:00:09. > :00:12.Good evening. Welcome to North West Tonight. Our top story: Jailed for
:00:12. > :00:20.eight months. The juror who contacted a defendant on Facebook
:00:20. > :00:25.collapses as she is sent to prison. It is important the integrity of
:00:25. > :00:29.our justice system and jury system is maintained and preserved.
:00:29. > :00:31.As the High Court issues a warning on social media, we speak to the
:00:31. > :00:34.other defendant in the case. Also tonight: The increasingly thin
:00:35. > :00:42.blue line. As police forces slash their budgets, one chief constable
:00:42. > :00:46.asks what you would cut. The size of the reduction we're facing means
:00:47. > :00:52.we have to fundamentally change the way that we do policing.
:00:52. > :00:58.This time last year, this school in Coniston was failing. Now it has
:00:58. > :01:07.been given a clean bill of health. And chatting to the chatty man.
:01:07. > :01:09.Alan Carr on how his comedy career kicked off here in the North West.
:01:09. > :01:14.Joanne Fraill was a respectable member of her community who had
:01:14. > :01:19.never been in trouble with the law. Then she was called to do jury
:01:19. > :01:23.service and that has now resulted in her going to jail. She broke the
:01:23. > :01:26.rules of jury service by discussing the case outside of court. In fact,
:01:26. > :01:30.she discussed it with one of the defendants using the social
:01:30. > :01:35.networking site Facebook. Tonight, she is paying the price. Here is
:01:35. > :01:39.our Chief Reporter. Last year, she was been called to
:01:39. > :01:41.court to perform her civic duty as a juror. Today, Joanne Fraill
:01:41. > :01:49.arrived at court knowing she wouldn't be leaving through the
:01:49. > :01:58.front door. A judge had warned her she would be going to jail for
:01:58. > :02:02.breaking the golden rule which governs all jurors. It is important
:02:02. > :02:05.that the integrity of our justice system and jury system is
:02:05. > :02:09.maintained and preserved and seen to be so. When Joanne Fraill was
:02:09. > :02:12.sworn in as a member of the jury on a major drugs trial here at
:02:12. > :02:15.Manchester's Minshull Street Court, the judge warned them all not to
:02:15. > :02:17.discuss the case with anyone outside of their number. And they
:02:17. > :02:21.were told they should resist the temptation to conduct their own
:02:21. > :02:24.research on the internet. It is a standard warning. But it is one
:02:24. > :02:26.Fraill ignored and she is now paying a heavy price. She used
:02:26. > :02:31.Facebook to strike up a conversation with this woman, Jamie
:02:31. > :02:34.Sewart. She was a defendant acquitted by the jury. But as that
:02:34. > :02:41.jury considered other verdicts in the case, she and Fraill exchanged
:02:41. > :02:44.comments about those deliberations. Today at the High Court, Fraill was
:02:44. > :02:50.jailed for eight months. Sewart was given a suspended sentence. She
:02:50. > :02:57.expressed sympathy for the disgraced juror. I feel sorry for
:02:57. > :03:00.the woman. I seriously do. She has a mother. I felt for her.
:03:00. > :03:06.courts hope this case will convince others of the need to respect the
:03:06. > :03:10.rules of jury service. There have been warnings over the last 12
:03:10. > :03:18.months for -- from the Lord Chief Justice that if anyone was caught
:03:18. > :03:25.doing this, they would be caught -- Dame -- there would be severe
:03:26. > :03:32.consequences. We are joined now by Jamie
:03:32. > :03:38.Sewart'solicitor, Keith Dyson. Was she aware she was doing something
:03:38. > :03:42.wrong? She had just been acquitted and she was not sure if it was
:03:42. > :03:47.genuine. Later on, she had misgivings about whether it was
:03:47. > :03:55.genuine. At the time of replying, she thought it was the juror who
:03:55. > :04:00.was showing some empathy for what she had been through. There was a
:04:00. > :04:04.series of quite sure Facebook messages between them. Then your
:04:04. > :04:09.client went on to ask about how the deliberations were going. She must
:04:09. > :04:19.have known that was irregular and dangerous? It was an ambivalent
:04:19. > :04:22.
