12/04/2017 North West Tonight

Welcome to NorthWest Tonight with Annabel Tiffin

Anger among campaigners as they lose their latest battle

The company says it's a good decision for local jobs.

The evil Catholic priest convicted of the repeated sexual

It's a safe haven for natterjack toads and red squirrels.

The National Trust celebrates 50 years at Formby.

The four-year-old boy from Cheshire who's become

A Catholic priest has been found guilty of repeatedly sexually

abusing a teenage boy at a school in Lancashire almost 40 years ago.

Father Michael Higginbottom had denied the abuse and said he didn't

remember the victim, who had been a pupil

at St Joseph's Roman Catholic seminary in Upholland

But a jury at Liverpool Crown Court found the 74-year-old former teacher

guilty of eight counts of abuse, as Ian Haslam reports.

Father Michael Higginbotham had arrived for the start of his trial

last week accused of horrifically breaching his position of trust.

Today a jury at Liverpool Crown Court decided he had.

I feel it's a very satisfying result.

The evidence heard that he was described as an evil man and that's

not a description I'm going to argue against.

He breached his trust in the capacity of a teacher at that

school, as a teacher who was meant to be giving pastoral care.

He breached it in the worst way imaginable.

The abuse took place at St Joseph's Roman Catholic

From the late 1800s into the early 1990s, this now disused building

During the trial, the court heard Father Michael Higginbotham had

sexually abused the boy who was aged 13 and 14 at the time

If the boy had failed to turn up at the appointed time,

St Joseph's, the victim said, was a cold, dark and forbidding

place for him with horrific memories he'd spent 40 years desperately

After six months of abuse, the victim stole a watch and made

He was subsequently expelled and returned home with his parents.

The purpose of the school was to train boys potentially to go

Within days of him getting there, he was seriously sexually abused

The victim managed to get himself out of that situation and,

nearly 40 years later, the victim came forward to report

The jury was told previous allegations have been made

against Higginbotham by another St Joseph's pupil and that

the Catholic Church had settled the claim out of court but,

a decade later, he's facing prison and is due to be sentenced tomorrow.

A man who stabbed his accountant wife to death after he discovered

she was having an affair has been jailed for life.

Stuart Gallear claimed he didn't intend to kill mother-of-two Mandy

in the kitchen of their Wigan home but that he momentarily

He was sentenced at Manchester Crown Court.

The Manchester Central MP Lucy Powell has requested a meeting

with the Home Secretary about the problems caused

She said she was worried how the use of the former legal high had spread

to the streets and warned it was only a matter

of time before somebody in the city would die from it.

The number unemployed in the North West has fallen by 27,000.

The latest figures for December to February show 162,000

The Government's investigating Lancashire County Council's

Dozens are being shut by the authority who say

they are under pressure to make savings of ?200 million

They had taken their legal challenge to the highest court in the land.

But today a group of Lancashire residents were told they had been

defeated and that fracking can go ahead at Little Plumpton.

The Preston New Road Action Group said they were bitterly disappointed

the high court had ruled in favour of Cuadrilla.

The company said it was a good decision for local

Our reporter Judy hobson is at the site near Blackpool for us now.

Yes, this is a site behind me here. Cuadrilla thought the High Court

would rule in their favour but residents thought they had a chance

to overturn the decision. This wasn't about fracking, but about

planning regulations. Residents had to prove planning rules had not been

followed. The High Court today said they had been. And the residents say

that the fracking process was flawed and this could have been their last

chance to get the process stopped. Near to the fracking site of Preston

new Road, police and protesters clashed. This is happening almost

every day with the confrontation is becoming more heated. Campaigners

say they are not surprised by today's decision, which ruled in

favour of Cuadrilla but they say they are angry. The only course of

action now left open to us is more direct action. We followed all the

legal routes, all the legal processes available to us. So the

site is over there. Some residents who live near the site had spent

years fighting the application to frack here. This was perhaps their

last chance of stopping it going ahead. I was bitterly disappointed.

