:00:00. > :00:08.A Stourbridge businessman has been paying tribute to his wife
:00:09. > :00:11.and son who were killed at their home last month.
:00:12. > :00:14.Peter Wilkinson, who suffered serious injuries in the attack,
:00:15. > :00:17.described his wife Tracey as "an angel" and 13-year-old son
:00:18. > :00:23.Peter and his daughter Lydia have been talking to our special
:00:24. > :00:29.Peter and his daughter Lydia Wilkinson are being
:00:30. > :00:35.Last Sunday, their first outing since Peter came out of surgery,
:00:36. > :00:38.was to the West Bromwich Albion Liverpool game.
:00:39. > :00:41.The teams and thousands of fans paying tribute to Tracey
:00:42. > :00:49.We just poured our hearts out, didn't we?
:00:50. > :01:02.And we all went there together a lot.
:01:03. > :01:05.And to go back without them was extremely difficult.
:01:06. > :01:09.Lydia, you've been to the house and seen the enormous amount
:01:10. > :01:17.It was just a huge amount of grief, but then to see the amount
:01:18. > :01:20.of support and how many lives that my mum and brother touched
:01:21. > :01:29.She was a wonderful wife, a wonderful mum.
:01:30. > :01:36.Lydia wasn't at the house when her mother and brother
:01:37. > :01:40.Her father has two punctured lungs, bowel and
:01:41. > :01:48.I was in intensive care for six days, in hospital
:01:49. > :02:00.Obviously, the emotional pain will take forever.
:02:01. > :02:05.When were you told that you'd lost Tracey and Pierce?
:02:06. > :02:08.Personally, I didn't find out until I woke up in intensive care,
:02:09. > :02:17.Which is devastating, absolutely devastating.
:02:18. > :02:20.Today, the family home in Stourbridge remains a crime scene.
:02:21. > :02:23.The father and daughter may never move back.
:02:24. > :02:28.It's a large family home, now it's just the two of them.
:02:29. > :02:32.That day, after the white-suited forensic officers had
:02:33. > :02:36.done their work, I watched as this big burly West Midlands Police
:02:37. > :02:39.officer carried something out of the house.
:02:40. > :02:44.You couldn't see what was inside, but he was carrying it as though
:02:45. > :02:48.it was the most precious thing in the world.
:02:49. > :02:52.He'd wanted hamsters for a long time.
:02:53. > :02:57.And at Christmas, he was delighted when he got these hamsters.
:02:58. > :03:01.Like any teenager, we thought he never would,
:03:02. > :03:06.Clearly, you're looking after your dad.
:03:07. > :03:08.I'm just so glad I actually have my dad to look
:03:09. > :03:12.after because when I found out he was still in theatre,
:03:13. > :03:16.and we didn't know if he was going to survive, so to be able to just
:03:17. > :03:25.look after him and sort out his medication is just a massive relief.
:03:26. > :03:33.Lydia Wilkinson speaking to our correspondent Peter Wilson.
:03:34. > :03:34.23-year-old Aaron Barley has been charged with murder
:03:35. > :03:38.He's expected to go on trial later this year.
:03:39. > :03:40.With any number of swing seats and closely fought marginals,
:03:41. > :03:43.today's announcement of a snap general election means we're
:03:44. > :03:45.in for some big political battles here in the Midlands.
:03:46. > :03:48.So which are likely to be the hottest contests?
:03:49. > :03:51.Well, Ben Godfrey joins me now to talk us through it.
:03:52. > :03:56.How has today's news been sinking in?
:03:57. > :03:59.It's interesting, I've had a glance at many of our regions' MPs' social
:04:00. > :04:02.media accounts tonight, and many choose not to refer
:04:03. > :04:07.There's clearly a lot of deep thinking going on.
