08/11/2017 Midlands Today

Here on BBC One, it's time

for the news where you are.

Good evening.

for the news where you are.

It's a growing problem

across the region and costs millions

of pounds to clear up.

Local authorites are facing

a constant battle against those

who illegally dump rubbish.

Last year there were more

than 67,000 cases of fly-tipping

across the West Midlands -

costing the taxpayer

a staggering £4.2 million.

In Stoke on Trent, the number

of cases has steadily risen over

the past three years.

The local authority insists

it is tackling the issue,

taking action against those

who dump waste.

But last year just they had just 26

successful prosecutions.

Here's our Staffordshire

reporter, Liz Copper.

Unsightly, unpleasant and now

under investigation.

This rubbish was reported overnight.

Tim and Ashton from Stoke-on-Trent's

cleaning team are on their way.

The team's led by Dominic,

and what they find isn't unusual.

This appears to be a builder's-type

place so you've got your wood,

your plastic, your spilt paint,

and generally waste

in the wrong place.

And this is the type of thing that

blights the community.

The council's zero tolerance

policy has the support

of many families here.

Prosecute them, fine them.

Whatever it is that you want to do.

Teach them a lesson.

It's the only way they'll learn.

If you don't catch them,

they keep on doing it.

If you catch them, prosecute them,

they won't do it again.

Because it's going to hit

them in the pocket.

There are five teams

working five days a week,

clearing up after fly-tippers.

Next stop is a call

to waste that's been dumped

near an industrial estate.

Across the city, there were

26 prosecutions last year,

but that is not the whole story.

We now look at a proactive

and reactive service,

so we're not waiting

for the residents to come forward

and complain about fly-tipping -

we're actually going out and dealing

with environmental issues that

officers see for themselves.

To help bring more cases to court,

the team's joined by Zoe,

who collects evidence.

It's really getting stuck in,

and if there's bin bags,

if there's cardboard,

furniture and so on,

you're lifting up the

cushions on sofas...

You're digging through the bags

to see what may be in there that

could link to a potential address.

And after those

investigations, a call.

And questions.

There's some rubbish

in that alleyway.

Do you know anything about that?

Enquiries will continue

at this address.

Clearing up this mess costs

councils money they'd rather

spend on other services.

It's a constant battle.

But the team fighting

the fly-tippers -

and transforming this,

into this - are making

a real difference.

A jury's heard how a taxi driver

killed his two young children

by smothering them before setting

fire to the family home

as their mother slept upstairs.

Endris Mohammed denies the murders

of both children and the attempted

murder of their mother at their home

in Birmingham last October -

but admits being responsible

for the deaths.

Giles Latcham reports.

Saros, aged eight, and six year-old

Leanor, killed by their father

in October last year at the family

home in Hamstead, north Birmingham.

It was the half term school holiday.

They'd been allowed, as a treat,

to sleep downstairs in the lounge.

Endris Mohammed sat in the dock, his

head bandaged his face scarred,

as the jury heard that he'd

smothered his children

with a petrol-soaked rag.

As their mother slept upstairs,

he started a fire in the hall.

Later, in a lane in

north Staffordshire,

fire englufed his car

and he suffered severe burns.

The judge Andrew Gilbart told

the jury that who killed

the children wasn't in doubt.

"The defendant accepts

causing their deaths -

this is not a case where

he is saying that he denies it.

"The issue is whether he was

suffering from a mental

disorder and, if so,

whether he can establish

a defence of what is called

diminished responsibility.

Opening the case for

the prosecution, Jonas Hankin QC,

said the prosecution rejected

the assertion that Mr Mohammed

was suffering from a "depressive

disorder" at the time

of the killings which impaired his

ability to make rational

judgements.?

His wife survived the fire

without serious injury.

A senior West Midlands Police

officer has been suspended

on suspicion of an offence under

the Official Secrets Act.

Assistant Chief Constable Marcus

Beale faces allegations

relating to a failure to safeguard

sensitive documents,

which were stolen from

an unmarked police car in May.

He'll appear at Westminster

Magistrates' Court next month.

A teenager from Wolverhampton has

been convicted of trying

to import explosives from the dark

web with intent to endanger life.

