03/01/2017 Midlands Today

To find somebody doing that is the biggest pig trail possible.

We'll be asking the commissioner in charge of investigating

Allan Richards' case how he was allowed to get

Also tonight: Ambulances at full stretch - the West Midlands service

has its busiest day ever, on New Years Day.

I'll be looking at whether the batteries to power electric cars

A campaign to recognise the work of the women who worked in munitions

We worked around the clock. There was never a break.

here and there but on the whole the first week of 2017

I'll have a full forecast for you later.

described the actions of a former colleague who abused

The force is introducing rigorous vetting checks

and better opportunities to report corrupt colleagues.

Former constable, Allan Richards, was jailed for

He'd been questioned about allegations before,

Today a report was released detailing how the West Midlands

force plans to make sure there are no similar

For the whole of his long police career, PC

Any suspicions about his behaviour during that time failed

Preventing and detecting crimes involving vulnerable people...

Today, at the request of the Police and Crime Commissioner,

the West Midlands force released a report detailing how it

plans to uncover rogue officers and prevent them

from going undetected for so long ever again.

police officer and member of police staff, has been disgusted by what

Allan Richards did and they are really pleased to see him go down

And we've got a number of processes in place addressing

training, culture, and vetting, to try and ensure that that never

In the year 2000 a complaint was made.

He was interviewed by police but no action was taken.

Four years later he was banned from the Scout movement and again

interviewed about an alleged assault but there was no prosecution.

A year later Richards is moved to backroom duties,

In 2011 he retires, on a full pension.

Then in 2014 another victim comes forward

prompting a fresh investigation leading to his conviction.

Now if you've been in the force for more than ten years you'll be

vetted again and there is a 24-hour hotline

I can understand when people hear that one

officer has fallen well below the standards that they should

Is upsetting to the other vast majority of capable,

honest, decent officers in the force.

Allan Richards has embarrassed the police.

But senior officers say this case has also

increased their resolve to tackle corruption in the ranks.

Dr Derrick Campbell is commissioner with the Independent Police

How was he allowed to get away with this for so long?

One of the problems we have is people who are very plausible, they

are in positions of power, and they are allowed to abuse that power.

When they start to exploit it in that way, understanding the system,

using it to their own devious ends, once they understand how the system

works. What do you take -- what do you make of how the police has

responded? What they said is positive. Anything that moves

towards eliminating this type of behaviour is positive. The force has

taken proactive steps. The public are alarmed to know an officer has

behave in this way for this length of time. At the moment we are in the

middle of our investigation. The force has responded well. It is

encouraging to see this proactive initiative. You are in the middle of

your investigation but would you be confident enough to say that given

the steps that the West Midlands force have taken you do not think

this would happen again? That is a very interesting point. It is

difficult for anyone to stick their neck out and say that will never

happen again. We can see that the force has responded quickly. We are

working closely with them. It is reassuring to know that the force

does not want to be in this position again. The Police and Crime

Commissioner is allocated to that and so are the chief officers. When

will your investigation be complete? We are dissipating in the region of

another six months. Thank you. -- we are anticipating in the region of

six months. The ambulance service

in the West Midlands had its busiest day ever -

receiving more than 4,500 That's more than 800 more

than their previous record in 2011. It was the conclusion of a very

busy festive period, the majority of calls

on New Years Eve Joan Cummins is at the ambulance

head quarters in Dudley part in New Years Eve

into New Years Day for calls What about the rest

of the Christmas holidays? Over the festive period of the

Ambulance Service covered a population of 5.5 million. They

would expect around 3000 calls per day but between Christmas and New

Year that rose to 3500, and then we get to that whopper New Year's Day.

You are in charge of clinical direction at the Ambulance Service.

