07/03/2017 North West Tonight

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

Two women are killed after a car, driven by an 89-year-old man,

hits pedestrians in a Manchester hospital car park.

The driver's been arrested on suspicion of causing death

A Liverpool backpacker is rescued by Australian police

after being kidnapped and assaulted over a two month period.

The opinion investigators and myself is that we have potentially saved

this young girl's life. Anything may have tran spired.

In the latest of our reports on pollution, could it be one

We meet the oldest working cooper in the country,

who's retiring after more than 50 years.

Two women have died after a car ploughed into a group

of pedestrians near the entrance to a Manchester hospital.

The 89-year-old driver of the car has been arrested.

Our reporter, Mark Edwardson, is at Withington Hospital now.

Yes, it's quiet now. This is the main entrance to Withington Hospital

in South Manchester. You can imagine, in the early afternoon

today, this was probably quite a busy area. Behind me, over my

shoulder, you can see where there are temporary barriers. Two heavy

bollards have been knocked over, lying on their side against the

wall, there is a dent in there as well. That is where the incident

happened. It looks like a car has somehow gone out of control and it's

hit this group of pedestrians that you mention. Unfortunately, amongst

those pedestrians were two women who were taken to hospital with what at

the time were described as life-threatening injuries. Mark,

unfortunately we now know that those two women have sadly died of those

injuries. What more can you tell us Well, as you say, they were taken to

hospital for treatment. We were told a couple of hours ago that one of

the women had sadly died because of her injuries and in the last, sort

of, 20 minutes or so, another update has come from the police to confirm

that the second woman has also died. A dreadfully sad afternoon and a

devastating course of events for the families and friends of those women.

What do we know about the car driver? Well, what we know has come

from Greater Manchester Police. He is an 89-year-old man. He has been

arrested of suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and also

causing serious injury by dangerous driving and that he's currently in

custody. Now, police sea say they are in the early stages of this

investigation, but they want to talk to anybody who saw the collision or

anybody who saw that green Ford Focus around the hospital before the

collision happened. Mark, thank you very much indeed. The Mark live for

us at Withington Hospital. Beccy will have the latest on that on the

late news at 10.30pm. Absolutely. Next tonight.

The North West Ambulance Service say they've seen a surge in call-outs

to deal with people taking the former legal high, Spice.

In fact, one charity claims 95% of Manchester's homeless community

are now taking the synthetic drug, which is now being dealt

on the streets instead of being sold in shops.

These disturbing images were captured by one

of our reporters in the city centre just a few hours ago.

It's feared a new strain appears to freeze those who smoke it,

leaving them standing or squatting like statues and, in some cases

Joining us now is Julie Boyle from the homeless charity, Lifeshare.

Thank you very much for coming along. Why is this happening now?

The homeless community? This particular strain that makes people

in this Catonic state seems to have overtaken all the supply in

Manchester. It's the worst one I've seen, this particular strain. We

have seen disturbing pictures of what people look like when they take

it. In your experience of dealing with people, what does it do to them

in the longer term? This one at the minute makes people Catonic. In the

future there will be hard withdrawal can symptoms. It's harder to come

off Spice than it is to come off heroin. Why are people taking Spice,

what is going on in this homeless community that cause this is

epidemic? It's to get off to sleep so they are not on edge in case

someone attacks them. Soon enough they are then addicted to it. What

is the solution from the work you've done? They need to get the chemistry

recognised and being able to do an anecdote and get young people into

accommodation than the system out at the minute. 95% of people in the

homeless people are taking this drug, that will be very shocking to

people, why is this happening? As I say, it's very addictive, it's very

difficult to get off. The withdrawal symptoms are awful. Young people are

carrying Class A drugs being paid in Spice to do that. They are arrested

and go to prison for it. What do you think the authorities need to do? To

crackdown on this now? They need to go further up the chain. Not the

low-level street dealers. They need to get the big boys who are

providing all the Spice on to the streets of Manchester, go further up

the train, get them arrested and put into prison. In your experience

working with homeless people, how does it compare to similar issues

we've had in the past? I call it an epidemic amongst the homeless

community in Manchester. I've never seen anything like it in any other

strain of Thank you for drug. Coming in and talking to us, Julie.

You can hear more on this on BBC Radio Manchester tomorrow morning.

A man has been arrested on suspicion of supplying drugs after four

13-year-old girls were hospitalised after taking ecstasy in Wythenshawe,

Police believe the girls took the drugs, described

as Pink Teddy Bear pills, near to the Civic Centre.

They have since been discharged from hospital

The former Crewe Alexandra football coach, Barry Bennell,

has been charged with eight counts of historical child sexual abuse

following an investigation by Cheshire Police.

