05/01/2017

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:00:10. > :00:17.this woman was conned out of almost ?1 million by a man who claimed

:00:18. > :00:24.After four birds are killed by avian flu at Slimbridge,

:00:25. > :00:31.poultry farmers say an outbreak would be devastating.

:00:32. > :00:36.And we have some rain on the way tomorrow but it will be late in the

:00:37. > :00:39.day before it makes an arrival. Details at the end of the programme.

:00:40. > :00:43.A woman from Gloucestershire says she can't believe that a man

:00:44. > :00:46.who defrauded her of ?850,000 still hasn't been

:00:47. > :00:52.Carolyn Woods lent her life savings to a man who made her

:00:53. > :00:55.believe he was a banker and an intelligence agent.

:00:56. > :00:58.But he's been on the run in Spain ever since,

:00:59. > :01:00.with police apparently no closer to catching him.

:01:01. > :01:06.Carolyn Woods believed Mark Acklom loved her.

:01:07. > :01:12.But the relationship was a confidence trick -

:01:13. > :01:19.I think, unfortunately, I had sort of fallen under a spell.

:01:20. > :01:25.It was as though I was mesmerised, to an extent.

:01:26. > :01:27.My daughters felt that I had been brainwashed, I wasn't

:01:28. > :01:31.behaving quite normally, it was as though he had

:01:32. > :01:36.This is the day they met - footage taken at the shop

:01:37. > :01:43.But, amazingly, these are the only pictures of them together.

:01:44. > :01:47.Mark Acklom spun her a web of extraordinary lies -

:01:48. > :01:51.saying his role in the secret service meant he couldn't be

:01:52. > :01:58.Initially, when I met him, he told me that he was a Swiss banker.

:01:59. > :02:01.Then, subsequently, and before I moved in with him,

:02:02. > :02:07.he confided in me that he actually worked for MI6, and this

:02:08. > :02:10.gave him carte blanche to appear at any time

:02:11. > :02:15.absent for very long periods without having to explain anything.

:02:16. > :02:20.Having won her trust, he demanded money.

:02:21. > :02:22.Carolyn loaned him more than ?750,000.

:02:23. > :02:28.At that time I believed that Mark was in a military hospital

:02:29. > :02:32.in Athens, having been wounded in action in Syria.

:02:33. > :02:35.Or actually working undercover in Syria, I should say.

:02:36. > :02:39.So I didn't know when I was going to see him again.

:02:40. > :02:43.Mark and Carolyn lived in this impressive house in Bath

:02:44. > :02:47.Mark told Carolyn that he owned it, to persuade her of his

:02:48. > :02:53.And, according to several people I've spoken to,

:02:54. > :02:59.that kind of elaborate lie is typical of him.

:03:00. > :03:01.Mark Acklom commissioned more than ?50,000 worth

:03:02. > :03:03.of work from these web developers in Bristol.

:03:04. > :03:09.In terms of the lies he tells, he can tell them so well

:03:10. > :03:14.If an ordinary person tries to tell a lie,

:03:15. > :03:19.It's an awkward thing for a normal person to tell a lie,

:03:20. > :03:21.even if they're quite good at it or they're devious.

:03:22. > :03:25.Whereas a sociopath, there is no problem with

:03:26. > :03:30.lying whatsoever and, in fact, manipulating people is just fun.

:03:31. > :03:33.Mark Acklom is believed to have been on the run in Spain

:03:34. > :03:37.He's one of the UK's most wanted fugitives.

:03:38. > :03:41.But Avon and Somerset Police have never sent officers there,

:03:42. > :03:45.instead relying on Spanish police to hunt for him.

:03:46. > :03:48.Even now I cannot get anything - they don't seem to have

:03:49. > :03:51.any communication, or very little communication,

:03:52. > :03:59.I don't get the impression that anything is followed

:04:00. > :04:03.through or that they even tried to find out really what's going on.

:04:04. > :04:05.In a statement, Avon and Somerset Police confirmed

:04:06. > :04:11.but they say they're "working with the National Crime Agency

:04:12. > :04:14.and the Spanish authorities, to locate and arrest him

:04:15. > :04:18.And they add they've been "successful in obtaining

:04:19. > :04:22.a European Arrest Warrant for Acklom."

:04:23. > :04:25.So for now he remains at large, while Carolyn

:04:26. > :04:33.continues her own hunt for him and for her money.

:04:34. > :04:36.Experts are urging poultry keepers to keep their birds under cover

:04:37. > :04:39.to try to stop an outbreak of avian influenza.

:04:40. > :04:42.If it's found in a domestic flock then it could lead to thousands

:04:43. > :04:49.Wild birds flying in from the continent, but their droppings

:04:50. > :04:54.can contain avian influenza, H5N8 - a strain so far

:04:55. > :04:59.But infected birds die off and outbreaks in domestic flocks can

:05:00. > :05:06.France had an outbreak in ducks - now it's culling thousands of birds.

:05:07. > :05:10.Chickens that lay eggs, obviously, for the free range egg market.

:05:11. > :05:13.Poultry producers here are watching very closely.

:05:14. > :05:16.Martin Ford has more than 20,000 chickens.

:05:17. > :05:18.You would have 4000 birds in here, is that right?

:05:19. > :05:24.An outbreak would be so serious it could mean the end of his business.

:05:25. > :05:27.All the birds would be taken off-site - killed first, on site.

