01/11/2016 Points West

tonight's BBC News at Ten. That s it. Now on BBC One we

Welcome to BBC Points West with Liz Beacon and Seb Chotdhury.

Jailed again for abuse - three Somali men are sent to prison

for assaulting and sexually abusing teenage girls in Bristol.

The judge and police pay trhbute to the victims for their cotrage

The governor at Eastwood Park says prison sentences

Remembering the soldier who refused to fight on the Somme

and was shot for desertion, 100 years ago today.

And when I grow up I want to be a surgeon -

the schoolchildren getting hands on experience at Southmead.

Three Somali men have been sent to prison for abusing and sdxually

assaulting four teenage girls - one of whom was only 13.

The court case was held behhnd closed doors for the past fdw weeks

and the jury has heard harrowing testimony and evidence.

It brings to an end a massive police investigation

Today the judge condemned the men's actions, saying they had

damaged their victims' abilhty to trust, as Dickon Hooper reports.

At the heart of this was ond vulnerable teenager,

raped and abused over many lonths by three Somali men.

I did say no a lot of the time but they tend

The three men - Mohammed Dahir, Abdirashid Abdulahi

and Zaceriya Sheik - known as Zac - had done unspeakable

things to their victim, according to the judge,

Zac abused her here, at a hhgh-rise flat in Lansdowne Court,

Easton, which she described as dirty, dark and scary.

He was also convicted of tr`fficking the girl - just 14 at the thme

I gave in a lot of time, it was expected to do it

by whoever's flat we were in cos we were getting weed

All three have previous convictions for sexual offences and tod`y

Abdirashid Abdulahi and Moh`mmed Dahir were jailed for eight years.

Zaceriya Sheik was sent to prison for 16.

The judge said they had brought shame on themselves

and their families and said that Sheik's treatment

The judge and police paid tribute to the victims for coming forward -

three other girls were sexu`lly assaulted by Zac Sheik.

All now feel worthless, dirty and unloved.

It's impossible to comprehend the torment and anguished

the victims have suffered at the hands of these

offenders, who over a number of years befriended them,

eroded their confidence and accepting systematic abtse

Nuridin Mohamed was cleared of two charges, and three other men,

Abdirahman Galal, Mohammed Osman and Nasir Mahamoud, also fotnd not

The trial brings to an end a series of prosecutions

Two years ago, 13 Somali men were jailed in Operation Brooke

for abusing teenage girls - including

In a statement, the Somali community in Bristol said they were appalled

by the crimes and their sympathies were with the victims.

How has this all affected a community embedded

Our home affairs corresponddnt Fiona Lamdin reports.

There are 10,000 Somalis living here in Bristol.

The single biggest ethnic community in the city.

Many came here as refugees `nd over the last decade have built lives

Yeah, almost everybody knows everybody.

That's our culture, that's Somali culture.

If I don't know him, I know his uncle or he knows my

cousin, so that's cultural, wherever we are, not

We don't feel like this is something that we're just passing through

We came here, we very much appreciate the generosity

It's a very cultural city, it's been very welcoming for me

But this is a community that has been badly damaged.

Only two years ago Somali mdn living here were found guilty

Two years ago, 13 men were jailed for grooming.

To be honest, that was the hardest event I ever witnessed in Bristol.

It was a bit harsh to see stch a thing to happen in our colmunity.

Without education, kids, some of the young generation

they don't know, they're kind of new to overseas,

they met the wrong people who led them in the wrong places

and the wrong actions, so we have to educate the khds.

How has this community changed since then?

We have tournaments, teams, which we never had

before, two or three years we never had anything.

There's a lot of change in the Bristol Somali communitx lately.

We have now moved from Easton to Barton Hill.

Sayed has run the butchers here for the last 14 years.

What difference did it make to the community when those

Somali men were sent to prison for grooming?

We never wanted those kind of things to happen from our communitx,

but it's also not something that we think is going to happen ag`in.

How do you teach them to treat women?

Within Somali culture, we treat women as princesses.

If for example, I'm going to give you one very simple example,

if I'm sitting on a bus and the bus is full and the woman comes in,

I should stand and let the lady sit in the place.

In the last two years he saxs the community's relationship

Now is better, the communitx and police, they work together

and the information for younger people, it's not like beford.

It's now nearly lunchtime and I join Azi Abdi for some food.

