:00:07. > :00:10.A gang of men who stole more than ?3 million-worth
:00:11. > :00:13.of jewellery from shops right across Britain have today been
:00:14. > :00:19.The men were recruited for their fitness.
:00:20. > :00:22.They cycled to raids to avoid their cars being picked up
:00:23. > :00:25.on number plate recognition systems and left traps so that the police
:00:26. > :00:28.couldn't follow them.Today that all came to an end.
:00:29. > :00:36.A high-end jewellers in Stoke-on-Trent, a burglary
:00:37. > :00:41.Just one carried out by a highly organised gang working together.
:00:42. > :00:45.Seven men were part of a group, all from Romania, which carried out
:00:46. > :00:48.11 burglaries at jewellers across the country.
:00:49. > :00:52.Burglaries which netted the gang more than ?3 million.
:00:53. > :00:55.That level of criminality, how highly organised,
:00:56. > :00:58.the military precision they had, they actually executed,
:00:59. > :01:01.the sophistication and planning around it, clearly not accepted
:01:02. > :01:06.It was in March of last year in the early hours of the morning
:01:07. > :01:09.that the gang set their sights on Beaverbrooks, at the Pottery
:01:10. > :01:16.In what became their signature, they started a fire in the entrance
:01:17. > :01:19.of the centre before smashing their way into the
:01:20. > :01:25.Stealing watches and rings worth ?400,000.
:01:26. > :01:28.The gang members were recruited on the basis that they were young
:01:29. > :01:30.and fit, spending less than two minutes in each shop,
:01:31. > :01:33.making their getaway on bicycles to avoid automatic
:01:34. > :01:41.Burglaries were carried out in numerous towns and cities.
:01:42. > :01:44.Stratford-upon-Avon, Oxford, Milton Keynes
:01:45. > :01:48.Sentencing Judge Glenn said the conspiracy was wide-ranging
:01:49. > :01:53.and involving a significant number of individuals, some of whom have
:01:54. > :01:58.The offences, he said, involved planning and organisation
:01:59. > :02:06.Judge Glenn also recommended the men be deported, saying, frankly,
:02:07. > :02:08.this country has more than enough criminals of its own.
:02:09. > :02:17.A final member of the gang will be sentenced at the end of the month.
:02:18. > :02:20.A bank worker was held hostage in what looked like an armed raid
:02:21. > :02:25.Her colleagues hid in a back room, as police and negotiators
:02:26. > :02:31.Whilst the incident took place in a NatWest branch,
:02:32. > :02:33.it doesn't appear to have been an attempted robbery.
:02:34. > :02:37.The police were very reassuring which was good
:02:38. > :02:40.and they kept everybody where they needed to be
:02:41. > :02:44.But obviously we had the shutters down, that was the best
:02:45. > :02:49.They were obviously making sure it was safe over there
:02:50. > :02:53.but there were various armed vehicles brought
:02:54. > :02:59.Seven more suspected boy racers have been arrested during raids
:03:00. > :03:03.West Midlands Police are still trying to trace the 200
:03:04. > :03:07.or so bikers who took to the streets on scramblers, mini motos and quad
:03:08. > :03:10.bikes for a mass rideout in November last year.
:03:11. > :03:18.Doctors had to pause operations at the George Eliot Hospital
:03:19. > :03:20.in Warwickshire today because of a power cut.
:03:21. > :03:23.The lights went out in A, radiology and on a number
:03:24. > :03:28.Patients being driven to the hospital by ambulance were
:03:29. > :03:35.Extending the tram service into the heart of Birmingham's
:03:36. > :03:39.shopping centre has increased the numbers using it by a third.
:03:40. > :03:47.Following its expansion, it now runs from Wolverhampton
:03:48. > :03:52.It's been another day of celebration for the Irish on St Patrick's Day
:03:53. > :03:57.The Gold Cup was won by Sizing John, which is trained in Ireland,
:03:58. > :04:00.to the delight of the thousands of fans who've travelled
:04:01. > :04:04.But for the police their attention's been drawn
:04:05. > :04:06.to illegal ticket touts operating in the town.
:04:07. > :04:08.There've been complaints that they're not only
:04:09. > :04:11.charging over the odds, but some tickets are fakes.
:04:12. > :04:16.For the first time, people suspected of ticket touting in Cheltenham
:04:17. > :04:19.are being targeted by police and licensing teams.