:04:08. > :04:11.We know West Midlands voters have the potential to turn a general
:04:12. > :04:14.election on its head, so if you're living in key battle
:04:15. > :04:19.ground like Cannock Chase, North Warwickshire and Halesowen,
:04:20. > :04:25.expect a visit from the political big guns over the next seven weeks.
:04:26. > :04:28.But Labour and the Conservatives aside, one expert suggests
:04:29. > :04:35.the struggle for power may be influenced elsewhere.
:04:36. > :04:38.We have minor parties who will play a big part.
:04:39. > :04:43.Which was drawn roughly two to one from the Conservatives,
:04:44. > :04:46.but in many areas was very heavily previously Labour and was very
:04:47. > :04:49.strong, for example, in the Black Country.
:04:50. > :04:50.What will happen to the Liberal Democrats?
:04:51. > :04:53.Who used to hold two seats in Birmingham,
:04:54. > :04:55.Yardley and Solihull, and will be keen to draw
:04:56. > :05:10.on their clear position as a Remain party.
:05:11. > :05:13.What voters are seeing at the moment?
:05:14. > :05:14.Many are still talking about Brexit and that's interesting
:05:15. > :05:17.because people in the West Midlands backed Brexit more than
:05:18. > :05:20.Of the 34 local authority areas in our region,
:05:21. > :05:24.We may well see a bigger than normal turnout at the ballot box,
:05:25. > :05:26.putting places like Wolverhampton South West into sharper focus,
:05:27. > :05:36.where in 2015 Labour regained the seat by a mere 800 votes.
:05:37. > :05:40.I think she had to make the decision pretty quickly.
:05:41. > :05:45.I've been a Labour supporter all my life, until this morning, actually.
:05:46. > :05:49.So I think we're going to get absolutely annihilated.
:05:50. > :05:52.I think it's going to put an end to all the bickering and things,
:05:53. > :05:55.and at least we'll, by the end of it, we'll at least have focus
:05:56. > :06:01.and concentrate what we want to do in the long run.
:06:02. > :06:03.And with the snap election being the talk of the town,
:06:04. > :06:06.it'll be interesting to see whether voters become more or less
:06:07. > :06:08.engaged with the other big political battle -
:06:09. > :06:10.the election of the first West Midlands mayor.
:06:11. > :06:13.A knife wielding robber who targeted taxi drivers in Birmingham has been
:06:14. > :06:18.19-year-old Mohammed Abdurahman booked cabs using false
:06:19. > :06:22.He was behind three robberies between October
:06:23. > :06:27.He pleaded guilty to three charges of robbery, two of kidnapping,
:06:28. > :06:32.The BBC has learnt that Gloucestershire Airport
:06:33. > :06:34.is in financial difficulty and asking shareholders
:06:35. > :06:38.The airport at Staverton is part-owned
:06:39. > :06:41.by Cheltenham Borough Council and Gloucester City Council.
:06:42. > :06:44.The two authorities have scheduled separate emergency meetings for next
:06:45. > :06:47.week to discuss the loan, which the BBC has been told could be
:06:48. > :06:53.The airport says it's considering a number of options
:06:54. > :06:58.Roadworks which will last at least two years have started
:06:59. > :07:01.on the Oldbury viaduct of the M5 motorway.
:07:02. > :07:04.The concrete repair and waterproofing project will mean
:07:05. > :07:07.alternate sides of the carriageway will be closed and speed limits
:07:08. > :07:14.The viaduct between junctions one and two carries more than 150,000
:07:15. > :07:24.Harry Rednapp has been appointed the new manager
:07:25. > :07:26.of Birmingham City, less than 24 hours after Gianfranco
:07:27. > :07:30.Blues are teetering on the brink of relegation after a disastrous run
:07:31. > :07:33.of results, and the club are hoping that such an experienced manager
:07:34. > :07:35.will be able to keep them in the Championship.
:07:36. > :07:38.A warning that Dan Pallett's report contains some flash photography.
:07:39. > :07:40.The cavalry is coming, but is it too late?