:04:22. > :04:29.question. Joanne Fraill made a mess tent -- made mention of what is
:04:29. > :04:34.going on. If you start to delve into what is going on in the jury
:04:34. > :04:43.room, it is dangerous. Briefly, their conversation but this.
:04:43. > :04:47.did she denied contempt of court? She did not think the question that
:04:47. > :04:53.he asked was calculated to ascertain what it had been
:04:53. > :05:01.happening in the jury deliberation room. Is that you review? That was
:05:01. > :05:10.her view of it. The question was asking when the case was likely to
:05:10. > :05:17.finish. The response that then was received touched upon matters that
:05:17. > :05:22.had been discussed in the jury room and that is completely prohibited.
:05:22. > :05:28.With the prevalence of iPhones and jury members having a lot of time
:05:28. > :05:32.on our hands, it is surprising this has not already happened. It is
:05:32. > :05:37.quite a dangerous situation. If you run a jury and you start to discuss
:05:37. > :05:41.what has taken place in the jury room, you are run very thin ice.
:05:41. > :05:46.People on the receiving end of the conversation are also on thin ice.
:05:46. > :05:49.That was only part of the story. Thank you.
:05:49. > :05:52.A man has been charged in connection with the murder of
:05:52. > :05:56.Giuseppe Gregory. Moses Mathias was arrested in Amsterdam and was flown
:05:56. > :06:00.back to the UK today. 16-year-old Giuseppe died two years ago after
:06:00. > :06:05.being shot outside the Robin Hood Pub in Stretford. Two teenagers are
:06:05. > :06:08.already serving life sentences for his murder.
:06:08. > :06:11.Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport has been told it needs to do more
:06:11. > :06:14.to meet the nutritional needs of some elderly patients. Inspectors
:06:14. > :06:19.found one patient lost 12 pounds in 17 days and another was left
:06:19. > :06:29.without a drink for several hours. Stockport NHS Trust says most
:06:29. > :06:32.
:06:32. > :06:34.patients are happy with the food, but it has taken action.
:06:34. > :06:38.Chorley Council is appealing for the names of vandals who caused
:06:38. > :06:41.thousands of pounds of damage at Astley Hall to be given to the
:06:41. > :06:43.police. On Tuesday evening, more than 20 panes of glass, dating back
:06:43. > :06:47.hundreds of years, were smashed by teenagers throwing stones at the
:06:47. > :06:49.building. Final approval has been given for a
:06:49. > :06:53.massive windfarm in the sea off Barrow, which will double the
:06:53. > :06:56.number of turbines there and create hundreds of jobs. The West of
:06:56. > :06:59.Duddon Sands windfarm will lie further out to sea than the
:06:59. > :07:09.existing sites off Walney Island and provide energy for up to
:07:09. > :07:14.
:07:14. > :07:17.300,000 homes. An inquest jury has decided a
:07:17. > :07:20.break-down driver who died attending to a car on the M60 was
:07:20. > :07:23.unlawfully killed. Denis Livesley from Oldham died when a car
:07:23. > :07:26.ploughed into the back of his recovery truck. The coroner said he
:07:26. > :07:28.would write to the police and Highways Agency to see if they
:07:28. > :07:30.could do more to help recovery workers.
:07:30. > :07:32.The whole family has been devastated by this death. The
:07:32. > :07:35.inquest has provided answers as to what happened on the day he died.
:07:35. > :07:40.We want lessons to be learned from the mistakes that were made, so
:07:40. > :07:45.that no one else doing the job that he did dies in the same
:07:45. > :07:48.circumstances. Fewer bobbies on the beat or more
:07:48. > :07:51.station closures. They are among the choices facing Greater
:07:51. > :07:54.Manchester Police as it looks to save �134 million over the next
:07:55. > :07:58.four years. The force says it needs to lose about 3,000 staff after its
:07:58. > :08:02.budget was cut by 4%. And it is a similar picture across the region.
:08:02. > :08:10.Merseyside is looking at cuts of �66 million by 2015. Lancashire, 42
:08:10. > :08:13.million. Cheshire, 35 million. Cumbria, 19 million. Last night,
:08:13. > :08:17.Greater Manchester Police held the first in a series of public
:08:17. > :08:27.meetings to gauge residents' views on where to make the cuts. Our
:08:27. > :08:28.
