12/04/2017 Midlands Today

Security is being increased along the River Severn,

to stop baby eels being smuggled out of the country.

The UK Border Force found 200 kilograms of baby eels - or elvers -

They were being illegally transported to Hong Kong,

where they could have sold for up to ?1.3 million.

Here's our Rural Affairs Correspondent, David Gregory-Kumar.

Full moon means high tides and peak elver catches on the River Severn.

These are all legal elvermen using their traditional elver nets

But alongside legal fishing on the River Severn,

there is now a worry that there is a growing amount

of poaching and then smuggling of elvers out of the country.

Something the legal elver fishermen really don't like.

If we don't look after the fish, we haven't got any fishing

so the people that are smuggling and taking them abroad,

Because eels and elvers are endangered, and because the appetite

for them in China and the Far East is so large, export

But those who break the ban can make a lot of money.

they will go to the elver station and we believe the current

price is ?150 per kilo, but the important thing

is the elvers being sent to Asia can be worth as much as ?6,000 per kilo

so that's what makes this attractive for smuggling, if you like,

This is the UK's first large-scale elver smuggling bust

Hidden under legal fish, three trays of elvers with a street

More expensive than beluga caviar, they were destined for Hong Kong.

It spoils it for everybody, because no doubt there will put some

restrictions on it and then we all suffer, including the fish.

Increased efforts to stop smuggling will help legal elvermen

And you can read more about efforts to tackle elver

The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has ordered

a review of a number of baby deaths in Shropshire.

The BBC has learned there have been at least eight avoidable deaths,

over three years, at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.

Five of them were partly due to the same problem -

a failure to properly monitor the babies' heart rates.

I'm joined now by our reporter Ben Sidwell.

The BBC has learned of at least ten suspicious deaths at the Shrewsbury

and Telford Hospital NHS Trust since 2013.

Inquests and legal action against the trust have found that

Two others were never properly investigated,

In September 2014, twins Ella and Lola were still born.

Their mum, Kelly Jones from Shrewsbury, was told

in a letter from the trust that their deaths were

partly down to a "delay in recognising deterioration

The midwife came and crying. Saying I'm so sorry. Too late. The damage

is done. Because they couldn't be

bothered to do their job. Ivy Morris was born

at the Princess Royal Hospital Again staff failed to

properly monitor her heart I can only take it

day by day sometimes. But I look back on it and the person

who I was and the life that I had is unrecognisable to who I am now

and where I am. services in Shropshire have come

under fire is it? In 2009 Kate Stanton Davies died

just six hours after she was born Her parents Richard and Rhiannon had

to fight for seven years to get the trust to accept its failures had

contributed to her death. They're calling for a public inquiry

into continuing failures. The health trust says the rate

of stillbirths and deaths of new babies in Shropshire

is equivalent to the rest of the country and its learning

from failures to properly But the Health Secretary,

Jeremy Hunt, has now ordered a review of the cluster

of baby deaths. Two teenagers have been seriously

injured in an accident The teenagers were riding

a motorcyle which was in collision with a car,

on Belgrave Middleway, The two were taken to hospital

with what were described Belgrave Middleway was

closed for several hours, A 58-year-old man from

Stoke-on-Trent has been arrested Police were called to an address

in Cardwell Street, at around 4.30 this morning,

where they found a woman's body. It was over 48-year-old Gillian

Hiney. Officers have been carrying out

increased patrols in the area today There's been a significant increase

in the number of violent crimes against men in the West Midlands,

accused of bringing The number of reported cases

have more than tripled from three in 2014 -

to 13 last year. Our reporter Audrey Dias has been

speaking to a man who faced threats and abuse from relatives,

when he told them he was gay. When 30-year-old Sikh man

Manny Singh Sidhu from Birmingham came out as gay to his family,

he faced threats and abuse from some relatives

and others his community. People like certain cousins

would write, "No batty men allowed, no gay boys allowed"