:07:41. > :07:44.Harry Redknapp agreed to join Birmingham City last night, just
:07:45. > :07:48.hours after the resignation of Gianfranco Zola.
:07:49. > :08:04.He takes over tomorrow, but said this today.
:08:05. > :08:09.He's a good man manager, which I think the players need now.
:08:10. > :08:13.Tactically, he's very aware, and I think he, with the back room
:08:14. > :08:15.staff he's bringing in, I think Steve Cotterill's
:08:16. > :08:17.coming with him now, so he's aware of the Championship
:08:18. > :08:20.in what it needs and what it takes to get three points.
:08:21. > :08:24.It's only four months since Gianfranco Zola
:08:25. > :08:27.was controversially appointed in place of Gary Rowett.
:08:28. > :08:31.The Blues' demise has been swift and spectacular.
:08:32. > :08:34.When Zola took over, they were seventh in
:08:35. > :08:37.the Championship and just three points off third.
:08:38. > :08:40.His record of just two wins in 22 league games leaves them three
:08:41. > :08:49.I am sorry because obviously I came here with huge expectations
:08:50. > :08:52.and there were a lot of expectations from the people,
:08:53. > :08:55.there were from the club, for myself, and the results,
:08:56. > :09:04.It's a dignified way of resigning, but we have to move on.
:09:05. > :09:07.Which I was shocked when I heard Harry Redknapp this morning,
:09:08. > :09:12.I don't feel we should have got rid of Gary Rowett,
:09:13. > :09:16.As for bringing in Harry Redknapp now, fantastic idea.
:09:17. > :09:18.So now it's all down to Harry Redknapp.
:09:19. > :09:31.He has just three games to save their season.
:09:32. > :09:37.I'll leave you with the weather from Shefali.
:09:38. > :09:46.It was a bit of a lacklustre bank holiday weekend, so just our luck
:09:47. > :09:49.that the sun shone on what for many was the first day back to work.
:09:50. > :09:53.We had plenty of bright sunshine across
:09:54. > :09:56.much of the region, just a bit of patchy cloud developing
:09:57. > :09:58.through the the latter part of the day.
:09:59. > :10:01.But it stayed dry, which for some is great news,
:10:02. > :10:02.I think for farmers, they're
:10:03. > :10:07.really lacking the rain and they do need it for their crops because some
:10:08. > :10:09.places have only recorded two millimetres of it since the
:10:10. > :10:13.There's not much sign of it this week, I'm afraid.
:10:14. > :10:16.You can see from the pressure chart, high pressure is
:10:17. > :10:19.Even though we get those fronts pushing down from
:10:20. > :10:21.the north-west, they won't produce very much rain.
:10:22. > :10:23.Another problem is going to be frost.
:10:24. > :10:25.We've got some of it around tonight, particularly
:10:26. > :10:28.so in rural spots, where it could be fairly widespread, quite a sharp
:10:29. > :10:31.frost into the morning tomorrow and under those clearer spells,
:10:32. > :10:34.temperatures will fall to about 0 degrees, to -1 Celsius.
:10:35. > :10:36.But we've got some thin high cloud starting to
:10:37. > :10:39.spill in from the north later in the night and that should keep
:10:40. > :10:41.temperatures for most towns and cities up to around
:10:42. > :10:45.So it's a chilly start to the day tomorrow, but plenty of
:10:46. > :10:47.sunshine, particularly so across central and southern parts.
:10:48. > :10:49.That cloud thickening up in the north to
:10:50. > :10:51.produce the odd spot of rain there and temperatures
:10:52. > :10:55.More details on the rest of the week in the national forecast next.
:10:56. > :10:58.I'll leave you now with the outlook for the
:10:59. > :11:15.The weather hasn't been too dramatic of late. That is not say it's not
:11:16. > :11:19.without problems. One of those could occur as early as tonight. There
:11:20. > :11:20.could be a sharp rural frost around especially