02/05/2012 North West Tonight

Good evening. Welcome to NorthWest Tonight with Roger Johnson and

Ranvir Singh. Our top story: The moments after a single drunken

punch that killed Adam. Now his parents campaign to teach young

people about the dangers of mindless violence. They'll be

joining us live in the studio. Also tonight: Get rid of Becher's Brook

- the RSPCA calls for major changes to Aintree's Grand National Water,

If we need to consider the thing to make the race safer, and that

stands out. Water, water everywhere. But should be devours to the rest

of the country? I am at the stadium where Fabrice Muamba will attend

his first match since attending -- claimed six weeks ago. And and will

hardly make it big in America Nidal? -- holly make it big in

Most nights in towns and cities across the North West thousands of

young people go out drinking. For most, it results in a sore head at

worst. But in a very small minority of cases, it can have massive, and

sometimes fatal, consequences. Adam Rogers was 24. He was killed by a

single punch while trying to intervene in a drunken altercation

in Blackburn town centre. That was in 2009. In a moment, we'll be

talking to his parents about how they are trying to stop other

families being torn apart in similar circumstances. First,

Adam Rogers had a promising life ahead of him. But it ended after a

Saturday night out with university friends almost three years ago.

Adam intervened as a peacemaker when a drunken teenager with a

history of alcohol-fuelled violence threw a kebab at his friends in

Blackburn town centre. Billy Upton is out on probation now. Adam's

father met him last year. I wanted to let him know exactly the damage

she had done on the consequences of his behaviour that night and how it

had affected so many people. Adam's mum Pat has run charity

races to raise funds for the charity set up in his memory. While

five people, including Mark, received organs from Adam after his

parents took the decision to switch off his life support machine. Now

they're hoping more good will come Packed and Dave Rogers are here,

and you were cringing when we show the picture of the running, but I

have watched a little bit of the video and seen what is on there.

Young people are always going to go out and have a drink and there will

be heated arguments, it is human nature. What you're aiming to tell

people like Adam who are good- hearted and good nature is -- good

natured, you have to keep away, no matter what your intentions. Partly

that, but mostly it is trying to help them be more aware of the

dangers of excessive drinking and not to accept the casual approach

to violence which seems to be around today that it is part of a

night out to see people having punch-ups. People hitting out at

somebody is not solving confrontation or disagreement.

seem to feel they are invincible when they have had a drink, not

that that is the case with Adam, but for the people who start this

kind of thing, but we know that human beings aren't. The it was

certainly not the case with Adam as he had not been drinking. But the

young lad who hit him Dad. The problem with excessive drinking is

that it changes your possessive -- perception of what is going on, so

you are vulnerable yourself and the danger to other people because you

are capable of doing things you would not normally do. On the video

you have shared some quite dark moments. There is some CCTV we can

show now. There is one shot of Adam going into the ambulance and you

can see him there, and he died shortly afterwards. It is very

graphic. Why did you want to include something so personal and

so graphic? We thought very carefully about it but we wanted

something that would have a real impact when people watch it and it

is only a very short piece where he has bought into the ambulance, but

it means so much. And we have been piloting this scheme, and that part

of it has an incredible impact on young people and they talk about it

afterwards and it makes them think about what can happen. How will you

ultimately determine whether this is successful? It is very difficult

and it is difficult to measure. You can only measure the sort of

outcomes that you would want to see over quite a long period of time by

things like how many people admitted into accidents and

emergencies, and things like that. All we can do is off the immediate

impact it has and on other people who have worked in prisons and the

immediate impact. It is incredibly powerful. It is a very personal

story and it gets through to people. By suppose it keeps you going.

guess, because the alternative is to give up to the anger and grief

and desperation you feel, and we didn't want to become more victims,

we wanted to do something positive. It is good of you to come and talk

to us. Best of law -- luck with the launch tomorrow. Lovely to meet you

For millions of racegoers and television viewers, it's one of the

biggest events on the sporting calendar. But according to the

RSPCA, the Grand National at Aintree is the "unacceptable face

of racing." The charity has been supportive of race organisers in

the past, but now it's calling for a radical overhaul of the event,

and even the removal of Becher's Brook. Naomi Cornwell's been

following the story. 40 horses started the Grand National at

Aintree last month. Of those, just 15 finished and two - Synchronised

and According to Pete - died after falls. Organisers said they "could

neither have foreseen nor prevented" those deaths. But the

RSPCA disagrees. It had a team of seven officers at the event, led by

Chief Inspector Cathy Hyde. They went because they were concerned

about two deaths at last year's event, and particularly the famous

jump at Becher's Brook. One of our inspectors is a former jockey and

he worked in the National Hunt and racing industry for many years

before joining the RSPCA. With the experience he has, we placed him at

Becher's Brook because we do that is where they could be potential

problems. -- we knew that is where. And as a result of what he and

other inspectors at the course saw, the RSPCA has written to the

British Horseracing Authority and Aintree "raising major concerns"