The alleged offences took place between 1980 and 1987 and relate

to alleged assaults against two boys, both aged under 16.

Mr Bennell will appear via video link at South Cheshire

The Vice Chair of the local labour party in Wallasey, Paul Davies,

has been told he could face lifelong suspension after being referred

to the party's disciplinary body for bullying and intimidation.

Last year the entire local party was suspended after MP Angela Eagle

At a hearing today, the local party was told the suspension will be

lifted in May subject to training and supervision conditions.

Liverpool's Lime Street station will fully re-open tomorrow,

Engineers have been working round the clock to clear 200 tonnes

of debris which was blocking lines into the station after a retaining

A limited number of services to London will begin tonight.

This is a story I'm sure you'll remember.

It's more than 18-months since a water contamination scare

affected hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses

Yet we're still no nearer to knowing why it happened

and what could prevent it happening again.

The organisation charged with the task of investigating says

it's still not ready to announce what it's discovered.

An MP is now calling on the Government to make

Here's our chief reporter, Dave Guest.

This is what caused the problem, Cryptosporidium, a nasty bug that

causes serious stomach and breathing problems.

On August 6th 2015, traces of it were found

in Lancashire's water supply, so United Utilities ordered

people to boil tap water before drinking it.

Around 300,000 homes and businesses were affected.

Restrictions were in place for roughly a month.

The Drinking Water Inspectorate began an immediate investigation

to find out what went wrong, but as yet they're not

It became a daily ritual for thousands in Lancashire

For a month, they were told to boil water or drink bottled water

after the main supply was contaminated by a bug

The source of the problem was traced to the Franklaw Treatment Works,

but despite 18 months of investigation by the Drinking

Water Inspectorate, we still don't know how it happened.

I'll be writing today to the Secretary of State to demand

this she puts pressure on the Drinking Water Inspectorate

to start to inform my constituents what happened and what they're

For the Drinking Water Inspectorate, over 18 months on, still to be

refusing to shed any light on it, it's not acceptable.

The staff at the Brookside Care Home Saa the water restrictions

The care home sector in itself is a very demanding

So it was an added demand that went on for far longer

What do you think of the fact, 18 months on, we still don't

know what caused it, we still have no official report?

We still haven't had effect a risk in assessment to say

this is what happened, this is how it happened

and what measures they are putting in place to stop it happening again.

The Consumer Council for water has similar concerns.

We are disappointed that it's taken so long.

Consumers need to have confidence in their water supplies and they're

frustrated that we don't have clarity at this

moment on what the causes were and the ability

So we've written to the Drinking Water Inspectorate to express our

The Drinking Water Inspectorate told us the process is continuing

and a report will be published when that process is complete.

But as yet it's noncommittal about when that will be.

Police in Australia have rescued a Liverpool backpacker

after she was abducted by an ex-boyfriend and

It's alleged that the 22-year-old was raped and assaulted by her

attacker as they travelled around Queensland.

I've been speaking to Rachel Clun from The Brisbane Times about a case

which has made headlines today across Australia.

Injured, bewildered, desperate - the 22-year-old backpacker wanders

into a roadhouse in Mitchell, bloodied and bruised.

The woman met an Australian man at the end of January

at a dance music party in a paddock, essentially.

They started a relationship, but the relationship turned

And the abuse started a few days after that.

They stayed in Cairns, which is where they met for

a while, before travelling around Queensland.

A lot of the areas where she would have been would have been unknown

to her and she wouldn't have known anyone there.

It would have been difficult for her to have made a mistake.

-- An escape. She was held against her will, allegedly raped and

assaulted. An ordeal that spanned two months. How did police found

her? She went to a service station. Got petrol for the car. Couldn't pay

for the petrol. The woman who owned the service station called police.

She was distressed, crying, she was really shaking and that. She had two

black eyes and marks on the side of her neck. Police pulled the car

over, found the woman in this distressed state and then, after

some questions, found the man hiding in a storage compartment of the

vehicle. Should back canpackers and tourists and travellers in Australia

be concerned? This isn't the first time an incident of this nature has

occurred? Australia receives large numbers of tourists from the UK and

all over the world daily, so for the vast majority Australia is a really

safe place to You just have be. To be careful. Especially going in the

outback where you won't have a signal on your phone. You don't know

where the next petrol station will be if you get in trouble or anything

like that. What is the process from now? He was charged with a string of

offences, including rape, assault. We have potentially saved saved this

young girl's life, given what's happened to her, the extent of what

has happened and over the period of time anything may have tran spired.

