:00:07. > :00:11.Good evening. Welcome to North West Tonight with Roger Johnson and
:00:11. > :00:13.Annabel Tiffin. Our top story. Shame on you, shame on all of you.
:00:13. > :00:20.A coroner criticises the media after a Lancashire teacher who
:00:20. > :00:24.changed sex killed herself. We do not want to be demeaned or
:00:24. > :00:29.ridiculed because of who we are. We want to be treated like human
:00:29. > :00:34.beings. The coroner is now urging the government to take action to
:00:34. > :00:38.avoid similar cases. Also tonight. Investigations continue after a
:00:38. > :00:41.South Lakes zoo keeper is mauled to death by a tiger.
:00:41. > :00:44.Heading home. The ships and the veterans leave Liverpool after
:00:44. > :00:49.commemorating the Battle of the Atlantic.
:00:49. > :00:57.The party's over. Roberto Martinez resigns from Wigan and heads for
:00:58. > :01:07.talks about taking charge at And back on stage. Manchester's M-
:01:08. > :01:15.
:01:15. > :01:25.People reunited after a health The coroner is now urging the
:01:25. > :01:25.
:01:25. > :01:27.A coroner has criticised the media for ill informed bigotry after a
:01:27. > :01:29.Lancashire teacher who changed sex killed herself following what the
:01:29. > :01:33.coroner described as character assassination. His comments came at
:01:33. > :01:36.the end of an inquest into the death of Lucy Meadows who taught at
:01:36. > :01:38.a primary school in Accrington. But Blackburn coroner Michael Singleton
:01:39. > :01:48.is now urging the Government to take action to avoid similar cases.
:01:49. > :01:54.
:01:54. > :02:04.Peter Marshall is in Blackburn now. Lucy Meadows was just 32 years old.
:02:04. > :02:06.
:02:06. > :02:11.She was a teacher at St Mary Magdalene's school. It seems at the
:02:11. > :02:18.inquest that the school and her colleagues were supportive of of
:02:18. > :02:27.her six change, but the wider media was not. This is Nathan Upton - a
:02:27. > :02:28.man who wanted to live his life as announced he was changing sex and
:02:29. > :02:30.would return as Lucy Meadows. The decision attracted national
:02:30. > :02:40.publicity. One article in particular by Daily Mail columnist
:02:40. > :02:58.
:02:58. > :03:02.Richard Littlejohn would lead to The inquest heard Lucy Meadows
:03:02. > :03:05.killed herself in March through carbon monoxide poisioning. She had
:03:05. > :03:08.complained to the Press Complaints Commission about press harrassment
:03:08. > :03:13.and the Littlejohn article, but didn't blame her suicide on the
:03:13. > :03:15.coverage. She just wrote she had had enough of living. The coroner,
:03:15. > :03:20.however, said he was appalled at the media intrusion she'd faced,
:03:20. > :03:26.saying: "She had done nothing wrong. Her only crime was to be different
:03:26. > :03:29.not by her own choice, but by some trick of nature." A vigil was held
:03:29. > :03:31.outside the Daily Mail offices by transgender campaigners. Thousands
:03:32. > :03:40.signed an online petition calling for Richard Littlejohn to be sacked
:03:41. > :03:44.and for the paper to apologise. Campaigners have welcomed the
:03:44. > :03:48.coroner's comments. I think they would start to understand that this
:03:48. > :03:51.is not a fad, this is not a joke. This is something very serious and
:03:51. > :04:01.we don't want to be demeaned or ridiculed because of who we are. We
:04:01. > :04:02.
