02/08/2013 Midlands Today

Hello, welcome to Midlands Today with Mary Rhodes and Nick Owen The

headlines tonight: As Daniel Pelka's killers are sentenced to life,

social workers tells us the system is creaking.

Social workers are telling us about the stresses and strains on them.

Also tonight, dismay for Coventry City fans as part liquidation now

looks inevitable. With the football league season

starting tomorrow, it's likely the club will be deducted 15 points.

is a dire financial situation. What we have been trying to do is make

sure that Coventry City football. -- continues at Coventry.

Conned - the 85-year-old who was tricked out of �5,000 of life

savings. Showing off some of the Midlands

finest motors - the Jaguar years on display in their spiritual home.

And it's all change with the weather - an unsettled weekend to come, but

will we see the sun at all. I'll have your full forecast later on.

Good evening. It was the end of an unimaginable cruelty case, one that

left members of the jury in tears. A little boy murdered by his mother

and her boyfriend. Tortured, starved and beaten to

death. Daniel Pelka is the fifth child in as many years to die here

in the West Midlands, unnoticed by the authorities who should have been

protecting him. Tonight we look at what's being done to care for other

vulnerable children. But first we cross to Birmingham Crown Court and

our reporter Ben Ando. There were forceful words from the judge today.

The Justice like the jury some of whom were in tears today has had to

sit through nine weeks of gruelling and often harrowing evidence in a

case that she said involved shocking and deeply disturbing events.

Sentencing the couple she said that details of unimaginable acts of

cruelty and brutality inflicted over many months had exposed a torment

and despair that Daniel must have suffered. The level of cruelty was

reflected in a sentence. A minimum of 30 years before either could be

considered for parole. What considerations did the judge

have to make in setting the jail sentence? The judge had to wait up

aggravating features. In this case, there were many, including the age

of the victim. Daniel was just four years old. The fact there was such a

breach of trust. This was his mother and stepfather who should have been

responsible for him. The sustained level of cruelty. The fact it

continued for so long. In mitigation, there was nothing, said

the judge. We know a serious case review is under way. The final

report will not be published for six weeks. Why is it taking so long?

Hello Makro the serious case review is being overseen by the commentary

safeguarding children board is Makro -- the serious case review is being

overseen by the Coventry safeguarding children board. During

the course of the nine week trial, more evidence has emerged. They say

they need to consider it before they can finalise their report. It will

take them at least six weeks to do that.

Today, two more parents have been charged in connection with their

child's death. A baby Isabella Vallance lived in a house in this

street in Redditch before being taken to Birmingham Children's

Hospital where she died. Tyler Vallance has been charged with her

murder, along with ill treatment or neglect, and her mother Jessica

Wiggins with causing or allowing the death of a child. Child killings are

not common, but in the last few years there have been notable and

shocking cases here in the West Midlands. Bob Hockenhull reports.

Social services - under the spotlight and on the front-line.

Social workers need a real determination and a real conviction

in the work they're doing and the decisions that they're making for

children. But in five years, there have been five high-profile cases of

children being killed by those who should have been caring for them.

Kyra Ishaq died in 2008. The seven-year-old form Birmingham was

starved to death by her mother and her boyfriend. The Serious Case

Review that followed found her death could have been prevented. In the

same year, Ryan Lovell-Hancox from Bilston died from a brain injury on

Christmas Eve. 14 separate agencies had missed chances to intervene in

Ryan's care. In January, 2010, Keanu Williams from Ward End in Birmngham

was beaten to death by his mother. A Serious Case Review into how this

abuse went unnoticed will report in the next few weeks. And in May last

year, 23-month-old Daniel Jones died from a heroin overdose in his home

in Wolverhampton. And now Daniel Pelka - starved and beaten. He was

just four-and-a-half years old. There are undoubted financial

pressures on all council services. The average length of time social

workers spend in the profession is only eight years, far below that of

comparable professionals. Many social workers feel quite

overwhelmed by their caseloads, by the fact that some of the backroom

support has been cut. It has put more bureaucratic tasks on them.

When you make a decision at 3am whether to take a child into care or

not, it is a life changing decision. You have to respect the people who

work in the field. When it goes wrong, we get a scandal. When it

goes right, nobody cares. Today Ofsted said Walsall Children's

Aervices had improved from inadequate to adequate. Children's

lives cannot be put on hold. Our service has to continue to improve

everyday. Elsewhere in the West Midlands, the picture is bleaker.

