24/11/2011 North West Tonight

Good evening. Welcome to North West Tonight with Roger Johnson and

Ranvir Singh. Our top story: Jailed - the men behind the �3.5 billion

drugs bust that didn't involve any drugs. We'll hear how the gang's

plans could have flooded the region with cheap cocaine. Also in

tonight's programme: Blown out - the streets where a massive power

surge destroyed hundreds of fridges, TVs and heaters. All this, the DVD

players, the video, everything's gone. The region's last morning

paper - the Liverpool Daily Post - shuts down after 156 years on the

news stands. And memories of Dolly - we go back to the little club

where his controversial career in It was a drugs gang that never

actually handled any drugs. Today, three men from the North West were

sentenced to 44 years in prison after being convicted of leading a

drug cutting ring worth an astonishing �3.5 billion. Police

spent almost five years tracking the trio as they imported toxic

chemicals and sold them on to drug dealers for �1,000 a barrel. Police

say the supply would have flooded the country with cheap cocaine.

Nina Warhurst reports. Lidocaine and benzocaine are common

anaesthetics, but 36 tonnes of it came to the north-west to be mixed

with Class A drugs. It could have more than doubled the sale of

cocaine in Britain. These are men who bought it, Jamie Dale, John

Cawley and Barry Hartley. They're right bang in the middle of the

illegal drugs trade. From the seizures that we have come across,

the south coast of England, up to the north of Scotland, all over the

UK. It is clear that they are supplying every major deal, or

potentially every deal in the United Kingdom. Cocaine is

expensive and costs up to �300 gram. And mixed with lidocaine or

benzocaine and the street value drops to around �40 a gram and it

becomes affordable and popular. Jamie Dale lived on this quiet

street in Rochdale. His neighbours couldn't have known that he was

importing chemicals that would reach every cocaine user in the

country. The problem for police is that those chemicals are perfectly

legal, and so their challenge was proving where they ended up. Police

got lucky when they found one of the barrels at a drul drug dealer's

house and traced it back. The gang was using storage units across the

north west. After five years of intense police work, between them

these men will spend 44 years behind bars and quite incredically,

because of their arirss, drug users in -- arrests drug users have to

look harder and pay more for cocaine. The body of a soldier from

Liverpool killed in Afghanistan has been flown home today. 25-year-old

Lance Corporal Peter Eustace of 2nd Battalion The Rifles died when he

was hit by a roadside bomb last week. Today he and four other

servicemen were flown to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. A private

ceremony was held at the air base before the cortege passed through

Oxford. A report into a North Sea helicopter crash in which 16 people

died - including an oil worker from Merseyside - says the operators

considered replacing the faulty main gearbox just a week before the

accident. The aircraft plunged into the sea after taking off from a BP

oil platform in April 2009. The two pilots and their 14 passengers -

including 33-year-old James Edwards from Liverpool - were killed. An

inquest has recorded a verdict of accidental death after a student

lost her life in a glider crash. The 25-year-old died after her

glider nose dived in Oxfordshire. After the verdict her father urged

for changes to be made to similar gliders. Hundreds of homes in

Blackburn have been hit by a massive power surge that's wrecked

TVs, fridges, lights and central heating systems. The electricity's

back on now and Electricity North West says it's trying to repair 400

boilers in the area, but residents say they're not being offered

enough compensation to make up for the damage. Naomi Cornwell's there

now. Quite a lot of disruption for them? Yes power cuts are usually

annoying, but you have to check the freezer, reset the clocks and that

is about it. What has happened here in the Shear Brow area has left

everyone with a bigger headache. The surge of electricity to homes

was so big that when the power came back on, people found that

appliances had been damaged, such as boiler, TVs and computer and all

sorts of electrical items. Now the question is who should pay.

this and the DVD players and Sky players. Everything's gone. Broken,

appliances in 4 hundred homes have been affected by the surge in

electric ti. One after the other the bulbs were going. I started

crying. I said what is happening? Do something. Electric any North-

west admit the fault was at one of its substations, but that was yopd

its control. The company denied any legal liable for damage, but

offering a payment of up to �3 hundred. �300 won't get me anywhere.

My fridge freerz cost �500. And my cooker is gone. That is going to

cost a lot. I have two elderly parents. They don't work. They have

lost most of the things in the house. TV, DVD and it costs a lot.

