26/01/2017 North West Today

The headlines this Thursday lunchtime:

The identity of a man whose death on Saddleworth Moor

sparked a world-wide appeal is finally revealed.

Cumbria Police is told to improve its protection

And the curious incident of Stockport's Olivier-winning

playwright inspiring pupils at his former school.

It's a mystery that sparked an international inquiry -

the discovery of an unidentified man's body on Saddleworth Moor.

Police have spent more than a year trying to find out who he was and,

after a painstaking investigation, they now believe they know.

The BBC's Jon Manel has been following the story.

Yes, this all goes back to the 12th of December, 2015 -

I was totting it up before - 411 days ago, when Greater

Manchester Police received what seemed like a routine call.

A body had been discovered on Saddleworth Moor near beauty spot

A cyclist had found the body that morning in awful

But they had no idea who this person was.

It was a man, he was believed to be between about 65 and 75,

but all that was found on him were train tickets,

a medicine container, with some traces of poison in it,

There has been then an extraordinary bit of detective work

For a start, there was Urdu writing on that medicine container

but when they carried out the postmortem, they found a metal

plate in his left leg, and that metal plate can only be

fitted, was only used, in hospitals in Pakistan.

He had obviously had a serious accident at some stage.

So they knew about that connection and what we found out today,

there was a Coroner's hearing near Rochdale, and we were told

that the police studied all the flight manifests

from Pakistan to London in the few days before he was discovered,

looking for that profile, a white man between 65 and 75,

And today at the Coroner's Court, they finally revealed

Yes, so the name was searched on the passport agency database.

They saw the photograph, it seemed to be a match,

they then looked at CCTV images from Lahore, where he had

It looks like it was him and they managed to contact this

man's family, there was a DNA match with a relative, and so now finally

He was 67 years old and after all of this time his family has now been

You consume more about the story on the Radio 4 website. -- you can hear

more about the story. Cumbria Police has been told it

needs to improve how it protects Inspectors found a lack

of understanding of the extent of child sexual exploitation

and an inconsistent response It's the same police force that was

criticised for its handling of the death of Poppy Worthington.

According to the MP, there is some cause for concern.

It's good that the commitment to protecting children is fully

The examples of feel you are just not good enough. The Chief Constable

and Commissioner and everybody else now have to take what is being said

with the utmost seriousness and turn it around as possible. Cumbria

police said that it will continue to review its dealings with children.

We are joined by... Can you understand by people in, we are that

they are shocked that the force, criticised for the way that it dealt

with the death of Poppy Worthington, is still being criticised over its

child protection? The first thing to do is to divorce the two issues.

They are not related. Both involve child protection issues. Well, they

don't. The TRANSLATION: Criticism was about the investigation after

the tragic death of Poppy Worthington.

This report looks into the wider sphere of child protection. It's

important we get it right. This report also criticises the force by

the way that they deal with child protection issues. Yes, they go on

to talk about the quirky nation after the immediate protection of

children. -- about the coordination. I absolutely accept the criticism as

does the force. What is being done to change things? It is being

criticised for not grasping the criticised for not grasping the

seriousness of this? It would be unreasonable to suggest that they do

not grasp the seriousness. It's important to remember that this

report was written in July of last year, several of the recommendations

have ready been completed. We have put additional resource into child

protection and safeguarding. Additional training into domestic

abuse and child sexual exploitation has of ready gone into force.

Already we have increased by some amount. Ultimately the IT support

has already been remedied. Many of these things have already been put

in place. That is what to say that there are still some things to be

done. Thank you for your time. A playwright from Stockport says

giving children a proper education in the arts will make Britain

a better country. Simon Stephens wrote the stage

version of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time,

currently showing at Last night current students from his

old school went to see the play. Our reporter Andy Gill

was there too. I'm going to find out

who really killed the dog. The play is based

on Mark Haddon's book. It's the story of Christopher,

a teenager with behavoiral difficulties who sets out

to discover who killed a neighbour's dog and who uncovers truths

about his own family on the way. Simon Stephens has won awards

for his stage script. He went to Stockport School,

or Mile End as its known. He wants pupils from state schools

to believe they're as entitled to a career in the arts

as anyone else. I think an education in the arts

dignifies and empowers everybody with a spirit

of empathy and communication. I think that makes

the whole country better. It's not just about winning artists,

it's about making this country Last night 200 current

Stockport School pupils went He's already been back

to his old school to fire The talk was inspiring

because he came from, like, Stockport, it wasn't in London or LA

or America, it's Stockport, you know, it's so humble

and close to heart. There's no limits to how small

or big you can be in the theatre. I've always kind of known I wanted

to do something like that but people are always,

like, suggesting different things and after the talk I just felt

like it was definitely a good option and I should follow

what I want to do. The Curious Incident Of The Dog

In The Night-Time runs at the Lowry Andy Gill, BBC North

West Today, Salford. Now the weather forecast

with Charlie Slater. Plenty of cloud around

over the next few hours. Where that cloud is thick enough,

you can get the odd spot of drizzle. It's cold enough for that drizzle

to fall as sleet and maybe Factor in the wind-chill, though,

and you're talking more like -4, -5, That's what it actually feels

like rather than its actual But cold no matter what way

you try to look at it. Overnight tonight, into the early

hours of Friday morning, temperatures will fall away down

to around -1, maybe even -2. Friday daytime is generally dull

and cloudy, maybe a bit overcast, potential for a little bit

of drizzle here and there, but all in all a slightly

less cold day tomorrow Thankfully a little bit milder once

we're through to the weekend. North West Today will be

back with at teatime. TV: He's not your father.

WOMAN GASPS