20/09/2012 North West Tonight

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

And Annabel Tiffin. Our top story: Greater Manchester's chief

constable lays flowers for the two officers gunned down in Mottram

after spending the morning with their families. Human beings and

they did two wonderful human beings and very proud families -- to

wonderful human beings. But a Merseyside man behind this

website glorifying the suspected killer has been arrested. Police

called his actions malicious and offensive.

We'll report live from Mottram. Also tonight: Smash and grab - the

thieves who took watches worth over �1 million in 80 seconds.

Living with leukaemia - Alice's child benefit is stopped because

she isn't doing enough home schooling. We will hear the

thoughts and fears of the North West soldiers as they prepare to

head up for a six-month port of Afghanistan.

And we will show you the first new statue here for 100 years. I think

you will like it. The chief constable of Greater

Manchester Police visited the scene in Mottram today to lay flowers in

tribute to Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes. And it has emerged that

officers from other forces have offered to come to Manchester to

enable GMP staff to attend their funerals.

Police have also warned two families whose feuding is being

linked to the shootings to end their disagreement. They have just

over 12 hours to continue to question their prime suspect Dale

Cregan. Let's go live to the scene in Mottram where we can join our

chief reporter Dave Guest. What is the latest there this evening?

latest is as you can probably see the police cordon has moved

considerably. Down at the bottom of the cul-de-sac is where the

shooting took place. The police have been given extra time to

question Dale Cregan. They could apply for an extension for Saturday

morning. They will then have to decide whether to charge him. The

other person arrested in connection with this crime is a 28 year-old

man. There has been considerable activity at a house connected with

him this afternoon. He has been questioned with regards to

conspiracy to commit murder. It he has been spoken to about a phone

call that reported their burglary that led the officers to their

deaths. Today has been about more tributes to the fallen officers

including a tribute from the top. Greater Manchester's police chief

arrived to pay homage to two of his fallen officers. An ever-expanding

tide of flowers spreading here since Tuesday. He said he had spent

time with the families of the Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes today and he

showed some of their thoughts. Fiona Bone's partner was there and

very upset obviously, talking about how they had been planning for a

civil partnership and how they were looking forward to a life together.

I have also been with Nicola Hughes's family today. They talked

about somebody who loved karate, although she was small, she was a

real fighter. Two wonderful human beings, dedicated officers, two

very proud families. Devastated by their loss. The full horror of last

Tuesday will live with this woman for ever. She lives locally and

asked us to conceal her identity. was going out to put out the

rubbish and I heard gunshots. There was a big shot at the end which was

the grenade. Then I heard a woman crying out. It was scary and

chilling, terrifying. I can still her -- I can still hear her

screaming now. Answering the burglary call cost their lives.

Today the van was taken away for further examination. Colleagues and

friends have been arriving throughout the day to pay their own

tributes, to think their own thoughts. No doubt the support of

colleagues has been of great comfort to the families, but so too

has the tidal wave of public sympathy. They asked me to pass on

their huge appreciation for the massive show of public support. We

have had over 30,000 messages of condolence on our website. However

this face but paid gave a very different view -- Facebook. It

contained a deeply offensive material. I looked at some of these

websites and saw ordinary members of the public alarm and distress as

some of the ridiculous comments. I think they would have wanted us to

take positive action and that is what we have done. Today a 22-year-

old man from Liverpool was arrested on suspicion of breaching the

Communications Act. A quick word about the flipside of social media.

The police force has set up a Twitter site which officers from

around the country have volunteered on to work for free of charge so

that officers from here can attend the funerals were made are held.

Back to you. Lancashire Police have today said

an investigation into the death of a three-year-old girl is being

hampered by the belief that it was due to a playground accident. They

say Lia Green died as a result of deliberate violence and have today

renewed their appeal. Yunus Mulla reports.

Lia Green from Preston died at the end of August after her parents

called the emergency services to say she was unwell. A postmortem

found she had serious internal injuries caused by significant

violence. But many in her community mistakenly believe she died from an

accident. Police say that is hampering their murder

investigation. It was not an accident. Somebody inflicted the

injuries and caused her to die. People need to keep Lia Green in

their minds. If they want justice for her and find out who killed her

and what happened, the obligation is on them to speak to us and tell

us what they know. The three-year- old went to a playground the day

before but officers have ruled out her injuries were a result of

falling off a swing. They are looking into her movements over the

previous 48 hours. A 22-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman

understood to be her parents Richard Green and Natalie Critchely

were arrested in connection with her death and then released on

police bail. Solicitors have called for a new postmortem because they

are not satisfied with the conclusions of the original

pathologist. That postmortem will be carried out tomorrow afternoon.

