was not a | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
random attack and I am appealing for witnesses. This is a busy road | :07:54. | :07:58. | |
so anybody who was driving through this area at around 5 o'clock | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
yesterday, we are appealing for them to come forward. | :08:02. | :08:05. | |
A schoolgirl committed suicide by falling in front of a train, an | :08:05. | :08:07. | |
inquest jury has decided. The body of 15-year-old Natasha MacBryde | :08:07. | :08:10. | |
from Worcestershire was discovered on the railway line near Bromsgrove | :08:10. | :08:14. | |
station in February last year. The inquest heard she'd used the | :08:14. | :08:19. | |
internet to research methods of suicide. | :08:19. | :08:21. | |
Controversial proposals for the biggest wind farm in the region | :08:21. | :08:25. | |
will definitely not go ahead. The company behind it has decided not | :08:25. | :08:29. | |
to appeal after planning permission was refused. Scottish Power | :08:29. | :08:31. | |
Renewables wanted to build five 120-metre-high turbines on land | :08:31. | :08:38. | |
near Lenchwick in the Vale of Evesham. But in January this year, | :08:38. | :08:43. | |
Wychavon District Council turned down the application. | :08:43. | :08:46. | |
An exclusive look now behind the scenes of the most complex | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
construction project in Europe. That project is the complete | :08:50. | :08:57. | |
rebuilding of Birmingham's New Street Station. The whole thing | :08:57. | :09:00. | |
will cost around �500 million and work has to go on while the | :09:00. | :09:03. | |
existing station is in constant use. Here's our business correspondent, | :09:03. | :09:05. | |
Peter Plisner. Today at New Street the trains were | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
running as normal but high above the station, major demolition work | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
is under way. Covered from top to toe is what used to be Stephenson's | :09:12. | :09:16. | |
Tower, an old block of council flats. It's coming down to make way | :09:16. | :09:24. | |
for part of the new station. It is a spectacular view from up here but | :09:24. | :09:29. | |
the people working up here cannot add married, these buildings have | :09:29. | :09:34. | |
to be down early in the new year and you can see some of the old | :09:34. | :09:39. | |
lift shafts. We have got one machine doing the breaking out, | :09:39. | :09:45. | |
using the hydraulic breakers and we are using another machine to lower | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
the material away into the skip and take it away. | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
Every week and a half between now and Christmas, one floor of this | :09:52. | :09:54. | |
block will disappear from the Birmingham skyline forever. And | :09:54. | :10:01. | |
because it's in the centre of the city, it can't be blown up. We are | :10:01. | :10:05. | |
right by the live station, it would not be appropriate. This is more | :10:05. | :10:09. | |
environmentally friendly because we can control activities in terms of | :10:09. | :10:14. | |
an explosion, that would leave a big cloud. | :10:14. | :10:17. | |
Elsewhere there's plenty of other activity. This is the old | :10:17. | :10:20. | |
Pallesades shopping centre car park. It will being a vast new concourse | :10:20. | :10:24. | |
the size of the pitch at Wembley Stadium. Much of the work at New | :10:24. | :10:26. | |
Street is to happen behind hoardings, already several shops | :10:26. | :10:32. | |
have disappeared inside the Pallesades. Plenty of work going on, | :10:32. | :10:38. | |
they are waterproofing then they will take up the fall below us and | :10:38. | :10:42. | |
that will create an atrium, the centrepiece of the new station. | :10:42. | :10:46. | |
And this is what it will look like when it's finished. This new fly- | :10:46. | :10:49. | |
through shows just how radical the changes will be. More space, more | :10:49. | :10:51. | |
entrances, more lifts and escalators but above all, | :10:51. | :10:54. | |
thoroughly modern. But building the new station hasn't | :10:54. | :11:00. | |
been without its problems. It is difficult to work on a structure as | :11:00. | :11:05. | |
old as this one. With all the services and cables and trunking, | :11:05. | :11:09. | |
we are constantly finding bits which don't appear on drawings but | :11:09. | :11:12. | |
we have to work around it and get on with it. | :11:12. | :11:15. | |
And that's exactly what they're doing. The first phase of the NEW | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