:04:02. > :04:07.are human beings just like you are. was no link between the article and
:04:07. > :04:11.the death of Lucy Meadows. It is not just the Daily Mail that
:04:11. > :04:15.has faced criticism, it is the media in general. At the end of the
:04:15. > :04:23.inquest, the coroner returned to the press bench and said shame on
:04:23. > :04:27.you, shame on all of you. Other news from around the North
:04:27. > :04:29.West now and in the last hour, one of two men arrested on suspicion of
:04:29. > :04:32.the murder of Middleton soldier Lee Rigby has been discharged from
:04:32. > :04:37.hospital and is now in police custody. Drummer Lee Rigby was
:04:37. > :04:40.killed near Woolwich Barracks on Wednesday. Meanwhile the National
:04:40. > :04:43.Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire say his name will be engraved on
:04:43. > :04:46.the memorial for fallen servicemen and women. It says his name will be
:04:46. > :04:50.included because he died in a terrorist attack.
:04:50. > :04:53.Tributes have been paid to a rider who died at the Isle of Man TT
:04:53. > :05:00.qualifying session yesterday. Yoshinari Matsushita, who's from
:05:00. > :05:03.Japan, is the 21st rider to die at the races since 2000.
:05:03. > :05:05.The dog that attacked and killed a Liverpool pensioner at the weekend
:05:05. > :05:08.wasn't a banned breed, say Merseyside Police. Clifford Clarke,
:05:08. > :05:12.a retired hospital porter, was attacked near his home in the Club
:05:12. > :05:15.Moor area of the city on Saturday. Police say the dog was a cross
:05:15. > :05:23.between a bull mastiff and a presa canario and wasn't banned under the
:05:23. > :05:25.Dangerous Dogs Act. The brother of Tayyab Subhani, one of the two men
:05:25. > :05:29.from East Lancashire accused of endangering an aircraft, say he's
:05:29. > :05:32.not a terrorist. The plane was travelling from Pakistan to
:05:32. > :05:42.Manchester when it was intercepted by RAF fighters and escorted to
:05:42. > :05:42.
:05:42. > :05:45.Stansted Airport in Essex on Friday. Tayyab Subhani, who lives in
:05:45. > :05:47.Townley Street in Nelson, and Mohammed Safdar, from Hallam
:05:47. > :05:50.Crescent in Briefield, have both been remanded in custody. They have
:05:50. > :05:53.said that it is not a terror related incident which is really
:05:53. > :05:56.good for us because he is not a terrorist. Obviously, you do get
:05:56. > :06:00.scared when you hear the word terrorist. Obviously, we have got
:06:00. > :06:03.beards and we have got hats on, but we are peace loving people. This is
:06:03. > :06:07.just a big misunderstanding. Quarry Bank Mill is to receive �3
:06:07. > :06:09.to restore it to its former glory. The estate is one of the most
:06:09. > :06:18.significant sites of the Industrial Revolution in Cheshire and the
:06:18. > :06:21.money will be used to renovate some of its historical buildings.
:06:21. > :06:24.Police investigations are continuing into the death of a zoo
:06:24. > :06:27.keeper at a Cumbrian Wildlife park. Sarah McClay was mauled by a tiger
:06:27. > :06:30.in an enclosure at the South Lakes Wild Animal centre on Friday.
:06:30. > :06:40.Tributes to the the 24 year old continued today. Our chief reporter
:06:40. > :06:43.
:06:43. > :06:47.Dave Guest has the story. Four days on and questions still
:06:47. > :06:52.remain over the death of zoo-keeper Sarah McClay who was savaged by a
:06:52. > :06:54.tiger at the South Lakes Wild Animal Park. At this stage, we are
:06:54. > :06:58.focusing our enquiries on establishing exactly how Sarah came
:06:58. > :07:01.into contact with the Tiger. zoo said there was no reason why
:07:01. > :07:05.she should have come into contact with the tiger. Sarah was carrying
:07:05. > :07:11.out her routine duties, cleaning and serviceing the pens. --
:07:11. > :07:18.servicing. The animals should not be in there. That is the focus of
:07:18. > :07:23.our enquiries as to how that animal came to be in the pen. It was an
:07:23. > :07:28.accident. We do not know what mistakes were made, but it was an
:07:28. > :07:31.accident. Apparently, this is not the first time the park's tigers
:07:31. > :07:35.have shown just how vicious they can be. BBC North West Tonight has
:07:35. > :07:37.learned that back in December, a Tiger cub was mauled to death by
:07:37. > :07:40.one of the other Tigers. The park refused to discuss that incident
:07:40. > :07:43.today but in an interview recorded over the weekend, the owner said
:07:43. > :07:46.that the tiger responsible for Sarah's death would not be
:07:46. > :07:56.destroyed. The tiger will not be destroyed. It did not do anything
:07:56. > :08:06.