:08:28. > :08:36.reporter was there. Every Year in his 34 year career,
:08:36. > :08:40.police have enjoyed ever-bigger budgets, and to allow. So, at
:08:40. > :08:46.Stockport Town Hall, the Chief Constable invited members of the
:08:46. > :08:53.public to see the scale of the task ahead. These are the cuts that they
:08:53. > :09:01.are discussing. �134 million. That means one quarter of staff going in
:09:01. > :09:06.the next four years. Just short of half of those will be officers. The
:09:06. > :09:10.question is, will they be able to deliver these cuts and still
:09:10. > :09:13.achieve the cuts in crime that they have done it in 10 years -- over
:09:14. > :09:18.the last 10 years? We have to fundamentally change the way that
:09:19. > :09:25.we do policing. That is not about giving an easier life to criminals.
:09:25. > :09:28.He hoped to get the public on board. They have got to do this. I do not
:09:29. > :09:33.think you can make cuts without having an effect on crime. The key
:09:33. > :09:38.message was this. Don't get hung up on the number of officers. Instead,
:09:38. > :09:42.what they're very. I am worried about police numbers and I will
:09:42. > :09:52.continue to be worried about police numbers. His predecessors said that
:09:52. > :09:55.
:09:55. > :09:58.we needed more police officers on the beat. What about statistics?
:09:58. > :10:03.The kind of statistics that tell us that crime is falling in
:10:03. > :10:10.Manchester? How many people believe those statistics? That is
:10:10. > :10:13.interesting. Nobody in the meeting trusts crime statistics. We put a
:10:13. > :10:18.huge amount of effort into collecting statistics, but nobody
:10:18. > :10:23.here trusts them for all stop he thinks they can make cuts and
:10:23. > :10:26.protect the service. A seemingly impossible challenge.
:10:27. > :10:28.We would like to know what you would cut. You can contact us on e-
:10:28. > :10:36.mail, nwt@bbc.co.uk, Twitter, @bbcnwt, or
:10:36. > :10:40.Facebook.com/bbcnorthwesttonight. People in parts of Tameside say a
:10:40. > :10:44.stench which has been seeping into their houses for months has got so
:10:44. > :10:47.bad there are days when they have to leave their homes. The bad odour
:10:47. > :10:52.has been traced to a chemical leak which happened at a local factory
:10:52. > :11:02.more than 25 years ago. Our reporter is at the site in
:11:02. > :11:04.
:11:04. > :11:11.Stalybridge now. This is a detergents factory. At
:11:11. > :11:18.the time of the leak, a different company operated from you. The
:11:18. > :11:21.smell has been intermittent since then. The current operators of the
:11:21. > :11:24.side say they're working hard to try to get rid of the bad smell
:11:24. > :11:30.which affects residents, even a couple of miles away.
:11:30. > :11:36.This family have lived here for 8 mac years. They say the bad smell
:11:36. > :11:41.pervading their home has got steadily worse. I cannot sit in
:11:41. > :11:48.here, when it is bad, which has a lot of the time. We have been
:11:49. > :11:55.confined to an upstairs bedroom. work from home and some days it has
:11:55. > :12:01.been so bad that have had to leave the house. Other residents agree.
:12:01. > :12:06.It is a chemical smell which I would compare to blue. On a bad day,
:12:06. > :12:14.it is unbearable. You have to leave your house. There was a chemical
:12:14. > :12:17.leak here in 1985. It is thought the current fumes are linked to
:12:17. > :12:23.that week. There are now coming up into the cellars of some houses
:12:23. > :12:28.through the drains. I have concerns that those chemicals are still down
:12:28. > :12:32.there and they might migrate someone else. I will be speaking to
:12:32. > :12:35.the council and ask them to speak to the company, so they can bring
:12:35. > :12:41.those chemicals from the trains up so that there are no longer a
:12:42. > :12:48.problem. Last week, children were taken to hospital because of sore
:12:48. > :12:54.eyes and headaches. Residents are considering moving elsewhere.
:12:54. > :13:00.we could do is move, but we could not sell this house. Who would buy
:13:00. > :13:05.a house that is full of solvent chemical smells? The company has
:13:05. > :13:10.now appointed Public Health Consultants.
