31/03/2017 North West Tonight

Amanda Knox and her mother Margaret were enjoying a quiet evening

in last Saturday when an explosion ripped through their home and sent

Nearly a week after the suspected gas blast in Wirral they're

homeless and critical of the local council s response.

Today Stuart Flinders took them back to see the damaged property

in New Ferry for the first time since the evacuation.

With the outer cordon lifted today, the full extent of the damage

Some people travelled all the way from Birmingham

Amanda and her mum Margaret last saw their home as they ran

from the explosion and today I took them back.

My front bedroom window, the small window, I'd just gone

to bed and the whole window just came out and landed on my bed that

When you look at it now, you're lucky you survived?

They've lost everything including their cat,

They're not impressed with the council's response.

We've just been left to find our own way.

Our insurance company told us to find ourselves

Wirral Council says it has been in touch with all those badly

When we told them about Amanda and Margaret they said they would be

contacting them as soon as possible to offer them all

One man badly injured was named today as 21-year-old Lewis Jones,

currently in a critical condition at the Walton Centre.

His family have thanked his friends for their support.

Those who live near the area have rallied around.

At Grove Street Primary an afternoon of fund-raising events,

the idea not of staff, but of the children themselves.

So you decided to raise some money and how much do

The investigation into the cause of the explosion is still going

on and a decision will have to be made about how many of these

You might remember a huge fire in Stockport in 2013 which forced

A year later another blaze broke out in Salford

Both began at recycling plants owned by Barry Kilroe.

Today Mr Kilroe, from Alderley Edge, was jailed for 15 months

after admitting failing to store waste properly.

Tonne upon tonne of abandoned rotting waste.

It has been here so long, trees are sprouting out of it.

The company, Asset and Land, only had a licence to

There is seven times that much is here.

Today the owner, Barry Kilroe, was jailed for 15 months

after admitting ten charges relating to waste handling at

In August 2013, a huge fire forced parts of the M60 to close.

It had broken out at J25, a recycling plant in Bredbury.

This time at Recovered Fuels in Salford.

The smoke was so thick, Network Rail suspended its services to Liverpool.

Both companies were owned by Barry Kilroe.

This was a significant environmental damage

as well as damage to infrastructure and the communities around the sites

where Mr Kilroe chose to undertake a criminal activity.

In the space of a year, Environment Agency officers visited

all three sites several times and on each occasion

Waste should be stored securely indoors.

At every site the amount of waste exceeded the limit

allowed and was stored for longer than permitted.

People would say it is an inefficient system.

The Court Service has to be fair to all and everybody is innocent

So the onus is on the Environment Agency to provide the evidence

and in this case it has taken a while because of Mr

Kilroe's own defence, but we got there in the end.

It cost ?3 million to clean up the Salford and Stockport sites.

Insurance companies picked up the bill.

The site here in Warrington will cost the owner much more.

A Manchester man has been sentenced after being convicted

of murdering his sister by setting her on fire.

Stephen Archer poured petrol over Julie Archer in her Newton Heath

She never regained consciousness and died three days

He was given life imprisonment to serve a minimum of 27 years.

A utility firm has been fined nearly ?1 million after it was found guilty

of a health and safety offence after the death of a worker.

John Flowers died after falling from an electricity pole in Lancashire.

Electricity North West was convicted of contravening work at height

regulations by failing to ensure the work was supervised.

Councillors in Liverpool have approved a financial

plan which could see Everton Football Club

build a new stadium on Liverpool's waterfront.

The authority won't itself be providing any funding

for the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock which is set

In Super League tonight, George Williams scored two tries

for Wigan at Leeds Rhinos, but he finished on the loosing

side as Wigan lost by 26 points to 18 at Headingly.

Last week was lovely. What's it going to be like this weekend? A

mixed bag for you Graham! We start off Saturday with low

pressure. So expect sunshine. Expect showers as well. So Sunday looks

better because we're going to see high pressure building briefly so

Sunday is more settledful tonight is a cloudy night and we're going to

see rain on and off overnight, but with light winds it should be a tad

milder than last night. We could see temperatures still in double figures

in one or two spots. Tomorrow morning the rain continues for a

time. It is a cloudy start, but as we head into the afternoon the rain

will break up into showers. So it is a mixture of sunshine and April

showers for tomorrow. Also with light winds around through the

afternoon. I think underneath the sunshine it should feel pleasant

with a top temperature of 13 Celsius. Tomorrow night, clear skies

once again is going to be a chilly night and Sunday, drier and

brighter. So the outlook for Monday, we are going to see rain later on

Monday. Hello. There the weekend is here and

Sunday looks like being the better day of the two. We're going to start

the weekend, a new month,