:08:06. > :08:13.wrong. It is not the first time the park has been in the news. In 1997,
:08:13. > :08:18.a rhino tried to escape and was so badly injured it had to be shot.
:08:18. > :08:21.Meanwhile, the tributes to Sarah McClay have continued. The
:08:21. > :08:31.University of Cumbria where she studied have described her as a
:08:31. > :08:40.
:08:41. > :08:43.bubbly, fun-loving student who was also academically gifted. Now, the
:08:43. > :08:47.Government may have announced plenty of spending cuts, but today
:08:47. > :08:50.million will be given to Peel Ports to dredge the approach channel in
:08:50. > :08:52.the Mersey Estuary. The Chancellor George Osborne visited the Port of
:08:53. > :08:55.Liverpool earlier today. Once dredged, the river will handle
:08:55. > :08:56.larger ships, all to boost Liverpool's economy. Nazia Mogra
:08:56. > :09:06.reports. The Chancellor's ringing
:09:06. > :09:15.
:09:15. > :09:18.endorsement for new plans for the Port of Liverpool. A new �210
:09:18. > :09:21.million deep-water terminal is being constructed to take a new
:09:21. > :09:24.generation super-sized cargo ships. But for those ships to get into the
:09:24. > :09:27.new terminal at Seaforth, the river channel itself will have to be
:09:27. > :09:31.deepened. And that's what the new money will help pay for. Those
:09:31. > :09:37.containers that currently go into the South Today and come up here by
:09:37. > :09:40.a road, will be able to come into the sport. Right now, the biggest
:09:40. > :09:43.ship in the Mersey is around 13 metres high and 33 metres wide.
:09:44. > :09:47.When this project is complete, ships as tall as 14 double decker
:09:47. > :09:51.buses and the length of 4 football pitches will be able to enter the
:09:51. > :09:54.Mersey. The river terminal will offer the big shipping companies a
:09:54. > :10:04.new entry port to Britain and competition for the south. It's
:10:04. > :10:18.
:10:18. > :10:23.hoped work will be completed by Apologies, but was not George
:10:23. > :10:25.Osborne. More than 300,000 people were in
:10:25. > :10:27.Liverpool this weekend to commemorate the 70th anniversary of
:10:27. > :10:30.the end of the Battle of the Atlantic.
:10:30. > :10:33.And today warships from around the world finally left the Mersey,
:10:33. > :10:39.watched by thousands of people along the banks of the river.
:10:39. > :10:41.Beccy Meehan reports. It was the longest continuous
:10:41. > :10:44.military campaign of the Second World War. Today, the people of
:10:44. > :10:47.Liverpool came out in full force to bid farewell to the warships that
:10:47. > :10:57.have congregated here in Liverpool since last week to mark the 70th
:10:57. > :11:02.anniversary of the end of Battle of the Atlantic. It is something that
:11:02. > :11:06.should be remembered for posterity. The battle began in 1939 as the
:11:06. > :11:08.Royal Navy and the Merchant Navy fought to control supply routes
:11:09. > :11:13.across the ocean. 3,500 merchant ships and 175 warships were sunk
:11:13. > :11:16.with the loss of tens of thousands of lives. Liverpool was right at
:11:16. > :11:19.the heart of the campaign and, this weekend, the city honoured those
:11:19. > :11:21.who served with a Merchant Navy Veterans Parade, a fly-past and a
:11:21. > :11:31.service at Liverpool Cathedral which was attended by the Princess
:11:31. > :11:42.
