:00:00. > :00:00.Hello and welcome to Midlands Today. The headlines tonight: Police
:00:07. > :00:10.officers from Warwickshire, West Mercia and the West Midlands on the
:00:11. > :00:21.rack before MPs over the plebgate affair. Can I say that we have found
:00:22. > :00:25.your evidence most unsatisfactory? We'll be live in Westminster trying
:00:26. > :00:27.to get to the bottom of this extraordinary affair all because of
:00:28. > :00:31.a four letter word. A medical breakthrough as a patient
:00:32. > :00:37.here becomes the first in the world to undergo pioneering new treatment
:00:38. > :00:44.for prostate cancer. This is a wonderful opportunity for Birmingham
:00:45. > :00:48.University, the hospital here and for our prostate cancer patients.
:00:49. > :00:51.A species at risk ` how 25,000 eels have been released into the River
:00:52. > :00:55.Teme in Shropshire. A day at work Chloe will never
:00:56. > :00:58.forget as a top rapper turns up to say well done.
:00:59. > :01:00.And battered by the rain and winds then soothed by the sun. Whatever
:01:01. > :01:14.next? Find out later. Good evening. There were more twists
:01:15. > :01:18.and turns in the so`called plebgate affair today. It may have started
:01:19. > :01:21.with Sutton Coldfield MP Andrew Mitchell's ill`tempered comments to
:01:22. > :01:29.police officers in Downing Street. But it's now become a major issue,
:01:30. > :01:42.pitting police against politicians. There were apologies for Mr Mitchell
:01:43. > :01:45.as chief constables from the forces and officers from three of our
:01:46. > :01:48.forces, West Midlands, West Mercia and Warwickshire, faced tough
:01:49. > :01:51.questions this afternoon. We'll be going live to Westminster in just a
:01:52. > :01:53.moment, but first, Giles Latcham on the background to the story and
:01:54. > :01:57.today's developments. Happy birthday, plebgate. Yes, it's
:01:58. > :02:00.over a year now since an MP tried to wheel his bike out of Downing
:02:01. > :02:04.Street, police officers told him to use the side gate. They say he
:02:05. > :02:07.called them plebs, he says he didn't. What was or wasn't said that
:02:08. > :02:10.night is the subject of another inquiry. At stake, public image and
:02:11. > :02:16.reputation. Under questioning from NPs, it was the police on the back
:02:17. > :02:21.foot. Has this damaged the reputation of the forces? The fact
:02:22. > :02:28.that we are all here, we have to say, yes, it has had an impact. And
:02:29. > :02:30.here's the police's problem. Three representatives of the coppers'
:02:31. > :02:33.union, the Police Federation, from the West Midlands, Warwickshire and
:02:34. > :02:36.West Mercia, telling reporters last October that Mr Mitchell had refused
:02:37. > :02:42.to give them an account of what happened in Downing Street. It is
:02:43. > :02:50.the fact that what the officers recorded at the time Mr Mitchell
:02:51. > :02:53.says he did not say. Someone is not telling the truth. Unknown to them
:02:54. > :02:57.Mr Mitchell had recorded that meeting and is heard clearly stating
:02:58. > :03:02.that he swore but did not use the word "plebs". Those three officers
:03:03. > :03:05.have since apologised for their conduct, an apology they came under
:03:06. > :03:14.pressure today to extend to Mr Mitchell himself. I don't think I
:03:15. > :03:18.can give an apology. I'd suggest you can pour spinning a yarn to the
:03:19. > :03:21.press that afternoon to get someone out of high public office because
:03:22. > :03:26.that is clearly what you were motivated to do. There was no