:04:20. > :04:21.He did not have a certificate which is obviously an offence
:04:22. > :04:24.and as a result, we've seized one ticket from him.
:04:25. > :04:26.We've seized that as the police and we've passed his details
:04:27. > :04:30.on to the borough council to make a decision, whether he's prosecuted.
:04:31. > :04:34.That ticket's for you, is it? Yes, I just bought it.
:04:35. > :04:38.The teams say, if you haven't got a ticket for the races,
:04:39. > :04:40.getting one on the street isn't a problem.
:04:41. > :04:41.Tickets! Anyone want tickets?
:04:42. > :04:44.We saw plenty of people offering tickets and selling,
:04:45. > :04:48.something which isn't illegal, but you do need a licence.
:04:49. > :04:51.If you want to sell anything on the street, whether that be
:04:52. > :04:54.tickets or hot foos or anything, you need a street trading licence.
:04:55. > :04:57.And from the work we've done this week, we know that the majority
:04:58. > :05:00.of the touts out there don't have a street trading licence
:05:01. > :05:03.or a pedlar's certificate from their police authority to sell,
:05:04. > :05:06.so the majority of them are selling illegally.
:05:07. > :05:09.This man near the racecourse admitted selling tickets
:05:10. > :05:13.If you fail to have a pedlar's certificate,
:05:14. > :05:16.Officials at the racecourse say complaints about ticket touts
:05:17. > :05:19.are high on the list and the problem is often overpriced
:05:20. > :05:22.and some fake tickets, the time has come to do
:05:23. > :05:26.We want our racegoers to come here and have an enjoyable time,
:05:27. > :05:29.not to be pestered, have the nuisance and sometimes pretty
:05:30. > :05:34.Not surprisingly, nobody suspected of touting that we spoke to wanted
:05:35. > :05:39.Although one man did tell me he was upset that his honest
:05:40. > :05:43.But others were legitimate, like this man who had
:05:44. > :05:48.But as the crackdown has gone on this week,
:05:49. > :05:50.many of those suspected of being ticket touts
:05:51. > :05:53.They've adapted, they've seen us out on the streets,
:05:54. > :05:57.we've spoken to them, given them the warnings
:05:58. > :06:00.they require and they've had information and paperwork.
:06:01. > :06:06.But they are still out there and no doubt they are still selling.
:06:07. > :06:10.This year was a soft approach - a warning to the touts -
:06:11. > :06:13.but the racecourse says, eventually, they want to try
:06:14. > :06:23.Football, and in League One Shrewsbury Town have lost
:06:24. > :06:32.That's almost all from the late team.
:06:33. > :06:34.The weather's next with Rebecca Wood.
:06:35. > :06:37.Have a great weekend, from me goodnight.
:06:38. > :06:40.It was a day where we saw plenty of cloud.
:06:41. > :06:43.We started off on a brighter note but steadily we saw that cloud
:06:44. > :06:46.thickening and at times we did get some rain from it.
:06:47. > :06:50.As we had through this weekend more of the same to come I'm afraid.
:06:51. > :06:51.We are seeing this rain just across the
:06:52. > :06:53.northern and western parts of the region,
:06:54. > :06:55.largely cloudy overnight tonight and it is breezy.
:06:56. > :06:57.The cloud, the rain and the wind all holding
:06:58. > :07:03.Lows of between eight and nine Celsius.
:07:04. > :07:05.It is quite a murky startto the day tomorrow.
:07:06. > :07:08.We've got this waving weather front which is going to continue to push
:07:09. > :07:10.rain down across us as we had through the weekend.
:07:11. > :07:14.It will clear away at times but it is going to be a wet start
:07:15. > :07:16.for the north and west of the region again.
:07:17. > :07:18.Tomorrow, some brighter spells particularly further east but
:07:19. > :07:21.we will see that rain filtering in by the end of the day.
:07:22. > :07:25.More in the national forecast for you.
:07:26. > :07:28.I will leave you with an outlook for the next couple of days.
:07:29. > :07:40.it is rather breezy. Now for the national outlook.
:07:41. > :07:48.It was quite a wet day across many northern and western parts of the
:07:49. > :07:52.UK. This was the view in Lancashire not so long ago. For the weekend we
:07:53. > :07:57.are looking to see further rain, all coming from the west, so the further
:07:58. > :08:01.east you are, it should be drier. It will be quite a windy weekend for
:08:02. > :08:04.all parts. The radar from earlier today showing quite a bit of rain
:08:05. > :08:05.across the North and west.