On his Facebook page, her father recently wrote in texting language,

"Dnt believe wt u hear cus it aint true." Lias' family have relocated

but police were today knocking on doors hoping for a breakthrough in

what remain a complex and sensitive inquiry.

It has emerged a Liverpool solicitor who represented the

Hillsborough families in the months after the disaster accused some of

wanting to use the inquests for their 15 minutes of fame. The

quotes from Doug Fraser came to light as a result of last week's

independent report on the tragedy. He also suggested the cut-off point

for evidence should probably be nine minutes earlier than the

highly controversial 3.15pm cut off which was eventually imposed. Mr

Fraser who is now Liverpool's deputy coroner has refused to

comment. A prisoner escaped from a ward at

the Royal Liverpool Hospital earlier sparking a major police

alert. The patient believed to be in his 20s went missing this

morning. He was found hiding in the roof space and arrested.

Liverpool now has more good or outstanding schools than any other

city in the country according to new figures. More than three

quarters of the city's 168 schools have been given the top two

rankings by the education watchdog Ofsted. For the last 18 months, no

school in the city has been classed as failing.

There has been an outbreak of measles in Cumbria. It has emerged

Over the summer. Health experts are urging parents to make sure their

children are vaccinated against the virus.

It was one of the biggest shop raids Manchester has ever seen. And

one of the fastest. In just 80 seconds last night, a gang armed

with crowbars smashed their way through displays in Selfridges

department store and stole over �1 million worth of watches.

They did so as the shop was open and full of terrified customers.

Naomi Cornwell reports. They couldn't have stood out more.

In fluorescent jackets and masks, the three men ran into Selfridges

in the centre in Manchester with an axe and crowbars to the horror of

the shoppers around them. Smashing display cabinets as customers

looked on. It took less than 80 seconds for them to steal 100

watches worth more than �1 million. Staff were very shaken. They are

working with colleagues to try and get the best information and we are

looking at CCTV the footage from the area. We are also looking at

the for -- forensic detail on the vehicle. Selfridges didn't want us

to film inside today. The main store is open, but the watch

gallery just inside the front door remains roped off with several

displays missing. I would not have thought anyone would have the nerve

to just walk in. It is very scary. Nobody was expecting it, that would

be why they did it. You would not think people would try to get away

with it but they do. The time they to it to do it, but I imagine you

would be a bit shaken up. A getaway car driven by a fourth member of

the gang was later found abandoned a few streets away. The watches are

worth up to �25,000 each. Police want to hear from anyone who is

offered them for sale. A terminally-ill teenager and her

family are fighting a new battle for the right to financial help

from the Government. Alice Pyne from Cumbria was taken out of

school because of her illness four years ago and was home schooled.

But now she's 16 and no longer in full-time education, her parents

have been told they will lose her child benefit. Annabel has the

details. Four years ago, Alice Pyne was

diagnosed with leukaemia. She's now 16 and determined to live life to

the full. The teenager from Ulveston in Cumbria hit the

headlines last year when she made a bucket list, a list of all the

things she wanted to do before she died. So far she's ticked off

meeting Take That. Whale watching in Canad. And swimming with sharks

She has also entered her pet Labrador Mabel in a dog show. She

says it was the best day of her life when she went to her school

prom. Recently Alice met the PM David Cameron after she and her

sister Milly were awarded with the British Empire Medal for raising

more than �100,000 for charity. is really nice to be recognised for

some of the things I have done and it makes me feel like I am making a

difference. Alice is now home schooled. She is too ill to go to

college full -time or get a job. But recently her parents received a

letter saying as she is now 16 and not in full-time education or

training, her child benefit would be stopped. Their MP says that is

unfair. They simply do not deserve to be treated in this way. They are

not sure whether to take this further but I am writing to

Government Ministers asking them to review procedures so that mums of

terminally ill children are not sent callous letters through the

post without any help as to what to do next. Today the Government

department that deals with child benefit sent this statement to the

BBC. HMRC cannot comment on individual cases. However, we are

contacting the customer concerned to discuss the matter further.

Alice's family said they did not want to comment Until the situation

is resolved. Still to come on North West

Tonight: And they're off - organisers move the start of

Aintree Grand National to reduce the risk to horses.

The cat with webbed paws - Asia's endangered fishing cat breeds

succesfully in the Isle of Man. They have said fond farewells to

loved ones and tonight the first wave of 600 North West troops

deploy to Afghanistan. The first 100 soldiers are from 1st Battalion

The Mercian Regiment which recruits across the region.

The regiment suffered terrible casualties during its last tour.

