22/02/2017 Midlands Today

A reminder of the day's main story... The

Failed by a number of agencies: baby Keegan Downer should never have been

placed in the care of the woman who went on to murder her.

The death of any child that we are responsible for this

tragedy but we will learn from that tragedy, we

are here today, we are very clear about what is already very different

A serious case review blames flawed and incomplete assessments.

A serious case review blames flawed and incomplete assessments.

The growing scourge of fly-tipping: experts say they're dealing

We need to tackle it together, we need

need witnesses and importantly we need people to stop putting their

Find out why I'm back in the Midlands on Midlands Today,

Recreating history: a classic old Austin set to drive to seven

European capitals in seven days just as it did 70 years ago.

And although it's been wet and miserable today has been the calm

before the storm, storm Doris, with strong gusts of wind expected

tomorrow and heavy rain. All the details later.

Toddler Keegan Downer should "never have been placed "with the woman

That's according to a Serious Case Review carried out

Keegan was born in March 2014 and placed into foster care

soon after her birth, but, in January 2015,

Birmingham City Council placed her with Kandyce Downer,

a distant relative who became her legal guardian.

Nine months later, in September 2015, Keegan died after suffering

Kandyce Downer was found guilty last year and sentenced

Today the review was published into the role the local authority

Little Keegan - born Shianne - seen here happy and flourishing

But that all changed when she went to live with Kandyce Downer,

a distant relative who had been awarded a Special Guardianship Order

Just nine months later, she was dead.

A serious case review into the toddler's death has

found she was failed by a number of agencies.

For example, a health visitor only ever made one

visit, not long after Kandyce became her guardian.

Keegan did not have a flag or red code on her medical notes to say

she was effectively adopted, and was not seen by a GP

And there was no further contact made by Children's Social Care.

Well that was one of our failings and we had no

expectations set out in policy either that we should do those

visits and that is part of what we've changed.

There does need to be ongoing support and indeed part of

our expectation needs to be that there is

a working relationship with

placements. Not if you like some privacy

that some very distant relationship means

you've got an automatic right to dependency

of the child without supervision.

The initial assessment of whether Kandyce Downer should

become a special guardian was carried out by an external

And the report says Downer was given too much power to control

With the benefit of hindsight, that was just

not good enough and that wouldn't happen now.

I think one of the other things that has changed and that

needs to be ensured by this case is that those universal services

that would be involving the GP, the

health visitor, will absolutely know and that this child is on a special

Greater awareness within the wider society is also something

that the children's charity, the NSPCC is calling for.

I think it is really important that changes have

happened, but of course just tragic in this case that it was too late

for this individual child, but changes

will need to happen for the

What is also really important is that any member of the

public also helps social services and the police and comes forward

Birmingham City Council says it's taken further steps

Has anyone been sacked over Keegan's death?

Employment action has been taken to the regulator,

and those people are no longer working with us.

So people have been sacked? Yes.

Birmingham Children's Services is to be taken over

Amy Cole, BBC Midlands Today, Birmingham.

In a moment, we'll be talking to Danielle McKinney.

Danielle was taken into care as a child in Birmingham

after suffering domestic abuse at home.

Altogether, she lived in 39 different care homes,

ran away repeatedly and was raped three times as a teenager.

She told her story in the BBC documentary A Dangerous

I don't think any of us ever felt safe.

And Danielle joins me now, good evening, Danielle.

What's your reaction to this serious case review about Keegan?

Really sad, to be honest. Am I surprised, no. Yet again, it's just

another innocent life and to be honest it's just so sad because it

could have been avoided. Again we hear, failed by a number of

agencies. Well, I have always said it is not just one department or,

you know, a specific area in that department it is the whole... The

Birmingham City Council need a whole total revamp. This list in six

months seen not by one the health worker. What do they expect? Did

they even check the relationship between the child and it wasn't her

auntie, was it, they won't even blood related. A distant related.

Social workers are all caring and committed from what I see, I know

some personally, I just don't understand where it all goes wrong.

They overwhelmed? Personally, I don't know which social workers you

been meeting but... You know, as far as I'm concerned every child isn't

like that as individuals, they are looked at as paperwork, and

caseload. And the one but I know, you know, they haven't got the best

interest of the child at heart. You would probably find one in ten maybe

that's... What is the answer? To be honest, the whole of the departments

need a total revamp. And it's all right them sacking a view of the

little runaround people at the bottom but they were ordered, and

then those people were ordered, the whole line of professionals that was

involved with Keegan should have been sacked, as far as I'm

concerned. And also, personally, I think that the law should be

changed, and people, the social workers and the professionals

involved that have failed this child and many others, they should be

actually... They should be trialled themselves because they have

actually somehow facilitated this death as well. It's all right just

sacking if you saying "We've done this and bad, you know? It's

happened too many times, now. It's too much it too often. They really

need a total revamp and we've heard about this trust coming in, you

know, because Birmingham City Council know that they've totally

failed, so we will have to try and see what happens with this trust. We

will leave it there. 20 so much for talking to us about this very, very

tragic story. Shropshire Staffordshire and

Birmingham have been affected by fly-tipping in the past few years.

