19/04/2017 Midlands Today

Good evening. for the news where you are.

"I keep looking at her photo to say I've let you down."

The words of a heartbroken widower who was duped

The so-called "distraction burglars" tricked their way into 80-year-old

Colin Bennett's home in Sutton Coldfield to steal his

late wife's wedding ring, jewellery and over ?3000 in cash.

I talk to her now and I say, "I've let you down," and I have

Colin Bennett first set eyes on Irene at school

They went on to have two children and were married for over 50 years

She had dementia, and Colin nursed her.

Her wedding ring - symbolising their enduring love -

I just can't stop it, you see what I mean?

Yeah. It breaks my heart.

If I told you, I am a very hard man normally, but this has just pulled

Last Wednesday morning, at around 11 o'clock,

a man called at Colin's door in Streatley falsely claiming

After seeing an ID badge, Colin let him in but left the door ajar.

The trickster ran the tap in the kitchen for 20 minutes

while his accomplice sneaked upstairs and began rifling

An 18 carat gold chain, earrings and ?3,200 in cash was stolen.

All that money was meant for your son, Neil?

?2,000 of that money was Neil's benefit money,

Colin couldn't pay it into the bank last week

because he's still recovering from a knee operation.

Colin, what advice would you give to people knowing what you know now?

All I'm saying to the pensioners, if we want to break it,

and we are the only people that can do it, we have got to say to these

people, I'll go and phone first, and if they're telling

Do the police have any idea who the burglars were?

He's described him as white, five feet eight inches tall,

in his late twenties, and he was wearing a dark baseball

Police believe he may have already started to sell on some of Colin's

possessions. The issue here is about a lack of

eyewitnesses. These people tend to target vulnerable, older people

potentially living alone. It is unbearable for victims like Colin,

facing a double loss, a family bereavement and then the loss of

some important family possessions. Ben, thank you.

Two of the region's cattle breeders say compensation for farmers whose

livestock is affected by TB isn't nearly enough.

Last December, Staffordshire farmer Ernie Durose had almost his entire

herd slaughtered to stop the disease spreading.

And tomorrow, Michael Brown from Herefordshire will send one

of his best breeding cows to be culled.

He says he'll only get back a fraction of her value,

which he puts at ?15,000. Nicola Beckford reports.

Michael Brown is counting down the hours with this cow.

He says she's one of the most perfect cows he's ever bred.

But she's tested positive for bovine TB and now she's one of two cows

When she started to develop, she was obviously an elite cow.

She stands out, to me, in amongst all the others I've got.

Michael's been breeding prize-winning cattle

He says that DEFRA have completely underestimated his cow's true value.

They bring farmers, get full value for their animals,

--neighbouring farmers and I'm getting a paltry amount of ?1,857

I mean, what the future might have held for her,

she could be worth infinitesimal amounts of money.

But the department say they have a well-established system

in place for determining compensation for TB affected cattle,

which takes into account an animal's pedigree,

It's not just the cull that's a problem on this farm.

DEFRA have placed a ban on moving any cattle,

including these bulls, at the height of the selling season.

By the time it's lifted, it'll be too late to get a good price.

And it's not just here that's been hit by TB.

This Staffordshire farmer lost almost his entire herd of Guernsey

dairy cattle to the disease before Christmas.

The young stock cost you money, the cows make

Obviously I want nothing to pay for that, so that comes out of me.

The level of compensation, certainly for me, is that I couldn't

replace the cows that went with the compensation that I received.

Back in Herefordshire, Michael has accepted

that he will lose two of his best pedigree cows.

What he can't come to terms with is the compensation pay out.

The cows will be sent to abbatoir tomorrow and slaughtered on Friday.

With the starter's gun having been officially fired today

for the general election, two of the region's long-serving

Labour MPs have quickly announced they won't be seeking re-election.