:03:27. > :03:31.intention to mislead. I do not feel I lied about what went on in the
:03:32. > :03:36.meeting. We may have said things that could be interpreted as being
:03:37. > :03:42.misleading but we certainly did not intend to do that. We certainly did
:03:43. > :03:45.not lie intentionally. A police report found there was no case for
:03:46. > :03:49.misconduct charges against the officers. In the past hour, the
:03:50. > :03:54.chief constable has revealed he has asked another force to review the
:03:55. > :03:59.decision and he said he has offered Andrew Mitchell and unreserved
:04:00. > :04:04.apology. Confusion on the streets and wariness prevail. I think it
:04:05. > :04:14.might be a bit hard done by `` he might be. It all seems a bit
:04:15. > :04:20.extreme. I do not understand what he said. Costing too much money. It
:04:21. > :04:25.should have been sorted out straight, as soon as possible. The
:04:26. > :04:31.man at the eye of the original storm, Andrew Mitchell is staying
:04:32. > :04:34.quiet. Our political editor Patrick Burns
:04:35. > :04:41.has been following events at Westminster. This has been a
:04:42. > :04:46.desperate day for the police. That is possibly the one and only thing
:04:47. > :04:49.on which all of the people in the very dramatic committee hearing
:04:50. > :04:56.would agree on. A day in which three chief constables with varying
:04:57. > :05:00.degrees of contrition apologised particularly to Andrew Mitchell. As
:05:01. > :05:05.we have just heard, this is more than a year after the event itself.
:05:06. > :05:11.Keith Vaz the chairman was obviously bemused about questioning all three
:05:12. > :05:16.of them. If you are apologising, to paraphrase, why has it taken you so
:05:17. > :05:20.long? I think it was the Chief Constable of West Murcia who
:05:21. > :05:27.probably had the toughest grilling. He had to endure dear initial `` in
:05:28. > :05:33.due at the initial suffering because his force conducted the initial
:05:34. > :05:37.investigation into the meeting in Andrew Mitchell's constituency
:05:38. > :05:41.office on the 12th of October of last year between Mr Mitchell
:05:42. > :05:47.himself and three representatives of the Police Federation. The
:05:48. > :05:53.investigating officer who gave evidence this afternoon, his
:05:54. > :06:00.recommendation was that those individuals should be disciplined
:06:01. > :06:02.RIBA should face a hearing `` or should face a hearing. The
:06:03. > :06:08.Independent Police Complaints Commission up to it to gross
:06:09. > :06:13.misconduct. The investigating officer was asked why the Chief
:06:14. > :06:18.Constable had said they should not have any case to answer at all. He
:06:19. > :06:20.said it was because of the floor in the decision`making process that he
:06:21. > :06:24.now thought the whole issue should be referred via the Inspectorate of
:06:25. > :06:29.Constabulary to another chief constable. That would add further
:06:30. > :06:38.time and expense to the whole process. We will leave it there.
:06:39. > :06:42.Thank you. Coming up later in the programme:
:06:43. > :06:47.Bringing men together in the battle to beat loneliness ` a new role for
:06:48. > :06:51.the humble shed. A Birmingham man has become the
:06:52. > :06:54.first in the world to undergo a new gene therapy for prostate cancer. In
:06:55. > :06:57.tests, the treatment developed from a cold virus has had startling
:06:58. > :06:59.results in animals, completely eradicating the cancer. But
:07:00. > :07:02.68`year`old Bernard Ward was the first human guinea pig. Our health
:07:03. > :07:05.correspondent Michele Paduano was there to see him.
