08/04/2014 North West Tonight

London. If you want more details, you can head to our website. Now on

BBC One we join Good evening. Welcome to NorthWest

Tonight with Annabel Tiffin and Roger Johnson. Our top storx: The

?70 million cocaine smuggling operation foiled by police before

the drugs flooded the streets of Liverpool. One of the gang, Ian

Stanton, was today jailed for 1 years.

Also tonight: The fatal plane crash en route to Everest ` an inpuest

hears how four local men didd in Nepal.

Survivors of the lightning storm ` the Cheshire family who walked away

unharmed from this. And the cup glory in Claret `

I heard a bang, a big noise, and it was completely like that. And some

residents are calling in thd bin tax here in Pendle. They will soon have

to pay to have their green waste taken away.

And the cup glory in Claret ` celebrations to mark the 100th

anniversary of a famous Burnley victory.

They'd planned to flood the streets of Liverpool with cocaine worth more

than ?70 million. But their plot was foiled by pure chance. Police

stumbled across the drugs dtring a routine dockside check. Offhcers

then launched a sting of thdir own to catch the gang. Today, two of the

men involved in what's been described as a very sophisthcated

operation were jailed. They join others of their number who're

already locked up. But as otr chief reporter Dave Guest explains, the

mastermind behind the plan remains at large.

This container was supposedly packed with frozen beef from Argentina It

had travelled from Buenos Ahres to Tilbury docks last May. But when

officials decided to check the meat for signs of E coli, they got far

more than they bargained for. Stashed inside were more th`n a

dozen holdalls stuffed with blocks of cocaine worth in excess of ? 0

million. Over 400 kilograms of cocaine, high`purity, cut cocaine.

As a result of that, the National Crime Agency took on the

investigation. But the gang didn't know thdy'd been

caught out. So officers filled the holdalls with bricks and thd

consignment was sent on to hts intended destination, a cold store

in Wigan. When James Mossman collected a couple of those

holdalls, he soon realised the stash was gone, but didn't realisd the

police had it. It became apparent that the individual behind the

actual invitation believed they had been ripped up by another crime

group. So this man, Ian Stanton, w`s called

in to organise a search and recovery operation. He and associates met on

a retail park at Aintree to discuss tactics, unaware their everx move

was being monitored by the police. During that meeting, it was quite

apparent that the criminal gang were intent on using extreme violence to

identify the individuals behind the rip`off, if you will.

Completely unaware that these drugs were in the possession of the

police? Absolutely. Gary Keating and Francis Oakford

were at that meeting. They `nd Mossman are all now serving jail

terms. Stanton fled to Holl`nd, but was tracked down and extradhted last

December. Today, he got 12 xears for conspiracy to supply cocaind. Beside

him in the dock at Liverpool today, Anthony Short. He'd been involved in

importing the drugs and was sent down for 22 years. Judge Al`n Conrad

QC said this had been a sophisticated plot to import a huge

quantity of drugs into the TK. He said it was obvious that St`nton and

his associates had the determination to discover what had happendd to

their consignment, to track it down, and then distribute it.

But two of the men involved in that meeting at Aintree are still on the

run. Anthony Saunderson and David McDermott are thought to be

overseas. Meanwhile, the iddntity of the mastermind who had over`ll

control of the drugs import`tion plan is as yet unknown.

the daughter of one of the lost well known Hillsborough campaigndrs has

told the new inquests into the disaster of her mother's relentless

determination to find the truth Sara Williams was speaking `bout her

mother Anne, who died last xear Anne Williams lost her 15`ydar`old

son Kevin in the disaster in 19 9. Today the inquest heard personal

tributes to ten more of the 96 victims, including Kevin Williams.

Andy Gill was in court. Sara Williams came to Warrington

knowing she faced a emotion`lly gruelling appearance in court.

Sara's brother Kevin was just a teenager when he was killed. His

mum, Anne, from Crosby, wagdd a lengthy legal battle against the

decision at the original inpuests not to hear evidence about what

happened after 3:15 on the day of the disaster. She felt the response

of the emergency services h`dn't been examined. Anne died from cancer

three days after attending last year's Hillsborough memorial

service. Today Sara Williams said this of her brother.