and calling for seven changes: They want the number of starters to be

reduced and restricted to experienced horses and jockeys, the

core of fences to be re-designed, and drop landings levelled. In

addition, they've called for changes to the start of the race,

for horses that bolt and unseat jockeys to be automatically

withdrawn, and for a review of the positioning of horse catchers. But

perhaps most radically, the letter demands the complete removal of

Becher's Brook. Looking at the history of the race, that is where

the most problems and fatalities occur. So if it is proven to be

such a big issue, we need to consider the most radical thing to

make the race safer, and that stands out. Aintree didn't want to

comment today, but told us it's conducting its own review of the

race. The British Horseracing Authority has said that it's too

early to speculate whether any changes will be made and that it's

examining evidence from this year's meeting before making any decisions.

Its final conclusion could take months. The RSPCA says it wants

changes before there are any more A mother has been challenged over

her claims that a GP failed to properly assess her baby son, who

later died from a heart condition. Yesterday Lianne Sabin from Preston

told a fitness to practise hearing that Dr Renjith Nair had not even

looked at baby Calum when she took him in February 2009. But today his

defence suggested that he had taken due care, and that her memory had

been affected by grief. The hearing continues.

The largest measles outbreak on Merseyside since the MMR vaccine

was introduced more than 20 years ago, is continuing to grow. There

are now 210 confirmed cases in the area. 39 people have needed

hospital treatment but have since recovered. There are also another

92 probable cases under investigation. Parents are being

urged to get their children Plans for a �4 million conference

centre on the shores of Winderemere have been given the go ahead. The

largely glass structure will be built on the site of the Low Wood

Watersports Centre. It was approved by planners this morning.

It's the final day of campaigning before the local elections. More

than 500 council seats will be contested tomorrow. Well, our

political editor Arif Ansari joins us from Salford where people will

also be voting for an elected mayor. And that's caught a lot of national

attention. It has. It is a big change for voters and in -- the

rest of Salford, it is the first time they get a chance to decide

who they want to run the council. In the past the council leaders

have been selected by the councillors, but now they will get

a direct vote and the city mayor will go forward and lead the city,

not just in Salford, but also happening in Liverpool and in

neighbouring Manchester where there is a referendum to see if they want

to swap to that system as well. So a big change here. In the broader

elections we will be counting in 26 tomorrow, so what should we be

looking out for? If you want to talk about the more traditional

councils, as you say, 26 of them counting. Labour has by far the

largest number of the councils. They control 16. That seven of them

are under no overall control, in other words, no Council majority is

present, and those are the ones where the real fight is going to

take place. Four of them are in Lancashire, places like Burnley,

surely, Rossendale, Sefton and Wirral, and the question is how

many of those that under no overall control can Labour turn red

tomorrow. They look on course to win control of Chorley and

Rossendale, but can they win the others around as well? That is the

key fight. Other big questions are whether the Tories will be able to

hold on to Trafford and how badly will the Liberal Democrats do after

their spectacular disaster last time round? A busy couple of days

to you. Thank you very much. And the BBC's providing full election

coverage - "Vote 2012" is on BBC1 tomorrow evening from 11:30pm - and

will include Arif reporting from Liverpool and Annabel Tiffin from

Manchester. Plus BBC local radio will have special programmes

It's not cheap to follow your football team. Tickets cost a lot.

So does travel. And now a north west MP has accused the Football

Association of forcing Liverpool fans into forking out even more to

watch the Reds in this weekend's FA Cup final. A combination of an

evening kick off and disruption to rail services means many Liverpool

fans will have to stay overnight in London. Labour's Rosie Cooper says

the FA are putting TV revenue before supporters. The FA says it

announced the time and date months ago. Andy Gill reports.