We thought we had a good case. We thought we had strong arguments, we

thought our legal team had put our case over well. Three years ago

frack tested at Preston new road but the council refused planning

permission. Cuadrilla appeal which led to a six-week public enquiry and

on the back of that, a report was sent to the Secretary of State who

said fracking could go ahead and then the residents asked for a

judicial review. Today, they found out they had lost. It's one of the

most looked at applications we've ever seen and we are very pleased

and it's good for Lancashire because it means we can now go ahead and

hopefully develop a shale gas there and bring jobs and gas to the county

in the country. Local businesses say they were delighted with the

outcome. In a statement, they said:. But these campaigners say that won't

happen. This man climbed on top of a lorry yesterday afternoon. This

protest has now been on this lorry for 24 hours and it looks like the

police are now going to bring him down. The lorry left with him on

board. Tensions appeared to be rising here as Cuadrilla continues

its operations at the site. The company plans to bring in a drilling

rig next month and start fracking by autumn. Susan Holliday and her

neighbours live just about 200 metres from the site here full

thought they had 21 days to appeal this decision and don't know if they

will, but the chances of having this decision overturned a game is very

slim indeed. Thanks, Judy.

A North West University is leading the international fight

Lancaster has been named as a centre of excellence

Researchers there are developing ways of identifying future threats

and, more importantly, ways of defeating them.

Our chief reporter Dave Guest has been finding out more.

Barely a day passes without news of another case of cyber crime.

There has been a data breach at the payday loan firm

Wonga involving a quarter of a million customers.

A serious hacking attack targeted up to 4,000,000 customers

The Defence Secretary's warning Russia is using sustained cyber

Already there is huge scale of the problem and as we connect

more and more systems to each other the scale is only going

This is the security at Lancaster University and it's

just been named as one of a small number of specialist centres that

will lead Britain's fight against cyber attacks.

Here they aim to stay one step ahead of the cyber criminals,

identifying potential future threats and targets.

And those targets are manifold as so many areas of our lives depend

on computer technology, anything from banking and finance,

What we're seeing here is the set up which will exist

We actually test these devices for potential vulnerabilities

so we test how attackers might attack them and when we find find

vulnerabilities we disclose them to the manufacturers.

We also develop new types of defences.

This is what a cyber attack looks like.

This is an example of a cyber attack we've set up to show how an attacker

can actually gain information about such a system and then

they can use that information to launch an attack.

In this case, disrupting the actual water treatment process.

Jonathan is working on a project to identify and repel attempts

Attacks which reduce speed can be very potent like time sensitive

stock exchange transactions which don't go through in

time so costs companies millions of dollars.

So presumably as you come up with defences against attacks,

the attackers come up with new forms of attack.

The challenge is, as a defender, you start at a disadvantage

because the attacker only has to find one vulnerability,

whereas you you have to potentially find and guard against all possible

vulnerabilities in the system and that makes it a challenging

but also very exciting area to work in.

Dave Guest, BBC Northwest Tonight, Lancaster.

A little bit of history will be made in three weeks' time.

Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region,

that's Merseyside and Halton, will elect a mayor

They'll have powers over transport, housing and training,

Our political editor Nina Warhurst has been to meet

the Barbers in Grassendale, South Liverpool, to find out what's

Gerard and Patrick, their mum Claire and nanny Anne.

Among the 1.5 million people of Liverpool city region who,

in just over three weeks, will have their first mayor.

I'm hoping that they will be able make decisions that will lead

So instead of somebody in London saying, "Is this a good idea?

we will actually see things happening.

something the mayor will have a major say on.

Aged 40, she is moving home to save for a deposit,

I mean, we had to save a deposit which was what you would spend

I'm at a point in my life where it's going to be difficult to get

a mortgage for how long they are going to want

you to pay it off by, so I think we need to sort of look

at housing and maybe give people a few more options.

A new mayor means a new deal for transport.

Would you like to take the bus more often?

And why do you think you don't take the bus more often?

And the bus has to stop at all bus stops and pick people up.

Something I'm guilty of is driving into town,

but if you can park for the same price as it is on the bus,

Especially if I've got to carry 14 bags home with me.