4500 calls, New Year's Day, that is unbelievable. It has been a busy

time. The busiest we have ever experienced. There was a variety of

reasons. Christmas on a Sunday. Bank holidays either side. A period of

four days when things were close. It is good that our staff and

volunteers worked so well to deliver a safe service. That is credit to

them. Thanks go to the staff who have worked over and above any

expectation we would have of them. It has been very good, the response

they have given. People will be worried that because of the demands,

that ambulances will not be getting two jobs on time. Have you been held

up in a all? We have heard of booster hospitals that closed units

until this morning. Everyone is working hard at the moment. Yes, we

do have delays, and it is not acceptable that we have delays. Some

of the delays have peaked high this year. At one point, yesterday we

lost 350 hours of ambulance. That is 10% of our total ambulance resource.

That is not acceptable and we want to make improvements. How do you do

it? We have got to make sure that the entire system knuckles down and

delivers an effective service that everyone from social care, the

hospitals, and other parts of the system. And the other message, call

the arrogance when you have got a real emergency, not like one person

who rang up, saying they want a lift home. They are not a taxi service.

Wise words. Could the next generation

of electric cars be powered by a new battery developed

here in the Midlands? Researchers in Coventry

believe it could happen. They say their design is an 80%

improvement on existing technology - and could be tested in a prototype

vehicle as early as next year. Our Science Correspondent David

Gregory-Kumar has the details. This is Jaguar's new electric sports

car unveiled at the LA Motor Show But who will make the batteries

under the bonnet? If the car companies are going to go

into electric cars we need a facility to produce

batteries in this country. Not just import

everything from abroad. And that's what this research at WMG

near Coventry is all about. Building a better car

battery for the electric We're trying to create

an energy storage system that is an 80% improvement

on current technologies so we can go from an experimental chemistry

through to an individual cell and take those most promising

technologies and build them into a battery pack which we can

then put into a real vehicle. And that's what makes this research

centre so different. It can take an idea in a lab

right through to full There is so much intense

effort going into research on batteries

for vehicles at the moment. Here at WMG this is their new ?20

million expansion to We are up against

the rest of Europe, we are up against Asia,

and I would say it is We are just ahead

of the competition. Expect to see the first

prototype cars using batteries made

here early 2017. And David is at Aston University

with a first for this country, a very unusual electric

car and charging point. David, what makes that

green box so special? The Green box and the car itself,

standard cup, the car is charging through this cable, but what makes

this car and the charging point unique is that this car can send

energy the other way, it can be used as an emergency battery, to send

power back into the grid. It is an idea that comes from Japan. After

the earthquake disaster, they realised they had energy that could

have been used as back-up power. Do you think 2017 could be the year

of the Electric car? There is no doubt that the number of

electric vehicles has taken off since 2014 but it is still only just

over 1% of cars bought every year on the road and the Government is not

good to hit its target of the number of low emissions vehicles it wants

out there. One of the issues as these charging points. What do you

get charged can vary. Whether or not you can use a charging point can

freely on whether you are members of subscription groups. Government

wants to clear that up and make it easier for drivers of electric cars

to hook up without being charged too much for the pleasure. That is the

big change this year. A Coventry man's been jailed for 18

months after being found guilty Ahmad Ismail, who's 19

and from Portwrinkle Avenue, was convicted along with two other

men who planned to travel to Iraq The court heard Ismail

had failed to disclose A man's died after his car hit two

brick walls and ploughed through the front gardens of three

houses in Walsall. It happened in Bell Lane

around 10.20 last night. West Midlands Ambulance Service said

a woman passenger suffered serious Fake degrees from the University

of Wolverhampton are being offered 40 websites have been shut down

in a crackdown on the sale Degree certificates were copied -

so they looked like New figures have revealed that

police forces across our region are dealing with an increasing

number of call outs Every year for the last five years,

it's gone up, reaching more The youngest person detained

was a 13-year-old girl arrested by West Mercia Police -

the oldest a man aged 81 held Our Special Correspondent,

Peter Wilson has been Well for years the police have said,

