:00:00. > :00:07.MPs from the Midlands have been speaking tonight about their shock
:00:08. > :00:09.following the terror attack in Westminster.
:00:10. > :00:14.Five people died, including an armed police officer and the man
:00:15. > :00:18.Three schools from our region were on trips there today,
:00:19. > :00:22.but all children and staff are said to be safe and well.
:00:23. > :00:26.Numerous MPs, including many from this region,
:00:27. > :00:29.spent most of the day locked inside the Palace of
:00:30. > :00:30.Westminster as police carried out their searches.
:00:31. > :00:33.Elizabeth Glinka has been following developments and joins me now.
:00:34. > :00:42.Well, it has been a very dramatic day and to be honest things are
:00:43. > :00:46.still unfolding as we speak. There have been some very upsetting scenes
:00:47. > :00:48.and just like the rest of the country many people from the
:00:49. > :00:53.Midlands have been caught up in this. Rob Lyon from Rugby was
:00:54. > :00:56.walking along Westminster Bridge with a colleague when he saw the car
:00:57. > :01:04.travelling at high speed towards pedestrians. When I saw the vehicle
:01:05. > :01:07.mounted the curb, it was coming so quickly. I saw some people being hit
:01:08. > :01:12.in front of me and I jumped into the road. I think one of the guys who
:01:13. > :01:17.was hit came past me and I looked around me in shock because I could
:01:18. > :01:20.see bodies and people and it was a real shock. And a number of
:01:21. > :01:25.schoolchildren from the Midlands were there at a time. Three schools
:01:26. > :01:28.from the Midlands were on trips to the houses of parliament today. They
:01:29. > :01:31.were Rugby High School, Balsall Common Primary School and Holy
:01:32. > :01:36.Family Catholic Primary School. We know that thankfully the pupils from
:01:37. > :01:40.Rugby High School had just left before the incident started and the
:01:41. > :01:42.children from Balsall Common Primary School were also safe and well. The
:01:43. > :01:46.pupils from Holy Family Catholic Primary School were actually inside
:01:47. > :01:50.Parliament when the incident began. We can see a picture of them from
:01:51. > :01:53.earlier in the day actually on Westminster Bridge, as you can see,
:01:54. > :01:57.where the attack started. Those children were involved in the
:01:58. > :02:01.lockdown. They were inside Parliament but we know they were all
:02:02. > :02:05.safe and released at about 6pm tonight. Lots of people caught in
:02:06. > :02:09.the lockdown. Have they all been allowed to leave? The lockdown was
:02:10. > :02:15.lifted earlier this evening after major searchers of the Westminster
:02:16. > :02:18.estate conducted by armed police. As people started to come out we
:02:19. > :02:21.started to get more the sense of what had been happening in their
:02:22. > :02:25.drink the day, including from the West Bromwich MP Adrian Bailey.
:02:26. > :02:28.We go into Parliament everyday and see these warnings about attacks
:02:29. > :02:31.and danger and I think like a lot of people we just live with them
:02:32. > :02:34.and don't take much notice but today it was a very uncomfortable
:02:35. > :02:37.realisation that this was for real and I think we're really indebted
:02:38. > :02:41.to all our security services and public services that work
:02:42. > :02:44.so hard to insure that went reality does really write they're
:02:45. > :03:01.That when reality does bite they are there to protect us. Paying tribute
:03:02. > :03:05.to police there. We know that one officer was killed, two are being
:03:06. > :03:09.treated in hospital. Now attention begins to turn to who this man was
:03:10. > :03:12.and what was motivating him. Thank you.
:03:13. > :03:14.A Birmingham man's been sentenced to 12 years in prison
:03:15. > :03:17.Osmond Bell was found guilty of the manslaughter
:03:18. > :03:22.But it was a piece of chewing gum and modern day DNA technology that
:03:23. > :03:25.Our special correspondent, Peter Wilson has been
:03:26. > :03:34.Nova Welsh was a happy, extrovert young woman aged just 24.
:03:35. > :03:37.In July 1981 she was living in this block of flats
:03:38. > :03:42.She'd recently split from Osmond Bell, the father
:03:43. > :03:44.of her two children, complaining about his
:03:45. > :03:52.Then one night, she simply disappeared.
:03:53. > :03:55.Osmond Bell didn't report her missing.
:03:56. > :03:59.He told friends that he thought she'd gone to London.
:04:00. > :04:02.In fact, she'd been strangled, her neck broken.
:04:03. > :04:07.But it wasn't for another three weeks that her body was discovered
:04:08. > :04:22.The killer had forced the lock on the cupboard door.
:04:23. > :04:24.he needed something to fix the lock to conceal her body.
:04:25. > :04:35.The only thing he had was a piece of chewing gum.
:04:36. > :04:38.To deceitfully show that that cupboard had not been forced open,
:04:39. > :04:41.a piece of chewing gum was used to stick the lock back on and of
:04:42. > :04:44.course with the advancements of DNA technology over the last 35 years,
:04:45. > :04:47.we were able to send that piece of chewing gum off
:04:48. > :04:49.and find Osmond Bell's DNA on that chewing gum.
:04:50. > :04:52.This is the pink chewing gum turned brown by brick dust and dirt.
:04:53. > :04:55.36 years later, because of that piece of gum, Osmond Bell was found
:04:56. > :05:00.Her mother gave this reaction to his sentence of 12 years,
:05:01. > :05:15.the death of a much loved daughter, sister and mother.
:05:16. > :05:22.By all accounts he's been a good dad.
:05:23. > :05:25.We understand that the boys, now grown men, are completely
:05:26. > :05:28.bewildered, devastated, that their father has proved to be
:05:29. > :05:40.Peter Wilson, BBC Midlands Today, Ladywood, Birmingham.