That statement that Sara made was perfect. He was such a

happy`go`lucky lad, mischievous bright, good`looking lad.

The jury also hard another tribute to Eric Hankin from his father Eric

Senior. He read his statement for us afterwards.

I feel very hurt and cheated that I've lost my son at the young age of

33, with all his life still in front of him. I love my son, and H miss

him every day. Among other tributes, the jtry also

heard about the oldest victhm, 67`year`old Gerard Baron from

Preston. His son, also Gerard, was at the match with him. Gerard Baron

Junior said he and his fathdr expected to be safe at a

high`profile football match, and not, as he put it, "witness hell

before their eyes". He said the last thing he said to his father was

"You'll be OK." "How wrong H was," he said. There'll be more tributes

tomorrow. Michael Adebolajo has launched an

appeal against his life sentence for the murder of the soldier Lde Rigby.

Fusilier Rigby, who was frol Middleton, was killed outside the

Woolwich Barracks in May last year. The trial judge said the barbaric

nature of the murder justifhed a whole life sentence.

A review into part of the Isle of Man's health service has fotnd that

less than 50% quality stand`rds were met. The emergency department,

theatres, anaesthetics and critical care were all looked into. @reas of

concern included a shortage of staff and trauma management.

National Museums Liverpool will shut six venues for a day later this

month. The closure on April 24th is for staff to be briefed on cuts The

organisation says its budget has been cut by nearly a third over the

past four years and more job losses are needed.

More details have been given of the Giants' return to Liverpool this

summer. It's one of the country s main World War One commemor`tions.

The girl and her dog will vhsit Kensington and Newsham Park, taking

the performance outside the city centre.

A father whose twin daughters were delivered by a doctor who dhed

trying to save her son from drowning has said it's no surprise she died a

hero. Uma Ramalingam was a consultant obstetrician at Royal

Oldham Hospital and has helped bring hundreds of children safely into the

world. Tributes have been p`id today, describing the 42`ye`r`old as

caring and inspirational. Abbie Jones reports.

Identical twins Grace and Lhly Mae Wilson are happy and healthx. But it

was a high risk pregnancy for parents Adam and Zoe from Rochdale.

They saw Dr Uma Ramalingam dvery fortnight until she deliverdd their

daughters. It's no surprise to me that she was doing something heroic.

She was fantastic with thesd. She was obviously an expert in what she

did, excellent at her job, `nd we were all a bit upset, last night,

because she had a big part hn these being born. Dr Ramalingam, from

Altrincham, was on a family holiday in Tenerife. She drowned along with

a relative after trying to rescue their two children off the coast of

Playa Paraiso. Today it emerged the death is the second tragedy to hit

the family. Dr Ramalingam's first husband, her son's father, was

killed in a road accident in 20 7. In Tenerife, an investigation has

now been opened by the police and civil guard. It's just shows you the

power of the see. I gather the children were standing on rocks not

far from the sea and were hht by large ways that came across the top

of it. We are all very shocked to know what happened, and to hear

about this tragedy. It was only the second day into the group's holiday.

Today, those she'd helped p`id tribute to her on social media.

Donella O'Donnell wrote: "I am Adam and his wife say they will

always be grateful for the care they and their daughters received.

A campaign to give women earlier access to cervical screening moved a

step closer today. It comes after the death of Merseyside teenager

Sophie Jones, who died from the illness aged 19. At the momdnt, the

age for routine smear tests is 5, but almost 320,000 people h`ve

signed an online petition asking for that to be reviewed. Today, the MP

Steve Rotheram presented thd case for a full debate on the issue.

Earlier I asked him, that whth so many people signing the pethtion, if

there was any doubt that such a debate would go ahead.

Well, unfortunately, there hs still doubt. The decision by the committee

won't be known until tomorrow. I put forward a very strong case saying

that it should be in the mahn chamber and not in Westminster Hall.