On Monday evening council waste enforcement officers were called

waste enforcement officers were called

to a lane in Kings Norton after more than a hundred fridges were dumped .

Today, officers started the work to remove them and investigations

are now underway to identify who those responsible.

The clear up begins 110 fridges were dumped in this lane

The council says people should avoid unwittingly fuelling their business.

While we would say to people is don't put your fridges and freezers

out into the street for the metal collectors because this is what

happens to them. We would say either get the retailer

to put them away put them in your car and take them

to the recycling or if you can't do Birmingham City Council's

being called out to fly-tipping in North Staffordshire....despite

a padlocked gate - around 500 tonnes of waste

was dumped almost a month ago This is an ocean of devastation, I

am appalled and I hate it. I'm actually hating the fact that these

people, whoever has done this, right the way round down to our first

commission. People use this on a daily basis.

with information to help solve this crime

The fridges now will be forensically tested to try to find the culprits,

who could face an unlimited fine or a prison sentence

You've been sending us emails and commenting

on facebook and Twitter about this

Brum @bordesleygreen tweeted "every day something is fly-tipped,

it's removed then something else gets dumped"

Peter Styles emailed "There are two problems -

"it now costs over ?80 a tonne to tip waste

"the lack of co-ordination between the agencies concerned.

Jane Moore posted on facebook: "This is commercial waste dumped

"by companies that have been paid to process but don't want to pay

"Make no mistake we are all paying for these scumbag's dirty deeds,

"money that could well be spent on social care.

Thank you to all for getting in touch.

Two men have been sentenced to a total of 22 years in prison

for sexually exploiting a teenager in Coventry.

24-year-old Martin Cantle and 26-year-old Thomas Entwistle

were sentenced to 11 years each after being found guilty

of controlling child prostitution and supplying controlled drugs.

The charges relate to a 17-year-old girl who was groomed

Police searching for missing man Dean Jones from Birmingham have

Brenda Proctor, who rose to prominence during the Miners

Brenda who was from Sneyd Green ran the North Staffordshire

Miners Wives' Action Group and was an active member

of Women Against Pit closures for more than 30 years.

In a little over twelve hours' time, the polls will open after what's

been the Midlands' hardest-fought by-election for nearly

Stoke Central has been a Labour seat for 67 years.

This time, though, the outcome is anything

Our political editor Patrick Burns is here.

Why exactly is there so much riding on this?

The weather's turning stormy, and Stoke Central has

had its own "perfect storm", ever since Tristram Hunt

He's triggered the first big test of opinion in one

of Labour's 'core' areas, where almost seventy percent defied

Their candidate Gareth Snell condemned Brexit in the strongest

If he can't hang on here, it begs the question whether there's

any such thing as a safe Labour seat outside the big cities.

Ukip's Paul Nuttall will hope to capitalise on Brexit.

But again, if he can't win, it'll reinforce suspicions that

They're no longer the only Brexit party in town: the Conservative,

Jack Brereton, is convinced he can make a real three-horse

Yes, and Theresa May came to support him in Stoke on Monday. How

significant is that? And she wouldn't have come anywhere

near Stoke if the Tories didn't think they had enough support,

at the very least, to blunt Ukip's challenge sufficiently

for Labour to hang on. Cynical as it may sound,

anything that helps secure Jeremy Corbyn's position may well

suit the Tories' game plan for now. And remember Paul Nuttall

and Gareth Snell have both sustained self-inflicted damage

during this campaign. Mr Nuttall has said sorry

for a false claim that he lost close And Mr Snell has apologised

for Tweeting derogatory comments Leaving Jack Brereton enjoying

the relative moral high ground. In a fiercely contested campaign

such as this one, I would have thought it would be quite difficult

for the other party to get their voices heard.

But at least the Liberal Democract Dr Zulfiqar Ali

is uniquely qualified, as a hospital consultant,

to talk about the NHS, in a city whose local hospital

recorded some of England's longest trolley waits.

And he's hoping some of the thirty percent who did not Vote Leave

So too is the Green candidate Adam Colclough.

It's been no easy matter for them to get a word in edgeways

You can confirm this list on the BBC News website.

And there's an election special on BBC Radio Stoke from two o'clock

on Friday morning with Tim Wedgwood, as the counting finishes

They often say animals can have a calming, positive influence

on us and it certainly seems to be working in Staffordshire.

