10/04/2017 Midlands Today

It was a passive act of defiance, which has attracted

This picture of Saffiyah Khan smiling at an English Defence League

supporter at the weekend, has been shared thousands of times.

Saffiyah says she stepped in to protect a woman who had been

surrounded by members of the far right movement, during

their demonstration in Birmingham on Saturday.

The EDL claims that she disrupted a minute's silence for terror attack

victims during the rally, which she denies.

An image that's travelled around the world - today,

at home in Acocks Green, Saffiyah Khan was reflecting on her

moment of defiance at Saturday's EDL demonstration in Birmingham.

She says she stepped in to help a Muslim woman

She seemed scared, but regardless of whether or not she felt scared,

the fact of the matter is there was a group

of EDL surrounding her, and I don't think anybody should be

The photograph shows Saffiyah appearing to smile at EDL

She says he was poking his finger in her face,

I was just looking at the guy, and sometimes just the best

Were you actually scared when you intervened?

I wasn't then, and I'm not now, and I don't intend to be.

Ian Crossland hasn't yet commented today,

but he did speak on Saturday before the photograph was taken.

It's not a demonstration against Muslims, it's

a demonstration against radical Mu...Islam.

Around 100 people took part in the rally.

The EDL says it moved the protest from Derby to Birmingham

because Khalid Masood, the Westminster attacker,

On a site claiming to be the EDL's official Facebook page,

it said Saffiyah had been "disrespectful, shouting

during a minute's silence for victims of terror attacks

Saffiyah says there was no "one-minute silence".

That's a really hurtful claim, because anyone that knows me,

even not particularly well, or has just talk to me once

or twice, can vouch for the fact that I would respect a minute's

Saffiyah also denies claims she's a member of any anti-fascist group.

People we spoke to seemed happy the photograph had been circulated

I think it's a brave act, especially because they are quite,

you know, they are a lot more aggressive and physically taller

When she stayed calm, I think it brought more

awareness to it rather than causing an argument.

Saffiyah says she finds it strange the picture has

attracted such notoriety, but hopes it'll motivate

A mum, drunk on vodka, who lost control of her car

in a high-speed crash as her toddler son sat in the back seat,

32-year-old Tania Chikwature, from Coventry, was more than three

times over the drink-drive limit, when she lost control

of her Nissan Qashqai near Peterborough in December.

Our reporter Ben Sidwell has the details.

The images are really quite shocking.

The accident happened on December the 12th,

Tania Chikwature hit a roundabout while overtaking a lorry

Take a look at these pictures taken from the dash

The impact catapulted the car 14 feet into the air,

it hit a tree and then landed on its roof on the other side.

In the back seat of her car was her 20 month old son.

Incredibly, he wasn't hurt and was found by passing motorists

still in his car seat hanging upside down.

What was the court told today? and was cut free by fire-fighters.

Today Magistrates heard that she'd been up drinking vodka

the night before the crash, and a vodka bottle was found

She refused to do a breath test at the scene, but was later

Officers then worked out that at the time of the incident

she was more than three times over the drink-drive limit.

The police officer in charge of the case said Chikwature had

showed complete disregard for the safety and welfare

He said it was pure luck that nobody was killed.

Chikwature admitted dangerous driving and was jailed for 26 weeks.

She also admitted drinking and driving, and was sentenced to 12

She was banned from driving for three years.

A 26-year-old man's appeared in court charged with murdering

a father of four, at a tram stop in Birmingham.

Anthony Banting died after being stabbed a number

of times in Winson Green on March the 31st.

Alaeldein Ahmed appeared before magistrates in

He was remanded in custody and is due to appear

at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday.

A controversial plan to award a ?690 million contract,

covering cancer care in Staffordshire, has been scrapped.

The proposals involved University Hospital North Midlands

and Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals, but it would have meant a contractor

taking on ten per cent more work, with no extra money.

Health bosses have decided it was too financially

In simple terms, they couldn't demonstrate they were able to manage

the risk of the contract. We wanted them to increase the number of

people who were diagnosed with cancer and, actually, ensure they

were treated but within the same money available previously.

A woman from Stourbridge who was seriously injured

when she rescued a child off the coast of Devon, has been

speaking about her determination to be able to live in her own home.

Deb Drew has been in a rehabilitation centre

since suffering severe injuries following the rescue in 2014.

Now friends and family are fundraising, so she can

Kisses for a dear friend whom they rarely get to see these days.

A chance for Deb Drew to get out of her rehabilitation centre

where she now spends all of her time.

Back in 2014 she was holidaying in Woolacombe off

Deb saw a young boy get into difficulties in the sea

Both had to be rescued by the coastguard, but Deb suffered

I can't move, so I can't wash myself or...

I can now clean my teeth and feed myself breakfast now, so, obviously,

She's a mother of two boys, who are now in their teens,

and her dream is to spend this Christmas at home with them -

she's not been back there since the accident.

But she needs a very expensive wheelchair that

can help her stand up, so friends from her old tennis club

are cycling, pumping iron and getting fit fast

for a three-day fundraising challenge.

We are going to run up and down Snowdon in

a fell race style challenge, and then we are going to swim

on Lake Bala, which I understand in May is pretty cold,

so we are all quite excited about that, and then

we are going to do a 60-mile bike dash, a relay bike dash

from the centre of Wales, mid-Wales, to our finish point,

They need to raise ?25,000, and Deb couldn't be more grateful.

Her mother Beryl is also a constant support.

She says enabling her daughter to go home would be a huge relief.

Her mind is healing quicker than her body is healing, which makes it...

In one way it's good, but in another way it's not so good,

because she's got time to think and wonder what's going to happen.

Deb knows the boy survived but has never heard from his family.

Her friends say she is truly selfless.

Now when was the last time you wrote or received a handwritten letter?

That's one of the ideas behind a new exhibition in Birmingham.

It's been organised by Jodi Anne Bickley.

After suffering serious illness and depression,

she started the project One Million Lovely Letters in 2013,

She's sent 4,000 and has a waiting list of 8,000.

With so much demand, she's taken on ten letter writing volunteers.

She hopes the exhibition will inspire others to start

That's all from me, have a good night.

Shefali has the forecast for the week ahead.

Hallo and good evening. Yes I was going to be a hard act to follow,

take a look at the contrast between the deep blue skies yesterday and

the cloudy ones today. That has had a knock-on effect in temperatures,

dropping them 8-10 . Yesterday was abnormally warm for the time of year

and this week you'll find temperatures will be average for

this time of year, perhaps high initially, then mid week onwards

becoming a little bit lower as the breeze freshens up from the West.

Generally speaking, just occasional showers sunshine. Tonight is settled

with clear skies out there with a bit of patchy cloud here and there

with temperatures dropping down to five in the south-west of the region

and these figures are for the towns and cities and it is colder in the

countryside. They chilly start tomorrow but plenty of sunshine on

offer with some cloud bubbling up. It is a dry day temperatures rising

to 15-16 with a moderate breeze. Tomorrow night, a frontal system

pushes down from the north-west, pushing the cloud our way, keeping

things drier for the entirety of tomorrow night with temperatures

higher than tonight. We start the day on Wednesday 7-8. Some lighter

outbreaks of rain to the south-east, just the odd heavier burst here and

there with sunshine in between and temperatures 13-14. There is a

breeze from the West, and as a result of this frontal system

pushing out of the south-east, breezy conditions developing through

the rest of the week. So, dryer on Thursday, a spot of rain on

will have to keep an eye on the National forecast with Matt Taylor.