:11:42. > :11:49.Royal. I think everyone should remember. We've got members of the
:11:50. > :11:55.Polish, Belgium Davies leaving now. Thousands of people have lined the
:11:55. > :11:59.streets here. Over 300,000 have turned out over the weekend to mark
:11:59. > :12:04.this important occasion. The effort that the people of Liverpool have
:12:04. > :12:11.put into a welcoming us has been fantastic. It is such an historic
:12:12. > :12:21.occasion that the navy believe it is right and fitting to commemorate
:12:21. > :12:24.this. An impressive display to mark an important period in our heritage.
:12:24. > :12:34.Beccy Meehan, BBC North West Tonight, Liverpool.
:12:34. > :12:35.
:12:35. > :12:45.Still to come on North West Tonight. Liverpool's David Price a get some
:12:45. > :13:01.
:13:01. > :13:03.And they are going back on tour. 30 years ago, one of the great
:13:04. > :13:07.political battles of the 1980s started brewing in Liverpool. It
:13:07. > :13:09.was the rise of Derek Hatton and the Militant Tendency. Yes, in 1983,
:13:09. > :13:12.Labour took control of the city council.
:13:12. > :13:14.And today we start a three part series looking back at Militant's
:13:14. > :13:20.influence. Our Political Editor Arif Ansari is here, so what's the
:13:20. > :13:25.significance of Militant? There is no equivalent of it today.
:13:25. > :13:31.Derek Hatton was the deputy leader of Liverpool City Council. But he
:13:31. > :13:41.was still a national political figure and a focus of opposition to
:13:41. > :13:41.
:13:41. > :13:45.what was going on in the government. The Militant tendency was a
:13:45. > :13:52.revolutionary, Marxist group and they saw their best chance of
:13:52. > :14:00.changing Britain was through the fight in Liverpool. A Labour
:14:00. > :14:09.council... We will start something that not even the Thatcher can
:14:09. > :14:12.ignore. In 1983, Labour symbolically ejected the Lord Mayor
:14:12. > :14:14.and took control of Liverpool City Council. It was a signal that
:14:15. > :14:17.politics were going to be done very differently. And a socialist
:14:17. > :14:27.political movement known as the Militant Tendency was pulling the
:14:27. > :14:28.
:14:28. > :14:32.strings. Essentially, they were another political party operating
:14:32. > :14:40.within at the Labour Party. They have their own policies, their own
:14:40. > :14:48.staff, their own organisation. They were using the Labour Party to
:14:48. > :14:51.promote their own cause, strengthen their own party. Militant was a
:14:51. > :14:57.national movement. But Liverpool became its battlefield. The city
:14:57. > :15:00.was struggling with unemployment, poverty and decline. Not everyone
:15:00. > :15:03.had faith in a Labour Party which was pretty right wing in the '60s
:15:03. > :15:13.and '70s. There was a political gap on the Left. And increasingly,
:15:13. > :15:14.
:15:14. > :15:23.Militant began to fill it. This standby Liverpool will be seen it...
:15:23. > :15:27.We challenged power and privilege in society. The aspirations of
:15:27. > :15:34.people... I do not see any difference. We were very focused,
:15:34. > :15:36.organised with a clear vision of what we hoped to achieve. Indeed,
:15:36. > :15:38.thousands marched to Militant's banner as they confronted the
:15:38. > :15:41.government. Conservative ministers became increasingly dismayed as the
:15:41. > :15:50.moderate leader of the city council John Hamilton was sidelined and the
:15:50. > :15:53.chief executive Alfred Stocks undermined.
:15:53. > :16:03.The board has a officers. He could not have a confidential discussion
:16:03. > :16:08.
:16:08. > :16:14.in his own office. -- they bugged his offices. That is an impossible
:16:14. > :16:23.situation. Yet Militant appeared to be winning. And next time we'll see
:16:23. > :16:26.how they used the Budget as a weapon as they took on the Tories.
