15/02/2017 Midlands Today

A 72-year-old man has been sentenced to nine years in prison,

for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a young girl

in Staffordshire, 16 years after the attack took place.

Arnold Baxter was caught when his DNA came up

on a police database, after being arrested

Our Staffordshire reporter Sian Grzeszczyk was in court.

On the left as he looked when he abducted and sexually assaulted

On the right, a 72-year-old on his way to prison tonight.

In March 2001, police were hunting for him.

His crime featured on the BBC's Crimewatch programme.

He snatched his young victim in the village of

He'd driven her away to Walton on Trent,

assaulted her and then abandoned her.

She was found alone, half an hour later.

But until last year, her attacker had remained at large

That DNA breakthrough came down as a result

of Arnold Baxter getting arrested for a drink-drive offence,

no doubt to celebrate his 72nd birthday, he consumed alcohol,

got behind the wheel of a vehicle which he subsequently crashed.

But when his DNA was taken for that road traffic offence,

that then led to the DNA match for this serious

sexual offence and kidnap that occurred in March 2001.

When sentencing Baxter, his honour Judge Eades described

what happened as every parents' nightmare.

He said that Arnold Baxter would remain on the

I would really like to pay testament,

really, to the bravery and the courage of our victim

but also the victim's family and the local residents,

This offence did cast a shadow over this community

for some time when the offence was committed so it's just

wonderful news for them who now finally can put it

behind them and move on with the rest of their lives.

Tonight, Arnold Baxter starts his nine-year sentence

knowing that the dark secret he thought he could keep hidden

Sian Grzeszczyk, BBC Midlands Today, Stafford Crown Court.

On New Year's Eve, Will Flint was taking out ?20

from a cash point, moments later he had been

The 27-year-old intervened when he saw a woman being attacked.

Today Mr Flint returned to the scene of the assault for the first time.

Here's our special correspondent Peter Wilson.

William Flint had been celebrating New Year's Eve when he stopped at

Selly Oak in Birmingham at the cash machine.

He saw a woman being attacked, Will stepped in to help but

the man turned on him, repeatedly stabbing him.

It's bringing back some emotions, I guess.

Lots of people are calling you a "have a go hero",

I'm just a regular guy who wanted to use a cashpoint, saw

something bad going on and wanted to help, wanted to do

I think most decent people would do the same thing.

Will suffered a collapsed lung, ruptured spleen and

The knifeman, 18-year-old Aidan Morrissey, was

But what's the police advice about intervening to stop a crime?

If people are carrying knives, they are

extremely dangerous and I could not encourage people to intervene

They need to call 999 and get emergency services to the

Before the attack, Will Flint had been learning

His instructor believes that Will's fitness kept him alive.

The 60 stitches and collapsed lung spell

the end of Will's career in physique fitness competitions.

He now wants to put his energy into beating knife crime.

Knives are out there, they are very present on our streets and

Will Flint plans to take his anti-knife

campaign into city schools and colleges this summer.

Peter Wilson, BBC Midlands Today, Birmingham.

Two lanes on the M6 northbound in Staffordshire are closed tonight

The accident happened between junctions 12 and 13,

police and ambulance are in attendance.

There are currently two miles of tailbacks.

The West Midlands has had the largest rise in unemployment

A jogger in Birmingham has been shot with a stun gun, as a gang tried

The victim suffered burns, whilst fighting off the attackers

Police say six people have reported similar

incidents in South Birmingham in just five days.

Four teenagers have been arrested and bailed.

A driver caught on camera weaving between the barriers of a level

crossing in the Black Country, has been condemned by

The footage shows the silver Citroen crossing the line

near Oldbury just moments before a train was due to pass.

British Transport Police hasn't been able to identify the motorist.

Footballers who repeatedly head the ball can end up with dementia,

Researchers examined the brains of six players known for their skill

at heading the ball, all of whom developed

The former West Brom and England striker Jeff Astle died

Our reporter Amy Cole is at West Brom's ground,

What has been the reaction to the study?