:05:41. > :05:42.The UK's first factory dedicated solely to electric vehicle
:05:43. > :05:46.The London Taxi Company's invested more than ?300 million
:05:47. > :05:51.It'll create more than a thousand new jobs at a plant which'll be able
:05:52. > :05:58.Here's our Transport Correspondent, Peter Plisner.
:05:59. > :06:01.A massive leap forward for taxi technology.
:06:02. > :06:03.Diesel engines are on the way out and in comes zero
:06:04. > :06:09.Amongst the 1,000 staff being recruited here,
:06:10. > :06:14.apprentices like Abbie Ferrar, braving a male dominated industry.
:06:15. > :06:17.I just always wanted to do engineering and manufacturing.
:06:18. > :06:20.My dad, he's a manufacturing engineer and I've always
:06:21. > :06:31.This line of cars shows taxis through the ages,
:06:32. > :06:34.all of which traditionally have been built in Coventry and the new
:06:35. > :06:36.electric taxi is no exception, except this one's being built
:06:37. > :06:42.But with a range of around 70 miles on one charge, London cabbies
:06:43. > :06:47.The reality is at the moment in London there is one rapid charge
:06:48. > :06:48.point within six miles of Charing Cross.
:06:49. > :06:50.That's an absolutely crazy situation.
:06:51. > :06:53.And they won't be cheap either - rumoured to have a price
:06:54. > :06:55.tag of around ?50,000, although the company's chief
:06:56. > :07:00.executive says lower running should balance things out.
:07:01. > :07:03.When you look at the monthly payments in terms of buying
:07:04. > :07:09.the vehicle coupled with what it costs in Peel, which will be much
:07:10. > :07:12.the vehicle coupled with what it costs in fuel, which will be much
:07:13. > :07:14.lower, coupled with the lower maintenance costs, actually
:07:15. > :07:16.the monthly cost of running this vehicle is not only
:07:17. > :07:18.competitive with today's, it's much better than today's.
:07:19. > :07:21.Analysts maintain that it's a big vote of confidence in the region.
:07:22. > :07:25.Massive investment by the Chinese in the UK and demonstrates
:07:26. > :07:27.the confidence I think that the world has in designed
:07:28. > :07:31.Four years ago, the old London Taxi company went bust.
:07:32. > :07:34.Now it's entering a new era in it's 70-year history
:07:35. > :07:37.with this new factory, and in the future they could also
:07:38. > :07:40.be building electric vans as well as taxis.
:07:41. > :07:46.Peter Plisner, BBC Midlands Today, in Coventry.
:07:47. > :07:48.A special breeding programme is underway in the Black Country
:07:49. > :07:53.Numbers of the black and white bagot goat have been fast diminishing -
:07:54. > :07:57.there are now fewer than 200 females registered in the UK.
:07:58. > :08:00.Laura May McMullan has been along to Sandwell Valley Country Park
:08:01. > :08:04.to see the initial and endearing results of the programme -
:08:05. > :08:15.Just over three weeks old, and still finding their feet.
:08:16. > :08:17.They're the first baby Bagot goats to be born
:08:18. > :08:25.since a special breeding programme was introduced last November.
:08:26. > :08:28.It's quite overwhelming sometimes seeing new birth being brought in.
:08:29. > :08:32.And it is amazing because we kind of saving the breed.
:08:33. > :08:41.It's believed there are less than 200 registered breeding females
:08:42. > :08:43.left in the country and so the aim of this conservation programme
:08:44. > :08:57.Ivy, who I have to say is my favourite, is aged 14.
:08:58. > :08:58.She produced two grade a embryos, which
:08:59. > :09:03.insemination methods and so far four grade-A embryos have been harvested
:09:04. > :09:14.them into the Rare Breeds Survival Trust's gene bank.
:09:15. > :09:17.We are over the moon with the results we have had
:09:18. > :09:25.This is the first time this has ever been done with primitive goats.
:09:26. > :09:28.Bagots are the oldest breed in Britain
:09:29. > :09:32.and it's hoped the fertility programme will now help to preserve
:09:33. > :09:53.I'll leave you now with the weather from Rebecca.
:09:54. > :09:59.Well, it certainly was a wet and miserable day today.
:10:00. > :10:01.Temperatures really struggled underneath all that cloud and rain.
:10:02. > :10:09.But steadily we started to see things brightening up and improving,
:10:10. > :10:18.And that's a theme we'll keep as we head through the next few days.
:10:19. > :10:21.For the night, we have got some clear spells to begin with but we're
:10:22. > :10:24.slowly starting to see that rain band push its way back in,
:10:25. > :10:28.so it is going to be a rather damp start to the day tomorrow.
:10:29. > :10:30.Overnight at temperatures falling between one and three Celsius,
:10:31. > :10:36.At steadily, high pressure is going to force at low pressure
:10:37. > :10:38.system out of the way and that's what brings that rain
:10:39. > :10:42.But once it has cleared, we will start to see
:10:43. > :10:46.So it is going to be a damp rush-hour but eventually the cloud
:10:47. > :10:48.thinning and breaking across the North Midlands,
:10:49. > :10:51.the sun coming out and temperatures are going to start to recover.
:10:52. > :10:53.We should see them pushing up to 11 Celsius once again.
:10:54. > :10:56.So we are slowly starting to head in the right direction.
:10:57. > :10:57.That high-pressure settling things down as we head
:10:58. > :11:05.decent day. Saturday could be a much better day, with some sunshine.
:11:06. > :11:14.It certainly was a pretty wet day across parts of the country, lots of
:11:15. > :11:15.downpours around. This is a picture