we're trained to detain and arrest criminals,

not the mentally ill. And nearly half of all deaths

in police custody involve people but he's also suffering

from a mental condition. Staffordshire police take

into custody more mentally ill people than any other force

in the region. But it's fallen from a high of 111

in 2011 to 35 in 2015. figure accounts for more than half

the region's numbers. Here's the Police and Crime

Commissioner for Staffordshire. Sometimes in the worst circumstances

they can be very destructive. One individual absconded and it ended up

taking more than 20 police officers off shift to deal with that

individual. They were in custody for 70 hours because there was nowhere

else for them to go. I am delighted they are now investing in better

facilities. the mentally ill is still going up

all of our forces have seen dramatic falls in the numbers detained,

down from 560 to 64. Well, the police and the NHS have

been working more closely together. One of the things we are interested

in doing with police forces and other services is working out who we

can avoid people needing to be detained in the first place. We have

street triage and South Staffordshire. Nurses and police

officers together to reduce the likelihood that somebody needs

detention in the first place. But that type of support

and care is patchy and the mental health charities

are warning that there needs to be more investment to make this

work across the country. Thanks for joining us

on Midlands Today. We'll have your detailed weather

forecast to come shortly. The site of Spode for 240 years -

a home of fine china demolished to make way for a creative

village in Stoke. And campaigning to get public

recognition for the canary girls - the Herefordshire women who worked

in munitions factories Stoke City could move several places

up the Premier league table tonight, if they manage to end a run of five

games without a win. As for the bank holiday

action, West Brom came But Aston Villa and Birmingham City

both lost in the Championship, West Brom were outplayed

during the first half. So it was no surprise

when Robert Snodgrass put Hull City But after a few well-chosen

words from Tony Pulis Gareth McAuley popped

in their second. And it didn't take long for James

Morrison to seal a 3-1 victory. It has been a good year for us. Now

we need to bring in a couple of players and improve the group and

give everybody a lift. We are taking nothing for granted.

The game at St Andrews followed a similar pattern.

Lukas Jutkiewicz gave Birmingham a first half lead.

But it was Brentford who turned things round.

Three times they breached the Blues defence.

To leave new boss Gianfranco Zola with only one point to show

This was the most disappointing since I took over,

Steve Bruce wasn't too pleased either,

after watching Aston Villa lose to the only goal away to Cardiff.

And it was the same result for Burton Albion, who are just now

one point above the bottom three after losing 1-0 to Preston.

Whilst Wolves and Port Vale were both drawing

Coventry City took the lead twice at home to Bolton in League One.

But those goals from Marcus Tudgay and Stuart Beavon weren't

For the second game running, a late equaliser in stoppage time

Shrewsbury also remain in the relegation zone

after conceding an early goal at home to Fleetwood.

And this bad miss by Amadou Bakayoko proved costly

for Walsall who went down 2-0 at home to Rochdale.

This is an important game for Stoke City

Yes, Stoke have now gone five games without a win.

And Mark Hughes knows they need to tighten up defensively

because they've conceded four goals on eight occasions during 2016.

But you'd really fancy their chances of taking three

points against struggling Watford this evening.

Birmingham City's recent form isn't much better,

they've really slumped since the arrival

Yes, only one point from a possible 12 since Zola arrived.

True, they've had some tough games, including Brighton,

and away trips to Derby and Barnsley.

But some Blues fans were singing there's only one Gary Rowett

during yesterday's home defeat by Brentford.

This weekend, it's the FA Cup 3rd round.

Stoke against Wolves and Villa away to Spurs.

Plus a truly historic occasion for non-league Stourbridge.

They're away to Wycombe Wanderers, and we'll be looking forward to that

The old Spode factory in Stoke on Trent made fine china

Now the site is being redeveloped to make a creative village.

Our Staffordshire reporter Sian Grzeszczyk has been given

special access to see the demolition work.

Building a new chapter for the old Spode factory site

The building behind he used to be a distribution centre. That is going

to take the rest of the day to demolish it and then work will

continue to get rid of the more buildings here on site.

Things couldn't look more different now compared to its factory days.

The ten-acre site was bought by the city council after it

Today's work is the next stage in its regeneration.

The building is being demolished detract from the wider site, they do

not have any historical value. That is important that we preserve that

heritage but we must bring the site back into use.