New Street should be complete late next year and the whole project, | :11:18. | :11:26. | |
including a new John Lewis store, should be finished in 2015. | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
Welcome signs of much-needed investment as new figures show that | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
the West Midlands was hit harder than anywhere else in the country | :11:32. | :11:35. | |
during the recession. Unemployment in the region rose by 6% between | :11:35. | :11:41. | |
2005 and 2011. At its peak in 2009, the unemployment rate hit 10.4%. | :11:41. | :11:44. | |
The worst affected area was Wolverhampton where 7.7% of the | :11:44. | :11:46. | |
workforce was still claiming benefits last month, the second | :11:46. | :11:49. | |
highest rate in the country. Cath Mackie reports now on how | :11:49. | :11:59. | |
:11:59. | :12:00. | ||
Wolverhampton is recovering from the recession. | :12:00. | :12:03. | |
If there was ever a man in need of a stiff drink, it's John Deniston. | :12:03. | :12:06. | |
He invested �250,000 in the White Rose Hotel in Bilston and he's | :12:06. | :12:12. | |
waiting for a return on his investment. We are living hand-to- | :12:12. | :12:17. | |
mouth. You only think about how to squeeze blood from the stern | :12:17. | :12:22. | |
because really there has not been anybody with the available money to | :12:22. | :12:27. | |
spend. They are all staying in, drinking in and dining in. Clearly | :12:27. | :12:30. | |
he's not the only anxious investor in this area. 1,300 homes were to | :12:30. | :12:33. | |
be built at the Bilston Urban Regeneration Project but developers | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
pulled out. While in Wolverhampton, a �300 million development at | :12:37. | :12:40. | |
Summer Row collapsed. So news that this area's fared worse than most | :12:40. | :12:48. | |
in the recession has come as no surprise. As a student, it has hit | :12:48. | :12:52. | |
us quite hard. It seems to be closing down gradually. I don't | :12:52. | :12:56. | |
think it is as bad as it is painted, Wolverhampton has got a bad name | :12:56. | :12:59. | |
and that is a shame. People here talk of a 40-year | :12:59. | :13:02. | |
decline in manufacturing, so I guess it would be easy for me to | :13:03. | :13:05. | |
stand here and paint a pretty pessimistic picture of this city, | :13:05. | :13:08. | |
but that wouldn't necessarily be fair to tell the whole story, | :13:08. | :13:15. | |
certainly as far as the council's concerned. The new leisure centre | :13:15. | :13:18. | |
is due to open next year. Charles Green's job is to spearhead | :13:19. | :13:21. | |
regeneration in the city. Building on a leisure centre and school | :13:21. | :13:24. | |
academy is well under way at the Bilston project. There's investment | :13:25. | :13:31. | |
too planned for Summer Row and for schemes across the city. We are | :13:31. | :13:34. | |
working with partners to bring forward site for any development, | :13:34. | :13:39. | |
creating new jobs, helping people who are out of work into work so it | :13:39. | :13:43. | |
is a difficult time that we are working hard to get over it. This | :13:43. | :13:51. | |
area has got a very high work ethic. We have got thousands of businesses | :13:51. | :13:56. | |
with millions of people -- 500,000 people working. As for John | :13:56. | :13:58. | |
Deniston, he's hoping the turnaround in his fortunes happen | :13:58. | :14:00. | |
before it's too late. Earlier I spoke to former CBI | :14:00. | :14:03. | |
Director General, Lord Digby Jones, who's a business ambassador for the | :14:03. | :14:12. | |
UK. Was he surprised this region was hardest hit in the recession? | :14:12. | :14:17. | |
was not, I was extremely saddened but it is not a surprise. The base | :14:17. | :14:26. | |
was a manufacturing exporting base and people did not buy and then and | :14:26. | :14:30. | |
the stuff we did so around the world, they were not buying it. | :14:30. | :14:34. | |
Birmingham, the West Midlands gets hit and secondarily and this is the | :14:34. | :14:40. | |
real key, the region has made it more of a problem to make the | :14:40. | :14:45. | |
transition and if you do value added stuff, stuff the world will | :14:45. | :14:50. | |
buy, and stuff that Britain will buy, you cannot sell it on price, | :14:50. | :14:57. | |
it is called a commodity, you have to select on your skill. -- sell it | :14:57. | :15:03. | |
on your skill. We have one of the lowest skills bases in the country | :15:03. | :15:07. | |
are. We have a company it expanding looking for engineers and could not | :15:07. | :15:12. | |
find any, they had to go abroad. And for the region that gave the | :15:12. | :15:15. | |
