30/03/2017 North West Tonight

are out of the way, will the EU start pursuing a common defence

policy? Join me on BBC Two. Police investigating the death

of a four-year-old girl in an alleged hit-and-run

on Merseyside say a man they were looking

for is now in custody. Violet Grace Youens died in hospital

after she and her grandmother were hit by a stolen

car last Friday. Merseyside Police haven't officially

name to the 23-year-old man they've arrested, but it is

Aidan McAteer from Prescott, a man police said they wanted

to speak to about the incident He's been arrested on suspicion of

causing death by dangerous driving and on suspicion of causing serious

injury by dangerous driving. Four-year-old Violet Grace Youens

was killed in the incident and her grandmother, Angela French

was seriously injured. The arrest follows

an emotional appeal on social media by Violet Grace's

father, Glenn, and another appeal yesterday by Mr McAteer's mother,

Alicia, on television and radio. It was thought that

Aidan McAteer had travelled abroad after the collision,

but Merseyside Police aren't saying when or where

he was detained, only that he's being spoken

to by Merseyside detectives A man who set his sister on fire

using a "petrol cocktail" Stephen Archer from

Openshaw in Manchester set his sister Julie on fire last

February, after falsely accused her of murdering their father

and doctoring his will. Her 19-year-old daughter escaped

with minor injuries after jumping from an upstairs

window of the house. Mr Archer will be

sentenced tomorrow. Police used cutting

equipment to separate anti-fracking protesters

who chained themselves to pipes at an Eddie Stobart

depot in Warrington. They claim the firm supplies a shale

gas site in Lancashire. Eddie Stobart says one

tanker has been there. At least two protesters

were arrested. Labour's candidate to be

the first Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region

launched his manifesto today. Steve Rotheram said, if elected,

a main priority would be tackling He also pledged to create degree

level apprenticeships to address Children are being put

at risk of sexual abuse because Greater Manchester Police

are taking up to five months to examine computers seized

from suspected paedophiles. That's one of the findings

of a report She says in the past few years

the number of child sex offences in Greater Manchester has

quadrupled, and the number Our social affairs correspondent

Clare Fallon reports. When this woman went to police

to say her 13-year-old daughter was being groomed

by a man in his 30s, she hoped and expected

the response would be quick. She had evidence on her daughter's

mobile phone and tablet, The 2012 Rochdale grooming trial,

Greater Manchester Police said, things have changed,

we've learned lessons, but you went

to the police a year later. It wasn't that they didn't believe

us, I think they just didn't have the funding to investigate

the tablet and the telephone. I think it was basically

in a room with thousands of others It was like, well,

you'll have to just wait your turn. According to a report out today

on the sexual exploitation of children in Greater Manchester,

even though things are improving, in some cases, it's taking

five months for police to examine In those five months,

how many more children could potentially be

groomed and abused? In the time it took police

to check the phone and tablet, the man who groomed this

woman's daughter I feel absolutely

horrified that because of the no action at the beginning

that another child was groomed. On occasion, I accept

that there will have been times when computers and

tablets should have been We've made our triage system process

much more robust now which reduces the chance

of that from happening. We've invested in that

department which has brought those backlogs down but we've

still got more to do. This is something that only

going to get worse really, because the way that the Internet

is so advanced now and, you know, kids are WhatsApping

and they don't know The Stockport MP Ann Coffey

wrote today's report. I asked her why the numbers

of paedophiles and grooming cases We're reporting it better,

we're more aware of it. Because part of the problem has

been victims in the past were blamed for their

own exploitation. they were told they were making

lifestyle choices and therefore were reluctant to report

the sexual abuse against them because they felt they

wouldn't be believed. I believe that has changed

and the evidence of that is the increased reporting

of child sexual exploitation. Although the headline to this

is a little bit alarming, to say the least, actually

you could construe this as a positive story

in a sense, that we are more aware of things

like this and more ready It is a very positive story

because also9 more children are being identified

of being at risk of child sexual

exportation which means you can get in there and stop it

happening which is very, very important because, as we know,

victims spend all their lives being traumatised by the sexual abuse

that has happened to them. To prevent sexual abuse happening

to families is critical. Having said all that, the case

we just heard of a delay that enabled the paedophile

to stay as large and to abuse somebody else

is clearly nothing positive. Have the police got the resources

that they need to tackle this? Much more fraud is being committed

online and this is a serious resource issue for police

forces who need skilled staff and funding into their digital

investigation unit to deal with the tsunami of online

sexual grooming that is happening. Ann Coffey, thank you very much

for your time this evening. The owner of the Cumbrian zoo

where nearly 500 animals died in three years today appealed

against its closure. The news came as the company

which wants to take over its licence gave Yunus Mulla exclusive access

to the zoo. A baby giraffe,

the latest attraction This is what the troubled zoo

wants us all to see. Come and see everything we've done,

come and see the improvements. So 11 weeks is not long, but we have

made some dramatic changes. Nearly 500 animals had

died in four years. This emaciated kangaroo

just one example. Inspectors said there

was uncontrolled breeding, poor veterinary care

and overcrowding and the owner, Last month, a closure notice

was issued and the owner, Today, David Gill appealed

against the decisions made by the local authority

that will effectively keep the zoo open

beyond next week's closure deadline. The new management company has

applied for its own license but one animal rights

group questions links between the new company

and the zoo owner. The same people who have been

involved have made this application and we cannot just simply

pass animals' lives In 2013, Sarah McClay was mauled

to death by a tiger and the zoo was fined almost

?500,000 for breaches Plans are at an advanced stage

to buy the zoo outright and the new company insists it has severed

all links with the current owner. I have never claimed

to be an animal manager. But what I do claim to be

is passionate about this place, passionate about the animals

that are here. Here they may be passionate

about the zoo and the animals, but ultimately, the decision on its

future will not be theirs to make. Football and Manchester City Women

have reached the last four of the Champions League

for the first time, Lucy Bronze scored the only

goal of the match, City face three-time winners

Lyon in the last four. Those ties will take place

on the final two weekends of April. Salford Red Devils continued

their impressive start to the season Michael Dobson opened the scoring

with a penalty before scored two tries and a further goal

to seal the victory. The win moves them up to third

in the table, on ten points - level with league leaders

Castleford Tigers We've had a lot of cloud around two

this afternoon. Heavy rain in places but having said that, we have seen

higher than average temperatures. 17 degrees in Nantwich in Cheshire this

afternoon but over the next couple of days, we will see temperatures

gradually falling away to where they should be for this time of year. For

tonight, however, lots of cloud around still and we are likely to

see that rainfall. It is going to be a mild night underneath the cloud

and a bit of a breeze as well. Temperatures staying as high as 11

or 12 degrees so for tomorrow, we are hoping we should see some sunny

spells through the afternoon but we start off once again quite cloudy,

quite damp. Lots of rain around initially as we head into the

afternoon, a stiff south-westerly breeze hopefully blowing away the

rain and showers to the other side of the Pennines. We should be left

with brighter spells through the afternoon. It will feel a tad cooler

than today. I is a 15 degrees tomorrow. Tomorrow night looks to be

a dryer night than tonight. Clear skies. We had into the weekend with

low pressure on Saturday with showers. Sunday looks to be the

better day of the weekend and the outlook, 11 or 12 degrees.

time of year. The chance of a shower on Saturday. Sunday will be dry.

Hello, it will cool off over the next few days but that's not

unusual, given how warm it was today. This was London. We just had

the warmest March day