to parties or bithdays. This theory from my parents had

always been, let the daughters get married and then

you can do your activism. So they were like, we're

going to ruin their marriage, we're going

to ruin their engagement I've been given figures from

West Midlands Police that show that 13 men suffered honour-related

violence last year, And the force think the real

numbers are higher still. That fear of reporting the crime has

a knock on effect for charities like Kikit working with men

at the heart of the It is such limited data,

to gather the need is difficult because people don't want to come

forward and give information about themselves, so

everything is very discreet. Gay men are seen

as particular targets has now produced a book and a video

with his mum to highlight It's about living the life you're

told, keeping up appearances, living according to how people

think you should. He's hoping it will stop others

suffering in silence. When dog lover Tom Mather

bought two Westie puppies, within five days of him getting them

home, they had died. Tom had unwittingly purchased

the pets from an illegal puppy farm where the animals were kept

in filthy conditions. He helped bring the owners

to justice and has now adopted two more dogs,

who were born after their mothers were rescued

from the farm by the RSPCA. Meet George and Archie,

two happy dogs whose lives Their mothers were among 37 puppies

seized in the RSPCA raid on an illegal breeding farm

in Bicken Hill near Solihull. They had enjoyed terrible living

conditions, a complete contrast to the lives George and Archie

are now living with the owner Tom Mather

from Bedworth in Warwickshire. I don't like to think about it,

what could have happened to them. They're really lucky,

landed on the little paws. Yeah, I don't think they know how

good they've got it, really. The illegal puppy trade which Archie

and George were part Complaints to the RSPCA have

quadrupled in eight years. Last year, the charity received

nearly 3,700 calls from worried Tom, too, was a victim

of Solihull puppy farmer Sean Kerr, who is serving

a six-month jail certain. 16 months ago, Tom bought puppies

Ben and Max from the farm. Five days later, they died

from the highly contagious George, a shih tzu cross,

and Jack Russell terrier cross Archie cross, have been fostered

by Tom for a year. With the conclusion of the puppy

farm court case last week, he has now been told he can

adopt and forgive. And says he is delighted to get

the opportunity to at least make sure George and Archie

have the life they deserve. The Wolverhampton cyclist,

Andy Tennant, has helped the British team pursuit quartet into the bronze

medal race - at the World The British team set the fourth

quickest time in the heats - and will now race Italy

for bronze tomorrow. Tennant is looking to add

to the silver and bronze medals he won at the Worlds,

in London, last year. That's all from me,

have a good night. I'll leave you with

the forecast from Rebecca. Good evening. The weather hasn't

been too perfect today but we did get a few breaks in the cloud. That

will continue as we continue through the bank holiday weekend. More of

these to come. We have April showers on the bank holiday weekend, but it

is in the bank holiday weekend. Tonight, we have a ribbon of cloud

sitting across much of the West Midlands. A few spots of rain as

well, but largely drive. Some clear spells as well those temperatures

could fall away. We could dip down to three Celsius but most sticking

between five and 7 degrees. We start on a fresh note. The north-westerly

breeze continuing, things nice and settled. But we will see spots of

rain here and there. The best brightness will be to higher ground,

so Shropshire and heritage could see temperatures up

We have some spots of rain, and temperatures likely to be 11 and 12

degrees. There is rain on Good Friday in the form of these brother

systems. They'll be more in the national weather forecast next.

Brighter on Saturday but cloud again on Sunday. Here is Tomasz.

Good evening. The weather in the run-up to

Christmas... Easter! I got ahead of myself there! It isn't looking

especially great, nor is it looking all that sunny. It will be

changeable, it's been changeable today. You can see cloud streaming

out of the north-west of the country. You can see some showers

getting into north western parts of the UK, but eastern areas will

remain pretty clear tonight, so here we have some frost on the way first

thing, ground frost, nothing more, and it will be gone by the time the

sun is up. First thing in the morning, some sunshine around across

one or two parts of the east here. Western areas probably a little bit

more cloudy, maybe showers getting into north