:16:26. > :16:31.He won Wigan Athletic their first ever major trophy but manager
:16:31. > :16:34.Roberto Martinez now looks like he's on his way to Merseyside. The
:16:34. > :16:37.Spaniard has been given permission to talk to Everton chairman Bill
:16:37. > :16:47.Kenwright after telling Wigan owner Dave Whelan he wanted to end his
:16:47. > :16:52.
:16:52. > :16:57.four year stay with the Latics. Ian A week ago, Roberto Martinez
:16:57. > :17:06.celebrated Wigan's biggest ever achievement. I would love him to
:17:06. > :17:12.stay. I asked him if he wanted to stay or to speak to Everton. The
:17:12. > :17:17.answer was he would want to move to another club. The club have been
:17:17. > :17:22.relegated to the Championship. Despite this, his stock has never
:17:22. > :17:30.been higher. I told him, I do not want to lose you, but I said he had
:17:30. > :17:36.to consider Everton if he had to go. They are a well run, family club.
:17:36. > :17:41.do not blame him. He will go with everyone's best wishes. Everton
:17:41. > :17:47.will have to pay �2 million compensation to get their man.
:17:47. > :17:57.Everton fans have been giving their reaction. I do not think it is
:17:57. > :17:57.
:17:57. > :18:05.ambitious move by the club, quite predictable. I think he is good.He
:18:05. > :18:11.felt he had to move. He was disappointed and he feels he has
:18:11. > :18:17.let us down. Our supporters do not feel that. This has been one of the
:18:17. > :18:23.most eventful months in this club's history. Winning the FA Cup will
:18:23. > :18:29.never be forgotten here and neither will the man who led them to
:18:29. > :18:32.history. Liverpool boxer David Price's
:18:32. > :18:34.career was on the rise until a shock defeat in February.
:18:35. > :18:38.Afterwards, David received a message of support on Twitter from
:18:38. > :18:40.none other than Lennox Lewis. It lifted his spirits and led to David
:18:40. > :18:50.spending three weeks with the former champion in Canada. Stuart
:18:50. > :18:53.Pollitt was given exclusive access to their training camp.
:18:53. > :18:58.David Price was punching his way through the heavyweight division
:18:58. > :19:03.until February when this happened against American Tony Thompson. The
:19:03. > :19:06.disaster scenario. To get his career back on track and prepare
:19:06. > :19:09.for a rematch, David has travelled here to Toronto to the banks of
:19:10. > :19:16.Lake Ontario to learn from his boyhood hero who just happens to be
:19:17. > :19:20.the more successful British heavyweight of the last 100 years.
:19:21. > :19:30.It still feels a little bit surreal at times that I am at the gym with
:19:31. > :19:32.
:19:32. > :19:39.Lennox Lewis. To me, he was like my boxing hero. I'm honoured to be a
:19:39. > :19:42.hero. I'm just out there to help young talent mature and flourish.
:19:42. > :19:46.He has spent much of the last three weeks in here, they call it the
:19:47. > :19:52.dungeon and Lennox has been very much hands-on. The determination,
:19:52. > :19:57.the desire, he has got all that. I can see that with him. He never
:19:57. > :20:06.complains about any work and he does it. I've learned a lot while
:20:06. > :20:10.I've been here. This has given me a massive advantage. David is a good
:20:10. > :20:15.guy, maybe too much of a good guy. I am going to get some nastiness in
:20:15. > :20:17.him, I'm going to get him mean. He needs to be mean out there.
:20:17. > :20:21.Lennox was a mean opponent, conquering the UK before beating
:20:21. > :20:29.the likes of Tyson and Evander Holyfield. But even he suffered
:20:29. > :20:35.shock defeats. He went on to become one of the greatest heavyweights of
:20:35. > :20:38.all time. If that isn't inspiration, I don't know what is. Everybody has
:20:38. > :20:43.losses in their life and it's how you return from those losses that
:20:43. > :20:50.really makes you a man and makes you a champion. He knows what it
:20:50. > :20:53.takes and he thinks I've got what it takes. Massive encouragement.