Prominent Brexit campaigner Gisela Stuart is to stand down

Elected in 1997, she told supporters in an email

that she will give her full backing to "whoever is selected

Also saying goodbye to Westminster will be Rob Marris, the member

He lost his seat in the 2010 election to the Conservatives,

An ex-prisoner who shot to notoriety as one of only two men ever

to escape from Shrewsbury Jail has been back behind bars today.

Walter Groom escaped in 1961, he was on the run for six days.

Today he returned to the former jail to explain to our reporter

Joanne Writtle how he's to become a tour guide for a day to talk

Walter Groom never thought he'd want to go back to jail,

but 56 years after escaping, he's brought his wife Barbara back

Welcome back, Walter. Thank you.

Graham Goodwin was a prison officer here.

Walter's escape from here is legendary.

Walter was known and spoke of over the years, because being the only

Older officers that were here at the time

and as I came here in the 80s, those stories would get

This was Walter aged 25, he served three

sentences for breaking into shops and in amongst the line

There was only a pot to do your bits in.

In 1961, Walter escaped with another prisoner,

I was approached by another prisoner and he was

I thought, that would be a challenge.

It took 16 days to plan and, in basic terms,

There was a man out here, about here, and we had to go down

there and remove grills, the tunnel led to another

manhole, which was outside my cell window and out into the yard.

We made a human ladder to get over the wall.

Can you believe now that you actually did it?

Walter was captured after six days on the run.

Today though, he doesn't need to scale walls to get out.

And you can catch up with Walter on May Day, May 1st,

when he's back at the old jail to give guided tours as part

of a special history day at the former Shrewsbury Prison.

The new Birmingham City manager Harry Redknapp says he's facing

a big challenge to keep them in the Championship this season.

His arrival follows the resignation of Gianfranco Zola

on Monday, with Blues just three points above the relegation zone.

At his first meeting with the region's media this

afternoon, he explained how his sudden

When I got home, half past two in the morning, my wife was asleep.

I said, "I'm going to Birmingham at the end of the season."

Everybody I know thinks I'm mad, but I'm here,

I met the representative the other day of the owners and they seem good

We've got big plans for Birmingham, so I think there's no reason,

if we survive this year, which I'm sure we can,

Finally, the Staffordshire Paralympian Lee Pearson has spoken

of his joy after officially receiving his knighthood

The 11-times dressage gold medallist was knighted

by the Duke of Cambridge for his services to equestrianism.

The 43-year-old rider, who's competed in five Paralympic Games,

described receiving his honour as the "most surreal

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

I'll leave you with the forecast from Shefali.

This is how most places started the day, with plenty

of sunshine and blue sky, but a rather lot of cloud

Here, in parts of Staffordshire, that cloud started to

And we've got more cloud over the next couple of days.

Mainly a dry picture, just the odd spit of rain here and there,

but a slightly warmer feel to things.

We've got a couple of fronts slipping in from the north-west.

They're going to affect us tonight, tomorrow, later on Friday,

but high pressure to the south-west, always keeping

Let's take a closer look at tonight then, and we've got clearer skies

further south and we've got more cloud further north.

But if you're looking out for JO25, that astroid, only a million

miles away from Earth, then the best chance of seeing

that is if you're in the south of the region.

But not with the naked eye, through a telescope.

It's going to be a mild night compared with last night as well.

Temperatures are only down to about eight or nine Celsius.

So it's frost-free as we head into the morning today.

But temperatures will shoot up to about 14, 15, even 16 Celsius

across the south-west, so reasonably warm tomorrow

But it's a cloudier picture, that cloud sinking southwards producing,

again, the odd sit of rain here and there.

I'll leave you now with the outlook for the next few days.

going into the weekend as well. A similar story across the UK. Thomas

matter has that story. Good evening, before we get to the

forecast, I want to show you a map which depicts how dry it has been

during the course of April. Brown is below average rainfall, blue is

above average. You can see how Brown the map is. Some areas in the south,

some counties have only seen a few percent so far in April. Not

necessarily a