Recovering drug and alcohol addicts are receiving

help from a farm there, to try to get them back into society

Each week they get to work at Whitegate Farm -

Our Staffordshire reporter Sian Grzeszczyk's been to meet them.

It's an unlikely friendship, but it's clear that the

bond between Simon and two-year-old pig Wilber is a special one.

Simon spends every Tuesday here at Whitegate farm as part of his

He's off the drugs and things are finally looking up.

When I was using drugs I was living a day at a time, I would

wake up in the morning and watndrugs, I'd want in

the afternoon, I'd want in the evening, suffering

But today I wake up and I tell myself I'm

not going to use today, I can get up,

I can have a shower, I can have a wash, I can put clean

clothes on and I'm not a scruff, whereas before I was stuck in a

So what sort of a difference

I can come here on a Tuesday and I know that I'm not

getting judged and that he's here to be friendly,

he's always at the gate waiting for you.

It's all been made possible thanks to the owners of the

farm who wanted to help addicts and people struggling with their mental

They wanted to stay out of the limelight themselves

today, but the teams are helping were eager to share just

how big a difference their generous offer is making.

You've got the fresh air, you've got the sense of unity and

the fact that they're helping other people as well.

You know, that's giving them their self-worth,

self-esteem, they're getting their physical exercise.

You know, there's a lot more to it than just

Emma and Chrissy are recovering alcoholics.

Now they've experienced this, they say

If you didn't have something else to come and perk you up, to think

about, to get involved in, you'd just go back to where you were.

Simon's journey has been a difficult one but

he's confident that the path ahead will be far smoother with Wilbur at

Thanks for joining us here on Midlands Today this evening.

If ever there's a time to batten down the hatches, this is it.

Yes, Nick, it looks like we can expect some strong gusts of wind

and heavy rain tomorrow as Storm Doris moves in

We have a Met Office Amber, be prepared, warning in place

with gusts of up to 80mph possible over higher ground like

With winds picking up during the rush hour,

and peaking by lunchtime there's scope to cause travel disruption

I'll be back with the latest details later in the programme.

Now, I wonder what the bard would have made of this -

budding actors 1,600 miles apart have been performing

It's all thanks to virtual reality, which one university is using to run

courses in two countries at the same time.

Kevin Reide's been finding out more.

Lauren and Jack are in Coventry, Niklas and Heli are in Finland,

and they're rehearsing Shakespeare together.

This virtual learning is a joint project between Coventry University

and the university of Tampere in Finland, and it's

It's been wonderful and my teacher can also teach us and tell us the

information but with universities over there it helps a lot.

