12/12/2011 Midlands Today

Hello and welcome to Midlands Today with Nick Owen and Suzanne Virdee.

The headlines tonight: the bookshop owner who sold -- sold bomb-making

manuals. "I didn't deserve to go to prison,"

says a teenage rioter jailed for ten months.

Despite Government promises, Birmingham is dropped as the home

for a state of the art treatment centre for cancer. To me, the West

Midlands, it is more accessible than London.

And with Coventry City rooted at the foot of the table, further

controversy as the former chairman decides to join the manager on the

Good evening and welcome to Monday's Midlands Today from the

BBC. Tonight: Guilty of encouraging others to

carry out violent terrorist attacks. Birmingham book seller Ahmed Faraz,

who's 32, now faces a lengthy jail sentence. West Midlands Police said

some of the material he sold contained explicit instructions on

how to make explosives and kidnap people, some of which was so

graphic it couldn't be shown to the jury. The court also heard that

information from the bookstore had been found in the possession of the

man who led the 7/7 bombings in London. This report from our

special correspondent, Peter Wilson. The Maktabah bookstore in

Birmingham was famous throughout the world. An important source of

Islamic teachings and DVDs. Today, it's merely a ladies' fashion store

under new owners. But four years ago, the police raided it believing

it was pumping out information of help to terrorists. The landlord of

the building says he has any good words to say about Ahmed Faraz.

Paul than 10 years, this shot -- This Maktabah bookstore On the

street in Birmingham have the attention of the security services

and MI5. Ahmed Faraz, who's 32 years old and had been studying for

a PhD in Political Islam, always denied any involvement in terrorist

activity but the court in Kingston- on-Thames heard that the material

videos of Osama Bin laden, Al-Qaeda training manuals and instructions

on how to use rocket-propelled grenades and improvised explosive

devices, the types which have been used so devastatingly in Iraq and

Afghanistan against British and American forces. This case involved

a massive worldwide distribution of terrorist material that is really

important to understand what aspects of the terrorist

legislation had been breached add to bring people to justice for that.

The leader of the 7/7 bombings on London, the suicide bomber Mohammed

Sidique Khan, had bought material from the Birmingham bookstore along

with those convicted of plotting to attack transatlantic airlines in

2006. He has been able to buy a potentially attract would-be

terrorists to commit violent acts, based on how he has manipulated

these books. Four years ago, Ahmed Faraz, who then called himself Abu

Bakr, first spoke exclusively to the BBC. He'd been arrested and

then released without charge as part of the huge police operation

into a plot to behead a British soldier. The police seized some

25,000 books. This is what he told me in 2007.

If you had seen yourself on BBC television, interviewed, would you

have bought yourself, no smoke without fire? Surprisingly, that is

exactly what I thought. I thought everyone will be thinking and I

will be thinking there is always... There is always something because

there is no smoke without fire, but there is no fight in this instance.

On charges of disseminating terraced fabrications and

possession of material of these to a potential terrorist, Ahmed Faraz

was found guilty and he would be sentenced tomorrow. -- will be

sentenced tomorrow. You've been speaking to his family,

people who know him. What's their view on this outcome? I have sat

down with this man and talked about his book shop and his books. And he

is an impressive man, face-to-face. I have just come off the phone

speaking to his brother and he says he is incredibly saddened by the

jury's verdict. He is on my way to see him. But case took place in

Kingston on Thames. His family say they feel there were no legal

grounds to the prosecution. They see him as being a bookstore owner

and the fact they live in a country where there is freedom of speech,

they cannot understand why somebody publishing books can end up going

to prison. This sounds like a very complex case for the police. It was

massive complex and this bookstore was also operating on mine. There

were some 2 million computer files that police had to go through. An

incredibly complex case for the jury to understand and I have to

say that tonight it is something of a victory for West Midlands Police

to get this conviction, if this man had been acquitted, lots of

questions would have been asked about the poll is handling a man

and concentrating on his bookshop for so many years. Now it looks

vindicated. Still to come tonight:

The illegal Warwickshire gypsy site where families and protesters are

preparing for their second Christmas with no sign of an end to

the stand-off. A teenage girl jailed for taking

part in the August riots says she didn't deserve to go to prison. 19-

year-old Danielle Corns is serving a ten month sentence for stealing

two left-footed trainers from a shop in Wolverhampton. She's one of

more than 700 people who've been arrested in connection with the

riots in this region. Of those, more than 160 have been charged and

put before the courts. Mary Rhodes reports on how Danielle Corns

became part of those statistics after she was identified from

security camera footage. Can you tell me what you were doing

at that point might? I was just walking around, looking, watching

people. Danielle and her lawyer look back at the moment she became

a riot are, as the link two let trainers in Wolverhampton. This is

the main evidence in the case. just went in there to be nosy, I

didn't intend to steal anything. I just regret it. There was no need

for me to go in there. And... The average sentence for those

involved in the riots has been 12 months and in the West Midlands

community sentences have been handed out to fewer than 1 in 10

rioters. That is a mistake, says one charity. They are significantly

cheaper than short-term prison sentence and they are likely to be

more effective in preventing crime being repented and, thirdly, they

are quite visible, you can see what is happening and that offenders are

repairing the damage. This is rather than pushing prisoners out

of sight, into very expensive prison places for short periods of

time with an incredibly high reoffending rate, which is just not

worth king. Wolverhampton's Conservative MP believes the

sentences have been a fair. There was fear around the city and the

whole country. It was important a message was sent her out and I used

to find that from constituents and shopkeepers, they would say to me,

it is vital we send out a message that this is wrong, and this sort

of no -- behaviour has to be nipped in the bud. The family had hoped

for a community sentence but Wolverhampton Crown Court decided

she would be jailed for 10 months. Well, we're joined now from her

home in Wolverhampton by Danielle Corns' mother Sharon. Very good

evening to you. Why do you think Danielle's sentence was unfair,

after all, she did break the law. Looting is a serious crime.

I think it is unfair because he has got no previous convictions and

everyone is judging her as a rioters. She didn't intend to ride

that day. I had taken her to do some shopping and left her there.

She was being a curious teenager, at the end of the day. We have had

many emails and Facebook comments and the majority of people,

although this isn't scientific, they say she deserved the sentence.

Let me read you a couple of these. We had won here saying she chose to

take the train is going equally well it was wrong. As a criminal,

you don't get to choose what to punishment is. Another wants us, if

you cannot do that time, to not do the crime. Only one was saying that

the sentence was unfair. Another one says that if ten-month stops

her from doing it again, it is a lesson well learnt. What is your

reaction? They don't know my daughter or the full story. She

went to look around. Where the story has come from, why she has

picked up two trainers, I don't know. She was a curious teenager,

she had a look round, not to riot. The shutters fell on her, she

picked up two objects, and she went out of the shop. Somebody had to

lift the shutter up for her to get out. She just picked them up to

throw. You can see her on the CCTV throwing the objects and then

another girl picks them up and goes down the street with them. It is

unfair. So shouldn't intent to steal them? No, she didn't. It was

a man's clothing shop. She picked them up because she panicked,

because she was locked up. How is Daniel coping and when will she be

freed? I don't know. But she is not coping very well. She is upset. She

should not be in there, at the end of the day. It is very unfair. My

daughter has no previous convictions. My daughter has no

previous convictions. And she should not be sentenced to prison.

Thank you. And you can see more on this on

tonight's Inside Out on BBC One at 7:30pm. It is looking likely that

Birmingham has lost up to Manchester and London in getting a

centre with a pioneering new treatment for cancer. Proton

therapy is a type of radiotherapy that targets cancer more precisely

causing fewer side effects for patients. Last year, the Government

would have a share of the �43 million funding for the treatment.

Tonight, they say no final decision has been made. Our Health

Correspondent, Michele Paduno, reports.

Christmas is coming, but Tom Blakemore has already had the best

present of all. He's had proton therapy in Florida in the United

States. The 11-year-old from Halesowen had three months

in future children could be treated in Birmingham. If there is the West

Midlands Centre, they could have for treatment near their home. It

affects the whole family. We travelled a long way. But it was

such a big upheaval. So why is proton therapy so good? Well,

protons are large, positively charged particles that can be fired

more accurately to kill just cancer cells. Normal radiotherapy fires

smaller negatively charged electrons which are harder to

control, spreading into healthy tissues and so aren't as good for

complex cancer like children's brain tumours. Last October, the

Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley, told the BBC that

we would get proton therapy. I have made it clear we will support over

the next four years with �43 million the roll-out of proton

therapy at a number of centres and the University Hospital in

Birmingham will be one of those centres. We were then told that the

Government was looking at either three centres nationally which

would include Birmingham or just two centres. The centre would have

been built hit on this car park. I was told in an e-mail that two

strongest bids were from London and Manchester. The reality was that if

they were going to go for a two centre innocent -- two centre of

the solution, there would be one in the South and North. Doctors at

University Hospital, Birmingham, have just installed tomotherapy,

which is state of the art equipment, but for some cancers, protons are

better. They're worried that adults in particular could miss out.

will happen for children because children and parents, particularly

parents, are very keen to get the best treatment for their children.