:07:06. > :07:10.Meet Bernard, the first person to benefit from decades of research by
:07:11. > :07:17.hundreds of scientists. But Bernard who has prostate cancer has more
:07:18. > :07:23.immediate worries. As far as I am aware, this trial is virtually my
:07:24. > :07:28.only option. You did not have any qualms about giving it a go? Not
:07:29. > :07:36.when you have no choice. It is this all nothing. `` this or nothing. The
:07:37. > :07:40.trial at this stage is just to test whether the treatment's safe. This
:07:41. > :07:43.is a new organism, so the cold virus must be handled by chemists with
:07:44. > :07:49.precision. But doctors are excited by what it might do. The protein
:07:50. > :07:54.which stimulates the community came from our animal work. We saw amazing
:07:55. > :08:00.results when the tumour just disappeared on mice who were
:08:01. > :08:06.impregnated with cancer cells and treated with this virus which we are
:08:07. > :08:09.trialling now. The treatment itself is straightforward. After mapping
:08:10. > :08:12.out the prostate gland, a series of minute pinpoint injections are made
:08:13. > :08:18.with the virus in an operation that takes just ten minutes. But how does
:08:19. > :08:21.it fight the disease? The virus contains a gene which attracts the
:08:22. > :08:25.body's own white blood cells to begin attacking the cancer. The
:08:26. > :08:29.virus also carries an enzyme, a type of protein, which sits inside the
:08:30. > :08:33.cancer cells themselves. After two days, the patient is put on a drip
:08:34. > :08:36.containing a cancer`fighting drug. The drug only works when it reacts
:08:37. > :08:42.with the enzyme killing the cancer cells. For the doctors at University
:08:43. > :08:45.Hospital Birmingham who've lived this for 15 years, it's the
:08:46. > :08:50.equivalent of the moon landings. This must be what it was like all of
:08:51. > :08:56.those years ago in NASA control for the guys who had worked years on a
:08:57. > :09:02.project like this, lots of minutiae in science. The Eagle has landed.
:09:03. > :09:06.Bernard is the first of 20 patients who will be selected. After a couple
:09:07. > :09:10.of hours, he could go home. As this is a trial, he is being kept in
:09:11. > :09:22.isolation just in case, but this treatment is seen as less drastic
:09:23. > :09:27.than other cancer treatments. I was given something beforehand. I don't
:09:28. > :09:30.know. Now all the doctors can do is wait.
:09:31. > :09:39.And Michele is here now. This really is a very exciting breakthrough. You
:09:40. > :09:43.cannot call it a breakthrough yet. We do not know how human beings will
:09:44. > :09:48.react to it. They may react in a different way to mice. It is seen as
:09:49. > :09:51.a building block. There is a feeling that the idea of getting the immune
:09:52. > :10:00.system to work against the cancer is the way forward. `` watches these
:10:01. > :10:05.times a `` what is the timescale? 15 to 20 years before it gets into
:10:06. > :10:10.general use. Something more important is going on. We have been
:10:11. > :10:14.good in Birmingham doing trials for other people. This is a trial made
:10:15. > :10:17.in Birmingham and it could have economic prospects for the future.
:10:18. > :10:28.The Chinese are already interested in tie`ups with the University and
:10:29. > :10:30.the hospital in Birmingham. It's been confirmed the badger cull
:10:31. > :10:34.in Gloucestershire will be extended for a further eight weeks. Natural
:10:35. > :10:37.England says it's granted a licence to resume the cull immediately to
:10:38. > :10:41.try to curb the spread of TB in cattle. Only 30% of the badger
:10:42. > :10:42.population were killed during the original six`week cull which ended
:10:43. > :10:45.last week. A man has appeared before Cannock
:10:46. > :10:49.magistrates charged with two counts of kidnap. It follows an incident at
:10:50. > :10:57.a hotel in Stoke on Trent last Friday. Saleem Tahir was remanded in
:10:58. > :11:00.custody until 11th November. The ambulance service in Shropshire
:11:01. > :11:03.says it's struggling to reach some patients because of a lack of
:11:04. > :11:07.resources. It's apologised after an elderly woman with dementia had to
:11:08. > :11:10.wait for over an hour for a crew to arrive. Managers in charge of
:11:11. > :11:15.funding say they're raising the problem at a national level.
:11:16. > :11:18.MPs have handed in a petition calling for more network BBC radio
:11:19. > :11:24.and television production to be returned to Birmingham. Campaigners
:11:25. > :11:28.estimate the corporation's expenditure in the region is only a
:11:29. > :11:34.tenth of the amount it receives from Midlands licence fee payers. The
:11:35. > :11:38.petition was handed to David Jennings, the head of regional and
:11:39. > :11:42.local programmes. 25,000 eels were released into the
:11:43. > :11:45.River Teme at Ludlow today to boost numbers of the endangered species.
