16/03/2017 North West Tonight

independence. And that's all from the BBC News at

Six. Welcome to North West Tonight

with Roger Johnson and Beccy Barr. Jail for two bosses who staged

a health and safety cover up In the aftermath of the fall,

when Ben was dying, their sole We'll hear live from an expert

on health and safety at work. Also tonight: Jeremy Corbyn

gets his hands dirty on the Lancashire campaign trail

as Labour looks to take full Visually impaired people

in Blackpool test The Cheshire rescue

dog who's saved lives It makes me extremely proud to be

with him. Two company bosses who staged

a cover up after a worker plunged to his death have been jailed

by a court in Manchester. Benjamin Edge from Bury died

after falling from the roof of a shed at Fletcher Bank Quarry

in Ramsbottom. The 25-year-old had been working

in wet and windy conditions His bosses then ordered safety

harnesses to be brought to the site Our social affairs correspondent

Clare Fallon was in court. When Ben Edge died,

it was needless and avoidable. Not an accident but the result

of a total disregard for his safety, leaving a two-year-old

without her father and a family Ben was the most fun loving and

hard-working man. The sentence given to those responsible for Ben's death

and they are abhorrent actions there is nothing compared to the life

sentence my family and I began on the 10th of December 2000 and 14.

That was the day when Ben Edge went to work and never returned home.

He fell from the roof of a shed while working at a site near Bury.

Arriving at court for their hearing this morning, these are the brothers

who cared so little for their worker.

Christopher and Robert Brown were both jailed for 20 months,

having admitted safety failings and perverting

And this man, Mark Aspin, the boss of the company

which contracted out the work was sentenced to a year in prison.

Handing down the sentences, the judge went through the list of

safety failings that led to the death of Ben Edge. But not only was

there a failure to keep him safe, there was also an attempt to cover

up what happened. Another worker was told to go and get harnesses so it

looked like safety equipment was there but then had chosen not to use

it. Anything to say about what happened that day?

He too was on the roof from which his colleague fell.

He tried to help, giving first aid, but then followed orders

Why was it that you covered up what happened?

Among those in court for today's sentencing,

some of those who grew up with a friend they

We obviously miss him dearly. Two years gone and still hard work now.

Ben's parents told me they regard what happened and the attempt

These people will be out soon, they will have the rest of their lives

with their children, probably still in their early 30s. Ten months.

That's all our Ben's life was worth. That's what we think, anyway. Ten

months is nothing for what they have done and what they tried to do.

They hope they can now start to move on.

Well, we're now joined by Hilda Palmer from the Greater

Manchester Hazards Centre, which is an independent organisation

that gives advice on health, safety and welfare problems at work.

She joins us from London where she is attending a conference. How many

people die every year because of health and safety or welfare issues

in the workplace in this country? It is many more than most people think.

About 144 deaths are reported and that would include Ben Edge's death.

But in addition to that there are workers who are killed while they

are driving on the roads, at sea or in the air, who are not reported or

included in the figures and that would take it up to about 800. And

if you add all the members of the public who are killed by

work-related activities, and about 300 people a year who kill

themselves because they are so stressed by work, that comes to

about 1200. So is the notion of health and safety gone mad

completely wrong? It is exactly wrong. We are not doing it well

enough. There is not too much health and safety, there is in fact far too

little, as the family of Ben Edge discovered. Now they see how

dreadful health and safety is. People believe we have very strict

health and safety regulations and then when something dreadful happens

people will be punished severely but when something happens they discover

that is not the case. We do not have strict, strong health and 70

regulation and enforcement. -- health and safety. Essentially,

these people sent Ben Toolis death. This was an extreme case though. It

was, but I have seen many dreadful cases where employers have done

things that you just would not credit. Where people have been

killed in what people have described as Victorian working conditions. I'm

afraid it's much more common than people think. What advice would you

give to somebody who goes to work every day and doesn't feel safe? It

is really important that people do try not to do things they think are

not safe. We all have the right to refuse work that puts us at serious

risk. It's not that easy if your boss tells you to do it. It may mean

you risk the sack and that is why it is unfair. You can try and reported

to the local authority but that is increasingly difficult. Then you

have to weigh it up, if you really feel unsafe, you have to protect

your life over keeping your job. Thank you.

