14/08/2014 North West Tonight

and on our website, but that is all for now. It is

Welcome to North West Tonight with Roger Johnson and Beccy Meehan.

Hundreds of anti`fracking activists head

towards a protest camp in Lancashire as a farmer tries to evict them.

Group of solidarity. The air and water in Lancashire is at risk.

We'll hear from a business leader who fears the camp will damage

Residents' terror as arsonists run rampage, torching

A Merseyside MP demands government action to protect

the unemployed from bogus job ads on an official website.

And Strictly Southport ` lift`off for one lucky lady as Anton Du Beke

Attempts to set up an anti`fracking protest camp near Blackpool have run

into trouble tonight, with a farmer starting legal action

Over the next few days, up to 1,000 campaigners from all over

the country are expected to arrive at the Cuadrilla site near

Critics fear the activists ` some of them veterans of direct action

at Balcombe in Sussex ` will damage the area's image and economy.

Protest is starting to gather behind you, not many yet, but already

something of a stand`off. Yes. This field would normally be full of

cows, but tonight it's full of anti`Freckingham protest is. The

farmer who owns the field says he beginning legal action to evict

them. They've even brought

the kitchen sink. Protesters began to arrive

from around the country today, joining a group

of local mothers and grandmothers We asked them to come to Blackpool

to support our movement, The air and water

in Lancashire is at risk. This field is next to where

Cuadrilla would No work has been done yet,

but it's applied for planning permission and expects a decision

from the council by November. We expect about 1,000 people to come

over the weekend, people locally and from around the country because

this issue affects all of us. I've come from London, I wanted

to be part of it because I've seen the damage

fracking has been doing for the and it's where the struggle against

fracking is the most emblematic. Today, residents nearby

had mixed views. I'm delighted that they are

there making a protest. As long as they don't do anything

illegal, I'm more than happy. I'm very happy

for them to do what they think is right, but I don't feel sufficiently

concerned about it because I think It's a quiet area, we don't

want people in the streets. Obviously they think they

are doing the right thing. The unfortunate part is it won't

make a scrap of difference because they will just do

the fracking anyway. The farmer who owns this field

didn't want to appear on camera, but told us he's very unhappy

at the protesters' actions He's been supported by the National

Farmers Union, who told us the camp had potential to cause

serious harm to land and livestock. The farmer has begun legal

proceedings to evict You can see behind me they've

started to a wrecked on marquee. On Sunday they planned to march down

Blackpool promenade and on Monday they are threatening direct action

against local businesses linked to Cuadrilla. When I asked them who

they would target and what they would do, they wouldn't be drawn.

Thank you very much. Let's pick up on that final point with Rob Green.

You represent a group of local businesses committed to making the

most of any economic benefits from fracking. Are you worried? We are

because we welcome tourists and visitors, but we don't welcome

people who come along to disrupt or commit acts that will interfere with

people enjoying themselves in the area, or with businesses. Do you

welcome people exercising their democratic right to protest?

Absolutely, people have every right to make a peaceful protest and

engage in constructive dialogue. There's a lot of information people

need to understand about the shale gas industry. Some ill informed

direct action is not the way to go about this. Given that many people

came from the Sussex protests year, are you concerned that some

kind of direct action could be violent? Or disruptive? I wouldn't

anticipate there would be violence. Any disruptive action is not really

welcome. We would rather have constructive dialogue with groups

who are concerned and want to find out more about shale gas. We've had

a number of polls this week, one backed by the industry saying people

are in favour, one put out by the government saying

against fracking. A report that was heavily redacted. You are trying to

make a positive spin, but mightily confused. It can be a

confusing situation, of information, there are a lot of

myths. Fractions of information. It is a complex industry, people need

to understand and have to make an effort to understand. Have you had

any communication with the police on behalf of the businesses you

represent? Not personally, but the police and local authorities are

keeping an eye on things to make sure there isn't disruption, which

potentially harms the town or interferes with the right for

individuals to go about and enjoy themselves in Blackpool. Thank you.

Lancashire police have launched a murder inquiry after a 26`year`old

woman and 22`month`old boy were found dead at a house in Euxton.

It's believed they were mother and son.

Police discovered the bodies at an address on Princess Way

They've described it as a "tragic case" and say they aren't

They were alerted after a neighbour became concerned.

We hadn't seen her for a couple of days and I usually see her go out

They went round to see if they could see anything

She had her father's phone number so she rang him

The family of a man who died after an assault in Liverpool this

morning say he was well known for his heart of gold and that

64`year`old Richie Williams was found unconscious in west Derby.

A 38`year`old man is being questioned on suspicion

Widnes Vikings have published images on their website of people they say

invaded the pitch and caused trouble after the team's defeat in

Spectators from the Widnes section were involved in

Residents in a quiet street in Stockport got a rude awakening

Vandals were on the rampage in Hazel Grove, firebombing vehicles

and causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.

One resident described the thick smoke and the flames shooting into

Just this front, I don't think there's anything inside.

The front of Rosie Jones' car simply melted them when vandals

We said it was like something out of a horror film.

Don't know why anybody would want to do it.