:13:10. > :13:14.In a statement, they said they are working with the council and the
:13:14. > :13:18.Environment Agency to try to do something about this. They have
:13:18. > :13:23.washed out the sewers and had cameras down there. The next move
:13:23. > :13:29.is to line up research of the sewer system. Everyone around you is
:13:29. > :13:33.They collect your bins, they fill in your potholes, and take a chunk
:13:33. > :13:36.of money every year. But what else do you know about what your local
:13:36. > :13:39.authority does? For one day, Tameside Council in Greater
:13:39. > :13:41.Manchester is publishing details of everything it gets up to on the
:13:42. > :13:44.social network Twitter. Nina Warhurst has been following
:13:44. > :13:48.progress. 50 departments and 5,000 employees,
:13:48. > :13:53.and an annual budget of �365 million. These short Twitter
:13:53. > :13:56.messages aim to show us exactly what the council are doing. At 6am,
:13:56. > :14:00.a team responds to concern an elderly resident who has activated
:14:00. > :14:05.a panic alarm. Later, a school minibus overheats, prompting a call
:14:05. > :14:15.out from transport services. By 8am, the recycling team's already in
:14:15. > :14:21.full swing. These are all ended on Tuesday. By Thursday, they are for.
:14:21. > :14:24.How often is the team working? Every single day. By 10am, the
:14:24. > :14:32.management at Ashton Market have tweeted about broken glass on the
:14:32. > :14:37.floor, a new Italian deli due to open. As well as one crucial issue.
:14:37. > :14:40.A few issues with the public toilets. Other tweets include an
:14:40. > :14:43.alleged rat outbreak in Audenshaw, which actually turns out to be a
:14:43. > :14:46.hedgehog. An unusual request for the crematorium team to arrange a
:14:46. > :14:54.webcast of a funeral. And the council's mechanics are called on
:14:54. > :15:02.to save the Stamford Bell. Today, you are one of today's Twitter
:15:02. > :15:06.heroes. We heard about the breakdown at the park. Yes, we had
:15:06. > :15:12.to repair it. It's all very well, but Tameside Council's just made
:15:12. > :15:17.savings of �24 million, so what aren't they tweeting about?
:15:17. > :15:22.don't want to impact on frontline services, so we are significantly
:15:22. > :15:26.reducing management costs, back office services. Those are
:15:27. > :15:30.difficult choices. The council says it wants public involvement in how
:15:30. > :15:40.those decisions are made. You can tweet them, pick up the phone and
:15:40. > :15:40.
:15:40. > :15:44.call. Or if you want to be really Still to come in North West Tonight.
:15:44. > :15:49.Hello, I'm Alan Carr. Later, I'll tell you why you'll
:15:49. > :15:53.find me chained to the Stretford Mall railings. And springing into
:15:53. > :16:03.action. Special Olympics hopeful Omar gets some top tips from a
:16:03. > :16:07.
:16:07. > :16:09.On the day the Education Secretary announced plans to turn hundreds of
:16:09. > :16:14.failing primary schools into academies, one school in Cumbria is
:16:14. > :16:18.celebrating its own turnaround. This time last year, Coniston's
:16:18. > :16:23.only primary school was put into special measures after a series of
:16:23. > :16:27.poor Ofsted reports. But now, with the help of a new head teacher,
:16:27. > :16:33.it's been given a clean bill of health. Colin Sykes has been to see
:16:34. > :16:36.All smiles in the playground at Coniston C of E Primary School. But
:16:36. > :16:46.this time last year, it was officially failing, with poor
:16:46. > :16:51.results and even worse morale. Basically, the children's behaviour
:16:51. > :17:01.and morale and eagerness for learning was very low. Children
:17:01. > :17:05.were not interested in learning. was a worrying situation. This is a
:17:05. > :17:10.small community and we want a village school. We want to pull
:17:10. > :17:16.together. Zena was brought in as acting head from a school in Barrow.