Hitting headers is of course an integral part of the game

but for some today's findings only reinforce their suspicions.

Now you may remember the former England and West Brom striker

Jeff Astle who was affectionately called the King by his fans.

He played for the club for ten years from 1964.

He died in 2002 at the age of 59 after suffering

from a degenerative brain disease linked to repeatedly heading

footballs, which were then made of leather so much heavier

Since his death the fans, the club and his family have been

campaigning for more research, calling it 'Justice for Jeff'.

Today his window said the results of this new study

The inquest on Jeff 15 years ago said that

heading the ball was an industrial disease

Although it's good to get, obviously, research,

The family have been asking the Football Association to fund

research into this for the last 15 years.

Have they said anything to? The family have got their wish as the FA

said they will fund research. They say that the one question that needs

answering is whether degenerative brain disease is more prevalent in

ex-footballers will stop where as for Laraine, she says she will

believe it when she sees it. Thank you.

A couple who got married in a hospice have sent

their heartfelt thanks to a total stranger.

Paul Bruce, who has terminal cancer, married Emma Davies -

and when a customer at the florist heard their story, he insisted

Paul Bruce and Emma Davies got married at Mary Stevens Hospice in

Paul has terminal cancer and didn't feel up

to being filmed by us but they want to thank

a complete stranger who made

their Valentine's wedding so special.

Here's Emma with her bouquet shortly beforehand.

which matron Claire Towns collected from the florist

and was taken aback by the reaction of another customer.

A gentleman in the shop overheard me saying that I

was from the local hospice and he stepped in and said that he would

like to pay for the flowers for the couple getting married.

Just surprised at his act of just genuine human kindness.

The wedding was arranged with just 24 hours notice.

Paul realised that it was Valentine's Day the next day and he

had not got round to marrying Emma which was something that he had

expressed that he wanted to do and was quite upset about the fact

and said to the nurses, "I haven't married Emma."

And they said, "Don't worry, we can help you.

And this is the florists in Stourbridge which made the bouquets

at the moment's notice on one of their busiest days of the year.

They were never going to charge full price in the circumstances

but the mystery customer's generosity touched them.

And then for somebody else just to say, out of the blue,

Paul and Emma say the kind act made their special day even more so.

Joanne Writtle, BBC Midlands Today, Stourbridge.

If you are that stranger, we would love to hear from you.

I'll leave you with the weather from Shefali.

Well, it was another lacklustre day today.

We started off with the mist and some fog patches

Lots of cloud and even some rain but mild temperatures.

Everything but the sunshine which is what we should be seeing

And that is because we've got this ridge of high pressure

building which should help to break up the cloud and you'll also

noticed that the winds are turning to westerlies,

We'll probably be into the mid-teens by the start of next week

and temperatures at this time of year are more like eight Celsius,

so quite mild, something to look forward to.

But this is in summary what the weekend is looking like.

You're probably wondering what that will be.

Cloudy mornings, we've got some brighter afternoons but it is also

Now, for tonight, we have seen any of that

rain from earlier on dying away, moving away but we will see

the cloud breaking up now and under the clearer spells,

temperatures will drop to a minimum of three Celsius here

in the south-west of the region but generally above freezing.

So no frost into the morning tomorrow but

So it could be a fairly murky start to the day but plenty of sunshine

around, just the odd shower flitting across the region

and temperatures eventually rising to around ten to 11 Celsius.

I'll leave you now with the outlook for the next few days.

the weekend. Wouldn't promise you two dry days but you never know,

here is Nick with the national picture.

Hello. We put that cold weekend well behind us now. Temperatures edging

upwards and our weather watchers are seeing plenty of signs of spring.

Spending more time looking down than looking up at the skies, we see

these early blooms. They are set to continue as we are set to stay mild

for several more days to come. Average daytime temperature this

time of year around eight, but getting into double figures all the

way through the weekend. The start of next week into the mid-teens

potentially, very mild indeed.