By the time Gerard hits 16, the new mayor will have had ten

When I was 16, most of the boys were going, "I've got

an apprenticeship" but that seems to have died a death.

What does this family make of the Liverpool super ports,

HS3 or the Northern Powerhouse that the government

Everybody know the phrases and you hear them bandied about so much.

For the normal Jo Elvin, that doesn't matter that much at all.

You go, "Oh, that's nice" and you keep ironing.

It goes in one side and out the other.

So you're optimistic he or she can make a big difference?

If they live here, they are for the people here,

and they are making the decisions here, then it's going to be better

And you can find a full list of candidates for the Mayoral

elections in the Liverpool city region and in Greater Manchester

The National Trust celebrates a half century of looking

And running the show at just four years old.

We meet the country's youngest cicus ringmaster.

The fact that that's what he wants to do and he loves it.

It's home to endangered red squirrels and is

recognised as a site of international importance.

Today, the National Trust celebrated 50 years of managing

The conservation charity is hoping the transfer of land

from the council will allow it to take care of more

of Sefton's Coastline, as Lindsey Prosser reports.

From the wild sand dunes to the dense pinewoods, this

There's an awful lot of different things happening

here from the moving coastline itself to obviously dealing

with the weather and some of the natural events that happen,

and obviously managing the visitors that come here.

It's a very fragile, very delicate landscape so it's

quite a difficult balance to manage all those different factors.

The site was bought by the National Trust as part

of a scheme to protect Britain's coastline.

Over the past 50 years, the number of volunteers

giving their time to protect this landscape has grown dramatically.

I'm always outside, always doing something,

I just like being in the outdoors to be honest.

Volunteer Brian is now an expert squirrel feeder.

The squirrels, they are thriving now.

They were under threat from the squirrel pox

The aim of protecting the landscape was to secure it

It was really nice to see how people care for the squirrels.

It's great for walking on the beach, though, and it's got

I think it's good here cos there's lots of trees and I like trees.

The National Trust and Sefton Council are discussing how the local

authority can hand over more of this coastline for the Trust to manage.

Lindsay Prosser, BBC NorthWest Tonight, Formby.

I love Formby. I've never seen a red squirrel, though. They are there,

News today of a major blow for cyclist Mark Cavendish?

It looks that way. His season is in serious jeopardy after he was

diagnosed with glandular fever today.

His team says the recovery time from the virus is uncertain.

Cavendish himself tweeted that he hoped to be back

within weeks, but that does seem optimistic.

The Manx rider's main goal will be to make sure he's ready

Cavendish needs four more stage wins to equal the tour record

Wayne Rooney hasn't travelled with Manchester United ahead

of their Europa League quarterfinal with Anderlecht tomorrow.

Rooney trained at Carrington this morning, but didn't fly

He's missed the last two matches with ankle pain.

Liverpool Council have set aside half a million pounds to campaign

Liverpudlian Brian Barwick, the chairman of rugby football

league, will head a team of advisers working on the project.

Mayor Joe Anderson also confirmed the city's interest

in hosting the event in 2022, following Durban's

It will be a real catalytic effect for the city.

It will help us regenerate north Liverpool so, yeah, I'm excited.

But it's an exciting opportunity for the city and, as I've said,

I'm determined to make sure we lead this bid with passion.

It's coming to the end of the skiing season across Europe.

But for one man from Lancashire it's been a winter to remember.

Slalom skier Dave Ryding, from Chorley, became the first

Briton in 35 years to finish on the podium at a race

in Austria during his best year ever on the slopes.

Now Dave's targeting success at the Winter Olympics

He is known as the rocket and this was the season his career really

took off. His best result, second at a World Cup race in front of 60,000

fans in Austria. I never thought I'd say it but it was a life changing

moment, especially in Austria. They were going crazy for us. Yeah,

obviously over the moon. I never really planned to get on the podium.

He's now 30 but Dave's skiing story started 25 years ago

My mum and dad said, if you want to come on a family holiday with us,

you have two ski because were not waiting for you. I guess that was

the motivation are needed. It all came about from the dry slopes and

now this hold world of Alpine skiing opened up to me. He has dedicated

himself to the sport of skiing. And, you know, he's gone for it.