Today a committee of MPs has been calling for more to be done

Men aged under 50 are more likely to die from suicide

than from anything else and the North West has one

But now, in one part of Merseyside, the local health trust is running

One which aims to bring the suicide rate down to zero.

Our health correspondent Gill Dummigan has the second

of our special reports into mental health.

Wayne helps people who have suicidal thoughts, a subject he is well

Since then he's tried to kill himself four times.

You just get in such a dark place and you're in so much pain

The only way to end the pain is to end your life.

If I'm being honest, it's luck that I'm still here.

We are in a cafe run by a local community group.

People can come here for a cup of tea and a chat,

particularly about anything bothering them, and know

We have a lot of people come here, they might

have done counselling, it's not worked for them,

they need some different type of support.

They don't have to fit in a box here.

Wayne and this cafe are taking part in an ambitious experiment,

one that aims to bring the local suicide rate down to zero.

The Zero Suicide project is modelled on a similar scheme in Detroit

and is the first of its kind in the UK.

It combines measures to target high-risk groups like mental health

patients with raising awareness among the general public.

And that's important because many people who kill themselves

give no indication of what they're about to do.

13 years ago, Angela walked into the hallway of her home

I was probably one of those people that thought,

Of course, you lived together, you had children together,

of course you would see something like that.

Angela helped devise a scheme that trains people in public jobs

from bank staff to taxi drivers how to recognise the signs of someone

I believe that we do have these moments of intervention that

if someone is feeling suicidal, actually there are probably times

that we can intervene and have a conversation and it's not

always with the people that you think you are going to have that

It's a belief shared by the local health trust,

They say no suicide should be seen as inevitable.

We collectively had a moment of realisation that said,

if the number isn't zero, what's the right number?

I think that's a really great proposition because when you put it

that way, there is a logical position where the number

There's a lot of national interest in this scheme.

The government has told every local area to publish

This Manchester University professor heads up a national task force

There's a growing sense that as a society we need to do

more about this problem, we need to protect people at risk,

we need to do more about the mental health of young people

because they may be at risk long-term.

And also that we have evidence of what works.

We actually know what we can do better at.

Wayne now works with Mersey Care to show people

There's thousands of people having the same thoughts as you right now.

And if you seek help, you can get it.

The Crown Prosecution Service is defending itself after being

strongly criticised for bringing charges against Merseyrail

A jury today cleared Mr Zee of endangering a passenger

who suffered head injuries after falling under

The CPS says it considered evidence in detail before

But the RMT union says the case should never have gone to trial.

Transport Police and the Crown Prosecution Service have got serious

questions to ask and we will be taking those matters up with those

bodies in due course because this case is one that should never, ever

Greater Manchester Police has sent a file about the Conservatives'

spending during the last General Election to the Crown

One of those investigated, Bury North MP David Nuttall,

says Tory Central Office told candidates spending on the party's

battle bus was part of national, not local campaign expenditure.

Cheshire Police say they found no evidence of any criminal

offence in the Weaver Vale and Chester constituencies.

Fire crews are still at the scene of a huge blaze which badly damaged

a Grade II listed mansion in Lancashire last night.

At its height, more than 70 firefighters were at Alston Hall

Crews are still trying to make some parts of the building safe enough

Jeremy Corbyn has been in Lancashire today hoping to build support

for the Labour Party ahead of the county council

As things stand, Labour has four more councillors

than the Conservatives, but that's not enough

Both parties believe they can win an outright majority

in what is historically a key battleground.

Our political editor Nina Warhurst reports.

He chose to come to Lancashire because there is a county council

election coming. Though possibly didn't choose the venue. Jeremy

Corbyn thinks Lancashire's Labour leader has handled council cuts

well. Well enough to put the party in the frame for an outright

majority. We've got a good story to tell, Labour has stood up for the

people of Lancashire, a council suffering the most terrible cuts

from a Tory government. The latest polls suggest a 19 point lead for

the Conservatives at the moment. Some people would say the only way

Labour can secure places like Lancashire is under a new leader.