Ofsted has described children's services in Sandwell as inadequate

for the second time this year. Birmingham's also currently labelled

inadequate. The head of its children's services department quit

last month. Coventry was last described as adequate, but must now

deal with the fall-out from the shocking death of Daniel Pelka.

Often the focus on a particular child somehow gets lost in the

professionals attending much more to what the parent is saying and then

they see the child through the lens of what the parent wants them to

believe. A quarter of council children's services inspected in the

last year were rated inadequate. Clearly there's a lot more

challenges to be met to ensure our vulnerable youngsters are protected.

Earlier I spoke to child protection expert Chris Cloke from the NSPCC

and asked him first for his reaction to the Daniel Pelka case. This is

the most horrific case in many years that we have come across. It is

horrific that a four-year-old could be treated in this way and that his

mother and mother's boyfriend could treat a child in this way.

Systematically tortured over many months. You can just imagine what it

feels like if you are a little for your world, to be denied food, to be

beaten, to be locked away and treated with cold baths as

punishment. We have heard today about the sentences. They are long

sentences. It feels justice has been done. People are outraged that no

one managed to step in when there were so many signs of his suffering.

It is extraordinary. We do need to learn from this case. There is a

serious case review currently being conducted and we owe it to Daniel to

wait and see what has happened. Haven't we been here before? Very

sadly, there have been a series of cases like this over the years and

certainly there are aspects of this case which we are hearing about at

the moment which are very reminiscent of how others were

treated. Going back 40 years, Little Maria which led to the setting up of

the child protection system that we have today. Strong messages come out

of the cases which are very similar. Poor communication, lack of

training, lack of support. We need to know why exactly these cases go

wrong. The serious case review will look at it and ensure that we do all

we can to learn from the cases so that children like Daniel do not

slip under the net again. You think someone somewhere would have got in

touch with the police and the social services, even the teachers. Someone

could have come to you, the NSPCC. message we are wanting to say loud

and clear is that it is really in portent that anybody who has

concerns about a child takes some action Which? really important. we

must either on the side of caution. if you have a concern of any sort,

do something. don't think somebody else will respond. we can together

talk through what the concerns are. the nspcc helpline will say what are

your worries and we can talk through it and decide on the best course of

action. coming up later in the programme:

the police officer said by a judge to have pressed the self-destruct

button after an exemplary career. one of nine men who have appeared

before magistrates in the last two days. he is charged with rape. after

the magistrates had dealt with his case, he had this to say. i am

completely innocent. and maybe was in the wrong house, the wrong place.

others like my cousins have not done it as well. the magistrates heard

the men face a range of charges including conspiracy to traffic,

sexual assault and rape. their cases have all been sent to the crown

court. all of these offences are alleged to have been emitted at

various locations across coventry. the men are accused of exploiting at

least five girls aged between 16 and 18 between may and september last

year. each of the hearings was relatively short with the men

speaking only to confirm their name address and date of birth. they have

not yet entered pleas. they will have the opportunity to do that on

november the 7th when they will appear before the crown court.

police say the alleged victims in this case are all receiving support

from specially trained officers. a judge has told a former

warwickshire police officer with an exemplary 32-year career that he

pressed the self-destruct button when he filmed a naked teenager and

took pictures up women's skirts. robert tedds was given a three-year

community order and he'll have to sign the sex offenders' register.

joanne writtle joins us now from our worcester studio. joanne, what was

said in court about what he did? worcester crown court heard how

58-year-old robert tedds from leamington spa filmed the naked

teenage girl on his mobile phone in june but deleted the file. it was

uncovered forensically after police seized two phones and a computer

hard-drive. when did the offences come to

light? it was when he was spotted taking a picture up the skirt of a

customer at a petrol station in leamington spa. cctv footage

revealed five separate occasions when tedds had taken such pictures.