:11:46. > :11:52.The idea is to move the eels upstream, past manmade blockages
:11:53. > :11:56.like weirs. Work is also under way to make our rivers much more eel
:11:57. > :11:59.friendly and to help them make their migration from our rivers the 5,000
:12:00. > :12:04.kilometres to the Sargasso Sea. Our environment correspondent David
:12:05. > :12:08.Gregory`Kumar reports. In the shadow of Ludlow Castle, the
:12:09. > :12:17.first large`scale Il release in the Midlands. Only about one Il in every
:12:18. > :12:24.box could survive `` the first large`scale release of eels. They
:12:25. > :12:31.were donated by the fishermen enjoying a year like no other. The
:12:32. > :12:39.river turned white with eels. It looked like Ras had covered the
:12:40. > :12:44.River `` it looked like grass. These were some of the ones caught in the
:12:45. > :12:50.River Severn. They will not go just to rivers in the Midlands, they will
:12:51. > :12:57.go to rivers across Europe. The sex is determined by how many eels they
:12:58. > :13:01.are. Putting these in should mean more breeding females. The magic of
:13:02. > :13:09.bringing them from the estuaries all the way up to a spot like this, a
:13:10. > :13:12.wonderful natural river, we hope we can create females in ten to 15
:13:13. > :13:17.years time that will then swim back down the river in a wonderful wet
:13:18. > :13:24.October night and make their way all of the way, all of the 4000 miles,
:13:25. > :13:32.back to the Sargasso Sea. One of the big problems eels face, a rather
:13:33. > :13:39.picturesque weir. The view is the view that painters have painted for
:13:40. > :13:45.millennia. It is not very friendly for the eels? We are looking to put
:13:46. > :13:53.in the fish pass and alongside that, on the eels itself, we are putting
:13:54. > :13:55.something to allow the eels to slither up the barrier.
:13:56. > :13:59.Conservationists and fishermen working together to reserve one of
:14:00. > :14:12.the Midlands most mysterious creatures. Apologies for Andrew
:14:13. > :14:17.Mitchell in the plebgate affair as MPs face a grilling in the comments
:14:18. > :14:23.`` as officers face a grilling. The full weather forecast. And this goal
:14:24. > :14:31.from Coventry City against the league leaders, was it the best of
:14:32. > :14:33.the night? And sprinkled with stardust as
:14:34. > :14:41.teenager, Chloe's surprised at work by a top rapper and it's all live on
:14:42. > :14:45.Radio 1. If you think you have a story we should be covering on
:14:46. > :14:50.Midlands Today, we would like to hear from you. You can call us or
:14:51. > :15:06.send us an e`mail, contact us on Facebook or Twitter.
:15:07. > :15:09.A recent survey found half of adults in this region experience loneliness
:15:10. > :15:12.at some time or another. Men who've retired or lost their jobs can be
:15:13. > :15:15.amongst those worst affected. So, could an idea imported from
:15:16. > :15:19.Australia help? Called Men's Sheds it creates places to get together,
:15:20. > :15:23.away from the pub. And it's catching on, as Ben Sidwell has been finding
:15:24. > :15:33.out. If a man's home is his castle, his
:15:34. > :15:37.shirt is his... . The shed ` a place for a lifelong
:15:38. > :15:40.hobby, a spot of DIY or just getting away from it all. But this simple
:15:41. > :15:44.wooden structure is changing and becoming the focal point for a new
:15:45. > :15:47.male organisation ` Men's Sheds. Having set one up in Aberdeenshire,
:15:48. > :15:51.Ian Wallace who now lives near Market Drayton is leading a campaign
:15:52. > :15:53.to get a network of Men's Sheds in Shropshire. We have been developing
:15:54. > :16:01.things for ladies. Now women are catching up. Men become less
:16:02. > :16:07.isolated. There is less to freshen. There is less... They become more
:16:08. > :16:13.active. They use their brains more and muscles. That will of course
:16:14. > :16:17.have an impact by reducing the load on the National Health Service. In
:16:18. > :16:21.Stratford`upon`Avon, they call themselves Men In Sheds and actually
:16:22. > :16:30.meet in an empty shop. Each week the group gather to catch up, chat and
:16:31. > :16:34.do the odd bit of woodwork. This is just a bringing together of people
:16:35. > :16:38.so that we can socialise and mix`up and perhaps get involved in doing a
:16:39. > :16:46.few things for the community. Since 1996, almost 1,000 Men's Sheds have
:16:47. > :16:49.been formed in Australia. With many more planned across the West
:16:50. > :16:54.Midlands, Men's Sheds could soon be a very familiar site.