The main chamber debate means that we could put forward a motion that

can go to a vote, and that's after all what the family have asked for

and certainly what the camp`igners believe, by signing the pethtion,

they'll get. A lot of medic`l experts believe it has little or no

impact on the rates of cervhcal cancer by lowering that scrdening

age, and if anything, it can cause more harm to those girls. I think

what the argument that was put forward today would be, that it s

routine screening for all pdople under 25, and that's not wh`t the

family have called for, and that's not what the campaigners have signed

a petition about. It is that if anybody under that age belidves that

they've got some sort of sylptoms that could lead them to belheve that

they've got the condition, that they have the right to ask for a smear,

and that's all there is, re`lly That's why I think that if we can

get this debate, the governlent will be forced to act upon it. So that is

quite an important point to make, then, isn't it, that you're not

actually calling for the agd of routine screening to be brotght down

to 16, just for those that request it? In Sophie's case, what happened

is, she went to the GP and was denied the opportunity to h`ve a

smear test. A smear test obviously would have found that she w`s

suffering from cervical cancer, and if you catch it early enough, her

life could have been saved. All the parents want is to ensure that

nobody else has to go through what they have been through with the loss

of their child. Thank you vdry much for joining us.

Interesting thoughts there. Still to come: A bolt from the blue. It must

have been really scary. We need the Cheshire family who survived the

chaos of a lightning strike. I heard a bang, a big, big noise, and it was

completely dark. And Doobie Sturridge Liverpool star striker

surprises young fans and te`ches them his famous goal celebr`tion.

He has been practising! The family of a man from Chdshire

who died in a plane crash in Nepal has told an inquest he would not

have flown if he had been aware of the country's air safety record

Timothy Oakes was one of seven British tourists killed in the crash

in 2012. Four of them were from the North West, including Mr Oakes. Mark

Edwardson reports from the hnquest in Warrington.

It was September 28, 2012, when a twin engine turboprop operated by

Caesar airlines, crashed at Kathmandu airport in Nepal.

On`board, tourists looking forward to a trekking holiday near the base

camp of Mount Everest. Everxone on board was killed, including Vincent

and Alan Kelly from Bolton, Timothy Oakes from Warrington, and Raymond

Eagle from Macclesfield. Inpuests are being held here at Warrhngton

town hall, and the issue of the poor air safety record of the airline has

been important. Relatives h`ve said that if the deceased had known about

this, he would never have flown His widow Angela said, he loved

adventure, but he loved his family more. The inquest in Warrington also

heard about the possible catses for the crash, from UK investig`tors.

There had been a bird strikd, but that was ruled out as a cause. While

the plane overloaded? Not according to official documentation. `` it is

thought it was probable, however, saying it is common practicd for

Nepalese passengers to take cash for an extra bag or two without the

knowledge of the pilot. One even admitted he noted he had bedn lied

to join the investigation. The tour firm said it had switched to the

airline after its previous carrier suffered an accident. Quizzdd by

families and representatives at length, its spokeswoman said the

firm had now stop using Nep`lese carriers, but only since thdy were

blacklisted by the EU at thd end of last year. What actually happened to

that flight may never be known, but before rising to consider hhs

conclusion, the coroner stated that this was the most comprehensive

investigation he had encountered in the 21 years of his current job

A family from Crewe have bedn forced to leave their home after lhghtning

struck, wrecking much of thd house. As a powerful electric currdnt

surged through the property, sockets were blown off the walls, and holes

were burnt into the floor. The damage will take months to repair.

Stuart Flinders reports. Broken windows, hold in the roof. It

must have been quite a storl. I heard a bang, a big, big nohse, and

it was completely dark. This man was on the phone when power surged

through the walls, burning ` hole through the floor next to where he

stood. So that is your. 's bowl and that was struck by the lightning?

Yes. What is funniest is, mx dog was here. Your dog was there? Hd was

sleeping. Did he wait? Definitely! The dog appeared to have recovered

from the shock. You can see where the lightning smashed through the

roof of the loft there, and the current has travelled through the

ceilings and walls, wrecking and forcing nails and screws out of the

walls. A new roof, new windows, new electrics. The insurers say it will

be three to four months before the family can move back in. How are the

children? As my husband told me they were just screaming and hiding

under the blankets. What ard the chances of your house being struck

by lightning? Smaller than winning the lottery. I bet you would rather

do that! Yeah! The family are currently staying in a hotel,

shocked but glad to be alivd. Absolutely terrifying.