19-year-old Gurtej

Singh Randhawa tried

to buy a remote-detonated

explosive device online.

But he was arrested in May

after the National Crime Agency

replaced the package with a dummy

device before it was delivered.

Tributes have been

paid to a man who died

after a firework was set off

inside his home in Birmingham.

Former Land Rover worker

Anthony Nicholls, who was 56,

died yesterday in hospital after

the fire at his home in Tile Cross.

His partner, a 50-year-old woman,

is still in hospital

with fractures to her legs.

Mr Nicholls daughter

Fiona said her father

was a "fun-loving, funny man".

Detectives are continuing

to examine CCTV footage.

It's been revealed

the Birmingham bin strike over

the summer has cost the taxpayer

more than £6 million.

Bin workers first walked out

on 30th June in a row over

jobs losses and changes

to working patterns.

82 days later, the strike

was suspended after the High Court

granted an interim injunction

against the City Council's attempt

to make workers redundant.

A trial is expected to take place

later this month to determine

if the authority was unlawful

in issuing redundancy notices.

We're talking to the trade

unions now within Acas,

I'm quite clear that we've got

to resolve this dispute.

No-one wants to see black bags

piling up on the street again

like they were in the summer,

so we've got to reach an agreement

with the unions that they can

sell to their members,

in order to resolve the dispute

and then move on from there.

Hundreds of jobs are to be

created at online estate

agent Purple Bricks.

The Solihull based company

is expanding rapidly,

both here and abroad.

The growth of online agents has also

meant big changes in the way

traditional estate agents operate.

Our business correspondent,

Peter Plisner, explores

the attraction of selling

your house online.

In the past, to buy a house,

you chose a street, looked for sale

boards and then went to a high

street agent - job done.

But since the advent of property

websites like Rightmove buying

a selling a house has

gone online too.

Karen and Robert Guttridge

recently sold their house

in Shirley with Purple Bricks.

I think it was a bit of a leap

of faith, because online, you don't

know how it is going to work out.

The misery you feel when you spend

thousands on commission...

TV adverts like this

have help increase

turnover at Purpe Bricks -

so much so that it's now out

grown its call centres in Solihull.

Here they take more

than 3,000 calls every day.

Co-founder Kenny Bruce

showed me round

the companies new offices.

We are taking more space,

creating more jobs.

There are various pros

and cons of online

vs high street agents.

If you go online, you'll pay

a fixed fee regardless

of whether your house is sold.

On the high street, it's

still "no sale, no fee".

Once the house is sold, there's no

commission to pay if you've

used an online agent,

but on average you'll pay

around 1% of the sale

price on the high street.

And with most online agents you'll

pay extra for them to show potential

buyers around your house,

but viewings are free

with traditional agents.

One recent prediction suggested that

one in five traditional agents

are at risk of going

out of business.

Some like this Solihull

agent are now offering the same

deal as Purple Bricks.

We could have sat back and said,

it's all going to go away,

people won't stand for this,

but in this day and age, when people

are walking around down the high

street with a screen in front

of their face, they want easy,

cheap and value for money.

Whatever happens in the coming

years, it's clear that, in the long

run, the arrival of the online

agents has made selling houses

easier and cheaper.

Peter Plisner, BBC

Midlands Today in Solihull.

That's all from the late team.

Midlands Today will be back tomorrow

morning just before 6:30.

I'll leave you with the weather

forecast from Shefali.

Goodnight.

Another crisp carpet of frost

across the countryside

this morning.

But it was accompanied by some very

pleasant spells of sunshine, in true

November style.

But you'll see changes

over the coming days,

mainly in temperatures -

cold today and then milder tomorrow

before turning chilly again

by the weekend.

And that's being

triggered by a series

of fronts passing -

warm, followed by cold,

followed by warm and cold, and one

of these will produce quite heavy

rain by Friday night,

but the weekend's looking

largely dry but cold

in a northwesterly wind.

As for tonight - the front

that's with us is just

a weak one, and so a lot of cloud

along it but not much rain -

just splashes here and there

and cold, but only cold enough

perhaps rurally for a touch

of frost, but, generally speaking,

there won't be.

But it'll clear away

quite quickly tomorrow -

and mild with temperatures rising

to 14 Celsius in light

to moderate westerly winds.