She is being cared for by the police and medical professionalsals at this

stage shechl was taken to hospital initially and she will go to

hospital tomorrow for follow-up treatment. Thank you very much for

your time. Thank you very much. We meet the Southport golfer who's

made a memorable start to the year. Go on, go on, go on. In. I think

it's going. YES! Britain's longest serving

barrel maker bows out. For three nights this week,

we're taking a closer It's associated with lung

conditions and heart disease, A team at Lancaster University has

published some ground-breaking research which suggests pollution

particles could be one of the causes of

Alzheimer's disease. Here's our environment

correspondent, Judy Hobson. Here in the north-west,

we have some of the most congested roads in the country and it's

affecting our health. Vehicles, especially diesels,

emit tiny particles, known as PM2.5s, they're so small

they can become lodged These particles can be

exerting damage to health. But scientists, here

at Lancaster University, have made another discovery

after analysing brain cells. The brains we looked

at came from two locations. They came from Manchester,

in the UK, and they came And those particles,

those pollution particles, we found in abundance

in the human brain. The exact source of the particles

isn't yet known, but Professor Marr says it shows there could be a link

between pollution and The strong suggestion is that those

particles from the air, as we're walking along in the city,

some of those particles are getting probably directly into our brains

through the old factory bulb. In the 1950s, Manchester's smog

was so thick it sometimes Today the air looks

cleaner, but we now know Manchester is currently

in breach of its legal limits for nitrogen dioxide,

an invisible gas which It affects people like Dave Lawson,

who has bronchiectasis. It's making it very,

very difficult to breathe and, again, that restrictive feeling

around the chest is very, As soon as that bus comes

near you, you can feel it? You can feel, not just the heat

reverberating off it, but also the chemicals

and everything else that are coming out of it,

you can really notice it. Children are especially

vulnerable to air pollution. Last year 14,000, under the age

of four, were admitted to hospital with respiratory problems in Greater

Manchester. Ffion and Ben have asthma,

their school is by a busy It makes my breathing a bit faster

and I just feel like a little It's a bit wheezy, which makes me

start coughing because my throat's When I'm running about, it kind of,

like, it's like when you're laughing and then you can't breathe and,

like, you get cramps and your stomach kind

of knots up and you can't In Greater Manchester local

councils are making changes, all designed to persuade us

to leave our cars at home, but so far pollution levels remain

stubbornly high while the evidence about its impact on our health

conditions to grow. How strong is the link

with Alzheimer's then? It indicates a link, it's not

conclusive. Particles, made of iron, in the front of the brain, identical

to those in patients with Alzheimer's. They think the

particles must have come from a pollution source. They are not sure

what the source is. It could be exhaust fumes, it could be road dust

or brake pads. All these sources produce matter. It could be home

heating systems or wood burning. They need to do more research.

Worrying. What can be done about it? Things can be done about it.

Councils in Liverpool and Manchester want to create clean air zones where

the most polluting vehicles would be banned from the city centre. So, it

could be all diesels. That is what Liverpool want. It could be the

older diesels, old buses and old taxis. They want to extent the

public transport systems. The experts tell us doing all this will

make a difference. In some cities in Europe they have been doing it for

years. Tomorrow, I'll be looking at how Germany and Switzerland

brought their pollution levels down. brought their pollution levels down.

The scientists tells us that in the UK pollution isn't getting worse. We

health. That is a good thing. It health. That is a good thing. It

means we can ask the Government then to do something about it. OK. Thank

you very much for that. We will look out for that other piece tomorrow.

Sport now, and Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic

has accepted a three game ban for an elbow

The Swedish striker, who has scored 26 goals this season,

won't play in the Premier League until United's game with Everton

After a miserable 2016, when he almost dropped out

of the world's Top 200, Southport golfer Tommy Fleetwood has

This year he's leading the European Tour money list and

on Sunday finished second in the World Golf

That earned him prize money of ?850,000.

Stuart Pollitt's been to see him today.

I wonder what the winner got? How about this for a millionar dollar

putt -- million dollar putt? If anybody is due a putt this week it

has to be you. All right. I thought I had it about halfway. One of them

things. Once you have hit it. At the end it tried to miss. Very cool. It

was a big putt. It not only got him into second place it got him a spot

in next month's Masters for the first time. It has always avoided me

that tournament. It's great. Every golfers dream. To play in the

Masters, it's my caddy's dream to go there. Last year was OK, there were

struggles, this year you have won one tournament. Second here. Million

dollars ahead of anyone else on the race to Dubai. Yeah. It was coming

last year. I had a tough time for a about a year from mid 2015 to 2016.

I went back to my old coach that I've had, my caddy, one of my best

mates has been on the bag since that time as well. Those twos switches

made a massive difference. He can look forward to the Open at Royal

Birkdale, a Major in his hometown. The Open being at Birkdale it can't

be closer to where I grew up. I should be playing in it, which will

be, it will be fantastic. The crowds be, it will be fantastic. The crowds

will be great. 2017 is an amazing year. It could be a really good one?