Some residents in Pendle ard calling it the bin tax. From June, they ll

have to pay an extra ?25 a xear if they want their green bins dmptied.

The borough council says it's because of budget cuts. Lots of you

have got in touch. We will read your e`mails at the end of the programme.

They're the latest council to introduce the fee, and say those who

opt out of the scheme will have to recycle garden waste themselves Our

environment correspondent Jtdy Hobson reports.

Residents in Foulridge near Colne had their green bins emptied for

free this morning. From Jund, that will all change. Harry is a keen

gardener and regularly fills his green bin. He doesn't think the

council should start charging for taking his garden waste awax. In

principle, I think they havd a bit of a nerve. An extra charge for

this, what can there be an dxtra charge for next? Pendle Borough

Council says it has no choice. The ?25 annual charge won't makd them a

profit, but will cover the cost of the service. That service w`s

provided in the heyday of local government spending, when money was

being thrown from central government. It is not any more. You

have to save money, but what will people do with their green waste?

They will either choose to take up the service for the extra ?25 per

year, compost it at home, or take it one of our recycling centres. But

the County Council closed the nearest recycling centre at Colne,

so that option would be a shx`mile round trip. I think we will probably

actually just pay it, because we don't have the time to make a trip

to the local tip every two weeks. At the moment, we cut the grass, so I

suspect we will be begrudgingly pay it. Karen Clark doesn't havd a green

bin. She says the council rdfused to collect it because she lives in a

remote area. She thinks the new charge is fair. I think it hs not

before time. We have never had a green refuse collection, from when

it was first introduced. My argument with the council was, why are we

paying for something we don't get? I think it is only fair that hf people

wanted, they pay for it. Thd council say they are not considering cuts to

other bin collections. Lots of you have been in totch, as I

said, about this issue. We will read some e`mails at the end of the

programme. First, let's get some sports news.

Tranmere manager Ronnie Moore has admitted a Football Association

charge of misconduct and repuested a personal hearing. The 61`ye`r`old

was suspended by the club in February and was last week charged

over "multiple breaches" of betting rules. A statement on Rovers'

website revealed the club whll review Moore's position at Prenton

Park over the next 24 hours. Crickets next, and the openhng day

of Lancashire's match and Nottinghamshire. The first latch of

their return to the top flight is proving to be testing. They shot out

for just 144 in their first innings. Nottingham cracked 271st tile

around, leading the visitors needing a large total to win, and I suspect,

praying for rain. Some sad news for Everton f`ns.

Sandy Brown, part of the 1970 League Championship winning side, has died

aged 75. Sandy Brown was signed from Partick Thistle in 1963 and played

251 times for the Blues. Wayne Rooney is expected to play for

Manchester United against B`yern Munich in their quarterfinal

tomorrow. He trained this morning, having been absent at the wdekend

with a with a bruised toe. No truth in the rumour that he droppdd his

pay packet on it! Burnley might well be just ` few

games away from promotion to the Premier League. But the distance

between them and winning thd famous FA Cup has reached an incredible 100

years. The Clarets last picked up the famous old trophy in April 914,

just a few months before thd start of the First World War. A ndw

exhibition at Towneley Hall has been telling fans all about it.

For Clarets fans, these memories are pure gold. April 20 five, 1814.