For adults, we will wait and see. Patrons will not want to go to

either side of the country. They might accept what is not quite as

good. Officially, the decision has not yet been made, but it appears

that Birmingham's geographical position has left the city playing

Our correspondent joins asked now. There has been a response from the

Department of Health in the last hour. Yes, last week Iris told we

would have a decision before Christmas but tonight we have been

told that no decision will be made until 20th March 12. There will be

an announcement tomorrow. But there are still three hospitals,

including banning them, they are looking closely at the business

case and no decision will be made until March. For the people working

here on the bid, that is good news. If we do not get this centre, how

bigger bloke is it for Birmingham? It is a big blow up economically.

This hospital is trying to integrate this to make it a major

canter -- Cancer Centre internationally. There is the

question of trying to attract top quality doctors and for the

Children's Hospital here in Birmingham, this will mean treating

loss of children and there is a need to have that here. Thank you.

Four men who robbed and murdered a shopkeeper in an attack witnessed

by his children have been jailed for life. Suppiah Tharmaseelan was

stabbed in his shop in Birmingham last November. The judge told twins

the end and John mean an and brothers Anthony Bayliss and Liam

Ryan that it was a mindless attack on a vulnerable person. This case

was always very challenging due to the fact that the children

witnessed the attack in the shop. They were still traumatised after

the murder itself, but today they can close this wicked chapter in

their lives. More ahead tonight including:

destroyed by vandals - now a village war memorial is being

rebuilt and it will be replaced and the heart of a Gloucestershire

village. And it is a stormy mix this week

with lash and rain Gayle, snow and Gypsies who illegally developed

land in Warwickshire will spend a second Christmas facing local

campaigners who have set up their own protest camp. The action under

planning laws is pending against both sides. They have been facing

each other every day for the last 18 days in a failed in Meriden. One

gypsy leader says they will move if the council finds them somewhere

else to go. It is 590 days since gypsies

started illegally developing this land. Residents started a campaign

angry that planning laws were being flouted. Now both sides have fallen

foul of planning laws with the question now being asked, which

illegal encampment will be made to leave first? We are not here to

waste taxpayers' money. When would you go? We will work that out with

the council. We want clear enforcements. You will not go until

the gypsies go? We will go at a time we think is appropriate.

Gypsies say they would move tomorrow if Solihull council can

find them all alternative site. can be arrested, if I pull on the

side of the way. I have no place to go. I have asked the council if

they could provide a place for me to go and if they could, I would

gladly go there. As the temperature drops, the stalemate continues.

Residents preparing for their second Christmas of protest and

gypsies the stated that the site has turned into a quagmire unable

to be improved because of an injunction preventing a temporary

roadway. The protesters have got it wrong. They should be at the

council offices protesting at what the council have never done,

failing to provide us somewhere to live. In a statement, the council

said they did not have any appropriate sites available in the

area at the moment. They did say they were engaged in a public

consultation exercise asking people where they think suitable sites

should be put. In the meantime, the married and gypsies are staying put

and the protesters say they are not going anywhere either. -- Meriden

gypsies. Now the sport. Worrying time for

Coventry City supporters. Not good. War in a moment. First to the

Premier League and two vulnerable victories for Aston Villa and Stoke

City. Marc Albrighton scored first and then Stiliyan Petrov on target

to set up their first away win of the season. Stoves game against

Spurs followed a similar pattern. Matt Etherington scored both their

goals. Stoke are lying 8th in the table. They are away to Wolffs on

Saturday. Tottenham are a topside. It was how we defended as a team

and we did that brilliantly. It was a great result for stop Coventry

City fans cannot wait to see the back of 2011 but things could get

worse in 2012. The Sky Blues are at their lowest ebb for more than 40

years. Cast adrift at the foot of the championship, a manager under

pressure to stop the rot. Death when they thought nothing

about events at the weaker arena could surprise them, Coventry City

proved them wrong. On Saturday Geoff Foster and Clive Eakin looked

down at the home team dug-out and had some shocked used for their

listeners, because this man was on the bench. Only nine months ago,

Ken Dulieu had replaced Ray Ranson as the club chairman. On the 2nd

December he resigned as chairman and became head of football

operations. On Saturday, can take his place in the dug-out alongside

Coventry manager Andy Thorn. radio commentary phoned in after

the match. They were pretty angry. People suggesting he may be lining

himself as caretaker manager. took him on at the bench. He was

down there. Were you happy with that? He can do whatever he wants.