He's lived here for nearly four years.

I think something big has changed because it's a wake-up

Before, they can let go the children and play whoevdr

What seems to happen, parents in Bristol, they ard making

sure where children be and what they are

Today's news once again another painful reminder for this community

that change is a necessity but it's something they say

You're watching Points West with Sabet and Liz.

We catch up with Torvill and Dean ahead of their panto perforlance

Certainly in the shape of some frost for many of you tonight. We will

look at that and take a dip into the early winter forecast towards the

end of the programme. The governor of Eastwood Park

women's prison in South Gloucestershire has called on judges

to give longer sentences to vulnerable criminals who are

themselves the victims of abuse It's so they can have longer

to help them rebuild Eastwood Park is 20

years old this year. Unlike men's prisons,

it houses every type of offdnder, There's room for 363 inmates,

although it has been overcrowded at times due to the lack of women's

prisons in the country. Our reporter Lee Madan has been

given exclusive access inside Eastwood Park to intdrview

staff and inmates to find ott The thought of coming here hs just

mind blowing. I thought it would be the worst experience of my life I

compare it to being at school. There are bullies in the prison btt I

don't think you can ever stop that out, what goes on. Diane is serving

to win a for fraud. And is serving 12 years for conspiracy to supply

drugs. For both, their first time behind bars was daunting.

Devastating. I cried constantly all night. It was just horrific. Very

sad, very upset. I feel tot`lly responsible for what I put ly family

through. Prison may be about punishment but also rehabilhtation.

It offers courses run by western college and find inmates jobs they

can do inside jail. Diane works for the national careers servicd. I knew

I had to get out of that sell and I made myself get out, as tough as it

was, I thought there was no way I was going to rot in the cell.

Although Eastwood Park has seen many changes in 20 years, one thhng has

stayed the same, the fact that agree with estimates that 50% of hnmates

here and in every other womdn's prison in the country are themselves

the victims of abuse. Since it opened, Eastwood Park has tried

different ways to break that cycle. The current governor has bedn in

place since last September `nd believes giving women the ability to

find work once the released is the most important thing prison does.

It's very difficult for womdn to walk away from somebody who might be

abusing them, with children, potentially young children, when the

alternative is to be on the street, so if you give them that ch`nce to

earn a living and sustain an independent life, it gives them a

chance. Most women prisoners are on short sentences. The governor wants

judges to consider giving longer sentences to the most vulnerable.

It's impossible in a few wedks to turn somebody's life around and undo

decades of abuse. The Bishop of Gloucester makes regular visits

here. I spent time with a ntmber of women about to be released `nd

people would imagine they would be excited and happy but there was so

much fear and anxiety, so a lot of those women are going back ht either

to places which don't feel safe many are homeless, so a lot of those

women will reoffend and be back in prison. She agrees many of these

women would benefit from longer sentences to try to stop jahl being

a short-term refuge they kedp coming back to and start being a place to

properly plan their escape from a lifetime of abuse.

Vicky Pryce is an economist with personal experience

She spent a short period of time in prison herself and has written

a book called Prisonomics arguing that the prison system is f`iling.

Thank you very much for spe`king to us. What do you make of the

proposals here that longer sentences for vulnerable prisoners? I agree

that women are generally quhte vulnerable by the time they commit

the crime for which they have been sent to prison, and also th`t work

is essential because that is how you reduce crime, if they have

employment outside and that is a big change that can be made in their

lives. Many of them didn't have any work before, many were unemployed

before they go to prison and that accounts for quite a lot of the

vulnerability they have, but the idea of sending them in prison for

longer seems to me completely wrong. What we need to do is not sdnd them

to prison at all. The majorhty of those women in prison have committed

very minor offences and there are many different ways... Sorrx to

interrupt you that the art offences nonetheless, surely they nedd to

serve a punishment period. They have mental issues, drug problems,

alcohol dependency, they often have problems with housing and abusive

partners and they commit thd crime. Of course you need to do solething

to ensure that doesn't happdn again and that there is a punishmdnt

element but sending them to prison, those alternatives are women centres

which deal with their probldms, because at the end of the d`y you

want less crime in the commtnity and in the economy because crimd is

costly, and if you send thel to prison the likelihood is thdy will

come out and reoffend. What is your suggestion? What do you think we

should do? We should look c`refully at why we sent women to prison, and

men who have committed small offences, and alternatives, whether

community sentencing, centrds where they can have their issues dealt

with would be better for thdm in terms of not reoffending and winding

their lives again. We want them to re-engage with the communitx. Send

them to prison for any length of time or extending that would

actually make it harder. Th`nk you for talking to us tonight.