Burnley take on Liverpool in the last final to be played at the

Crystal Palace. They win 1`0. The goal was scored by Bert Fredman His

winner 's medal is till herd, and so is the fading shirt he wore. Just to

think that the goal`scorer `ctually wore that shirt will stop absolutely

fantastic. That final was played when Boots were sturdy and shin pads

were built to last. It was played within a few months of the start of

the great War. Shortly after lifting the cup, footballers became foot

soldiers. Some of the players actually went off in servicd, and

they did die. Edward Hodgson was a member of the 1914 cup winndrs. He

went off on active service, and by the end of the war, he had caught an

infection, and that resulted in his death. The 1914 final was the first

to be attended by the reignhng monarch, King George V. Burnley s

should then bought a special crest which will reappear the end of this

season. It is the royal crest, which we have special permission from the

palace to use, so we will bd putting that on for the Ipswich homd game,

our final game of the season. Hopefully celebrating promotion

Obviously, I can't say the P word, but you never know! Speaking as a

Burnley fan, it may never h`ppen again that Burnley win the FA Cup,

so a display like this is tremendous. I was reading that

apparently all the factories and schools close on the day afterwards

to celebrate. There will be many hoping for a similar promothon party

very soon. They are still enjoying the glory

days in Burnley! People in the glory days back then probably just

celebrated by shaking hands, but these day they're often renowned for

their extravagant goal celebrations. Peter Crouch had the robot. Lomana

Lua Lua did somersaults. Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge has a

unique dance of his own. And pupils at a school in Anfield got real

surprise when he popped in to give them some pointers. Have a look at

this. Hello. I am a Liverpool fan. My

favourite player is Daniel Sturridge.

I have my own celebration. Ly own celebration is a front flip.

What is happening? URI? I think his goal celebration is really fun. What

are you doing, like a five? What is happening, player? How are xou

doing? You're right? I think you have to do it better though. In my

opinion, I think you have to get into it a little bit more. Why did

you come to Liverpool? Becatse of you. What a charmer!

Is he there? I don't know what he was doing.

And you can see the full ephsode of Daniel Sturridge's visit to that

school on LFCTV's Kop Kids, which is on Thursday and Friday this week.

I'm sure you could do a better job! Right, Diane, now for the wdather.

Good evening. A blustery dax today. That wind was really roaring, really

quite cold, giving a wintry feel to the weather. Good news in the next

few days, particularly towards the weekend. High`pressure returns, and

things should be quiet and lore settled. A relatively fine spell.

This is how it looks right now. The wind went down through the

afternoon, with temperatures around 11 degrees. It felt OK eventually,

but the morning was pretty raw. This is how it looks through the night.

Over the next few hours, thd cloud cover will come and go, so ht is

50`50. If you see any long breaks, you could have temperatures falling

to around two or three degrdes. For most towns and cities, they are a

lot better, temperatures of around six and seven. First thing hn the

morning, we are looking at ` north`south divide. Anywherd to the

south of the river rebel, you should be dry. Anywhere to the north, there

is a line of weather coming in temporarily first thing tomorrow

morning, so part of the Isld of Man, Cumbria and northern Lancashire will

start the day with rain arotnd. Everywhere else should be dry but

fairly cloudy. It is an improving picture. He high`pressure area

manages to push that weather system out of the way through the day, so

dry, brighter skies started spreading to Cumbria, Lancashire and

the Isle of Man. To the south, cloud cover will take some time bdfore it

thins and breaks, but eventtally it will, and you might not see a

massive amount of sunshine, but the winds are lighter than todax, when

they were 30 to 40 miles now. Tomorrow, a quiet today, so it will

look OK, and we will be tot`lly about 12 and 13. Rain for Thursday,

but high`pressure returns after that and things that'll down.

I am getting excited! Thank you very much. We have had plenty of e`mails

and comments about the storx about the charges for emptying grden waste

bins. One review essays, just because some houses don't h`ve

gardens, that is no reason to charge. I have no children, but have

the paper Children's Servicds. Another says, I think it is right to

charge people to pay for thhs. People in flats generally are less

affluent than people in houses. Hillary says, we had to takd green

waste to take a mile away, but that is now closed. Now they want to

charge for taking away wastd we can't take ourselves. And Rdbecca

Wilkins says, people will jtst end up filling their normal reftse bins

with green waste if there's goes ahead. I suppose the Warriors, if it

is garden waste, people think that it is all right, and fly`tipping it.

We are not suggesting that. We are, however, sending someone on our team

to a South American geography course tonight. Good night.