He is right, can-can but the manager did not look happy. Not

least because Coventry's self- appointed head of operations seemed

clear about his role. I will not get involved on the pitch or

training. I think Andy has done a very good job. Playing good

football, played the top three and I am bound to say this but we were

unlucky in those games. That verdict could have applied to

Saturday's defeat by Hull. Lady Luck may have deserted the Sky

Blues but they have taken just three points from the last games

and they are seven points adrift of safety. Some degree of financial

backing is required if a club is to succeed. In the absence of that, we

may face relegation from the championship. Heartbreaking.

Worried faces on the bench, anxious players on the pitch, and that this

fans in the stands at the Ricoh arena.

A year ago, they were 5th in the championship. What a contrast. What

would happen if they went down? would be massive. Not least in this

respect that if Coventry City are in League One, that is a massive

deterrent for potential investors to buy the club of the current

owners SISU. In three weeks' time, transfer windows open. Could their

best players go? That is a fear. The club has no cash for new

players. Many feel sympathy for Andy Thorn but that will not keep

him in a job if results do not improve.

Elsewhere, the former striker Marlon King was on top form for

Birmingham City. He got both goals in the second half as they came

from behind to beat Doncaster 2-1. Perfect time and just ahead of

Thursday's game against Maribor in the European League. And Cheltenham

Town's excellent one continues. They beat Southend 3-0. You can see

all the goals on the BBC website. Finally, just to whet the appetite

for the cricket season, Worcestershire have signed

Australian batsman Phil Hughes. He has paid 16 Test matches and he

will arrive at New Road in June. Cracking!

Thank you. It was an act of wanton vandalism that shocked the people

of a Gloucestershire village who woke to find their war memorial

smashed to pieces. It had stood for almost 100 years in tribute to

those be left to fight in the First World War. Now work is under way to

create a replacement and to restore it to the heart of the community.

It is a slow but highly skilled process recreating a war memorial

from scratch. Made more difficult by the state of the original,

decades of decay leaving vague clues to its original glory. But

the job has been helped by the public who have sent in photos of

the original. There were a couple of figures that you could make out

but there was on the other side, St George and a dragon which we found

out recently forced up the new money-mad is being made from box

ground stone. It has just started to be mined again and the plan is

for the new memorial to blend in with the past. For the first couple

of years it will look newer, but there with a lot of greenery around

where the moral is and that will help the process of it weather vane.

Police are still searching for those who left the memorial in

pieces. CCTV of someone dumping pieces of the work had not brought

results. There are people still living in Prestbury whose ancestors,

grandparents are named from the First World War and other campaigns

on that Memorial. There was total anger. There is the hope that

another positive could come out of this. Not only will the memory will

be replaced but the council is working on plans for a new memorial

for villages who gave their lives in the Second World War.

We both agreed the weather yesterday was a vile. It was

hideous! I believe there is worse to come. Yes.

Today things have been deteriorating in a build-up to what

deteriorating in a build-up to what will be quite a bad day. Sunshine

under this huge swathe of cloud. Rain is lurking. Up to 20 mm of

rain and gusts of up to 50 miles per hour. You can see it eases by

the second half of the night and it is looking clearer. Temperatures of

three Celsius, although a fake -- fair breeze will be blowing. Winds

picking up through the morning and behind this band of rain we have

showers. It becomes progressively colder through the day. Show was

turning wintry. To the north, at any areas above 200 metres, will be

covered by snow. Those are rain showers at lower levels will turn

sleet here. Winds could gusts up to 40 mph. It will feel much colder

than that in the wind chill. Tomorrow night, temperatures

plummeting to near freezing. Seeing as we are continuing a feeder

showers from the south-west, some frost and icy patches on any

untreated roads. They show was continue on Wednesday, looking

drier by Thursday, but it is on Friday we have to keep our eye on.

Friday we have to keep our eye on. Before we leave, let's take at the

main headlines: David Cameron defends his EU veto saying signing

up would have left Britain with no protection force stop and guilty of