24/06/2014 Midlands Today

Police officers laughed and joked as a father of two lay dying nearby

39`year`old Lloyd Butler, who was an alcoholic,

died within hours of being taken into custody at Stechford.

The coroner at his inquest criticised the

culture at the police station and said she wasn't convinced it had

To his family, Lloyd Butler was larger than life,

But he spent years battling alcoholism

and four years ago this sumler, alarmed by his drunken behaviour,

Within hours they got a phone call to tell them Lloyd had

It's just absolutely devast`ting because people talk to you

about closure, this or that will bring closure

Officers at Stechford Policd Station were supposed to check on

Lloyd Butler's condition evdry fifteen minutes,

but CCTV footage showed thel looking on the internet, including

The inquest heard they also joked and insulted him.

Until nearly 40 minutes after he was last checked, Lr Butler

The jury found that Lloyd Bttler died from a cardiac arrest related

to underlying problems causdd by alcohol.

But they concluded that he should not have been detained in ctstody,

and, that had he been in hospital, the probability was that he was

The coroner Louise Hunt said she remained concerned about conduct in

custody suites and would be sending a report to West Midlands Police.

They helped to bring out the truth in all of this.

All of the facts were brought out, all of the facts.

Obviously, I didn't see the CCTV, but it's all there.

And I am quite shocked at one of officers suggesting this still

It is a challenging environlent there is still more to be done.

We have plans going forward for two new custody blocks

which will be complete withhn 1 to 24 months or so,

and we will have state`of`the`art facilities and professional officers

in a permanent role with a change of attitude and culture.

So I think we are getting a grip on this and moving on the issues

In an internal police disciplinary process, one officer was fotnd

guilty of misconduct and another of gross misconduct `

A multi`million pound project to renovate

a Stoke`on`Trent pottery has been opened by the Prince of Walds.

Middleport Pottery, which is based in Burslem, was bought by the

Prince Charles arrived at Mhddleport by canal.

In this pottery's heyday, it was the canals that transported

On the tow path, there was an enthusiastic greeting

from the potters who've forled a close bond with the Princd.

He's taken a personal interdst in this project and spoke

of his determination that this unique factory should be saved.

Stoke`on`Trent is the cradld of the British ceramics industry. @nd the

contribution made to this country by the potteries has been enorlous

The Prince was shown the newly refurbished collection

of moulds ` it's the largest in Europe ` and it's on display

In 19,000 moulds here speak `` stretch back to the 19th century and

take you back to ceramic history. In the future it will be possible to

bring any of these designs back to life because these are the laster

moulds and they have been s`ved for the nation.

Workers here value the emph`sis on preserving traditional skills, and

two and a half years ago if this had not happened non`others would be

standing here now. It would have been gone and that would have been a

shame. A model of the pottery was tnveiled

in the original manager's offices. This is part of the building

which has been restored and now The Prince and

the Potters have formed an dnduring relationship and the plan is that

the world`famous reputation of this Musician Noddy Holder has bden given

the Freedom of Walsall tonight. The former Slade frontman w`s

born and raised in the town. So Amy `

how did Noddy feel about it all He was absolutely delighted and

told me how he'd wished his parents Earlier this evening,

Walsall Council Tweeted a phcture of the Slade rocker standing next

to the mayor, who was the one who led the campaign

to give him the Freedom of Walsall. The band has been so successful

producing 40 hit singles in the UK It was a fantastic surprise when I

got the e`mail through, that I was being offered thd Freedom

of Walsall. I was flabbergasted `

I was absolutely flabbergasted! Because for blokes like me,

a working`class kid like me, I never thought something

like this would happen to md. Earlier on I sat with the f`ns as

they watched Noddy receive the freedom of Walsall. I spoke to a few

of them afterwards and they said it was well`deserved.

It is a long time coming, it is about time they did something for

We were lucky to have the opportunity, because we were

handy, timing`wise, and I thought it was important to actually show

Tonight, he will be treated to a ceremonial meal here at the town

Hall. In about six months thme he will be all over the airwavds again.

It will be without certain catchy festive tune!

We'll be back at Breakfast from 6am tomorrow morning.

Time for the weather now, with Shefali.

Another fairly decent day today the changes were only subtld `

but they won't be by Friday and the weekend when things turn

Even now, it's not a perfectly dry picture out

there, where we have some drizzle and a few light showers.

But what we have heading our way on Friday and the weekend whll

The showers dying away to ghve much drier conditions then tonight,

with some clearer skies tow`rds the end of the night

and temperatures falling to a minimum of around 11 to 14 Celsius.

But it does mean that we're off to a fairly bright and sunny

Although through the course of the day there will be a steady stream

of cloud piling in from the north, so it's likely to turn dulldr,

but still remaining warm with a top temperature of 19 to 21 Celsius

Thursday brings a similar story but Friday, as I said,

More details on that from Thomaz Schaffenaker, who is next.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with the Outlook

with the summary. Turning more unsettled as we head towards the

weekend. Good evening. After what has been a

glorious few weeks of summer sunshine for many of us, things are

about to change over the next 2 hours. We are seeing the change

marked by the weather front on the satellite image. To the south of

that, 25 degrees, in Bournemouth for instance, but in the north and east,

cooler, fresher air. That sets the scene for tomorrow. A cooler day. We

will have hazy sunshine on offer, although cloudier skies than we have

been used it over the past week Tonight we have thicker cloud

bringing more two spots of drizzly rain for some southern areas.