:00:00. > :00:10.there's a first look at the papers over on the BBC News
:00:11. > :00:14.Good evening. The task of turning around
:00:15. > :00:17.Birmingham's children's services has been given to Lord Warner. @s
:00:18. > :00:20.independent commissioner, hd says he's looking to the council to come
:00:21. > :00:23.up with a credible plan quickly to fix an unacceptable situation. The
:00:24. > :00:26.former Labour health ministdr was brought in following an inddpendent
:00:27. > :00:30.review of the department, ptblished today. Lord Warner will report
:00:31. > :00:37.directly to the Department for Education. Bob Hockenhull rdports.
:00:38. > :00:40.The faces of the children f`iled by Birmingham Social Services.
:00:41. > :00:45.Seven`year`old Khyra Ishaq, who died after months of abuse by her mother
:00:46. > :00:49.and her mother's ex`partner. Two`year`old Keanu Williams, who was
:00:50. > :00:52.kicked or punched in the stomach with such force that it killed him.
:00:53. > :00:58.His mother Rebecca Shuttleworth is serving a life sentence for murder.
:00:59. > :01:03.Such cases led to Birminghal's children's services being r`ted as
:01:04. > :01:08.inadequate for the last fivd years. It's a description 18`year`old Cloe
:01:09. > :01:11.Jordan agrees with. Since ldaving a children's home, she has bedn
:01:12. > :01:16.assigned a social worker but feels she doesn't have enough contact with
:01:17. > :01:24.her. When I text her, she wouldn't answer my messages or anythhng. It
:01:25. > :01:28.took someone else to phone her to get her to phone me. If thex had a
:01:29. > :01:34.lot more staff and closer contact with the child, it would be a lot
:01:35. > :01:36.easier. Turning things around is the purpose of today's
:01:37. > :01:41.Government`commissioned report by Professor Julian Legrand. What
:01:42. > :01:45.Legrand has looked at for the first time is a whole history of failure
:01:46. > :01:50.that no one has unpicked in the past. One of the things that he says
:01:51. > :01:54.very clearly is that, in thd past, we have been far too short`term in
:01:55. > :01:57.our thinking. We have reactdd almost in crisis mode to every death, every
:01:58. > :02:05.bad Ofsted report, and have not had a long`term plan and stuck to it.
:02:06. > :02:09.The report does not say the council should lose control of children s
:02:10. > :02:11.services altogether. But an independent commissioner, former
:02:12. > :02:16.health minister and Labour peer Lord Warner, has been appointed to
:02:17. > :02:19.oversee improvements. If we haven't made a real change by a year,
:02:20. > :02:26.Birmingham's children are in serious trouble. What we need to do is work
:02:27. > :02:28.together, find the talent in the department, help that talent
:02:29. > :02:34.flourish, and make sure that there is corporate ownership. You can
:02:35. > :02:39.never solve problems of a social services department just by focusing
:02:40. > :02:44.on that department. The whole council has two put its shotlder to
:02:45. > :02:46.the wheel. But the the Government admits training and retaining
:02:47. > :02:51.skilled social workers is a challenge for not just Birmhngham,
:02:52. > :02:55.but the whole country. Bob Hockenhull, BBC Midlands Today.
:02:56. > :02:58.A teenager was jailed for a minimum of 18 years today for murdering an
:02:59. > :03:02.up`and`coming rap artist in Birmingham. Armani Mitchell was
:03:03. > :03:07.found guilty of stabbing Joshua Ribera in the heart last ye`r. The
:03:08. > :03:10.judge said he had dealt with too many similar cases and knivds 'were
:03:11. > :03:16.crippingly dangerous' for young people to carry. Here's our special
:03:17. > :03:22.correspondent Peter Wilson. Tensions spilled over into `rrests
:03:23. > :03:25.at this murder trial. The vhctim, Joshua Ribera, was a rising music
:03:26. > :03:31.star, his fans angered and distraught at his violent ddath
:03:32. > :03:35.Today there was uproar in the public gallery as the guilty verdict was
:03:36. > :03:39.read out. Josh isn't here so no justice has been served, but the
:03:40. > :03:43.jury came back with the right verdict, and he is now in the right
:03:44. > :03:45.place, someone who is capable of killing someone else. I'm h`ppy
:03:46. > :03:48.about that. This is the killer ` 18`year`old
:03:49. > :03:53.Armani Mitchell, jailed tod`y for 18 years. Both he and Joshua Rhbera had
:03:54. > :04:00.attended a party last Septelber at TC's nightclub. This was thd moment
:04:01. > :04:10.that Mitchell saw Joshua Ribera with his ex`girlfriend. A fight broke out
:04:11. > :04:14.and Mitchell left to get a knife. The attack took place outside here.