:05:28. > :05:35.Then you have a very, very rigorous clean-down procedure,

:05:36. > :05:40.that can take weeks if not months, and can cost tens if not hundreds

:05:41. > :05:47.A farm in Lincolnshire with a confirmed case in a turkey.

:05:48. > :05:50.A three kilometre exclusion zone now in place.

:05:51. > :05:54.Only vets and other professionals allowed inside.

:05:55. > :05:56.Now all poultry keepers are under what's called a housing

:05:57. > :05:59.order, meaning birds must be kept inside,

:06:00. > :06:02.away from the droppings ofthe wild birds overhead.

:06:03. > :06:04.And that's everyone, says the Government,

:06:05. > :06:11.We do encourage everybody, no matter how big or small their holding is,

:06:12. > :06:16.to actually look carefully at the advice and to

:06:17. > :06:21.H5N8 has spread across Europe from its origins in Asia.

:06:22. > :06:25.Four birds at Slimbridge tested positive recently, possibly brought

:06:26. > :06:32.In wild birds it's more or less business as usual at the moment.

:06:33. > :06:34.Birds do die at this time of year anyway.

:06:35. > :06:36.But for people who are bird owners, farmers, poultry smallholders, it

:06:37. > :06:41.could be very serious indeed if it gets into your bird stock.

:06:42. > :06:44.So, harmless to humans, deadly to birds,

:06:45. > :06:46.and devastating if it's found on a farm.

:06:47. > :06:50.The latest bird flu outbreak is being watched very closely, and

:06:51. > :06:58.everyone urged to keep their flocks away from wild birds.

:06:59. > :07:01.A primary school in a deprived part of Bristol is now one

:07:02. > :07:05.of the best in the country, after excellent exam results.

:07:06. > :07:08.Ilminster Avenue, in Knowle West, failed Ofsted inspections

:07:09. > :07:12.Now, it's an academy and most children there

:07:13. > :07:15.get free school meals, so it gets paid more

:07:16. > :07:25.Hi, I'm Rebecca. And I'm Archie.

:07:26. > :07:32.We live in Knowle West and we'd like to show you round our school.

:07:33. > :07:36.We are learning about crime and punishment.

:07:37. > :07:39.Some people might say that a school in Knowle West

:07:40. > :07:42.wouldn't be very good - what do you think about that?

:07:43. > :07:44.If they don't live round here they don't actually

:07:45. > :07:48.But we can, we are a really good school.

:07:49. > :07:52.It just gives you a lot more confidence to like what you do.

:07:53. > :07:58.We make sure the children do lots of sport, they all learn

:07:59. > :08:02.a musical instrument, the trips they go on...

:08:03. > :08:05.You need some money to do it, and you need more in certain

:08:06. > :08:07.areas of the city than you will in others.

:08:08. > :08:10.You talk about children that can come into school and be

:08:11. > :08:15.18 months behind in terms of their development,

:08:16. > :08:18.and last year, on average, if you looked at children

:08:19. > :08:20.at Ilminster school, and you look at where they ended

:08:21. > :08:27.their experience with us, they ended up about 18 months ahead.

:08:28. > :08:31.And Andy has the numbers to prove it.

:08:32. > :08:35.Yes, eight out of ten children here get free school

:08:36. > :08:38.meals, which is often why this area is called "deprived".

:08:39. > :08:44.But 84% of them have passed their SATs in the three Rs.

:08:45. > :08:48.That puts this school in the top 4% in the country.

:08:49. > :08:51.But, better than that, the progress that a child makes here,

:08:52. > :08:54.from the moment they arrive until they go to secondary school,

:08:55. > :09:03.puts Ilminster Avenue in the top 40 schools in the UK.

:09:04. > :09:07.But this is Rebecca... And Archie...

:09:08. > :09:18.Well, as those children say goodbye, people in Dorset have been saying

:09:19. > :09:25.He's made entirely from scrap metal, and is to honour those who served

:09:26. > :09:30.It's called The Haunting, and was made by a local man

:09:31. > :09:32.in Sherbourne who wants to remain anonymous.

:09:33. > :09:34.It will go on public display, but for now its location

:09:35. > :09:42.We're back with you in Breakfast tomorrow.

:09:43. > :09:51.and leave you with Ian who has the forecast.

:09:52. > :10:08.On. We are certainly getting underway on a cold note. By daybreak

:10:09. > :10:11.the risk of any frost will have been. There could be fog across the

:10:12. > :10:14.eastern part of the region but as we get laced into the evening there

:10:15. > :10:18.will be rain on the way from the West and that will sink its way

:10:19. > :10:22.slowly south-eastwards. Tonight there is already a fairly widespread

:10:23. > :10:27.frost showing than any of us. Temperatures getting down to -2 -3

:10:28. > :10:30.in some parts of the countryside. That may not be the case by

:10:31. > :10:38.daybreak. There could be some patches of fog, eastern parts of

:10:39. > :10:42.Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, varying cloud a bit of brightness. As we run

:10:43. > :10:47.to the afternoon, you can see thickening cloud and hill fog

:10:48. > :10:51.introducing light patchy outbreaks of rain, but Woods evening signs of

:10:52. > :10:56.some of that is turning heavier. No great amounts of rain, however, in

:10:57. > :10:59.any one spot. Temperatures will rise to about 87 or eight Celsius after a

:11:00. > :11:05.chilly start and the weekend creeping up by a notch or two, 10,

:11:06. > :11:06.maybe nine Celsius. Here is Louise with the national