I'm leading the party because I was elected to lead the party and I'm

determined to take the challenge to the Tories, on austerity, cuts, the

National Health Service. Familiar battle cries from Jeremy Corbyn but

the Red Rose county is on a knife edge and conservatives say this is

their chance to turn it blue. I think people recognise this

Administration has got the county council in a mess both financially

and in terms of the services they provide and they recognise that

there needs to be a change. I think they recognise that we are the ones

to be able to do it and put things right. The people of Lancashire

chose to take County Hall control away from the Conservatives in 2013.

But four years earlier it was Labour who had to hand over power. So there

are significant numbers of swing voters here. And across the country,

traditional party loyalties are being tested like never before. So

whatever happens here in Lancashire, we'll be watching closely from

Westminster. Lancashire reflects a national picture in that it is so

diverse. There are some areas that is true blue, some areas are deep

red, and the problem for Labour in recent years has been to inspire its

voters enough to come out and actually sued their support at the

ballot box while Mr Corbyn's job is to reach those parts which are

clearly there but waiting to be inspired. Jeremy Corbyn will say

there is nothing outrageous about his ambitions for Lancashire and in

seven weeks the voters will decide. If you wear glasses,

you won't need me to tell you how expensive they can be,

but would you pay You might if your sight was really

poor and they offered you the chance A blind society in Blackpool has

been trialling spectacles They're called e-glasses

and Stuart Flinders has been Bill Salisbury is used

to trips to the optician. I've lost my sight in this eye

completely, my left eye. Then this right eye,

there is macular degeneration. What does that mean in terms

of what you can see through it? I can see you but I can't see your

features unless I go close-up. At N Vision, Blackpool's

society for the blind, Bill swaps his ordinary

glasses for e-glasses. Right away, he's able to see detail

he hasn't seen for years. What are you seeing now that

you couldn't see before? I can see a clock on the back wall

and the time is 9:25am, I think. You're looking at that one,

I'm looking at that one. And the other one is

10:50am and 10:55am. What about people?

Do I look any different? A camera presents an enhanced

digital image to the wearer, doing what magnification

alone isn't able to do. Nick Hamlett is here to test,

but also to promote the e-glasses. They cost ?10,000 as a result

of a lot of development. It is a niche product

with high development costs. Rita struggles to see the cards

when she plays bridge. It's not much better

than a bright lamp, she says. Different eye conditions affect

different parts of the eye. So consequently somebody

with macular problems, they may work for, but someone

with glaucoma, which is taking the peripheral vision,

they might not be suitable. Bill sees a big improvement

in his sight, but he What can you see that's any

different now, looking at Dot? Every year, as you probably know,

the BBC opens its doors to hundreds of schools across the North West

as the pupils become School Report is a way

of engaging young people Students from across the region have

spent the day making the news. Here is a flavour of

what they've been up to. And today we're going to be

talking about Water Day. People have to walk so many miles

to get water and bring it back home. The best part of doing

it is to realise that some people don't have a lot of money

and they need extra help. Hi and welcome to the BBC

News School Report. It may sound strange

that we can help. They were good. A girl popped up in

front of the weather screen and I thought, Diane is out of a job. And

I heard, I beg your pardon! Well done to all of them.

and Manchester City are licking their Champions League wounds

after being knocked out by Monaco last night.

Yes, they lost 3-1 on the night which meant it finished

And because the French side scored more away goals,

It's the first time a side managed by Pep Guardiola has been knocked

City, of course, are in the last four of the FA Cup and in good shape

to finish in the top four in the Premier League.

But where does their early European exit leave the current team?

I've been to get the views of former player and BBC

The referee blows the full-time whistle and Manchester city are out

of the Champions League. It doesn't matter what tactics Pep

Guardiola asked the players to execute, "There with the right

desire or intensity. What do you make of that as an approach? As a

tactical approach? I think it was the right one. I don't think he's

got the players, especially in that defence. All the lads at the back

have been great servants apart from John Stones, who is new to the club.

But I don't think they've got what it takes to compete at that level

with that kind of intensity. Our strategy was to be aggressive

without the ball. There did seem to be a lack of belief at times.