At around 2am, residents in streets off the A6 in Hazel Grove looked out

to see flames and thick smoke, an apocalyptic sight one of them said.

Four vehicles were targeted by the vandals.

The estimated damage, around ?60,000.

Who they were or why they did it remains unknown.

This is what's left of a Volkswagen Jetta.

Calum Pickstone needs this van for work.

It's hard to believe, but it could have been worse.

Really, it's very good I didn't have any on the van last night.

Police officers have been knocking on doors,

Somebody used an accelerant on the front of the vehicles.

Either a fuel`based substance, we're speaking with

The victims are now turning to their insurers.

The police say they are determined to find out who did this and why.

The parents of a Liverpool man killed in Thailand say they're

angry and distressed that his alleged attacker has been granted

Darren Taylor's family are worried they could come face to

face with James Durnan, the man charged with Darren's murder.

He's accused of pushing Darren from a sixth`floor balcony after the

When their son Darren died in Bangkok, the last thing

his parents expected to be worried about was meeting his alleged killer

If we go into town, we don't know whether we're walking past him.

The only thing we know is he's got red hair.

Every 23, 24`year`old male who passes us with

Darren had lived in Thailand for three years.

His partner was four months pregnant when, in June 2013, Darren died

after allegedly being pushed from his sixth floor balcony.

James Durnan, also from Liverpool, was charged with murder

Gary and Linda have just returned from their first trip to Bangkok to

see their grandson Anfield, named in memory

When they arrived, they discovered Durnan had been allowed back to

I don't know what could justify that.

We've tried to contact the defendant's Thai legal team without

success, but according to a separate legal team based in Warrington, a

Thai court can grant bail depending on the nature of the offence, the

threat to society, the risk of absconding

There's also an extradition treaty between Thailand and the UK to

We'll continue to make noise until what should be done is done.

And for Darren's parents, that means the trial taking place, as

It's hard enough being out of work, but for 11 jobseekers in Birkenhead,

it became a nightmare when they were conned out of money by bogus

vacancies posted on the government's own job search website.

Their MP called for an inquiry, which found thousands

of fake jobs had been advertised on the Jobmatch site.

Frank Field says the government has been too slow to

put things right, and people are still at risk of fraud.

This is the government's website. Monster is paid ?4 million a year to

run it, but it's been described as having monster problems.

Fraudsters still seem free to advertise and rip off money

One of the worst cases happened here in Birkenhead.

11 job`seekers were interviewed by a man offering jobs to councillors,

jobs to help sexually abused children, but successful candidates

Tom and Lisa paid ` there was no job.

They asked for a criminal records check.

In the back of my mind it was my thinking that it was done through

As police investigated the bogus employer, Frank Field pushed

It found non`jobs, bogus jobs, duplicate jobs.

12,000 bogus jobs have had to be removed.

A further 250,000 jobs have had to be removed

You apply for them, the jobs have gone but it's up there

You get passed along with interviews and you get nothing.

The NAO report concluded there was a higher risk of bogus jobs here

And it found job seekers are still at risk.

Today, the Department for Work and Pensions said it was working

continuously to make the system as effective as possible.

Can the Blues rise again to defend their Premier League title?

And digging deep ` the Manchester allotments preparing

for a food festival to raise money for disabled gardeners.

Last month, the Ummah Welfare Trust was told by HSBC its bank accounts

The Bolton`based Islamic charity put the decision down to

HSBC, though, says stringent government rules designed to crack

down on the funding of criminal and terrorist activity have

prompted them to severe links with many organisations,

Now, Yasmin Qureshi, the MP for Bolton South East,

I spoke to her earlier and started by asking her why she thinks HSBC

They say that this is a procedure they are going through, procedure.

Ummah say they are really disappointed and upset because

they've been given no reason as to why they were withdrawing banking

facilities. They say all our records are transparent, we know where the

money comes from, where it's going, the countries we operate in and the

money is being spent well. We make sure it's not spent in any

inappropriate way and we know where the money is coming from. They are

extremely upset about it and very reputable charity in my

constituency. HSBC are head hearing to these regulations set out by the

government. Surely as an MP you need to go straight to the ministers

involved rather than boycotting HSBC? I have. I've contacted George

Osborne's office, as well as Vince Cable. There need to be rules in

place. Those rules are designed for cartels and big business, corrupt

dealings and all sorts of things. Those same rules are being applied

to small charities. For some reason because HSBC, because of what's been

said to them, are pulling credit away from the small organisations.