similar images taken up women's skirts were also found on one of his

phones, taken from different locations - the back of cars, an

office environment and on a train. what do we know about his former

career? he was an admin assistant in the firearms licensing unit when he

committed the offences. prior to that he was a police officer for

more than 30 years. a police spokesman said he'd also carried out

some driving duties for senior officers, but no longer worked for

the force. the investigating officer from a neighbouring force made this

statement. he previously held a position of trust in the community

and we hope this case sends a clear message that no one is above the

law. he was previously a member of staff but no longer works for the

force. judge michael cullum told tedds that he'd lost his job, his

good name and had saddened those who knew him. he said, you will always

be the man who filmed up women's skirts and filmed a naked girl. you

invaded the privacy of a large number of people. tedds admitted

making indecent images of a child and outraging public decency. he'll

now sign the sex offenders' register for five years and attend a

community sex offenders programme. john ledwidge loves nothing better

than watching the grass grow. but not in a boring way. on the

contrary, he's simply passionate about producing the perfect playing

surface. john joined coventry city as an apprentice aged 16. and now,

11 years later, he's head groundsman at the ricoh arena. this morning, as

one man went to mow, praying for a last-minute solution that would see

the sky blues return to the ricoh. john was whisked away to a staff

meeting to be told that the stadium owners had rejected the final deal

at the creditors meeting in london. in short, coventry city were facing

the prospect of liquidation acl who own the ricoh say they rejected the

company voluntary arrangement to keep coventry city football club

playing in coventry and to ensure that the club is financially viable

for the next few years and beyond. it is a frustrating time for

everybody. ultimately, we had earmarked the diaries for coventry

city to come back and play. we still have an asset to look after and we

have a fantastic facility to offer. the pitch is a massive part of that,

whether it be a football club or anything else. the company who own

the ricoh arena say they have rejected the arrangement to keep

coventry playing in coventry and to ensure the club is financially

viable. none of the supporters want us to be back in the situation again

in a year's time. that is why we are pushing very hard to head the

proposals to reflect this. the sky blues reacted with great regret that

a cva has been rejected by acl. it means coventry city football club is

likely to be put into liquidation which is expected to result in a

points penalty for the club going into the new season. the fans

deserve better than what they have got. it is devastating. our home

stadium is in northampton or something like that. disgusting.

ella macro so many promises and they don't seem to happen. gutted. -- so

many promises. like all sky blue fans, john ledwedge has suffered

more than his fair share of frustration in recent years. but

he's the only man in the country who's prepared the finest pitch

never to be seen in league one this season.

ian, the football club have been meeting with the football league.

what is the latest? the football league have issued a statement

saying they are prepared to transfer the golden share, membership of the

football league, two commentary city's owners, provided they are

prepared to accept a ten point penalty deduction from the start of

next season which begins tomorrow. let us talk to the sky-blue trust.

what is your reaction? we are pleased it is only a ten point

reduction but we were hoping they may look into things more deeply as

to ownership and everything that has gone on before. it does not solve

the fact we will still be playing in northampton. we want commentary back

in coventry. the major factor is coventry back in coventry. what has

it been like to be a coventry city fan over the last few months?

lot of fun. their first home game at northampton will be on sunday, 11th

of august. and there's a special sky blues

programme for your views on bbc coventry and warwickshire until 7pm

tonight. stuart linnell will be getting reaction and expert opinion

to today's developments. this is our top story tonight: as

daniel pelka's killers are sentenced to life, a social workers says the

system is creaking. your detailed weather forecast to

come shortly from rebecca. also in tonight's programme: with 12 new

signings in the squad, what are birmingham city's prospects for the

new season which starts tomorrow? and reliving its proud past - jaguar

show off some of their finest historic models going back nearly a

hundred years. an 85-year-old grandmother has been

tricked out of her �5,000 life savings by conmen. cherrie

bartholomew got a phone call at her home in warwickshire from a man

claiming to be a police officer. as lindsay doyle reports, she was told

her card had been cloned and was advised to withdraw all the money in

her account. a victim of her own trusting nature.

at 85 years of age, cherrie bartholomew has been conned out of

her life savings. it began with a phone call to her home in henley in

arden, pertaining to be from the police, telling her that her

barclays bank card had been cloned. i have always hung up and said, no,

thank you, to any of the people on the phone. this time i really

thought it was the police. be very careful. he even gave me the police

number, 101. when she was originally called, the conman hadn't put the

phone down. the line was still open. when she rang what she thought was

her bank, a bogus bank official who said her card had been cloned, money

was due to be transferred the following day, she was advised to

withdraw it. he also said to me, they may query the amount, just say

you are going to buy a car. the scam artists arranged for a courier to

call at her home. later the same day, she handed the money over,

believing her account had already been reimbursed. in a statement,

barclays said, if you are advised not to disclose the reason for the

withdrawal to your local bank staff, this should immediately raise

suspicion. we would never send a courier to collect a card or cash to

be handed over from the home. one of those scenarios where i am

dreaming about it all night and i wake up in the morning and i cannot

believe it is real. i cannot believe how low they would stoop.

