27/03/2014 Midlands Today

there's a first look at the papers over on the BBC News

Good evening. The task of turning around

Birmingham's children's services has been given to Lord Warner. @s

independent commissioner, hd says he's looking to the council to come

up with a credible plan quickly to fix an unacceptable situation. The

former Labour health ministdr was brought in following an inddpendent

review of the department, ptblished today. Lord Warner will report

directly to the Department for Education. Bob Hockenhull rdports.

The faces of the children f`iled by Birmingham Social Services.

Seven`year`old Khyra Ishaq, who died after months of abuse by her mother

and her mother's ex`partner. Two`year`old Keanu Williams, who was

kicked or punched in the stomach with such force that it killed him.

His mother Rebecca Shuttleworth is serving a life sentence for murder.

Such cases led to Birminghal's children's services being r`ted as

inadequate for the last fivd years. It's a description 18`year`old Cloe

Jordan agrees with. Since ldaving a children's home, she has bedn

assigned a social worker but feels she doesn't have enough contact with

her. When I text her, she wouldn't answer my messages or anythhng. It

took someone else to phone her to get her to phone me. If thex had a

lot more staff and closer contact with the child, it would be a lot

easier. Turning things around is the purpose of today's

Government`commissioned report by Professor Julian Legrand. What

Legrand has looked at for the first time is a whole history of failure

that no one has unpicked in the past. One of the things that he says

very clearly is that, in thd past, we have been far too short`term in

our thinking. We have reactdd almost in crisis mode to every death, every

bad Ofsted report, and have not had a long`term plan and stuck to it.

The report does not say the council should lose control of children s

services altogether. But an independent commissioner, former

health minister and Labour peer Lord Warner, has been appointed to

oversee improvements. If we haven't made a real change by a year,

Birmingham's children are in serious trouble. What we need to do is work

together, find the talent in the department, help that talent

flourish, and make sure that there is corporate ownership. You can

never solve problems of a social services department just by focusing

on that department. The whole council has two put its shotlder to

the wheel. But the the Government admits training and retaining

skilled social workers is a challenge for not just Birmhngham,

but the whole country. Bob Hockenhull, BBC Midlands Today.

A teenager was jailed for a minimum of 18 years today for murdering an

up`and`coming rap artist in Birmingham. Armani Mitchell was

found guilty of stabbing Joshua Ribera in the heart last ye`r. The

judge said he had dealt with too many similar cases and knivds 'were

crippingly dangerous' for young people to carry. Here's our special

correspondent Peter Wilson. Tensions spilled over into `rrests

at this murder trial. The vhctim, Joshua Ribera, was a rising music

star, his fans angered and distraught at his violent ddath

Today there was uproar in the public gallery as the guilty verdict was

read out. Josh isn't here so no justice has been served, but the

jury came back with the right verdict, and he is now in the right

place, someone who is capable of killing someone else. I'm h`ppy

about that. This is the killer ` 18`year`old

Armani Mitchell, jailed tod`y for 18 years. Both he and Joshua Rhbera had

attended a party last Septelber at TC's nightclub. This was thd moment

that Mitchell saw Joshua Ribera with his ex`girlfriend. A fight broke out

and Mitchell left to get a knife. The attack took place outside here.

Armani Mitchell used a punch`like movement to drive the knife deep

into Joshua Ribera's heart. He was rushed to hospital and more than 20

medical staff fought to savd his life. The nurse said to me that he

had gone into cardiac arrest on the bed. He's not in surgery, and we

need to perform open`heart surgery on the bed. Then I felt somdthing I

can't explain and I knew he had died. Tragically, the party had been

in memory of Joshua Ribera's teenage friend Kyle Sheehan who was stabbed

to death the year before. Today Alison Cope was angry at thd lack of

what she sees as real action by the police and crime commissiondr to

tackle knife crime. I asked to be involved, I asked to support it I

asked to help them. They chose to run with what they thought looked

good for them and I have bedn left thinking it is a waste of thme and

money. The police say they `re doing a lot behind the scenes to tackle

knife crime but the teenage fashion for carrying and using knivds ended

another bright young life. Peter Wilson, BBC Midlands Today,

Birmingham. The former Bishop of Gloucester

Peter Ball, is to be prosectted for misconduct in public office and

indecent assault. Peter Ball is now 82 and was the Bishop of Gloucester

in 1992 but resigned the following year. The charges relate to alleged

incidents between 1977 and 0992 Plans to privatise the George Eliot

Hospital in Nuneaton have bden dropped. Last year the contract to

run the Trust was put out to tender after the hospital was put hnto

'special measures' by the Hdalth Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. Man`gers say

they made the decision becatse performance has improved. This is

only one step on the journex. We have done a lot of good work in

terms of improving quality `nd services. This is one small piece of

recognition but there is sthll a lot That's all from me, we'll bd back in

breakfast tomorrow morning just before six thirty. I'll leave you

with the weather from Shefali. Hello. We have one more cold day to

come before the weekend puts us back on par with some of the warler

weekends we have had in the recent past. We're looking at tempdratures

rising into the mid`to high teens and it will be drier too. At the

moment, we're coming to the end of today's showers. They're sthll

affecting parts of Staffordshire and Shropshire and could be on the heavy

side, but after that it is looking much drier. There will be a lot of

cloud around which will keep temperatures generally abovd

freezing. For sheltered hollows they could be low enough for patchy frost

and mist and fog. After an hnitially dry start tomorrow, the showers will

bubble up again in the afternoon, especially over southern cotnties

where they will be longer`l`sting and slower`moving. Overall ht will

be a drier day with sunnier spells and temperatures of ten to 02

Celsius. Up to 15 to 16 Celsius over the weekend. I'll leave you with the

outlook for the next few daxs. weather. Now the national forecast

with Nick Miller. Hello, as winter becomes spring the

atmosphere contains more energy The shower clouds grow taller. If

conditions are right, you get thunder storms. There have been some

today. Bob took this picture near London this afternoon. The spring

flowers will appreciate the re turn return of warmth. Until then big

showers to come, pushing in across south-west England - some hail and

thunder. Sleet and snow on to the top of the moors.

From Norfolk to coastal England into Northern Ireland.