My best year ever, it's only March! You have to keep going. Golf has

changed and the ball gets higher all the time. There is golf to be

played. I put myself into a position to do things I've never done before.

Like I said, I've not had chance to sit and think about it yet. I'm sure

we will set more goals. If putts like this keep finding the hole,

then those goals will be achieved. Fantastic story. Let's hope 2017 is

Tommy's year. Good luck to him. Thank you to him for talking to us.

Not often you get a prolific sportsman talking to you a couple of

days after his big win and the Bocking yesterday as well with Tony

Bellow. -- boxing. He's been rolling out the barrel

in Liverpool for more than 50 years. Les Skinner is the oldest working

cooper in the country. A cooper, if you didn't know,

is someone who makes But, sadly, it's a dying craft

and Les is calling it a day. Stuart Flinders has

been to meet him. What are you doing? A 40 gallon

barrel. You have to strip the hoops back. Striking wood and metal. Not a

piece of plastic in sight. It will be refilled. With rum. With rum?

Yes. For a company in Liverpool? Yes. I can smell it. A smell of rich

spirit fillslet air at Les workshop. These are the sights and sounds he

lived with since he went through the traditional ceremony back in 1960.

You get inside, they push it over and roll you round. It's one of

those things. Everyone expects it. It's no surprise. Back then there

were plenty of customers in Liverpool. There was the oil

industry using them, the food industry was using them. They used

to export meat products pickled in brine to the West Indies. In truth,

this was a dying craft even then. Now, orders to make a barrel from

scratch like this are few and far between. The National Trust, the

makers of period dramas, place occasional orders. Most of Les' work

now is repairs. What have you done to it? Jointed it, so it has a

smooth joint. Yes. So it can go back in? Yeah. What will you do now with

your spare time? I will have to find something to do. Maybe go fishing.

The workshop is up for sale. It's the end of an era for Les, but for

Liverpool, too. I hope Les has a fantastic

retirement. Absolutely. What a shame. Let's hope it isn't a dying

art. How is the weather? We are in the good books. Most days this week

we are in the good books. Yesterday was fabulous. Today was OK, a decent

day. Our weather watchers pictures show how it started, beautiful

spells of sunshine. We started to see more cloud cover rolling in.

towards us because we have rain. The towards us because we have rain. The

story through the next couple of days is mild air working in.

Tomorrow you will have mild air, temperatures into double figures. We

have mild air and the weather fronts will stay out of the way until we

get to Friday. After that, well I still think there will be dry

weather in the forecast. Not too bad at all. We clouded up during the

afternoon. Isle of Man and Cumbria saw showers. They are creeping jefr

where. They are turning into nothing as they move inland. Here come the

showers through the night. Behind the showers an active area of rain.

Last night we saw rain crossing us. Tonight it's much bigger. As it

rises over the high ground you can see intense colours there. There

will be bursts from time to time. As we head towards the early hours of

the morning it should be gone. The cloud cover will probably be fairly

constant. Temperatures not an issue at all, that is thanks to the rain,

not a great thing, six or seven degrees for most of us. For rural

areas three or four is where we will be. No frost first thing. The top of

the Pennines will have murky areas, visibility poor for the first hour

of daylight. The sun is up at 4.30am. We are getting the value of

those early mornings. A bit of cloud in the southern parts. Brighter

skies in the northern parts. That sunshine spreads everywhere through

the day. More in the way of sunshine than you saw today. Add to that the

mild air that is a nice recipe for a pretty good afternoon. Some places

will struggle, but by the afternoon it's a nice picture. Not

wall-to-wall sunshine, but patchy cloud floating around. 10-11 degrees

will look and feel nice. Nothing to worry about Wednesday through to

Thursday. Thursday should be a dry picture with good spells of

sunshine. Friday some outbreaks of rain. Back in the mixed stuff as we

head towards the weekend. Diane, thank you very much. Now, before we

go. Manchester Storm Ice hockey

team made it a night to remember for a young fan,

called Sebastian, at the weekend. The two-year-old has a severe

neurological disorder and is working So, the club flew Sebastian

and his parents to Belfast to watch He met the team before

going on a lap of honour on the ice and presenting the Man

of the Match award. It was emotional thing for us,

really. It was just amazing to see and him take it in. You know, the

smile on his face the whole way round, pretty much, a memory we will

never forget. Wonderful moment. Smile on everyone's face now. Sadly

Storm lost 5-2. No-one minded. No, another day. More on that tragedy

that happened today at Withington Hospital later tonight. Good night.