:17:17. > :17:24.First job, to brighten things up. At the end of the year, everyone
:17:24. > :17:30.will have been a VIP. The range of activities go beyond the curriculum,
:17:30. > :17:37.like gardening and art. We all join in activities. A year ago, it
:17:37. > :17:42.wasn't that good. We weren't confident doing our work. It was
:17:42. > :17:46.gloomy but now everything has changed. Everyone can learn. One to
:17:46. > :17:52.one sessions have been possible in a school with only 54 pupils But
:17:52. > :17:58.raising morale has been important too. We have had support from
:17:58. > :18:02.parents, governors, staff, the community. We have worked extremely
:18:02. > :18:08.hard to pull this caught out of special measures without academy
:18:08. > :18:17.status. The school's location has always been a bonus. Now it's got
:18:17. > :18:21.the results to go with it too. Sport, and a campaign's been
:18:21. > :18:24.launched at Westminster to make Sir Alex Ferguson a Lord. The
:18:25. > :18:27.Manchester United manager was knighted 12 years ago, but now two
:18:27. > :18:30.Manchester Labour MPs, Graham Stringer and Tony Lloyd, have
:18:30. > :18:35.tabled a Commons motion, calling for the 69-year-old to be given a
:18:35. > :18:38.seat in the House of Lords. The Liverpool International Tennis
:18:38. > :18:45.Tournament got underway today, with Richard Krajicek and Greg Rusedski
:18:45. > :18:53.taking to the court. The competition is used as a warm-up
:18:53. > :18:59.event by some Wimbledon hopefuls. This year, we have focused on the
:18:59. > :19:06.female agents. Martina Navratilova is here. And the last British
:19:06. > :19:09.Wimbledon winner, Virginia Wade. Very much a Ladies' Day.
:19:09. > :19:13.Olympic Games might still be more than a year away, but for some
:19:13. > :19:15.athletes in the north west, their Olympics is just days away. The
:19:15. > :19:19.Special Olympics, for competitors with learning disabilities, starts
:19:19. > :19:22.in Athens a week on Saturday. A large proportion of Team GB is from
:19:22. > :19:25.this region, including Omar Haddan, 23. Today, the Cheshire gymnast was
:19:25. > :19:31.given a training session he'll never forget. As Richard Aaskam
:19:32. > :19:35.reports. The a special coaching session for
:19:35. > :19:42.one of the Special Olympics stars of. Try to focus on that corner to
:19:42. > :19:46.hold your balance. Omar Haddan has been a gymnast since he was late.
:19:46. > :19:51.Ahead of the biggest competition of his life he was invited to brush up
:19:51. > :19:57.on his skills with the most successful British gymnast of all
:19:57. > :20:02.time at her gym in Liverpool. giving him a few pointers ready for
:20:02. > :20:11.Athens next week. He is full of enthusiasm, it inspires me. He
:20:11. > :20:16.keeps going and going. Do you enjoy it? Yes, I am enjoying it. Omar is
:20:16. > :20:24.part of a 215 strong team. 30 competitors come from the north
:20:24. > :20:32.west. The pinnacle for athletes like Omar. 178 countries will take
:20:32. > :20:36.part. Omar is determined to come out on top. Eight medals.
:20:36. > :20:41.wanted eight medals! Six members of his family will cheer him on in
:20:41. > :20:48.Athens, including his parents, brother and sister. We are also
:20:48. > :20:53.proud of him, it is fantastic. He has done something massive with his
:20:53. > :20:58.life and achieved something no one in our family has been able to.
:20:58. > :21:06.our little staff. A young man who may well shine on the big stage in
:21:06. > :21:14.Athens. Good luck. I hope he does really
:21:14. > :21:20.Now it's time for the weather. It was a little bit better. But, if
:21:20. > :21:24.you are out tomorrow, bring your wellies. We have had not too bad a
:21:24. > :21:27.day, a mixture of sunny spells and scattered showers. I hope you made
:21:27. > :21:35.good use of the sunshine because it is a completely different picture
:21:35. > :21:41.tomorrow. A wet and breezy day courtesy of low pressure. Another
:21:41. > :21:48.weather front is driving in a band of rain right into the evening.