A repeat of this come Saturday will do just fine for Reds fans. But

getting to Wembley to see if Liverpool can add the FA Cup this

year's Carling Cup triumph won't be straightfoward. Rail engineering at

Crewe means there are only three direct trains from Liverpool to

London on Saturday. All before 8:00am. And none coming back. With

a 5:15pm kick off, one local MP says fans will be out of pocket

She thinks the FA have put TV schedules before the fans need.

everybody is concerned apart from the FA, it is greedy. The time has

been changed to make more money. And today Liverpool's vice captain

sympathised with fans. The FA says it announced the date of the final

and the later kick off time months ago. It is wrong, it is out of

order. I don't know how it is decided, we are having it more and

more for the TV it in football. FA says it announced the time

months ago. ITV sources say the UK audience for a 5.15 final could be

60 per cent higher than 3 o'clock. Liverpool fans are as resourceful

as they are passionate. A lack of trains will not stop them getting

to and from Wembley. With travel plans affecting all three of the

appearances at Wembley this season, they say it is time the television

people, Network Rail and the FA listened more. The fans are caught

up in the middle and just told to get on with it. We don't think that

is right. They should have been consulted. Network Rail say they

cannot postpone the work. It would cost us essentially �6 million to

stop the work, money that we can invest in the railway. They are

looking for National Express to run more coaches to Wembley on Saturday.

As long as they get the result I don't think they will mind.

We have had more rain in the north- west in the last six months than

any other region, but other parts of the country are still in a

drought. Is there anything we can do to help? Should we? A special

report tonight looks at whether the north-west could share our water

supply us with other areas. Tracey has the story. Drought? What

drought? The north-west has plenty of water. The reservoirs are 88 per

cent full and we have more water than we need in Cumbria. Officially

the wettest place in England, in 2009, they were hit with a record

12 inches of rain in one day. You would not mind sharing our water?

The not at all, they can have as much as they want. The 2006, the

Environment Agency looks at a proposal to build a pipeline from

the lake to London. At �50 million it was deemed too expensive, but

Cumbria County Council see the appeal. The we would work at a cost

per litre, it on top of a massive investment which would be necessary

to move water 300 miles, say, directly south to London. That

would be a big cost. Friends of the Lake District think we should look

better at ways to share water. would be much better off for

sustainable projects. Full water meters, shower heads, to reduce

water in the home. The knighted utilities, who manage the local

water, say a local grid would not be feasible because water is too

heavy and expensive to move over long distances. Back to sport. A

key player back. But not on the pitch, of course.

Yes, just over a month ago Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba collapsed

with a cardiac arrest during a game at Tottenham and his heart stopped

for 78 minutes. Well, tonight, his miracle recovery comes full circle

when he makes his first public appearance as, ironically, Bolton

take on Spurs again tonight. Fabrice is expected to thank

Wanderer's fans for their support ahead of a game which has huge

significance for Owen Coyle's men in their fight against relegation.

Richard is at the Reebok, any sign of Fabrice yet, Rich? Not as yet,

we are expecting him soon, though. He will go on the pitch just before

kick-off, at around 7:55pm. To acknowledge the support the fans

have given him during his remarkable recovery. He was

technically dead for more than an hour. It will be emotional for

everybody connected with Bolton Wanderers this evening. Who one of

the questions we have been asking ourselves, is "will Fabrice Milan

the play football again?" This is a bit shocking, but this young man

was OK. -- Fabrice Milan there. This was a Belgian league game.

This young man collapses, has a cardiac arrest on the pitch. He is

already wearing a key figure later. It jots his heart back into life,

he was OK, left hospital the next day and is still playing football.

Although no conditions are identical, it does give you hope

that he could play football again, Fabrice. Lots of fans wanted to

catch a glimpse of him. Stephen, thank you for joining us. Good

evening. It goes without saying that everybody a Bolton Wanderers

is delighted to see him. Sir six weeks ago we did not think it would

be possible. To see him before the game could add a little bit to what

will be an emotional evening and a critical evening. Absolutely, a

crucial match. I critical, three games to go. Looking at our

fixtures and Queens Park Rangers's fixtures, we may need four points.

One of the critical fixtures is this, Kevin Davies is back in the

team. He was marvellous at the weekend. You do have some momentum,

don't you? Stephen along with other supporters think four points would

be enough. Full coverage on BBC Radio Manchester.