Certainly in that first half. Do you think that was a lack of self belief

from the players or a lack of belief in what the manager was trying to

get them to do? I think it was belief in their own ability. The

most disappointing thing was that the player didn't have the IQ on the

page to manage that situation. They are coming at Manchester city with a

different kind of intensity and I don't think the players felt

comfortable getting out of that situation without going long. They

didn't do that until the second half. Sane! There is the goal

Manchester City desperately wanted! How much of a blow will it be for

Pep Guardiola? It is huge because it was his 100th game in the Champions

League, which is a milestone in itself. He has always got his team

to the semifinal minimum. But he has got thick skin. I wouldn't say it

has been a total disaster. They are looking now at the FA Cup semifinal

and they take the disappointment and I'm sure they will be putting that

right next season. Manchester United are now

the North West's last remaining team in Europe and they host Rostov

tonight, hoping to reach the last The tie is poised at 1-1

after the first leg in Russia but Jose Mourinho knows it's

still in the balance We know that Rostov

is a very good team. I know the way they played so many

matches away and some of them big matches against big opponents

so they have experience Very best wishes go out to Rochdale

midfielder Joe Thompson, who has been diagnosed with cancer

for the second time. The 28-year-old overcame

the disease in 2014 while at Tranmere after a six-month

course of chemotherapy. Joe has said today that he'll

fight this life hurdle with the same belief,

courage and desire And finally from me,

Warrington Wolves go to looking for their first win

of the Super League campaign. There's full match commentary

of what should be a fascinating clash on BBC Radios Manchester

and Merseyside from 8pm. He's given years of dedicated

service, risking his own life to save others in disasters

across the world . Now the Cheshire Fire

and Rescue dog Bryn has been The animal charity, the PDSA,

has given the medal in honour of Bryn's years of dedicated service

and now he's enjoying retirement Right from the start,

Bryn was a joy to be with. He spent 11 years working

as a rescue dog alongside When we went to pick him

up at ten weeks old, this dog was retrieving a ball,

bringing it back, dropping it, sitting at your feet and waiting

for you to do it again. Bryn and Steve have faced some

tough challenges together. They joined the search at Bosley

in Cheshire when part of a wood They were sent to Nepal

after the earthquake. And were part of the rescue team

following the Japanese tsunami. Not only did we have

all the devastation, it started to snow, which made it

very tricky for the dogs That's why he actually

cut himself over there. He has complete trust in me

and the same vice-versa. Today, Bryn was awarded

the order of merit by They want more recognition

for working dogs. He is the ideal example

of what animals, working dogs, mean to their handlers

and the teams they work with. Now Bryn and Steve can

enjoy their retirement together He may be 13 but Bryn

is as active as ever. There is hope for us all. A ripe old

age. Let's move on to the weather. Diane is here. It's not been quite

so good to us. No, but most of the week has been fantastic. Any

coincidence that you've not been here?

Good evening. Our pictures show us exactly how it has been. First thing

this morning in Macclesfield, beautiful spells of sunshine. But

everything changing this afternoon. Over the next couple of days, things

get cooler. The numbers have been pretty this week. This weekend will

be fairly wet. Not a complete wash-out but a fair bit of rain

around at times. Just about everywhere, cloud and rain this

afternoon. A thing of the past in the next hour or so. Behind, clearer

skies coming through. Cabbages will fall a little bit. Most places down

to two or three. In towns and cities, not too many problems. But

you will see them get darker as we head to the early hours of the

morning because more is pushing in. There might be a few spots of

drizzle to start the day. You might catch a glimpse of sunshine in the

more southern parts tomorrow morning. But it doesn't take too

long before this line of rain pushes in an absolutely everywhere. If you

look at the wind arrows, it is very gusty through the day as well. We

are talking about 30 mph gusts from the Irish Sea. The rest of it is

just cloud and rain. It is something we are very used to but it is not

very welcome. On the high ground, heavy bursts from time to time. It

will park itself across the north-west of England. It will take

some time to clear through the evening. The temperatures fall down.

So we have to get up at 6:15am to see some sunshine? Richard was going

to be filming outside but he's changed his mind. We will tell you

whether or not it has changed, but it would, at 10:30pm. Goodbye.

It was the most beautiful view I've ever been through.

For one second, I was swimming on my back, and I was looking to the sky.

I was swimming across the Aegean Sea.

I was a refugee, going from Syria to Germany.

MasterChef is back, to find the country's best home chef.