03/01/2017 Midlands Today

The West Midlands Police force is introducing rigorous vetting

checks and making it easier for staff to report corrupt

colleagues after a former officer was found guilty

Allan Richards was jailed for 22 years in November.

Today a force spokesman said his actions had been

like a slap in the face, and should never be

For the whole of his long police career, PC Allan Richards

from Birmingham was a secret abuser of boys.

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.

Us as West Midlands Police, every police officer

and member of police staff, has been disgusted by

what Allan Richards did and they are really pleased

And we've got a number of processes in place

addressing training, culture, and vetting,

to try and ensure that that never happens again.

So what did people know of Richards' activities?

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,

away from public contact. In 2011 he retires,

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 to report

There is still the question of whether any individual officers

will face disciplinary proceedings for failing to investigate

Allan Richards properly in the early 2000s.

That will depend on the results of a report from The Independent

Police Complaints Commission which is due to be

It is difficult for anyone to stick their neck out and say that

We can say that the force has responded quickly.

It is reassuring to know that the force does not want to be

in this position again. Allan Richards has

But senior officers say this case has also increased their resolve

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

15 fire crews have been tackling a fire at a disused

The fire was in an office building on the Lichfield Road site.

Police and ambulance services are also in attendance.

Firefighters in breathing apparatus have been searching the building.

Figures released today show just how under pressure our emergency NHS

services have been over the festive period.

West Midlands Ambulance Service on New Year's day.

That's 800 more calls than the last peak.

In addition, waiting times have been lengthy at Accident and Emergency

Our reporter Laura May McMullan has more details and joins

Well, to sum it up in one word - it's been described as frantic.

Over a five day period up to yesterday,

West Midlands Ambulance Service received more than 18,500

Across the region there's usually around 3,000 calls a day -

but on New Year's day alone - that shot up to more than 4,500.

The busiest the service has ever experienced.

Now, bosses admit that increase has had knock on effects

Some of those delays have peaked really high this year.

At one point just yesterday we lost 350 hours of ambulance -

Clearly that's unacceptable and want to make improvements on that.

people are actually being urged to stay away unless it

Waiting times at A have been anything up to 12 hours

and on New Year's day there was a huge surge - more

and New Year's morning you'd usually expect around 80 patients.

By 9am on New Year's day they'd already seen 180.

The numbers are really huge and some avoidable.

Particularly if they're alcohol related.

sensibly and if they're not sure dial 111.

So before you dial 999 or attend A the advice is to think carefully

and not impact the emergency care for others.

New figures gathered by BBC Radio Stoke have revealed

that police forces across our region are dealing with an increasing

number of call outs involving the mentally ill.

Every year for the last five years, they've gone up, reaching more

The youngest person involved was a 13-year-old girl arrested

by West Mercia Police - the oldest, an 81-year-old man held

But actual numbers of people being detained in police

custody have fallen, mainly due to projects

where the police, social services and NHS staff work together.

Dealing with people who have got drug issues, alcohol

health, is something that agencies across the board need to deal with

Two reasons, one because it is good for the individuals, and

two because the amount of money that public services spend on mental

health issues when they are far more advanced

than they need to be, is

absolutely phenomenal, and we need to reduce that cost.

Researchers in Coventry have unveiled a new generation of

batteries for electric cars, which they say are an 80%

Staff at WMG are hoping they'll soon be put to the test

Last week the Secretary of State announced having some battery

technology in the Midlands, technology to go into an electric

car, we need a facility to produce batteries in this country.

They were known as the canary girls because the chemicals

they worked with in the munitions factories in two world wars

But there's never been an official recognition of the vital service

these women carried out for their country.

Sarah Bishop has been to meet one former worker,

who survived an air raid on the factory where she was based.

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 kilogram bombs.

Nancy and her friend Betty were the only two survivors out

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.

BBC Hereford and Worcester is campaigning for a special

veterans' badge to be issued to former munitions workers.

So, if you or someone in your family worked in munitions

please do get in touch, via Facebook, e-mail or on Twitter.

Just one football result to bring you to tonight

Here is the weather. The region was covered in a crust of ice and frost

this morning. We did have clouds creeping in from the north. This

frontal system will push South West tonight and tomorrow. After that

high-pressure builds and. Another front will build them from the West.

Brighter skies the further East you are. Tonight we have fragments of

clear sky that cloud syncing southwards. That will cover the

entire region. It will be frost free. There could be the odd spot of

rain. Tomorrow morning starts on a cloudy and mild note. But cloud

clears away southwards to leave us with plenty of sunshine to row of

the day. Temperatures seven or eight Celsius, reasonably mild. Moderate

wind.