information but with universities over there it helps a

The university is using the latest video conferencing technology to

make this all happen, but instead of a laptop screen it is on a large

screen and that enables the students as lifelike as possible. It do you

keep 100 nights and Squires. And that means the students

build bonds and relate to each other far more,

as experienced in an experiment last year when nobody wanted

the lessons to end. People were crying on both sides

when I first turned it off. Nobody wanted it turned off. After a bit

just kind of feels natural. You completely forget that there is this

1000 mile gap. You are delivering uncomfortable truths. I don't know

what the truth is, is it the fact that we aren't in the same room, but

it is very interesting. I thought with being British, sarcasm was a

big thing for us, but they get it straightaway and I was surprised,

their English is really good, it puts us do same. We need to learn

some finish. The rehearsals will continue

for the next few weeks but in March the Coventry students will go

to Finland and perform on stage Kevin Reide, BBC

Midlands Today, Coventry. Onto football now and Burton Albion

improved their chances of Championship survival

with a point at Derby Burton's best chance fell

to Luke Varney but a goalless draw still represented a good evening's

work for Nigel Clough's side. They are now five points clear

of the relegation zone. The new Wasps netball team,

based in Coventry, got off to a winning start

in the Superleague last night. They beat the Sirens 57-43 in front

of a sell out crowd of more All ten teams in the league play

next at a special event Tonight comedian Sir Lenny Henry

is returning to his roots by hosting a stand-up night

at the Glee Club in Birmingham. It's raising money for Comic Relief

and it's already sold out. Lenny will be introducing a number

of aspiring comedians and we'll be talking to him live

in just a moment. First, a brief reminder

of his remarkable and varied career spanning some 40 years

in showbusiness. Ladies and gentlemen it's

got to be Lenny Henry! 12 or 12 million

people saw this black kid doing the sort

of half funny jokes. But the hook was wow, he's black

he's really young, and he's... Maybe he's got something,

maybe this kid's got something! There's nothing I can

do, I mean, yesterday 8 nothing, that's 80,

triple 19, seven, 88. I keep thinking of, you know,

myself as a 16-year-old kid, And Sir Lenny joins us

now from the Glee Club Hello, how are you? I'm very well. I

like the big gap as we think that's going to be great as I'm only in

Birmingham Dominick, surely we can get voices close together. No, it's

the satellite, sorry. Right. Pardon? This is the best television I've

ever seen in my life. Tell us about tonight! Is going to be brilliant,

we sold out, it sold out in minutes, my brother had some extra tickets so

they have gone to, we have some of the best new comedy, the new

comedians, funny people in the business. We've got a veritable

musical feast on legs, Rhys James who is very funny, we've got Jack

Cole who was on Britain's got talent, a very funny young man. Can

you give these guys advice? Bearing in mind your experience. Just be

funny and don't bump into the furniture, that's what you've got to

do. It's a really good, joyous night. We are in Brum, it's a home

crowd, we'll have a fantastic time it's packed to the rafters, there's

sticky Dyfi pudding, what could go wrong? Bearing in mind will be other

things you've done, the various aspects of your career, and you feel

these days about doing stand-up yourself? Well, I love stand-up, I

never stops doing stand-up, I just started doing acting dumb and it's

taken quite a lot of my career space. I'm in broad church, starting

on the 27th of that and I'm really enjoyed making that. I did something

with K Miller last year. Acting will be a big part of what I do come in

the future, I hope, and I am in London ended April, so it feels good

acting, but I still love being funny, so don't worry about that.

Still like that. Sur Lenny Henry, thank you very much for talking to

us. Good luck tonight. Turner are! Bye-bye, Nick.

70 years ago, three little old Austin motor cars

made a pioneering trip across the continent

It took in seven capitals in seven days, a then breathtaking total

Well, now a similar old Austin is being lovingly restored

Our transport correspondent Peter Plisner reports.

Coming back to where it was born, an early version of the famous model

that crossed Europe 70 years ago. This car has been meticulously

restored by motoring historian by Loveridge who is searched for more

than a year for to find the right car for the trip. I saw I think in

total 14 16 is to be cross site that her slightly awkward about this.

Founded in Manchester, laid up since 1965. This was the cover for the

restoration started although mine is its engine today, hence the reason

it is on a trailer and it is now as good as new but Guy is still quite

worried about driving on some of Europe's fastest roads. For the bits

of Germany we do with the autobahn, theoretically no speed limit

whatever, we could be going 100 miles an hour slower than the guy

who wants to pass. The original trip was the subject of a book called

gullible travels and inside its pages there are pictures showing the

three cards that made the trip. -- cars. It finished in Geneva, where

the Austin 16 was being launched. Millions of cars were made here at

Longbridge over the years but this car has a special place in the

factory history. It was an Austin 16 that became the millionth vehicle

that rolled off the production line here in 1948. If we have a water

issue, or forget it. Guy won't be alone when he sets of commerce

setting off with former top gear presenter Steve Berry, who's a of

old cars. Any chance to drive them, I take. What surprising about this

car is how well is. And above all, how well it breaks. Those breaks it

will come in handy when the car hits the road. The trip begins on March

the 8th, 17th -- 70 years to the 81st was produced. Good luck to

them! This McDonald's restaurant

in Shrewsbury has been based Right, Move Over Darling, tonight's

weather is all about Doris Day. In all seriousness we have some

serious weather is condemn the tomorrow. This amber weather warning

is in place, the second most serious, be prepared warning, some

very strong gusts of wind comes tomorrow. 60-70 gusts, Gus is

locally up to 80. Some train routes are cancelled already, likely to

cause travel disruption and disruption to buildings and it is

intensifying as it crosses us so this is the warning area. Amber cos

as much as us -- covers much of us, even south there is a yellow weather

warning in place. A windy day tomorrow. This is a storm Doris

tracking invalid and developing with isobars squeezing together a runner

at lunchtime. That is when we will see the strongest winds across our

region, starting to pep up through the day tomorrow, but as for today

it was, quite out of there. Quite a miserable day, slate grace lies --

skies everywhere, rain also. The precursor to storm Doris. As that

pulls away to the north, and clears, the wind strengthens, through the

latter part of today and into tomorrow. Overnight holding up,

still mild, but that changes a storm Doris works her way in. Winds

strengthened throughout the morning and by lunchtime really strong gusts

of wind expected. And showers behind that. Once it starts to pull away we

are left with something a touch cooler so our temperatures will

start to fall -- fall away as well, heading overnight with skies

clearing and temperatures falling away, showers start you become one

tree and on the ground, starting to form some icy stretches. A chilly

start to Friday but calmer. Lots of sunshine, but we are back into a

very changeable resume, so once Friday is out of the way it gets

mild about the rain is back on Saturday, so stay tuned to the

forecast for tomorrow. Good job, guys.

We totally nailed it. This year, fundraising kits are

going to be sent through the post.