They are paying �300 for compensation for good will. We

don't want �300 we want everything fixed or replaced. Electricity

North West said is trying to help with engineers going from house to

house. Their Priortys is to repair boilers. Customers are facing

distress. And we understand that. We pride ourselves on the fact that

the care we provide is very important us to. We understand that

the difficulties they are facing. As a gesture of good will we want

to get people up and running. many are angry they could face big

bills to replace and repair their electrical items. This is the

letter sent to residents which has angered them. Well tonight the

local MP, Jack Straw, is holding an emergency meeting to discuss the

situation with residents in the area. Electricity North West

maintains that it's not to blame. We rang the industry regulator

OFGEM - it wasn't aware of the power surge until we called, but

says it's now in touch with the company and is looking into the

situation. Thank you. Police are a 5 peeling for information after

thieves broke into a prison and stole cigarettes. The thievs cliepd

over the fences at Kirkham -- thieves climbed over the fences at

Kirkham prison. Bury's hometown heroes, Elbow, will provide the

soundtrack to the BBC's coverage of next year's Olympics. The band

composed the piece in Salford. It's called First Steps and will be six

minutes long. Elbow frontman Guy Garvey won't sing on the track,

instead it will be voiced by a choir. It's been sitting on

Merseyside's news stands since 1855, but soon Liverpool's Daily Post

will be no more. Like many newspapers, the Post has been

losing readers over the last few years. It's now going to become a

weekly paper. Let's join our reporter Yunus Mulla who's in

Liverpool. It is the end of an era? Well there are a lot of people in

Liverpool who tell you that the Liverpool Daily Post is part of the

city's lis tri. It has been here for a long time. Longer than some

of these buildings here. But that affection for the title was not

always translated into sales. That lice behind the decision. At the

Post, they were preparing the headlines to make the pages

tomorrow. But the story of everyone's mind was of its own

making. From January, there will only be a weekly edition and it

will be called The Liverpool Post. A lot of the traditional

advertising that was part of our revenue was migrating to online and

in addition people's reading habits have been changing and people have

been losing the habit of buying newspapers and then with the

economic decline it has been a perfect storm for the newspaper

industry. Michael Witty pledged to change the face of newspapers in

Liverpool in 1855 fr. His offices the cover price was just one p

penny. Burr those penny count now and reality has proveiled. The paip

-- pre prevailed. The -- The papers are just full of rubbish now. I

rarely buy a paper. Look at the back page and the front-page. There

is nothing inside. Most north-west papers don't concentrate on

Liverpool. But they concentrate on Manchester. I like it. I'm into

international news more than local news. There will still be an online

edition and the announcement is no surprise to Larry Nield who worked

there for 37 years and now writes for the online paper. When I go to

work, the first thing I do is look at the online versions of papers.

And people like me are part of the problem. We're big a less

newspapers. That is the fact of life. The paper's owner are

preparing for the next 156 years, but there is no denying it is the

end of an era. It is maybe a sign of the times and it is sad when a

newspaper goes to the wall, or changes, but it has survived 150

year, so it was a quality publication. The paper has gone

through a number of relaunches and it was trying to concentrate on the

business community and you could call it the more middle up market

end of the Reedership. -- readership. But the North Wales

edition won't be affected and will continue. Perhaps what we have here

is a readership who perhaps want a more tabloid agenda, as

demonstrated by sales of Liverpool Echo. Although it is going to

continue offering a mix of business, sport and art and politics, it may

continue to struggle next year. Thank you. Still to come: Floored -

the wrestling coach who's been named the North West's Unsung

sporting Hero. And Northwest Tonight - birthplace of the stars.

Honest! I I remember saying twhraen gets to No 1 -- when that gets to

No 1, remember you heard it here first! That brought back memories.

Now, building houses has been the big political issue of the week

after the Prime Minister unveiled his plan for stimulating the

housing market. Alongside those measures, David Cameron has pledged

to loosen planning controls on building on green field sites. His

plans might help stimulate the economy and help first time buyers,

but they could cause trouble for his own MPs here in the North West.