Fred is one of the artists who's moved into one of the 43

studios in the old factory, part of plans to make this

His work is very much inspired by the history

It is wonderful that the site is being regenerated and turned back to

creative use. This piece is from a photograph taken in 1988 when the

Spode factory was up and running. I like the fact that the people were

just coming back from lunch when I took that photograph.

This area is being transformed into student accomodation.

the demolition is complete the city council is confident it

it'll take five years to bring this place fully back to life.

They were called the canary girls - the women who were exposed to toxic

chemicals which turned their skin and hair yellow.

They worked at munitions factories during the two world

wars, but their work has largely gone unrecognised.

BBC Hereford and Worcester are launching a campaign

Sarah Bishop has been to meet one woman who was one of just

In 1942, Nancy Billings was one of over 2,000 women working

at the Rotherwas munitions factory in Hereford.

I was in empty shell, and it was quite hard work, really,

heavy work and not very clean work, either, because we had to clean

the shells and prepare them ready to be filled.

At dawn on the 27th of July, the air raid siren sounded.

Betty, my friend, she just worked opposite to me,

she ran round and grabbed my arm and said, "Nancy, come

We raced down the corridor and when we got out,

the air raid shelters were locked and the very next thing was this

aircraft that came down so low, you can see the swastika

He came down so low and Betty shouted at me, "Nancy, Nancy,

put your hands over your face, put your hands of your face!"

So I did and then the bombs dropped and it was just

The Germans had dropped at least two 250 kilograms bombs.

Nancy and her friend Betty were the only two survivors

I was so shaken and trembling. I thought, oh my God. But I have never

ever want us to think about it after that. I just wanted to forget it.

She did not even tell her own family about her remarkable escape until a

few years ago. The factory where she worked still stands. In the long

term our children and our children pass back children will need to know

more about this factory. I know there are plans to celebrate its

perhaps with a visitor centre or a museum. That would be great. It

needs to happen. Having lost two sisters

and her father in the war, Nancy went on to marry and have

three children of her own. She's now 93 and says unlike women

who were in the Land Army, she's had no letter from the Queen,

no public acknowledgement of what she and thousands of other

munitions workers did. We've already had some lovely

memories on facebook. Paula Cade sent us this

picture of her grandmother, sitting at a machine behind a table

of bullets in a munitions factory. Paula thinks she'd have been

between 16 and 20 years old. While Mike King posted this picture

of his mother who worked in the Rotherwas factory in Hereford

in World War Two. And his grandmother is in this

large group photo taken Thank you to everyone

who has got in touch with your memories and views

about the campaign. There has been a night to the start

of the new working week. As set to continue? It is. One look at this

Weather Watchers picture. Their heavy frost tells you that the

lowest temperatures were not just confined to the countryside. There

was a beautiful sunrise in Birmingham. This frontal system

pushing and from the north is separating the cloud. After that we

get a brief brush with high pressure. High-pressure resumes

control over the weekend. The rest of the week is looking dry with

frosty nights. Rain arriving on Friday afternoon. Over the weekend

mostly settled. This evening we have had this cloud slipping southwards.

Tonight with all of this cloud temperatures will remain above

freezing. Not a frosty date. There will be patchy light rain in the

north of the region. Once this cloud has shifted south, it will be a

brighter and drier afternoon, wintry sunshine beginning to develop before

the day is out. Top temperatures quite High Wycombe parents to what

we have had recently. -- top temperatures are high and pierced of

what we have had recently. A widespread sharp frost across the

region. Temperatures will plunge during the night. Even cold in

sheltered spots. They frosty start to Thursday. Sonny through the day.

Temperatures struggling. Temperatures struggling as rain

arrives on Friday. And on tomorrow's Midlands Today

we'll be on Kinver Edge This year marks 100 years

since the 200 acre site was donated Since then the area

has been expanded. Now the Trust wants to create

a lasting legacy by creating a new pathway to make it more

accessible to visitors. That is all for now. I am back at

half past ten. Goodbye. Magical new drama...

The Worst Witch. Something like this

could change my life. We're looking for someone

who can sing, someone who can move. Someone who can keep an audience

on the edge of their seat. Something like this

could change my life.