world the industrial revolution, it is awful. We have got to get | :15:15. | :15:19. | |
ourselves up to tomorrow and that means give people skills. You could | :15:19. | :15:26. | |
do -- you have got things like Jaguar Land Rover and companies | :15:26. | :15:29. | |
like that but what we have got to give the world is skilled engineers. | :15:29. | :15:35. | |
You are positive, a qualified positive, shall we say the. We have | :15:35. | :15:42. | |
got some good universities and the Top End will be fine, but people | :15:42. | :15:46. | |
understand. The qualification on the positivism is we have got a lot | :15:46. | :15:51. | |
of young people, the highest population of people under 25 in | :15:51. | :15:55. | |
Britain. Therefore we need for Liam and economic activity to make it | :15:55. | :16:04. | |
happen. Thank you. A 72-year-old woman found dead at | :16:04. | :16:07. | |
her home died from severe face and neck injuries, a postmortem's | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
revealed. The pensioner was found at a house in Harborne in | :16:10. | :16:12. | |
Birmingham on Tuesday evening. Police and forensic teams are still | :16:12. | :16:15. | |
at the scene. A 44-year-old man's been arrested on suspicion of | :16:15. | :16:21. | |
murder. He's still being assessed in hospital. | :16:21. | :16:24. | |
Several private companies have expressed interest in taking over a | :16:24. | :16:26. | |
care home in Herefordshire. The community-run Chestnuts in Ross-on- | :16:26. | :16:29. | |
Wye was forced to close after 20 years when the rent was doubled. | :16:29. | :16:32. | |
Half the residents have already moved out of the home and more than | :16:32. | :16:40. | |
30 members of staff were given their notice earlier this month. | :16:40. | :16:43. | |
The new Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford on Avon has been | :16:43. | :16:46. | |
shortlisted for a prize. It is one of six projects in the running to | :16:46. | :16:49. | |
win the Stirling Prize for building of the year. The theatre is | :16:49. | :16:56. | |
officially reopened by the Queen in March following a refurbishment. | :16:56. | :16:59. | |
Still ahead tonight, we meet cricket-mad Kearan and find out how | :16:59. | :17:05. | |
he's determined to succeed in the sport he loves. | :17:05. | :17:09. | |
And after a brief appearance this afternoon, it looks like the sun | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
may come out to play this weekend. The improvements begin tomorrow. | :17:13. | :17:23. | |
:17:23. | :17:26. | ||
On the day more than 30,000 job losses were confirmed in police | :17:27. | :17:29. | |
forces around the country, unions say they're concerned about what | :17:29. | :17:30. | |
they're calling "creeping privatisation". West Midlands | :17:31. | :17:33. | |
Police have confirmed they're exploring the possibility of a | :17:33. | :17:37. | |
partnership with the private sector. As part of a pilot scheme, the Home | :17:37. | :17:40. | |
Office wants them to investigate ways they can transform the way | :17:40. | :17:42. | |
policing is delivered and also reduce costs. Sarah Falkland has | :17:42. | :17:50. | |
West Midlands Police is having to save �126 million over the next | :17:50. | :17:59. | |
four years. Could a private partnership be the only way of | :17:59. | :18:03. | |
satisfying the public's expectations? They want us to be | :18:03. | :18:08. | |
better at answering calls, at dealing with their problems and | :18:08. | :18:13. | |
this is a rude we are examining in the context of taking substantial | :18:13. | :18:18. | |
financial losses. Last year Cleveland became the | :18:18. | :18:21. | |
first force to enter into a private partnership. 500 backroom staff | :18:21. | :18:24. | |
were employed by French firm Steria in a deal heralded to save �20 | :18:24. | :18:27. | |
million over ten years. The Police Federation here say there are | :18:27. | :18:29. | |
already signs that public aren't receiving same service, and that | :18:29. | :18:31. | |
Steria are already eyeing police interview teams and prisoner | :18:32. | :18:33. | |
handling staff. The West Midlands Chief Constable's | :18:33. | :18:35. | |
distanced himself from what's happened in Cleveland. He says | :18:36. | :18:38. | |
outsourcing is a tired model. But just by confirming he's exploring a | :18:39. | :18:41. | |
potential partnership with private sector, he's raised concerns that | :18:41. | :18:51. | |
:18:51. | :18:55. | ||
this is the break-up of the police family. We are concerned that the | :18:55. | :19:00. | |
Home Office and the Government is driving a privatisation agenda and | :19:00. | :19:07. | |
that is what is happening here. If the Home Office pilot here in | :19:07. | :19:09. | |