Here's Stuart Pollitt. Yes, the coalition government this week

earmarked �400 million to help build 16,000 new homes to boost the

economy. That's in addition to relaxing planning restrictions. But

those policies aren't pleasing residents in towns like Crewe,

battling the type of large green field developments happening thanks

to those relaxed restrictions. That's left Tory MPs like Edward

Timpson in Crewe stuck in the middle. Here he is addressing the

Prime Minister in the Commons yesterday. There is concern in

Crewe about jor development in respect of housing. How can plfrd

ensure that my constituent get a greater say in planning decisions

for new housing required for our housing shortage. In Crewe some of

those campaigning against three developments don't feel they have

been listened to. The largest development is a 650 green field

site which seems to have divide opinion in the town. If you stop

outside Robin Post's house you can see what he thinks. It is going to

be as far back as the houses you can see. What do you say to people

who say you are Nimbys? If they come and live around here and saw

the traffic, it is nose to tail without these houses. If we have

got 120 proposed next year and then Parker's Road where there is 4

hundred and this 650, it will gridlock the town. The man whose

job it is to sell house here is a supporter of development. Reason is

we need the right kind of property for people. We have a lot of older

style property for sale and there is a high demand for those. But we

find there is a demand for newer housing. Chershire council said

housing is the building block for prosper is the. But others think

priorities should be different. What we need, we have a town of

skilled engineers, we want the jobs first before the houses. It seeps

almost every resident is -- seems - - is displaying their opposition.

In Clayton-Le-Woods and wit he woods plans for homes have caused

controversy. The possibility of 2,000 homes in Barrow has seen

residents form an action group and in Liverpool 470 home have been

approved despite opposition. The development you saw have been

approved, but campaigners aren't giving up and they want communities

Secretary, Eric Pickles, to call the seem in for investigation. A

plea Mr Pickles may be receiving in increased number and he may be

getting letters from his oin MPs. Thank you. Sport now, and a moment

to celebrate the real heroes of sport - the coaches players,

managers, officials whose passion helps thousands to enjoy sport. As

part of the BBC Sport Personality of the Year event, we were asked to

select the Northwest's Unsung Hero. Some fantastic and very moving

nominations, but the one that won out was Roy Wood from Wigan. A man

who's helped hundreds of young people overcome their problems and

keep a unique form of wrestling alive. In my hand is an award for

unsung sports hero. Fantastic. Moment Roy received his award.

have been awarded it for doing something I like doing. Roy's a

coach at Aspull Olympic wrersling - - wrestling centre. My coach spent

time with me that he didn't have to do. He started it off. He was

coaching local people and I have carried on. The club has become the

Olympic training ground for female recipe from the Pacific. Roy has

been teaching her catch wrestling. He encourages youngsters to stay on

the straight and narrow through sport. They come with noed

confidence and I have seen him make a lad like that who thinks he is

unbeatable. It is all the life skills you need. It is discipline

and respect and keeps you fit. national winner will be announced

at BBC's sports penalty of the year awards and it is a good job Roy

will be there to watch it. Last night, someone stole his television.

I went in the bedroom and they had stole that one too and my computer.

So I hope the people that pinched my telly are watching this today!

