05/01/2017 Midlands Today

Accident and Emergency departments across our region are once again

struggling to cope with growing numbers of patients.

Ambulance crews are reporting long delays in getting patients

into casualty departments, while in Worcestershire

patients have been treated on trolleys in corridors.

Health bosses in Shropshire are once again asking people not to use A

Here's our Health Correspondent Michele Paduano.

This was the scene in Dudley this evening, ten ambulances lined up

This morning, across our region, Dudley, along with Stoke-on-Trent

and Walsall, were on the highest level of alert.

Yesterday, according to the Ambulance Service,

there were more than 500 hours of delays as crews waited outside

Doctors are warning it might not be over.

Obviously, when we've had more patients in hospital who are sick

and needed treatment, they often may stay in hospital

So I would expect this would have an effect

The situation in Worcester is now beginning to ease,

but at its height earlier this week, three corridors were

Yesterday, 50 patients waited more than four hours.

The BBC has learned of three deaths over the past week here in Worcester

A man who bled internally in the corridor and he

A man who bled internally in the corridor and who

An elderly woman who was terminally ill who spent 35 hours

in the corridor, and a patient who hanged themselves on a ward.

There is nothing to link the deaths directly with winter pressures.

The trust won't comment on them but it admits it has been busy.

Some people are waiting a long time and for that we're really,

really sorry but it's just the intense pressure we're under.

And I think it's not just us as well, there's other hospitals

across the county that are equally in a difficult position.

With Accident Emergency departments struggling to hope,

they're hoping for a break from the weather.

And it's also been announced that the Midwife-led maternity unit

in Ludlow is closed tonight until 8:00am tomorrow morning due

Women who've been booked in and who are expected to go

into labour have been contacted and offered a home birth

Two men have been jailed and one has yet to be sentenced after a major

cannabis factory was found at a farm in Staffordshire.

It was described as a "sophisticated and commercial" operation which had

been carefully hidden behind bales of hay in a barn

This is police footage of what was described

in court as a sophisticated and well-established commercial

Detectives say it had the potential to produce

Stafford Crown Court heard how police seized plants and packages

It was located here at Newchurch near Burton upon Trent.

Police said the cannabis factory at this remote location had been

And it's believed plans were afoot to expand

Martin Young, on the right, paid ?28,000 a year to rent the farm

He was jailed for three years and two months.

Ian Locke, wearing a hat was jailed for two years and three months.

The court heard how the former landscape gardener from Newport

in Shropshire, had moved to the farm shortly before police raided.

The court heard that Raymond Nicholls from Birmingham had

been diagnosed with cancer and will be sentenced later.

All three men admitted cultivating cannabis and possession

They had growing rooms, they had nursery rooms for plants

and they also had preparation rooms that were specifically

The Recorder, Michael Elsom, said that although involved, Young,

Locke and Nicholls were not the overall directing minds behind

Another man is still wanted by police.

JCB has won one of the biggest single orders in its 71-year

history, a $142 million deal to supply the United States Army

The Staffordshire diggermaker will produce more than 1,600 rough

terrain forklifts for use around the world, including for loading

and unloading aircraft and shipping containers.

Warwickshire Police has agreed to pay more than ?20,000

to the family of a woman who was found dead after officers

The force's apologised to the family of 44-year-old Luisa Mendes,

acknowledging errors were made in the handling of her call.

Officers didn't attend the property until 14

hours after she reported an alleged assault.

More now on the tributes which have been paid to Jill Saward,

the renowned campaigner for the rights of victims of sexual

violence, who died today at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton.

The 51 year-old was the first person in the UK to waive her anonymity

after she was raped during a burglary in

Our reporter Audrey Dias joins me in the studio.

Now, Jill and her family had lived in Staffordshire for many years.

What have people been saying about her?

There are tributes to her courage and the difference she made by

and the way it treats victims of and the way it treats victims of

sexual violence. Local Warwickshire MP, Jeremy White and also the

Attorney General, said she opened the eyes of many politicians and

helped make sure victims are placed at the heart of the criminal justice

system. There are those who have been leaving messages on her

Facebook page. She was an inspiration, fearless and kind lady.

Her family have been talking about what has happened today. They have

taken comfort in knowing that our wonderful wife, mother and sister

was able to help other people to the very end. Thank you.

A Birmingham MP has urged the Education Secretary to step

in to protect the anonymity of witnesses in the

Those who gave evidence about whether there was an Islamic

plot to take-over some non-faith schools were told their names

But the Department for Education is now considering revealing

their identities to teachers facing disciplinary action so their lawyers

I want the Education Secretary to get a grip of this process,

Because on the one hand you've got some teachers accused

They need British justice, fair, open and transparent.

On the other hand, we have 50 witnesses who came

forward on the proviso that they were guaranteed anonymity.

Now, it's not that usual to have lambs at this time of year,

as most farmers opt to lamb in the spring.

But one farm in Staffordshire is looking after 11

A sneaky escape by two rams in the summer has led

This little one is the result of a bit of early

You'd normally have to wait until spring to see newborn lambs,

but at this farm in Staffordshire, 11 have come along already.

We did put the tups away from the ewes, we thought,

But nevertheless, they got into the ewes and it was a big

surprise at the end of November when there was a lamb in the field.

And this lamb that Deborah is holding now is number seven

of the 11 born three days before Christmas Day, and a real cutie.

Lambs are normally timed to be born when the grass is starting to grow.

Fortunately, mild conditions mean there is still some grazing to be

had, so the new offspring are let out for a few hours a day.

It is a beautiful day, we've got a lovely frosty

morning and on top of that, we've got lambs running around

It's nearly six weeks since the first lamb was born.

Deborah still can't get over the lengths the tups went

They ran all the way from over there, all the way through that,

through the fence there, through the fences there,

ended up at that gate there and got to the ewes,

Even though she loves the lambs, Deborah is determined

Any further misplaced passion won't get the chance to be fulfilled.

Bob Hockenhull, BBC Midlands Today, Staffordshire.

The Black Sabbath star Tony Iommi has composed a song

But the guitarist, who's acknowledged as the man

who invented heavy metal, has taken a very different

He's taken as his inspiration Psalm 133, which is about people living

in peace and harmony, to create a five minute work

for acoustic guitar and the men and boys of the cathedral choir.

I've done stuff, instrumental acoustic stuff on Sabbath

But to do something like this for Birmingham as well,

be involved with the Dean, with the choir and the whole thing,

And you can see more on this story on our Facebook page.

But is it going to be as peaceful on the weather front?

I'll leave you with the forecast from Rebecca, but from me, goodbye.

It is nice and peaceful at the moment, but it was a chilly start

today. Temperatures last night dipped down to minus seven. Tonight

perhaps, a degree or two above that, although it is already minus five

out there in some spots. But the change is on the way in the form of

this weather system pushing in from the West. Cloud thickening up and it

will affect the temperatures by the time we wake up tomorrow morning. It

is very cold out there at the moment underneath the clear skies but from

the West we see the cloud working its way in. By tomorrow morning, we

start to see those temperatures lifting. But it is still in minus

figures, so a chilly start to the day tomorrow. It will be bright,

bright further south and east and the cloud starts to come in and the

rain arrives. The rain will be heavy at times, pepping up across the

Midlands at times, temperatures between four and six Celsius. Usable

weather across the weekend, although temperatures on paper will be

higher, but with the grey weather about it will not feel too pleasant.

More information in the National forecast the I will leave you with

the outlook for the next few days. Good night.

creeping up by a notch or two, 10, maybe nine Celsius. Here is Louise

with