28/03/2017 North West Tonight

A judge who allowed a man who beat his wife to walk free

from court has been lambasted by politicians and domestic

Judge Richard Mansell suspended Mustafa Bashir's jail sentence,

after hearing he'd lose the chance of playing professional cricket

Our chief reporter Dave Guest is here with more.

He hit his partner with a cricket back,

attempted to strangle her and tried to force her to drink bleach.

This is Richard Mansell QC, the Manchester

judge who spared Bashir an immediate spell behind bars.

sign a contract with Leicestershire Cricket

club and going to prison would scupper that.

So, Judge Mansell suspended the 18 month jail

It now turns out the cricket contacted didn't exist.

Leicestershire say they've never heard of Mustafa Bashir.

But it was the judge's comments about

Mustafa Bashir's former wife that have caused most outrage.

He acknowledged she had suffered, but

added, "I'm not convinced that the complainant was particularly

Explaining that that was because she was intelligent, had

The characteristics of the victim are

A crime has been committed and it must be seen

to be a crime that is abhorrent to society and that must be

Greater Manchester's Police and Crime Commissioner says

he doesn't normally criticise judges, but on this occasion, he

I'm writing to the Attorney General, to

the Justice Secretary to ask them to recognise, first of all,

that there were flaws in what was played before

the court, the question, the potentially bogus contract with

Leicestershire County Cricket club, but also more generally to say,

surely a sentence like this simply doesn't fit the modern world.

Mustafa Bashir's former waif today told the BBC that she is

disappointed in the comments which the judge made about my

The Crown Prosecution Service said, "We are currently

considering our options," as to whether they could challenge

The definition of what makes a victim particularly vulnerable

hasn't been dreamt up by the judge,

it is contained in guidelines that all judges must follow.

And coincidentally, the sentencing council is due to issue a new draft

of guidelines for such cases later this week.

A date has been announced for the by-election

It comes after the death of Labour MP sir Gerald Kaufman,

He had served the constituency since 1983 and had a 24,000 majority.

Calderstones Hospital in the Ribble Valley,

the last in England specialising in learning

Patients will now be treated in smaller local units

It's part of a wider plan to reform services in the north-west.

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the site,

said they were disappointed with the decision.

The MP for Chester is urging the Government to do more to secure

the release of six men, who were jailed in India

Paul Towers from Bootle and Ray Tindall from Chester

were among a group of former British soldiers arrested while working

on an anti-piracy ship and jailed in January for five years.

The men have appealed against their sentences.

Businesses in New Ferry say they've been devastated

Tonight, they're meeting council leaders to discuss the support

There are now plans to set up an emergency advice centre

for both residents and local firms - as Lindsey Prosser reports.

The clearing up operation is starting in earnest but this job

could take months and that is no comfort to Kerry Gladwell and Gary.

We want and make sure that residents can contact the authority

They are asking their local Councillor to help.

They fled their home in the clothes they are still wearing

and they haven't been allowed back in since.

Apparently we can't go back into our house for at least two

We can't get any clothes we can't get anything.

All our valuables and even our bank cards, we can't go and get that.

As the cordoned off area is reduced, the damage to other

George is getting his shop ready to open.

Tonight, business owners will meet the council team and George believes

there needs to be considerable support for local firms.

It is going to take a lot of quick involvement by government.

We need a lot of investment into the area.

We need proper planning for the area.

Tomorrow, the council will open an emergency advice centre to help

a community which it believes is still in shock.

We can offer them advice on anything from the rehousing that they may

need to look at, if they need access to money, resources, clothing.

Anything, we will be able to help them with.

When the police investigation finishes, the council team will look

at which buildings need to be demolished.

Positive is how the meeting was described to me. Around 125 people

were there, more than they were expecting. Traders who wanted to

members of the community. Residents members of the community. Residents

as well. It is fair to say there were people there who are physically

tired from what has been happening tired from what has been happening

over the past few days, but also a number of people afraid of what the

immediate future might be. They were reassured and told that although in

the initial recovery phase, the council is there for the long haul

and clearly there will be a loss of support available. Of course,

thoughts will turn to the properties, when they can go in.

Structural engineers have to be certainly property is safe before

that can happen and they will be waiting for Merseyside Police to

finish their enquiries. Thank you very much.

Lancashire County Council has apologised for a delay, which left

a 80-year-old man confined to his house for almost five months.

Ernie Moore was promised a step lift to his home after his leg

Lancashire County Council is now working with the health

occupational therapy team and Burney Borough Council,

who are funding the fitting, to try and get the work done

Since I started communicating with these departments, in September,

October last year, the left-hand hasn't

known what the right hand is

A new service from Manchester Airport has

ManFran is the first direct flight to San Francisco,

from anywhere in the UK outside London.

Its inaugural flight left just before midday,

with bosses from some of the region's leading

It's hoped the new service will open up lucrative

Awaiting clearance to take off - this new scheduled service

between MAN and SAN had attracted a nickname before

We want to translate the vision into tangible

It would lead to economic value for the

It has much in common with Manchester.

Manchester has always reinvented culture and history.

We played a part in the industrial revolution and it came from the 60s

30 tech firms are represented on the flight.

All of them hoping to grab a piece of the action in Silicon Valley.

If we can come back with a clear plan on what we need to do, we can

bring our next investment round in the US and it

Manchester based ANS provides IT support for businesses globally.

But it values person to person interaction.

We are a simple flight and it will change everything and I would love

Andrew's boss has beaten him to it and he's also trying to beat Brexit.

It's all about connectivity. We want to trade with the EU, we always

have, want to trade with the rest of the world as well.

Manchester Airport is also wondering what will

As with so much about Brexit, we simply

There are 225 people on board and some are going to San

San Francisco - the city by the bay, might not, at first sound

like a natural partner, but it has much in

And so Miss England as it's known takes to the air and she's expected

to return with big deals for the North West's

Football and in League One this evening,

wimbledon beat ten man Rochdale by three goals to one,

while Bury were emphatically beaten by Oxford United five one.

Shay McCartan fired home his fourth goal in three games to keep

Accrington's slim League Two play-off hopes alive,

Well, I don't think we'll see too much sunshine as

we head through the next couple of days.

So, let's enjoy one of our weather watcher pictures.

The mild air does stay with us, though.

The temperatures are really good as we head through

But I'm afraid we will see our fair share of

wet weather front, after weather front, after weather front.

Still, the wet weather has worked its way

in the last couple of hours and through the night.

Not everywhere will see too much of it, but it is in the

The cloud cover is there and as I mentioned

before, those mild temperatures are around.

The temperatures do the talking between nine and 10 Celsius.

It's going to feel pretty good when you get at first thing tomorrow

You won't see it, I'm afraid, through the

Its blanket cloud cover and the rain comes and goes.

As you get to about ten o'clock, it starts to

become a little bit more organised and it

stays on all the way through

But again, the temperatures are really quite good.

We are talking about 13 and 14 Celsius.

Now, your national picture is next, but the outlook for the

times, but fairly mild for the time of year. This stay tuned for the

national weather forecasts with John Hammond.

Good evening. Your parents might have told you once that life 's not

fair and they were right. He is the proof. Over the next few days some

of us will enjoy some lovely sunshine, temperatures in the low

20s. It will feel like early summer. For others, quite a lot of rain

around and it will feel like late March. This is showers earlier on

today and dampness this evening in the West Country and Wales. That is

heading north eastwards. A different sort of night. A lot of cloud

around, quite damp and misty in places. Cloud cover will