additional �300 was withdrawn from an atm in whitechapel in london,

leaving the bank account empty. just hope that nobody else gets

caught like this. it was all my savings gone. no more holidays.

nothing. the football league season kicks off

tomorrow. in the championship, it'll be a very different-looking

birmingham city that takes to the field, with no fewer than 12 summer

signings. but with big names gone and wage

bills slashed, just what are blues' chances? ben sidwell's been finding

out. there were plenty of unfamiliar

faces as birmingham city lined for their team photo. a dozen new

recruits, but not a penny spent. everyone on a free transfer or loan.

all we can do is create a siege mentality. we can be strong

together. i mean me, myself, the staff, the supporters, the fans.

even the manager didn't know everyone in the team photo. taking

his seat next to the boss, mick duffy, a lifeline blues fan who'd

won a competition to be in the start of season snap. at the beginning of

every season, i think, we are going to do something again. over the

years, we have been let down. i am not saying by the players but

circumstances prevail. more often than not, we do not have a great

season. this year we will have a great season. on hand to offer some

advice to new captain paul robinson, 80-year-old fan les clews. you have

got to be optimistic. obviously, they have got a lot of work to do.

there is a lot of talent there. i think they will do ok. the squad may

be young and inexperienced, but they'll still be plenty of hope and

expectation among the fans at st andrews tomorrow afternoon when

blues kick off the season at home to watford.

lots of luck to them. and you can find commentaries,

reports and analysis on all our teams' performance on your local bbc

radio station tomorrow. it is funny how the optimism is the

same at the beginning of the season!

i am guilty of that. historic models from jaguar's rich

history of car making have gone on show in its spiritual home of

coventry. a new gallery has opened at the city's transport museum

featuring 17 of its most famous models, built from the 1920s to the

present day. it comes at a time when jaguar land

rover's expanding in the west midlands and improving sales

overseas. ben godfrey reports. through the years, jaguar has prided

itself on good looks and high performance. as a brand, it doesn't

do modesty. but then this is a brand that's stood the test of time.

is where it all started. this sidecar was established in 1922.

they got a huge order and moved their business to coventry. the

jaguar gallery at coventry transport musuem takes you along a timeline.

here's the famous e-type, which achieved more than 70,000 sales, a

motoring classic of the 1960s. and there's the new kid on the block -

the all-new f-type. this one was first off the production line at the

castle bromwich factory. it will introduce a new generation to the

quality of jaguar and the history of jaguar which has had a major part,

probably with their parents, grandparents and great grandparents.

the car's not always the star. norman dewis was jaguar's test

driver for 30 years. he's driven a million miles for the company. ahead

of his 93rd birthday, he joined a procession of models from solihull

to coventry. i rolled a c type, the deed type. i had a big crash in one

of them. i always got out and was back at work the next morning.

although jaguar stopped making cars in coventry, its engineering hq is

in the city. the cars we are working on at the moment of for about

2015-2017. i cannot tell you what they are. but we have huge

ambitions. today, jaguar land rover sells vehicles in 170 countries.

it's a far cry from the swallow sidecar and the first order of 500.

let's find out what the weekend weather has in store. sunshine or

change. let me take you back to 1990. we got up to 10 degrees higher

than this weekend. we will see some showers. temperatures are going to

be down a little bit. we have seen some showers over the region today.

some have been quite heavy. if you have been caught in them, you have

known about them. over the next few hours, we will continue to see the

showers. some will be quite heavy. there will be drier spells. it will

be quite a bright end to the day. a little bit cooler overnight.

temperatures around 15 degrees. a bit more comfortable compared to

last night. the showers are with us tomorrow. bands of showers moving

through the region. some will be quite heavy. the temperatures are

going to be falling a little bit. back to where we are used to seeing

them around this time of year. the winds are picking up as well.

showers remaining with us saturday afternoon as well. we will continue

to see them a bit heavy in places. then they will start to ease a

little bit. across staffordshire and shropshire, they will remain through

the night. temperatures once again around 14 degrees. sunday is looking

a dry and bright start for most of us. but then we will start to see

the cloud building and we have got the showers starting to move up from

the south. temperatures once again around 20 degrees. low-pressure

sitting over us at the start of the new working week. staying unsettled

so umbrella that be ready for the weekend.

letters recaptured top stories: the mother and stepfather of daniel