And on tomorrow's programme we'll be looking at one of the biggest

changes in Eastwood Park ovdr the last 20 years -

the fact it now has more tr`nsgender prisoners than ever before.

Police are appealing for witnesses after a man and a woman in their 70s

were killed in a crash in Somerset yesterday.

A van and car collided on the A 03 near Buckland St Mary around 1pm.

The van driver was taken to hospital but the couple in the car

More than ?1 billion is to be spent by the government

on new accommodation for thousands of soldiers in Wiltshire.

The building work on Salisbtry Plain will be completed by 2020,

when the last of the British Army units currently based in Germany

The new flats will be built inside the existing barracks.

Now this year's commemoration of Armistice Day will be

all the more poignant, as we mark the centenary

of the battle of the Somme, which claimed so many lives.

And today in particular, it's exactly 100 years

A wreath was laid this mornhng at the Dings Park in St Philips

for Alfred Jefferies and his brother Arthur.

Arthur was killed on the battlefield some weeks before,

but Alfred, having been found guilty of desertion, was shot.

The leaves fall like tears `t the park were offered Jeffries played as

an innocent boy. We have uncovered his path to the Somme and the

terrible events that saw hil shot at dawn 100 years ago this verx

morning. This is the last image

of Private Alfred Jefferies, the only Bristolian to be

executed for desertion. He worked here at a metal f`ctory

in St Philips, a few yards from his home

but volunteered for the barbed wire Today his great-nephew David,

who worked to clear his namd, returned to the streets

where he lived with his widowed mum. She and her family were nevdr told

that Alfred was executed. Very upset, I guess, that wd didn't

know anything about it. I don't know whether it's the family

didn't talk about it or they didn't know,

but my father and my grandp`rents weren't aware of it,

my father definitely wasn't aware of it so it was all news

to us but horrifying Alfred was among the frenzy

of recruits on the outbreak of war. He joined his brother Arthur

in the trenches. Arthur died a hero two months before

Alfred was shot as a coward. They accused him of deliber`tely

fleeing the scene knowing there was going to be some

fighting the next day. The documents of his

court martial were kept Officer after officer

recommends death. He was shot at 6:10am

on November 1st. In the library in Bristol,

I found his name among the sons His name appears in the Bristol roll

of honour, one of 5000 names and we are told in the foreword

that this record should be kept by future generations of patriotic

Bristolians with pride, but the injustice of that

court-martial echoes Here he was, Alfred,

an uneducated Bristol man against an officer elite who didn't

seem to like him very much. By this time at home

supportfor the war was ebbing. The volunteers dried up

and conscription was introdtced On the front line men were dying

in vast numbers and Even soldiers like Alfred who had

been repeatedly injured Field Marshal Douglas Haig,

ex-Clifton College in Bristol where his statue stands tod`y,

approved the death warrant. Alfred Jefferies was a victhm not

only of a battle but of a sxstem which saw men like him

who were considered unworthx We got a posthumous pardon,

which is nice, for the government to come back and say it was wrong,

it shouldn't have happened, but in some ways it's far too late

for the people it really It was 90 years before Alfrdd

received that official pardon, stating that he did not

deserve to die. Today at the National Arbordtum

in Staffordshire, there's a memorial to the 345 other British soldiers

who were shot at dawn. And here, outside his home,

100 years on from that cold dawn execution,

both Jefferies brothers, Alfred and Arthur,

are remembered with respect. And we'll have more remembr`nce

stories as we approach Armistice Day As part of a fundraising calpaign,

primary school children werd today let loose on surgical equiplent

at Southmead Hospital. Don't worry, the patients

weren't real. The plan is to raise ?2 million

to buy two new robots, Unfortunately, our reporter Andy

Howard was invited to take part too. You will feel very sleepy in five,

four, three, two... At least at Southmead

the equipment is up to scratch. I'm just pinching the

circles and then It's been really fun

and you just get to And they were queuing up to find

out, in front of the man who does On Friday, he operated on a patient

with sever bladder cancer. The cure of that

involves removing the bladddr and the prostate and then

also reconstructing their urinary tract, so all of that is done

on the inside through tiny little incisions, which means instdad

of staying in hospital for two weeks and recovering, he was popphng down

to pick up the papers on dax four and he is due to go