:16:55. > :16:59.Well, earlier we asked for your thoughts and here are a few of them.
:17:00. > :17:03.A viewer calling himself Wolfywolf, clearly an alpha male, says he has a
:17:04. > :17:09.man shed to get away from the Mrs and kids. But he'd love something
:17:10. > :17:13.like this. Tim Smyth says he'd go but only if they served beer and
:17:14. > :17:16.called it a pub. Silly idea, he reckons. But Ken Grinnell disagrees.
:17:17. > :17:25.I would go to a Men's Shed if there was one in my area, he says. Thank
:17:26. > :17:29.you for getting in touch. Onto football and what a brilliant
:17:30. > :17:32.night for our teams in League One. Four wins and a draw, 15 goals
:17:33. > :17:35.scored and plenty of thrills for thousands of fans. The former
:17:36. > :17:38.Coventry City winger Steve Froggatt travelled to Northampton to watch
:17:39. > :17:43.his former club beat the league leaders, Leyton Orient. Ian Winter
:17:44. > :17:47.reports. It breaks my heart because Coventry should be playing in
:17:48. > :17:52.Coventry. They should be back in the city as soon as possible. It is no
:17:53. > :17:59.secret, Steve Froggatt hates seeing Coventry playing in Northampton. But
:18:00. > :18:02.last night he loved watching the young kids at his old club beat the
:18:03. > :18:07.current league leaders and continue the Sky Blues' surge up the table.
:18:08. > :18:11.They played at a really high tempo. Fantastic performance. And Froggy's
:18:12. > :18:15.right. This was the first, a rocket from the Coventry captain Carl
:18:16. > :18:19.Baker. And this was the second. Even better, perhaps. A cheeky chip from
:18:20. > :18:24.Frank Moussa. And the Sky Blues ran out worthy winners, 3`1. You have
:18:25. > :18:27.got to give the credit to the manager and his coaching staff to
:18:28. > :18:31.have got the best out of the players. Coventry's next game should
:18:32. > :18:35.be another cracker. On Saturday, they're off to Walsall who're also
:18:36. > :18:39.on top form. Ashley Hemmings scored twice in last night's 3`1 win at
:18:40. > :18:42.Swindon. And the Saddlers are now in the play`off zone. Just seven points
:18:43. > :18:45.behind Wolves who also enjoyed a good night at Molineux. James Henry
:18:46. > :18:49.tapped in their first against Oldham. And Leigh Griffiths rifled
:18:50. > :18:53.in his ninth goal of the season to seal a 2`0 victory. Port Vale did
:18:54. > :18:57.even better away to Crawley. Ben Williamson scored the pick of the
:18:58. > :19:01.bunch in their 3`0 win at Crawley. And we almost had a clean sweep of
:19:02. > :19:04.five victories. But this goal from Cristian Lopez wasn't quite enough
:19:05. > :19:15.to win the match for Shrewsbury against Colchester. It finished 1`1
:19:16. > :19:21.on a memorable night in League One. Steve Froggatt is on the BBC WM
:19:22. > :19:25.football phone`in until 7pm. And well done to Burton Albion and
:19:26. > :19:26.Cheltenham Town who both won in League Two.