the West Midlands is judged a success, private partnerships could | :19:09. | :19:15. | |
be imposed on every police force in the country. The opposition leader | :19:15. | :19:20. | |
today voiced concerns. The issue is that with �1 in every five being | :19:20. | :19:24. | |
taken at a police budgets, there will inevitably be cut in front | :19:24. | :19:27. | |
line services and that is what the Government has been warned about | :19:27. | :19:31. | |
but they have gone ahead anyway. Potential schemes will be put | :19:31. | :19:36. | |
before the police authority in September. | :19:36. | :19:40. | |
A factory that's a time capsule of Victorian life is to be preserved, | :19:40. | :19:43. | |
thanks to �1 million Lottery grant. The work done there involved the | :19:43. | :19:45. | |
funeral trade, putting the final touches to the coffins of, amongst | :19:46. | :19:47. | |
others, Prime Ministers Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill | :19:48. | :19:51. | |
and Princess Diana. Here's Ben Sidwell. | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
Looking at this building today, it's hard to imagine it used to be | :19:54. | :19:59. | |
the leading coffin fitting factory in the world. Known as the Coffin | :19:59. | :20:02. | |
Works, Newman Brothers operated on this site for over 100 years. When | :20:02. | :20:11. | |
they closed in 1997, they left nearly everything in the factory. | :20:11. | :20:15. | |
They literally did just walk out of it and they left everything, tens | :20:15. | :20:20. | |
of mushroom soup on the shelves! Carbon paper in the draw and a | :20:20. | :20:26. | |
massive amount of stock. He said this was the polishing shop, this | :20:26. | :20:31. | |
must have been a tough place to work. Tremendously tough. People | :20:31. | :20:34. | |
working on polishing leaves for eight hours per day or more | :20:34. | :20:39. | |
depending on the light and it was filthy, dirty work and they had to | :20:39. | :20:45. | |
polish as much as this possibly could, because they were on piece | :20:45. | :20:48. | |
work. Now thanks to almost �1 million | :20:48. | :20:51. | |
from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Birmingham Conservation Trust are | :20:51. | :20:54. | |
set to restore the building to its former glory and turn it into a | :20:54. | :21:01. | |
working tourist attraction. This is the stamp room, probably the most | :21:01. | :21:04. | |
significant place in the building and that is because nothing really | :21:04. | :21:12. | |
changed here from when it started in 1894 until 1997. | :21:12. | :21:14. | |
The company produced coffin fittings for some of the world's | :21:14. | :21:20. | |
most important people, including One of the last orders they | :21:20. | :21:23. | |
completed before they closed was for Diana, Princess of Wales' | :21:23. | :21:32. | |
coffin. A lot of people live and work in Birmingham, do they care if | :21:32. | :21:35. | |
it remains? I think they care generally about what their city | :21:35. | :21:42. | |
looks like and how it appears to people outside of the city and they | :21:42. | :21:48. | |
care about the regeneration and heritage can play an important part. | :21:48. | :21:51. | |
Included in the restoration are plans to open commercial workshops | :21:51. | :21:53. | |
for small businesses connected to the funeral industry and a scheme | :21:53. | :21:55. | |
to train apprentices in conservation skills. It's hoped | :21:55. | :22:04. | |
that will help to bring this Victorian building back to life. | :22:04. | :22:09. | |
Ben is at the factory now. Will anybody really want to go and | :22:10. | :22:16. | |
visit? It is slightly macabre, to visit a place where coffins were | :22:16. | :22:21. | |
made. Fascinating but not the most cheerful place. There are a number | :22:22. | :22:25. | |
of people interested in that sort of subject but remember, there were | :22:25. | :22:30. | |
no bodies here, just part made for the coffins and were sold on. But | :22:30. | :22:37. | |
you also must remember that this in the late 1800s really was the world | :22:37. | :22:43. | |
market leader in the industry. At the time when Birmingham was a | :22:43. | :22:48. | |
manufacturing dominance. It is a snapshot of the city. When will it | :22:48. | :22:55. | |
be open to the public? Birmingham association now have the | :22:55. | :23:00. | |
money they need and they are the group that are also behind the back | :23:00. | :23:05. | |
to back buildings. They were built a while ago, obviously, and | :23:05. | :23:10. | |
restored and are now a big, popular attraction in the city. They are | :23:10. | :23:13. | |
hoping people will come here as well. The plan is with all the work | :23:13. | :23:18. | |