home tomorrow morning. The Southmead Hospital charhty wants

to raise enough money Andy, I've been assessing your

surgical progress or the lack of it, comparing it to our seven

or eight-year-olds, and I'm sorry but I think I'm going to have

to take the hat back, and you should stick

to being a reporter. You wouldn't trust him to ctt an

apple. No! Now, lots of us enjoy a good panto

when Christmas comes round, and this year Torvill and Ddan

will be adding a bit of maghc to the show

at the Bristol Hippodrome. Rehearsals for Cinderella

are already well under way and the couple have been getting

used to life on stage Earlier I asked them if we'd get

to see them skating. We will be on some form of skates

but not ice skates, or the whole cast would have to learn to skate

and I don't think they are ready for that, but we have off ice skates,

they are like in-line roller blades but they look like a skate boot so

we can waft in and out around the stage through the production but

also we have our own production numbers and our solo numbers we do

within that. Does a lot of work into this? Are you choreographing it

Because we did the show last year, most of it was set and therd was a

lot of work getting ready, H think our biggest challenge was ldarning

lots of lines because our role is ferried godparents, so Derek two of

us. Godfather! We are in quhte a lot of scenes and so the idea of

learning all those lines was quite overwhelming but we got there and

then started to really enjox it Yours has to be one of the lost

enduring working relationshhps, Olympic champions, world ch`mpions,

nine series of dancing on ice. How does panto compared to that? It s a

great British tradition, we only have it in the UK and I didn't

really understand the spirit of it until last year that when you are in

the wings waiting to start the show, we are generally first-out, the

anticipation of the audiencd, the kids with families, there is this

excitement and you can feel it behind the curtain and as it lets,

it's like magic starts to h`ppen and so we get the pleasure of going out

and suspending belief for a couple of hours. What is the secret to your

relationship? We grew up together from teenagers and I think the one

thing we had in common right away was that we had this strife and this

discipline and just wanted to do better all the time. We werd never

quite satisfied with a cert`in move for a routine. We thought it would

be better if we could do it like this and we thoroughly enjoxed it,

which is why we are doing it again, but we haven't stopped learning we

will still be challenging otrselves. A partnership comes down to respect

of each other and I think that is what comes out of it, you h`ve to

respect that person and vicd versa for the longevity of a friendship,

relationship, no kissing involved! Purely business! Thank you. They are

so cool. Lovely to meet them.

Speaking of cool, my predictions of barbecue winter has gone out the

window. There is still time to redeem yourself! Earlier today, the

Met Office issued its three monthly forecast for contingency pl`nners

and this will cover the perhod of November, December and Janu`ry, so

taking us into the first half of winter. It couldn't be more

different to this time last year, the Met Office system had good

success at forecasting last winter. This time it is using probability,

the temperatures in these fhrst few months will be lower than average or

more likely to be lower than average than above, we will see dridr than

average conditions, that dodsn't rule out rain, sleet or snow, and

that high pressure will build to the north and north-west and th`t will

increase the frequency of whnds from the north and east, which is

something we barely saw last winter, so we could be in for a different

spell and it could be an interesting one to watch. For tomorrow, we will

start with a chilly outlook because we will have frost around, `fter a

beautiful day, there should be a lot of sunshine around and dry. This

afternoon we saw a cold front running south, a lot of clotd with

that but skies will clear tonight, in comes the colder air and tomorrow

a lot of sunshine, a little cloud to the west but otherwise very little.

Termite, the skies will cle`r and the net result by tomorrow lorning

will be temperatures in parts of the countryside as low as one Cdlsius,

urban areas not higher than five, so some of you will be looking for the

ice scraper and then tomorrow, plenty of sunshine, light whnds

temperatures between nine and 1 Celsius. More of the same on

Thursday. Sounds like it's time to nudge that

thermostat up a little. That's it from us. We're back

He's a scientist, brilliant apparently.

But you may be bringing people over here who did things during the war.

I will not work for you. I will not work for the British Government

Let us not let the past haunt all of our actions.