:19:27. > :19:31.For teenager Chloe Woodward today started like any other, working at a
:19:32. > :19:35.Staffordshire school. Then listeners to BBC Radio 1 heard her get an
:19:36. > :19:40.award live on air for bravely battling mental health issues. And
:19:41. > :19:48.it was all a complete surprise to Chloe. Satnam Rana was there to
:19:49. > :19:51.capture a special moment. There is some flash photography in this
:19:52. > :20:01.report. A normal working day for Chloe until
:20:02. > :20:06.this. Congratulations, you are a team hero for 2013. This was the
:20:07. > :20:14.moment Professor Green revealed she was a BBC Radio 1 team hero. I am
:20:15. > :20:22.shell`shocked, overwhelmed, excited, so happy. What did you think when
:20:23. > :20:26.you saw him? I was just like, no. A look of disbelief. The element it I
:20:27. > :20:33.recognise you and then I was like, my God. And then the excitement
:20:34. > :20:41.continued. You are going to be on the news tonight as well. What is
:20:42. > :20:45.happening? Chloe has had a tough few years. She tried to take her own
:20:46. > :20:54.life over being bullied. Having overcome her mental health problems,
:20:55. > :20:59.she helped a man and prevented him from committing suicide by sharing
:21:00. > :21:04.her story. People can relate to it. It is really important to inspire
:21:05. > :21:09.people. It is an issue close to your heart? It is. My dad committed
:21:10. > :21:14.suicide. I had not seen him for years. But maybe if someone had
:21:15. > :21:18.recognised the signs on him, it would not have happened. It is
:21:19. > :21:24.important to raise awareness. For her mum, Chloe's transformation has
:21:25. > :21:31.been incredible. Every night, I would think, will she be alive
:21:32. > :21:38.tomorrow? I could not sleep. It was awful. Now we see her and... What a
:21:39. > :21:46.change. What a massive change. Today has just been the best day. It has
:21:47. > :21:54.just been the best day ever. Sorry. I am so pleased for her. Chloe will
:21:55. > :21:58.be meeting stars at the BBC Radio 1 awards on the 3rd of November. A
:21:59. > :22:07.sparkling reward for being such a brave and courageous young lady.
:22:08. > :22:11.Well done to Chloe. Warm and sunny today, but is it the
:22:12. > :22:16.calm before yet another storm? Here's Shefali.
:22:17. > :22:26.The weather keeps us on our toes. Drive for now but it will be wetter
:22:27. > :22:31.by Friday. `` dry for now. Once tomorrow is over, we have the next
:22:32. > :22:35.weather system raging up from the south`west. This area of low
:22:36. > :22:40.pressure bringing all of the freakish weather we have been used
:22:41. > :22:45.to so far. Wet, windy, thunderstorms, a lot of lightning.
:22:46. > :22:49.It also opens up the gateway to the succession of fronts whipping
:22:50. > :22:53.through from the West. It could be dry to start on Saturday but that is
:22:54. > :22:57.still open to question depending on the timing of the fronts coming
:22:58. > :23:03.through. Another weather system will be ready in the south`west at the
:23:04. > :23:09.start of next week. Relentless at the moment. Back to this evening,
:23:10. > :23:13.after the blinding sunshine today and the ridge of high pressure
:23:14. > :23:18.building, we are looking at a break from tradition with dry and clear
:23:19. > :23:22.and cooler overnight conditions. Particularly so in the countryside.
:23:23. > :23:29.Temperatures could dip a lot lower than five degrees. We could see some
:23:30. > :23:37.mist patches as well developing particularly in the North Eastern
:23:38. > :23:39.corner of the region. We will have those to start the day tomorrow
:23:40. > :23:45.morning. Other than that, they should dispose quite quickly as the
:23:46. > :23:51.sunshine gets to work. A very pleasant day. Plenty of sunshine.