:04:15. > :04:21.Armani Mitchell used a punch`like movement to drive the knife deep
:04:22. > :04:25.into Joshua Ribera's heart. He was rushed to hospital and more than 20
:04:26. > :04:30.medical staff fought to savd his life. The nurse said to me that he
:04:31. > :04:35.had gone into cardiac arrest on the bed. He's not in surgery, and we
:04:36. > :04:41.need to perform open`heart surgery on the bed. Then I felt somdthing I
:04:42. > :04:48.can't explain and I knew he had died. Tragically, the party had been
:04:49. > :04:54.in memory of Joshua Ribera's teenage friend Kyle Sheehan who was stabbed
:04:55. > :04:59.to death the year before. Today Alison Cope was angry at thd lack of
:05:00. > :05:04.what she sees as real action by the police and crime commissiondr to
:05:05. > :05:08.tackle knife crime. I asked to be involved, I asked to support it I
:05:09. > :05:12.asked to help them. They chose to run with what they thought looked
:05:13. > :05:16.good for them and I have bedn left thinking it is a waste of thme and
:05:17. > :05:20.money. The police say they `re doing a lot behind the scenes to tackle
:05:21. > :05:25.knife crime but the teenage fashion for carrying and using knivds ended
:05:26. > :05:29.another bright young life. Peter Wilson, BBC Midlands Today,
:05:30. > :05:33.Birmingham. The former Bishop of Gloucester
:05:34. > :05:45.Peter Ball, is to be prosectted for misconduct in public office and
:05:46. > :05:49.indecent assault. Peter Ball is now 82 and was the Bishop of Gloucester
:05:50. > :05:55.in 1992 but resigned the following year. The charges relate to alleged
:05:56. > :05:58.incidents between 1977 and 0992 Plans to privatise the George Eliot
:05:59. > :06:02.Hospital in Nuneaton have bden dropped. Last year the contract to
:06:03. > :06:05.run the Trust was put out to tender after the hospital was put hnto
:06:06. > :06:08.'special measures' by the Hdalth Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. Man`gers say
:06:09. > :06:22.they made the decision becatse performance has improved. This is
:06:23. > :06:25.only one step on the journex. We have done a lot of good work in
:06:26. > :06:27.terms of improving quality `nd services. This is one small piece of
:06:28. > :06:34.recognition but there is sthll a lot That's all from me, we'll bd back in
:06:35. > :06:37.breakfast tomorrow morning just before six thirty. I'll leave you
:06:38. > :06:42.with the weather from Shefali. Hello. We have one more cold day to
:06:43. > :06:45.come before the weekend puts us back on par with some of the warler
:06:46. > :06:48.weekends we have had in the recent past. We're looking at tempdratures
:06:49. > :06:52.rising into the mid`to high teens and it will be drier too. At the
:06:53. > :06:56.moment, we're coming to the end of today's showers. They're sthll
:06:57. > :06:59.affecting parts of Staffordshire and Shropshire and could be on the heavy
:07:00. > :07:03.side, but after that it is looking much drier. There will be a lot of
:07:04. > :07:05.cloud around which will keep temperatures generally abovd
:07:06. > :07:09.freezing. For sheltered hollows they could be low enough for patchy frost
:07:10. > :07:12.and mist and fog. After an hnitially dry start tomorrow, the showers will
:07:13. > :07:15.bubble up again in the afternoon, especially over southern cotnties
:07:16. > :07:18.where they will be longer`l`sting and slower`moving. Overall ht will
:07:19. > :07:22.be a drier day with sunnier spells and temperatures of ten to 02
:07:23. > :07:24.Celsius. Up to 15 to 16 Celsius over the weekend. I'll leave you with the
:07:25. > :07:32.outlook for the next few daxs. weather. Now the national forecast
:07:33. > :07:43.with Nick Miller. Hello, as winter becomes spring the
:07:44. > :07:47.atmosphere contains more energy The shower clouds grow taller. If
:07:48. > :07:52.conditions are right, you get thunder storms. There have been some
:07:53. > :07:58.today. Bob took this picture near London this afternoon. The spring
:07:59. > :08:03.flowers will appreciate the re turn return of warmth. Until then big
:08:04. > :08:07.showers to come, pushing in across south-west England - some hail and
:08:08. > :08:12.thunder. Sleet and snow on to the top of the moors.
:08:13. > :08:13.From Norfolk to coastal England into Northern Ireland.