:20:53. > :20:56.These two giants have even been battling each other. In a less
:20:56. > :21:06.physical sport. Tell me about chess, the other sport you teo have been
:21:06. > :21:08.
:21:08. > :21:12.doing? -- you two. We have played a couple of games of chess. And we
:21:12. > :21:16.tie. He is going to say he beat me, but he didn't, I let him beat me.
:21:16. > :21:26.With Lennox's help, David can now begin to plot his moves back to the
:21:26. > :21:27.
:21:27. > :21:32.top of the heavyweight ranks. I can't imagine them playing chess.
:21:32. > :21:35.They were one of the biggest bands of the 1990s. They made their name
:21:35. > :21:37.in Manchester and they're going back out on tour again - 20 years
:21:37. > :21:39.after their heyday. Providing the soundtrack to the
:21:39. > :21:42.Olympics kept Heather Small in the public consciousness. But after
:21:42. > :21:52.suffering a serious throat problem, she's now going back on the road
:21:52. > :22:06.
:22:06. > :22:13.with M-People. They popped in to Well,. Thank you for coming into
:22:13. > :22:20.the studio. -- will come. How does it feel to be going back out on the
:22:20. > :22:27.road again? Fantastic, a lot of fun. We have been doing loss of
:22:27. > :22:37.promotion and it has been such fun. I'm not keen on at rehearsal, but
:22:37. > :22:46.
:22:46. > :22:56.it has to be done. Did you ever officially split up? No. But we
:22:56. > :23:03.
:23:03. > :23:10.were called and told, the people want to see us again. What has
:23:10. > :23:17.brought you back together again? were worried about her operation.
:23:18. > :23:24.You had assist on your vocal cords? You have such a distinctive voice,
:23:24. > :23:34.that must have been terrifying. because I wanted to sing since I
:23:34. > :23:39.
:23:39. > :23:48.was a girl. And I wanted to be known as a singer. I get on stage
:23:48. > :23:58.and I feel that I have earned the right to be there. Dear we mention
:23:58. > :24:04.
:24:04. > :24:13.under? -- Miranda. It has brought you to the attention of a lot of
:24:13. > :24:19.other people who did not know you from the 1980s. I thought that was
:24:19. > :24:24.lovely. It was so positive. I don't watch the show because I think I
:24:24. > :24:34.might pop up at any will that. But family and friends of it. Its very
:24:34. > :24:40.
:24:40. > :24:48.positive. -- at any moment. I've heard about the Christmas parties.
:24:48. > :24:58.Lovely to meet a wall. The best of You could do backing vocals?
:24:58. > :25:02.
:25:02. > :25:05.It has been a horrible today. If its your children are off and
:25:05. > :25:13.you are hoping the weather will be better through the day tomorrow, I
:25:13. > :25:18.have good news for you. It will get a little bit better. This has been
:25:18. > :25:22.the weather front that has bothered us through the day today. Another
:25:23. > :25:30.weather front coming across tomorrow afternoon. After that, not
:25:30. > :25:38.too bad. But more weather France moving him for the weekend. --
:25:38. > :25:45.weather fronts. This is our latest picture. The rain is finally
:25:45. > :25:53.starting to pull away into the Irish Sea. But Isle of Man will see
:25:53. > :25:57.the worst of that through the night tonight. The think the Isle of Man
:25:57. > :26:03.first. The picture for you is much better tomorrow. Some breaks in
:26:03. > :26:13.developing in the cloud. Temperatures of mine degrees
:26:13. > :26:15.
:26:15. > :26:19.overnight. Tomorrow morning will have the best of the weather. We
:26:19. > :26:24.were stuck to see the cloud building up from the other side of
:26:24. > :26:32.the Pennines after lunch time. Temperatures are pretty hit and
:26:32. > :26:36.miss. With the cloud cover is Rimini, 12 degrees. Otherwise about
:26:36. > :26:46.15 degrees. The weekend was so gorgeous. And
:26:46. > :26:49.