:23:52. > :23:57.Lots of dry weather. The odd stray shower from the West. Affecting
:23:58. > :24:01.parts of Herefordshire and Worcestershire. In the sunshine,
:24:02. > :24:07.temperatures should rise nicely. A degree or so higher than today. That
:24:08. > :24:14.is in lighter winds. Feeling very pleasant. Even tomorrow evening
:24:15. > :24:20.looks dry. The rain will hold off until the early hours of Friday. The
:24:21. > :24:26.cloud will thicken from the south`west ahead of that. Then this
:24:27. > :24:28.rain will creep up from the south`west, could be very heavy
:24:29. > :24:35.around southwestern parts of the region tomorrow night. And again,
:24:36. > :24:41.temperatures stop to bounce back up because of the cloud and the rain.
:24:42. > :24:46.Looking further ahead, the weekend, or rather, Friday into Saturday,
:24:47. > :24:50.Friday starts with heavy rain, heavy blustery showers. Saturday, perhaps
:24:51. > :24:53.dry until the evening. Tonight's headlines: A shut down at
:24:54. > :24:58.Scotland's biggest industrial site ` 800 jobs are slashed and more under
:24:59. > :25:01.threat at the Grangemouth refinery. The Prime Minister pledges to bring
:25:02. > :25:06.energy bills down by cutting green taxes.
:25:07. > :25:09.Back now to our top story. The plebgate affair started as a spat
:25:10. > :25:12.between Sutton Coldfield MP Andrew Mitchell and a couple of police
:25:13. > :25:13.officers, but today three of our chief constables trooped before MPs
:25:14. > :25:24.to explain themselves. Our political editor Patrick Burns
:25:25. > :25:29.is at Westminster. This is what the Chief Constable for West Murcia had
:25:30. > :25:32.to say. In the normal process of events, the apology would come at
:25:33. > :25:38.the end. The timing is just as important as what is said. A
:25:39. > :25:46.profound unreserved apology for the impact of what this has had on him.
:25:47. > :25:51.Patrick, a four letter word, not one of the usual suspects. Especially
:25:52. > :25:59.when you consider Andrew Mitchell has so strenuously denied ever using
:26:00. > :26:02.the word. The Crown Prosecution Service is currently deciding
:26:03. > :26:07.whether charges should be brought against police officers who levelled
:26:08. > :26:10.the accusation in the first place. Significantly today one of Andrew
:26:11. > :26:15.Mitchell's" server did colleagues Ava Davis has said that it reopens
:26:16. > :26:20.the question of whether police officers should be equipped with
:26:21. > :26:27.recording devices on their bodies `` Andrew Mitchell's close conservative
:26:28. > :26:32.colleagues. One of the committee members at the hearing today pointed
:26:33. > :26:39.out to the three Police Federation representatives that if Mr
:26:40. > :26:43.Mitchell's assistant had not taken the precaution of recording the
:26:44. > :26:47.conversation, none of them would be sitting in the Home Affairs
:26:48. > :26:52.Committee session today. Where have we got to tonight? ? la macro this
:26:53. > :27:01.will go on for some time. We can be sure of that `` this will go on for
:27:02. > :27:06.some time. Next up, John Gaunt. The Gaunt Brothers handle PR for the
:27:07. > :27:11.Police Federation. He will be questioned next week.
:27:12. > :27:20.Finally, Birmingham's stunning new library sought its 500,000th visitor
:27:21. > :27:25.today. The library opened only seven weeks ago, complete with an
:27:26. > :27:28.amphitheatre and Gardens, it houses hundreds of thousands of books and
:27:29. > :27:34.has become a popular tourist attraction.
:27:35. > :27:39.That was the Midlands Today. We will be back at 10pm with the latest on
:27:40. > :27:42.the plebgate story and an update on the rest of the day's news. Have a
:27:43. > :27:47.good evening.