27/01/2017 North West Today

Welcome to North West Today. The headlines this Friday lunchtime.

Merseyside Police begin a murder investigation, after a man

Ten years after Sophie's murder, the charity in her name

receives government support, to raise awareness of hate crime.

And we catch up with Newton-le-Willows band Slydigs,

back home after jet-setting with The Who.

Police have launched a murder investigation,

after a man was shot and killed in Merseyside.

Officers were called to the Stanley Meat Market

in Old Swan this morning, where the man was given first aid

and then taken to hospital. He died a short time later.

Andy Gill is at the scene for us this lunchtime.

What more can you tell us about this incident? The police were called

here just after eight o'clock this morning. Officers gave first aid to

the victim, Thomas Baker, before he was taken to hospital, but he died

later. He was shot in the head and chest. He was 43 years old and from

the Everton area. The police describe it as a targeted shooting.

This is the Stanley Meat Market in Old Swan. We were told the shooting

itself happened in a premises called the Phoenix fitness centre. That is

part of the building but a separate business from the meat market. It

has been a gymnasium for a couple of years. Police say they are looking

at CCTV footage. They are also appealing for witnesses and carrying

out house-to-house enquiries. One neighbour told those that just after

815, she had a very distinctive bang. The officers are here at the

moment. You can see the seagulls behind me. Police are going to speak

to journalists at police headquarters this afternoon, giving

me be more detail about what happened and why it happened. Thank

you very much. Greater Manchester Police say

they are looking into the issues around the case of a violent

paedophile who made a secret room in his home to conceal

a girl he was abusing. Michael Dunn, from Redcar,

raped and abused four girls over several years,

including at a house in Mottram, where he created

a compartment behind his fridge. He will be sentenced

at a later date. There are more problems

for financially-troubled Morecambe Football Club,

with the players and staff not the second time that has

happened since October. A board meeting is taking place

at their home ground, the Globe Arena today,

where it is understood Italian-American businessman Joseph

Cala has provided a cash injection. A plan to turn Liverpool's Municipal

Buildings into a four-star hotel The city council's former

headquarters was put on the market, as the authority tries to find

?90 million of savings over The proposal will be discussed

by councillors next week. It is ten years since Sophie

Lancaster was murdered in Bacup, when she was targeted

by youths simply because Now, the foundation set up

in her name has received government funding, to support

its work in raising awareness about hate crime.

Sophie's mum, Sylvia Lancaster, is the driving force behind

the foundation and is here now. What will this funding

allow you to achieve? There was the background to this.

What happened with Sophie. She had gone out on a Friday evening

and we met another group. He went into the park with were attacked by

five boys. She died 13 days later. You have taken this horrendous

experience and Tom it into a very positive legacy. Know you have

funding. What is the clocks of the work the foundation is doing? We are

seen as an anti-bullying charity as well as working on heat claim. That

is about raising awareness about prejudice and intolerance.

What will this funding allow you to achieve?

We have been able to produce the film, which won me a couple of

awards. We wanted to develop an educational resource rooms. We

wanted develop drama and English, so we can take it into schools and use

it in that way. We are also looking at working with the local councils

and continue with the work we are already doing.

In the ten years since Sophie's death, how have

Obviously, there have been issues over since we voted to leave the

European Union. There seems to be a lot of hatred towards Eastern

Europeans, in particular, in certain parts of the country. Also,

homophobia is a big issue. Thank you very much for coming and good luck

in the future. An up-and-coming band from

Newton-le-Willows have been tipped for the top by none other

than the world's loudest Slydigs have returned

from an American and European tour with Pete Townsend

and Roger Daltrey. Mark Edwardson has been

catching up with them. Let me introduce the band. They are

just back from a huge tour in North America with none other than The

Who. How was it? Travelling around on the tour bus in America, it was

the sort of dream that you held when you start a band.

I am guessing there are a lot of stories you could tell was quite a

few that you probably cannot! There was a lot of fun. There are some

bits we not remember. It was this opportunity to go round America with

The Who, it is something that we could only dream about. Of course,

The Who had one of the most famous drummers in the world of rock music.

Did you feel his presence? Yes, it was very special. You have got a

very big year coming up. We want to take on the world. We have got some

big things coming up. It will all be announced soon. Look forward to

hearing about it. Good luck with gigs and there

will be more on the band Here is the weather forecast,

with Alex Hamilton. Good afternoon.

It is quite a grey afternoon ahead. Looking at the chart,

we can see this cold front So, we are expecting

wet weather tonight, As for the rest of this afternoon,

quite grey, lots of cloud around. A few hints of brightness,

here and there. Still feeling chilly, with highs

of just around 5-6 Celsius. As we go through the

course of tonight, we begin to see this

rain creeping in. Do take care, as there could be some

spray on the roads and, possibly, also some wintry elements to that

rain over higher ground. As we look towards tomorrow,

that rain will clear out of the way. We are expecting a mixture

of some brighter spells, variable amounts of cloud

and some showers. I will leave you with the outlook.

Milder temperatures on the way. We are back at 6.30pm.

Goodbye for now.