Peter Marshall has been to the barracks at Catterick in North

Yorkshire as the soldiers prepare for departure.

These are nervous times. Some members of 1st Battalion The

Mercian Regiment have been to Afghanistan before and they have

lost good friends. This sergeant believes saying goodbye to his wife

is the hardest point of departure. She was upset last time I went. But

when she knew that I had friends lost on the last tour, from my

platoon as well, she is worried, a lot more worried now. She knows it

is closer to home, it could be any of us. For this private from

Manchester, this will be a first tour of Afghanistan. There will be

people who say, I am not scared, but really they are scared. It is

human to be scared. It is a lot harder for families back home

because they do not know what you are doing and where you are and if

you are alive. The last time they went on tour, they lost 12 soldiers.

This tour comes at a time when there is increased concern about

so-called green on blue attacks where Afghan soldiers target

coalition forces. It was at the back of your head last time, but

now it needs to be at the front. Whenever you were doing anything,

you have got to be more vigilant, keep your eyes peeled. Why am more

worried about it because we are losing -- working closely next to

them. This is this man's first posting to hostile territory.

more excited and nervous. It is my first tour. Many will be a weight

over Christmas Tostock they want to do a good job and get back home. --

over Christmas Tostock we wish them well.

Thousands of houses across the north west could be demolished

because of a mistake made by the former Housing Minister Grant

Schapps. He mistakenly signed a �35 million regeneration project which

could see 5,000 homes demolished even though his intention was to

save them. Elaine Dunkley reports from Liverpool.

Run down houses and a ministerial mess. Former Housing Minister Grant

Schapps needs to get his own house in order after this latest

political blunder. Just a few months ago, he vowed to save these

terraces which include the former home of Ringo Starr. These houses

will now hopefully be saved and I hope it will spread to other

streets. If we can improve the economics of this works and it

builds better communities, we will save hundreds more. Grant Shapps

appears to have mixed his grants up. He thought the money would be used

to loving restore many of these properties. Instead, it was for

demolition. This is a really serious mistake that needs to be

rectified. Save Britain's Heritage has bought this house on Madryn

Street in Liverpool to block the bulldozers. Campaigners want

further demolition stopped. This is Liverpool's heritage. It is the

nation's heritage. We know people want to live in these houses and it

is economic Kong to do them up. We want to put the money into

renovation instead of demolition -- it is a economical. 13 local

authorities mainly in the north west were wrongly given more than

�35 million for demolition. Government lawyers have accepted it

is unlawful because it went against Government policy. The houses

should be restored. They should not knock all of them down. They have

been vandalised for 15, 18 years. Grant Shapps, can you tell us what

you will do in your new post? With a lot of the grants already spent,

it was no comment from the former Housing Minister. A High Court

review into the matter will take place in January.

Sport now and there will be a new look to the Grand National next

year in an effort to avoid some of the problems which have blighted

the start of the race in the past. The startline has been moved 90

yards, reducing the length of the world's most famous steeplechase.

Let's go live to Richard Askam who is at Aintree tonight. Is it simply

all about course safety and is this the only change? It is the major

chains. This is where the start line was that the National in April.

They will move it 90 yards down in this direction. The idea is to try

and create a more orderly start. Too slow the horses down as they go

towards the first fence. In particular, to put some distance

between them and the large grandstands and the noise that

comes from them to try the -- to tried to calm the horses down. This

was the scene in April. Chaotic scenes. It was delayed by several

minutes as well. Earlier I spoke to the manager of the racecourse who

told me he does believe the changes will have an impact. The Grand

National is the one race that everybody knows. 11 million people

watched the race last year. We do have a great responsibility to

maintain that. There is increasing pressure on us, but we take that

pressure and responsibility and want to make it as safe as possible.

It is a difficult balance. They are not going to reduce the number of

forces from 40 as some people so they should. Also, defences by and

large will remain pretty much as they are. The public will not see a

difference. The fences will stay the same height. We are looking at

how we build them up. Why are you not reducing the height of some of

the fences? Again, we have looked at this carefully. I think the

Grand National has to remain a test and we have to get the balance

right. If we lower the fences, some people feel horses will go quicker.

Organisers have told me that all of those things will be continually

reviewed and they hope that the focus is very much on who will win

the race rather than on the safety record come next year.

Liverpool's footballers are in action this evening. They are away

to Young Boys of Berne in their opening Europa League match.

Manchester United started their Champions League campaign with a

win last night, but it was far from a convincing victory over Turkish

champions Galatasaray at Old Trafford. Michael Carrick scored

the only goal of the game after just seven minutes, but United were

guilty of missing chances to extend their lead. The main culprit was

Nani who missed this second-half penalty.