The rules are wrong. I'm campaigning for the government to

rules so we have a much more sensible system.

commission could have a kitemark saying these charities have no

problem. Then the banks can say these have kitemark is so that

hopefully these small organisations don't get caught when they are

designed for much bigger culprits and people seriously involved in

money`laundering. Thanks very much. Football now, and former Liverpool

striker Luis Suarez's four`month biting ban has been upheld

by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but the Uruguay striker can

now train with new club Barcelona. Suarez's lawyers argued

the world governing body FIFA's decision to suspend him

from all "football`related activity" for biting Italy's Giorgio Chiellini

at the World Cup was excessive. Suarez's old team were pipped to the

title last season by Manchester City City and many see the Blues

as the team to beat once again. The Premier League returns this

weekend and today we're looking Richard Askam has been assessing

their chances with a terrace icon. Feed the goat and he will score was

his child and Shaun Goater often did. He netted more than 100 goals

for the blues and like City fans everywhere, can't wait for the new

season. I think we are very strong. A few players have come back from

the World Cup. Some need to get to full fitness, but the new signings

look very good. Good pace and the understand he is a good reader of

the game. I think it will make us stronger defensively because we know

how good we are. How important alongside the new signings that

David Silva and Vincent Kompany have signed longer contracts? It's

brilliant. The timing of it is great before the start of the season. What

do you make of Manuel Pellegrini saying he has two number one

goalkeeper 's? He's asking Joe Hart to prove himself. Joe Hart has been

great at proving people wrong and this is another occasion where he

will look and say, I'll show you I'm number one. It's impossible to gauge

absolutely what Manuel Pellegrini is thinking in terms of priorities.

Would you say probably the for this season is the Champions

League? Well, for me as a fan, I would like to retain the league

because that shows a dominance in the league in England. But I'd look

for an improvement on what we did last season in the Champions League.

Shaun Goater talking to Richard. We'll look ahead to the start of the

Premier League for the rest of the region's Premier League

In this part of the world, we?re not short of major gardening events.

There's RHS Tatton and the Southport Flower Show, which we'll

But a group of gardeners from Manchester are hoping to do

Vegfest is taking place this Sunday at the Crumpsall and

They're hoping to raise ?10,000 to make the site wheelchair friendly.

Elaine Dunkley has been to see how they're getting on.

# Take me outside, sit in the green garden.

It's been a bumper year so far for the growers at the Crumpsall

and Cheetham Hill Allotment, but this year will also see them

There are just days to go until Vegfest.

The allotment team are hoping to raise thousands to

There are a lot of people that I know are wheelchair`bound who would

love the opportunity to be able to come out here.

We intend to turn this into a raised bed area

for people with disabilities, for different groups to use.

It won't just be prized veg on show this year.

Matt Nixon, a gramophone enthusiast and gardener, is hoping to pull

We're trying to create a kind of village fete, I suppose.

It's where the community comes together.

We'd love people to come and see our allotments, people support the

Gardeners young and old have been getting their hands dirty here

since the allotment's Royal opening by Prince Philip in 1972.

This year's show will also celebrate the role of allotments

The allotment started for the First World War and it became really

We wouldn't have survived without them because of the blockades

We wouldn't have been able to feed the country.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Doug is rallying the troops to make sure

He's been secretary for over 20 years.

Performers and a stage are still needed.

No doubt the gardeners will have to get moving to pull

Has there ever been a better name for an allotment secretary van Doug?

Strictly Come Dancing's Anton Du Beke wowed the crowds

at the Southport Flower Show this afternoon.

Over the next four days, 11,000 ice creams, 6,000 slices of cake and

And in honour of this summer's World Cup, the theme is Brazil.

Nazia Mogra has been sampling the samba and sunflowers.

From sunflowers to sunshine to Samba, this year's Southport flower

show, months in the making, and today had some visitors. I love

everything about it. You can spend lot of money. We've come from

Morecambe. More on several thing is great. It's lovely to

event where you can potter around and get some nice plants and gifts.

And the chance to do a look at all these lovely people,

isn't it amazing? I think I'd like to move here,

perhaps. It's good, we've got the son and a wonderful garden. It's

such a great show. If strip did come dancing isn't your kind of thing,

with 350 exhibitors, there's something for everything. ` Strictly

Come Dancing. This garden is so peaceful and it has people talking

because it's won the best garden. Serious two weeks work. We brought

in 25 tonnes of Devon rustic slate, wagons rolling, machines rolling and

once we had the rock imposition, it was back to the spades and shovels

digging out the stream and starting to build the waterfalls. Alfie has

designed this garden and he won one of the top prizes for his school. I

was really excited when I won, I was over the moon. I've won ?500 for

school and ?50 for myself. The show is on until Sunday so if you want to

pop along, it's not too late. Reminded me of Bruce Forsyth, Anton

Du Beke! I got drenched a couple of times today, it's been sunshine and

showers. It's not all about you, Roger!

There were some pretty good spells of sunshine. We start with good news

because it does Taylor off quite quickly. Tomorrow you shouldn't get

soaked because it should be fine and dry. It will be pretty decent. But

after that, this is a chart you will not like. Look at the

descending across the UK. Through the weekend we could see daytime

temperatures of around 16 degrees. This is how it looks outside our

window right now. We are close to the Pennines and you can see the

towering cloud. The Isle of Man had some fantastic weather

coastal areas have seen the best of it.

Showers will be around for the next couple of hours.

down, they should start to fade away and the night will end up

cover, and there will be some prolonged

Real relief temperatures of eight Celsius. That

figures, but there's a chill in the air. You will

The sun will work its way through and not a

around the Pennines, but most of Scotland takes a lot of the showers.

sunshine, but where the showers turn up, because

not bad. Not brilliant temperatures, but you could have