done and the workshops, it will be open to the public in 2015. Thank | :23:18. | :23:28. | |
But it is macabre. Now the story of a young cricketer | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
who is quite simply inspirational. Kearan Gibbs was born without hands | :23:32. | :23:35. | |
or forearms. But he's become a fixture at his local cricket club | :23:35. | :23:38. | |
thanks to his batting and his bowling. Dan Pallett's been to meet | :23:38. | :23:39. | |
him. He's a remarkable cricketer, but he | :23:39. | :23:44. | |
just wants to the part of the team. And he works tirelessly to improve | :23:44. | :23:47. | |
his skills. You'd think bowling would be impossible without hands | :23:47. | :23:57. | |
:23:57. | :24:00. | ||
and forearms. Impossible nothing. He has a natural ability for | :24:00. | :24:04. | |
cricket and the disability does not come into it. Bowling is an immense | :24:04. | :24:08. | |
achievement for him. Just holding the ball with such a small amount | :24:08. | :24:14. | |
of body touching the ball, just a small bit of flesh to grip, is | :24:14. | :24:17. | |
really a huge challenge for the release of the ball and to get the | :24:17. | :24:22. | |
accuracy is something I can't really understand how he does. | :24:22. | :24:25. | |
11-year-old Kearen's also handy with the bat. He took up the game | :24:25. | :24:32. | |
three years ago after joining in with a game of beach cricket. | :24:32. | :24:36. | |
and determination is all you need to succeed, and he has that. He | :24:36. | :24:40. | |
concentrates and that is what he loves to do. And if Kearan's not | :24:40. | :24:42. | |
playing cricket, he loves nothing more than watching his favourite | :24:42. | :24:51. | |
team, Warwickshire. Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott, Chris Foulkes and | :24:51. | :24:55. | |
Darren, I love those. Why do you like them? Because they are all | :24:55. | :25:04. | |
good at but they are. -- at batting. And now there's a real help with | :25:04. | :25:06. | |
Kearan's cricketing obsession. The Wellchild charity is installing a | :25:06. | :25:13. | |
cricket net in the back garden of the family home in Redditch. I have | :25:13. | :25:18. | |
had windows broken, balls hit me in the head but now that the thing has | :25:18. | :25:22. | |
been done in the garden, he can go out and do it there. | :25:22. | :25:25. | |
And if he carries on with this much practice, it won't be long before | :25:26. | :25:35. | |
:25:36. | :25:37. | ||
Seriously cool, but watch out for your mum! Incredible story a will | :25:37. | :25:42. | |
stop but he is accurate as well. Brilliant. Good luck. And now for a | :25:42. | :25:51. | |
This weekend is not too bad after this week, we have seen some | :25:51. | :25:54. | |
sunshine but it was a brief appearance from the Sun, it has | :25:54. | :25:58. | |
gone back into hiding, we could see some more showers before the night | :25:58. | :26:02. | |
is over, that is because of the cloud around but it should be | :26:02. | :26:06. | |
mainly a dry night to come. Some clear spells and they will stay | :26:06. | :26:11. | |
with us overnight. We were expecting to see the odd shower as | :26:11. | :26:16. | |
we go into tonight and it is a fairly mild night, looking at lows | :26:16. | :26:23. | |
of around 12-13 Celsius. But is not too cold. As we go into tomorrow, | :26:23. | :26:26. | |
though showers lingering on but there should be lighter in nature | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
and a bit more scattered than today and we should get some brightness | :26:29. | :26:33. | |
mixed in with it as well. When we did he see the brighter spells, it | :26:33. | :26:39. | |
should not feel too unpleasant. -- where we do see the brighter spells. | :26:39. | :26:43. | |
Tomorrow night, a similar to the past few nights, we will see the | :26:43. | :26:49. | |
showers easing off, a few clear spells but it is a touch cooler. | :26:49. | :26:53. | |
Lows of nine Celsius. That means we go into single figures. We are | :26:53. | :26:58. | |
talking about high and low pressure over the weekend, and if the low | :26:58. | :27:01. | |
pressure comes any further west, it could put a dampener on things for | :27:01. | :27:05. | |
Sunday so we are hoping that stays off. We are hoping for a decent | :27:05. | :27:10. | |
weekend, a bit brighter, drier and warmer than recently. Not much | :27:10. | :27:20. | |
:27:20. | :27:20. | ||
warmer but warm enough with highs A look at tonight's main headlines: | :27:20. | :27:23. | |
The murder inquiry at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, now two more | :27:23. | :27:25. | |
deaths are being investigated. And justice at last for the family | :27:25. | :27:28. |