BBC Radio Manchester and BBC Radio Merseyside are doing a joint

broadcast ahead of the Liverpool and Manchester United game this

weekend. Heather Stott and Roger Phillips will be debating football

chants and asking whether it is time to call a stop to the abuse.

That is on BBC Radio Manchester and BBC Radio Merseyside tomorrow at

11.30am. Both clubs have asked for that.

A final bit of sports news. Lancashire County Cricket Club have

announced that Chief Executive Jim Cumbes will retire at the end of

the year. He joined the club as a player in 1962 and was a rare two-

sport professional, spending the winter months playing professional

football. He has been chief executive since 1998 and will be

replaced by Daniel Gidney who currently holds that position at

Coventry's Ricoh Arena. For 100 years, statues of 12 men

who made Liverpool great have looked down on St George's Hall.

George Stephenson, the railway pioneer is there. So too is the

four-times prime minister William Gladstone.

It has taken more than a century for the city to decide on statue

number 13. And, as Stuart Flinders reports, the grand old men have

been joined by a feisty young woman. They haven't done this at St

George's Hall since 1911. Kitty Wilkinson, the Saint of the Slums,

has been a folk hero since caring for victims of a cholera outbreak

in Liverpool in 1832 risking her own life. Her statue was unveiled

by her great great great niece. think it is beautiful. It really is.

The only picture there is of her is when she was really cold with her

bonnet on. Obviously she did a lot of her work when she was younger.

It looks like she is rolling her sleeves up. She was always busy.

This Kitty began life as a four-ton lump of marble from the quarry used

by Michaelangelo. She now weighs in at 1.5 tons. She joins 12 figures

from another raid, some of them still well-known like the Prime

Minister William Gladstone, some of them less so, all of them men.

is women's contribution to development to Liverpool, they have

not been recognise sufficiently. That is when the idea for this that

she first emerged. -- for this statue. Simon Smith's job was to

create a statue that was modern but not out of place. I did not want

her to be frozen. She is about to go and do something but with

dignity and purpose. There is still room for more newcomers. Expect

these empty plinths to be filled by more of Liverpool's great women.

What did you mutter when it started?

About time. A very rare and endangered species

of cat has been born in the Isle of Man's wildlife park. Fishing cats

are usually found in the wild, but there are two in captivity on the

island and they have had a little kitten.

Survival rates are incredibly low and numbers are in decline, but

this one seems to be doing just fine. Kelly Foran has been to meet

the new arrival. A cute and cuddly kitten, but don't

be too fooled as it's actually a wild animal. We did not go looking

for it, we wanted to make sure it survived. We work rewarded a few

weeks later, out it popped looking cute and fluffy. It is just eight-

weeks-old and settling into life here. It has been the wettest

summer. But it is good for these cats because and usually they're

like the water. In the wild, they like fishing. They've got partially

webbed feet and can catch or scoop fish out of the water. Despite how

it innocent it may look, they are said to be powerful enough to take

large prey such as calves and dogs. The fishing cat's natural home is

Asia. It has become an endangered species due to the loss of wetlands.

Today, only 200 exist in captivity worldwide. To date, only ten have

been born in the world this year. lot of people think you have got to

have tigers and things like that, but I think we should be pleased on

the Isle of Man that we have managed to produce a fishing cat

kitten. It has yet to been named yet, but it is already becoming the

star attraction It is so nice to have it in the park.

Frisky. It is not a surprise it is a star

attraction. When you see nature, it is amazing. Catching a fish with

its paws. We promise you it would be raining

cats and dogs this afternoon but it did not quite happen. Heavy showers

but the main rain band has been sitting across Scotland all day. We

have escaped it. But the rain will have to move somewhere. Tonight, I

can promise you some rain, heavy rain as the rain band slowly sinks

South overnight. The green flashes mean heaviest of the rain. Heading

towards dawn, the rain continues to since Howarth. Clear skies over

Cumbria -- the rain continues to sink South. A touch of grass frost

in places. Tomorrow morning starts dampen the south. Better conditions

tomorrow. It will be cooler because we have a cold front moving south.

Also a drier day. But they don't start in the south of the region as

the rain continues to move through -- but a damp start in the south.

Heavy showers coming behind the sunshine. A north-easterly breeze.

It will feel much cooler. Sunday looks gorgeous at the moment. Dry

and bright. For Saturday, even. Sunday, we are uncertain. You can

find out more on a website. We may all need the web feet.

We are not 100% sure. Do you remember Patrick Duffy?