hope he is at somebody's house watching this. Congratulations to

Roy. Congratulations also to Stockport tennis star Liam Broady

who has been nominated for the Young Sports Personality of the

Year. The 17-year-old former Wimbledon Boys Doubles Champion

reached this year's Boys Singles final, eventually losing to the

Australian, Luke Saville. So young on 17. And it is being held in the

north-west. The long running debate over goal-line technology in

football could be settled by two Bolton Wanderers supporters. Harry

Barnes and David Parden have invented Goalminder, a system they

devised from experimenting with drain pipes and CCTV cameras. Today

it's being tested in Rochdale by representatives from football's

governing body FIFA. It comes as the Football Association has hinted

that goal-line technology could be used as early as next season, after

numerous instances of legitimate goals being wrongly disallowed. I

am sure you remember this one. video it can be put on the screen

and all the fans, there is no arguments, it is all settled and it

is worth millions to teams now. So I think it's, it needs to be

brought in. If Lee Sharp thinks it is a good idea, it must be a good

idea. Last week saw the death of the cricketer Basil D'Oliviera, a

man who's race and colour put him at the centre of one of sport's

biggest political controversies. He's left his native South Africa

because of discrimination in the Aparthied era, writing to John

Arlott to ask for his help in finding a new cricketing life in

England. And he began that new life in the unlikely surroundings of

Central Lancashire side Middleton. Here's Ian Haslam. With nearly

2,500 runs and 47 wickets, Basil D'Oliviera's legacy for England is

impressive. But before becoming a British citizen, he was a middleton

player, where following his death, the flags remain at half past --

mast. He was so happy in that little cottage. Memories of basil's

time are remembered by those who played with him and became his

friends for life. He said any chance of playing Lancashire league

cricket, I would love to come. I came here the first day he came

here and we met at the door. He said, I'm the new professional. I

said I know. He said where is my dressing room. He could not believe

he was allowed to change. That is your hook, you change there and we

will practice. He was just one shy man. He wanted another contract and

I think the committee said, look you are a better player than that.

It may seem surprising to think a world class player played at

middleton. But then county clubs were only allowed one overseas

player and the Lancashire league gained. Until 1964, hen he joined

Worcestershire. But it was in 19 68 that he was refused permission to

tour in South Africa and the tour was cancelled. And South Africa

webts into sporting isolation. was a great guy and we will all

remember him. He always had a soft spot for Middleton and Middleton

owe him a lot. Lancashire's a great place. But what a great story.

remember, because cricket was my game as a kid. But looking on the

internet they have some great players. Massive names. You don't

get ta now. Not so much. There is not as much money. Shall we move

on? Working on regional TV is varied to say the least. We meet

all sorts of strange people and uncover all kinds of weird and

wonderful tales. And that's just in the newsroom isn't it? In the

latest part of his series marking the end of our Oxford Road studios,

Dave Guest has been sifting through the archives to dig out some of the

oddest of many odd moments. This is just a small section of the north-

west tonight tape library. Here stories of triumph and tragedy.

Over the years we have met all kinds of weird and wonderful people.

Some have gone on to become stars. These Lycra clad lads went on to

take the pop world by storm. Take That make their TV debut here.

has always been the London scene. But from now, forever it is going

to be like... The north is the place to be. But they weren't the

only pop legends to get a break on the programme. We launched Rick

Astley's career. I remember saying when we played it out, saying when

that gets no No 1, remember you heard it here first! But some

celebrities have been less than happy to talk to us. Look forward

to the concert. Am I BLEEP. Haven't you got any proper questions.

Dibnah was always happy to spoke, as long adds it was in his habitat.

Which way is north. Over there. I think. So get the compass out.!

Stuart Flinders has met some interesting characters, such as

these UFO spotters. Suppose some little green men come us to. Good

evening, welcome. No programme would be complete without its share

of animal curiosities. This fish said to bear Allah's name. What

this a fish worth? If I got the money I can pay any price. Could be

worth thousands. Thousands, millions. They even shower together

and. And who could forget Nutty the squirrel. He goes to work with Tony

and attend a quick pint. Does he depend on you. At the moment he

does. Tomorrow we find out why working with animals isn't always

simple. This probably isn't the right place. That is not the right

place to do that either. You naughty girl! I hope the dog wasn't

passing comment. The oddest thing, you remember we ate squirrel on the

programme? Really? We ate squirrel. I think I backed off that one.

I think I backed off that one. GB ate it. We will see a change in

the weather the wind will be the main feature. It will pick up

tonight. Easing down towards dawn. But picking up again. So a wild

spell and a wet spell. Through the day today there were some breaks in

the cloud, but it was mild. Over the my head is the next band of

rain. It this it will turn up in the next hour, but I think we have

a couple of hours. As it moves through, the wind will be behind it

and it is a narrow band, but a lively band. By the time of we get

to midnight you will see the back edge of that and the region drys up

towards dawn. Your temperatures tonight, last night weer at ten

degrees. Tonight it is cooler and fresher at six or seven degrees.

Tomorrow, it doesn't look too pad at first. But don't be fooled by

mid morning we will see a line of showers move in. They will block

out the sun and they change the appearance of day. After lunch they

should move away 5 we should dry up and brighten up. So you can see it

is all over the place. An unsettled spell that. Wind will be strong and

it has been gusting to 55mph. Tonight it could be at those speeds

and tomorrow will be cooler at 10 Celsius. Have you packed your bags

for our move? Have I heck. Each time I pass she is going one way

with a bag of clothes. There a room full of removals war drobs. Can I