And we're expecting to hear from Fabrice tonight and you can see

that interview tonight in our 10:28pm bulletin. Elsewhere in

football, Liverpool warmed up for Saturday's FA Cup final against

Chelsea in the worst possible way last night with another defeat at

Anfield. They lost 1-0 to Fulham following an own goal by Martin

Skrtel after just five minutes. Liverpool are now three points

behind Everton, who drew 1-1 at Stoke. Peter Crouch deflected a

cross into his own net, but Jerome Cameron equalised two minutes after

coming on as a sub. There's now a risk Liverpool might not even

finish in the top eight. After making nine changes, Kenny Dalglish

was disappointed with players who'd been given a chance to put down a

marker for Saturday's final. gave them an opportunity to get

some minutes on the pitch with a game coming up on Saturday which is

important to the club. I wanted them to put their case for it, but

the attitude was very poor. important thing is to try and

finish in the top 10, the points tonight may just secured that. If

we do that we can say it was an OK season. If we can win the last two

games and finished up their it would be a really good season for

Liverpool are playing in the FA Cup final on Saturday. But did you know

two more teams from the region have games at Wembley this month? The

under-11s teams are from Failsworth and Hazel Grove. And today they got

a special treat. They were given special coaching sessions with none

other than the Manchester United, Chelsea and England legend, Ray

Wilkins. Mark Edwardson reports. Take one member of football's

aristocracy, then two schoolboy sides dreaming of glory on

Wembley's hallowed turf and give them three weeks to prepare. The

lads from South Failsworth School will play in an Npower Football

League Kids Cup in front of thousands gathering ahead of the

League One play off final on the 26th. You get all of the top

Brazilian players, they want to play at Wembley. For these young

men it is an experience which will be unforgettable. The lads will

play in a kids' Cup, in front of thousands ahead of the League One

play-off final. It is really good. I can't believe it. We get to stay

at a hotel and everything. Let's use the whole square. It is the

turn of the under 11 s the next day. The following day it's the turn of

the under 11s team from Norbury Hall Primary School in Hazel Grove.

It is going to be amazing. Their game's a curtain raiser for the

League Twp playoff final. And it's a swansong for the school's

headteache, he's retiring this summer. The boys keep reminding me,

they say it is a leaving present. They deserve it, they have been

amazing. I have seen some very talented young man and good players.

I think the teachers have done a great job, but the enjoyment side

is paramount. The lads from Failsworth and Hazel Grove are

hoping their games at Wembley won't be once in a lifetime experiences.

Mark Edwardson, BBC North West Tonight. Now last week we told you

about local lad David Julien from Leigh, who's in the last 20 of "The

Voice". But while his talent show journey is just beginning, over the

pond, an 18 year old from Liverpool is now down to the final five of

one of the biggest shows in the word. Yes, Hollie Cavanagh grew up

in Allerton but moved to the states aged nine. Now she's wowing

audiences with her big voice, just have a listen to this. Ain't about

what is waiting on the other side! Well, That was from last weeks

edition of "American Idol" but in a few hours Hollie will take to the

stage in Hollywood in a bid to keep her dream of stardom alive. Nowhere

will she be more keenly watched than in Liverpool where many of her

relatives still live and support her. It's a big night for the

family - Kate Simms has finding out how their nerves are doing.

Welcome, I can tell you that Hollie fever is alive. We knew where we --

we knew we were in the right place, these posters at the front of the

house. The family getting together along with 55 million people in

America to watch Holly in action. You must be so proud? Delighted,

over the moon. She is doing brilliantly. She is in the final

five, can she go all the way? think she can, nobody thought she

would get this far. The world is her oyster, she could go all the

way. Flying the flag for Liverpool in the United States. Just to make

sure they Liverpool message got hurt, Jess, you have been friends

with her since she were a baby. have known the Hollie since I was a

child, our mothers were pregnant together. Just to watch her now, it

is unbelievable. You have been in that studio haven't you? When she

was in the bottom two, I did nothing she deserved to be, my

heart was going. I am so proud of her and know she can do it. What

did you think of and they? It was amazing, but in the studio you were

like "oh my gosh, what is going to happen? My auntie had to go out

because it was so stressful. Do you think Hollie can do it? Yes! Could

luck for tonight's Hollie. We feel the same about you. People do cry

This week weather fronts which we thought would bring us rain brought

not a drop, a really nice day. A bit of a halfway house tomorrow,

more rain. Through the night tonight, for parts of Cumbria and

Lancashire there will be prolonged clear spells. Temperatures down to

around four Celsius. For more southern parts we will talk around

five or six degrees, maybe even up to eight or nine on the coast. We

see the cloud coming and going through the night. No way should be

too cold. Look at this little area of brain, that is in the morning.

That will become rare and part of Lancashire, that should stay true,

we deny spells of sunshine though. A good start for the rest of us,

this weather front coming up close. I am not convinced by this thing.

It looks like it will move in over the southern part during the

afternoon, all it has to do is drop around 50 miles south and it

ignores us, 50 miles north and it hits us. The better weather will

definitely be in the northern parts. Much more cloud cover during the

afternoon, the wind will be light. Tomorrow, the same kind of

temperature, if you are out and about it would feel too bad, but