Coach Tristan has been by Dave's side for the last six years.

The big event for the pair next season is the Winter

I think everybody else is thinking about it but, first things first,

have to have a good summer training because that's where you make

yourself better. Dave will just try to improve as a skier and then we

will see the results. The rant off a fine season of result of an eight

successive British slalom championship.

Already the best in Britain, now Dave knows he can match

And you can see more from Dave and the rest of the British ski team

And that's all the sport this evening.

We heard you say he is best in Britain but what chances has he got?

Winter Olympics our January and February next week in South Korea.

The second in the World Cup, 11th in the World Championships, fourth

after the first run, so he is definitely a contender and we can't

say that about downhill skiers very often. Thanks, Stuart. Now, who

doesn't like the circus? I love it. The smell of the greasepaint and the

roar of the crowd and all that? Who does not dream about being the star

of the show? We've been to see a boy

from Congleton who's become master of the circus ring and is quite

a bit younger than you might expect. All sights you'd expect

at a day out at the circus. But I bet you've never

seen anything like this. Robert Price junior,

or Booboo as he's known, is the youngest ringmaster in the UK

at just four years old. Come on then, it showed time. -- it

He's currently performing in Salford as part of a ring master

Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys, welcome to the 2017 tour!

APPLAUSE He's doing incredible.

Nowadays, the kids are on iPods and iPads but he is not waiting to get

into the show. Please welcome into the ring, from

Mexico... Chico! Booboo's family has long been

involved in the circus. His mum even works

in the ticket office. He's been with us obviously from day

one of the circus. Even when he was really, really small, he would watch

every single performance and sits there in his pram and try to join

in. He's dead cute, and it's good that he's into it. Very good,

amazing how controlled he is. His presentation is really good. Did you

think he is funny, yeah? If you want to see Boo Boo

in action, he'll be performing with Gandeys Circus in Salford

until next Monday, 17th April. Juliet Phillips, BBC

North West Tonight. He has really got it. Ibis once

dragged up on stage and forced to ride a horse at a circus and kept

falling off. The most embarrassing night of my life. They should've

stuck a red nose on you and be done with it. Time now for a look at the

weather. I don't know how the son is dead to come out in the next few

hours because we did not get the forecast right at all. -- how the

sun did to come out. Many places have had a disappointing day but the

sun is here now. Sunshine in the south-east and parts of Scotland. We

have been under the cloud for a huge portion of the day. I know it's too

late to save the day but is not a bad picture right now. This evening

and overnight, one or two spotty bits of showery rain here and there

but for most of us, clearer whether. Temperatures falling lower than

recently. We could be talking down to around four. Six, seven, eight

for most cities when you get up first thing tomorrow morning. For

tomorrow, it won't be as bad as day but it's not a brilliant day. We

start the week saying it would be cool during the daylight hours. We

are sticking with that story all the way through the weekend. For

tomorrow, sunshine in short supply. Quite a bit of cloud. Once again, a

few spots of rain turning up here and there. Not as bad as it was

today. Nothing as bad. Anywhere over the hills, the heaviest of the rain

it's not too heavy. It does put the dampener. The map is shoving a huge

amount of cloud cover. There will be some breaks in the cloud cover every

now and then and you will season bright spells working their way

through. That is not a brilliant day. The fly in the Mint is the wind

direction. Not as strong as yesterday. -- fly in the ointment.

The numbers won't be that great. 10-11 at the very best. We would

expect something better at this time of year. After that, as we head

towards the Easter weekend, quite unsettled from time to time. Showery

rain. High-pressure trying to build but the weather fronts are coming

towards us so the picture for the weekend is fairly mixed. We want the

pressure to build but as we go through Good Friday, a couple of

weather fronts so cloudy at times and fairly cool through the weekend.

The funny thing about the stories June was just telling me, I had this

image he was a little boy. He was 36! That's all we have got time for.

Tell us more. See you later. Bye-bye.

'The UK has voted to leave the European Union by 52% to 48.