:21:48. > :21:56.Tonight, still some sunshine, in between showers. The showers are
:21:56. > :22:01.fading away, leaving a dry light. Heading into dawn, the showers will
:22:01. > :22:06.return along coastal areas. Elsewhere, some clear skies, and a
:22:06. > :22:12.brisk westerly wind. Tomorrow morning starting cloudy with
:22:12. > :22:22.showers. In the afternoon, the showers will bring longer spells of
:22:22. > :22:29.rain, persistent at times, heavy in some places. Also, brisk southerly
:22:29. > :22:34.breezes, brimming disappointing temperatures, highs of 16 Celsius.
:22:34. > :22:39.For the weekend, staying rather unsettled. Low pressure is still in
:22:39. > :22:46.charge, bringing scattered showers on Saturday. Sunday could be the
:22:46. > :22:56.better day, temperatures not looking very good. Highs of 17
:22:56. > :22:58.
:22:58. > :23:01.The north west has a fine record of producing great comedians. Of our
:23:02. > :23:07.current crop, you would probably reel off Peter Kaye, Jason Manford
:23:07. > :23:14.and John Bishop. Stand-ups who can sell out arenas right across the
:23:14. > :23:19.country. But you could add this man to that list. People do drink too
:23:19. > :23:23.much, don't they? Has anybody been to others don't and emergency on
:23:23. > :23:31.Friday night? Have you seen the state of the people there? I
:23:31. > :23:35.thought somebody had bombed Lidl. Yes, it's that chatty man, Alan
:23:35. > :23:38.Carr. As a young man, he came to Manchester, worked in a call centre,
:23:38. > :23:41.lived in Stretford, and launched his comedy career here. He's now
:23:41. > :23:44.about to embark on a nationwide tour, which includes Manchester and
:23:44. > :23:50.Liverpool gigs. When he popped in earlier, I asked him if he'd
:23:50. > :23:59.managed to nip out for a quick shop in the Stretford Mall.
:23:59. > :24:08.I have heard it has been knocked down. You are going to lead a
:24:08. > :24:13.campaign to save it? I could chain myself to the railings. Let us
:24:13. > :24:19.pretend you are. I used to spend so much time because I used to live
:24:19. > :24:29.across the road. You played the clubs around Manchester. Yes, some
:24:29. > :24:33.
:24:34. > :24:37.of the clubs aren't even there any more. It was amazing. You have done
:24:37. > :24:41.pretty well for the son of a football manager who wanted him to
:24:41. > :24:47.play professional football. Your dad did come up here and work with
:24:47. > :24:52.Kevin Keegan at Manchester City. dad was always a bit, I watch him
:24:52. > :24:57.to be a footballer. And I would become a dad, I'm going to be a
:24:57. > :25:06.comedian. Why Dad heard about me doing my stand-up and Stuart Pearce
:25:06. > :25:16.came up to him and went, can I get two tickets to see him? My dad was
:25:16. > :25:16.
:25:16. > :25:20.like, what! He might be quite good, my son. You are about to launch of
:25:20. > :25:24.into a grand tour around the UK. When I talked to John Bishop
:25:24. > :25:29.recently and asked him what it was like to walk out when there are
:25:29. > :25:34.13,000 people, he said he had no nerves at all. I am such a nervous
:25:34. > :25:44.performer. I can't describe the amount of wind I have before I go
:25:44. > :25:45.
:25:45. > :25:50.on. What! So people stay well away from you? Yes, yes. Hopefully that
:25:50. > :25:58.goes away when you are on stage. is so funny when you watch the
:25:58. > :26:04.telly now. The early days when I was living here. Mead, John Bishop,
:26:04. > :26:08.Jason Manford, travelling across the Pennines. I always said, for
:26:08. > :26:17.the first time in my life I was in the right place at the right time.
:26:18. > :26:24.This massive, huge enthusiasm for stand-up comedy.
:26:24. > :26:28.I could have heard more of him. We've had a big response to our
:26:28. > :26:30.police cuts story. John Crook has emailed to say: "As a retired
:26:30. > :26:34.police officer, I feel the Chief Constable should consider
:26:34. > :26:37.approaching recently retired officers to see if they could do a
:26:37. > :26:40.few hours on a voluntary basis." Charles Finnegan says: "If police
:26:40. > :26:43.officers patrolled singly, they would cover more ground for the
:26:43. > :26:53.same manpower, and be more tuned in to their patch and local
:26:53. > :26:55.