05/01/2017 Points West

this woman was conned out of almost ?1 million by a man who claimed

After four birds are killed by avian flu at Slimbridge,

poultry farmers say an outbreak would be devastating.

And we have some rain on the way tomorrow but it will be late in the

day before it makes an arrival. Details at the end of the programme.

A woman from Gloucestershire says she can't believe that a man

who defrauded her of ?850,000 still hasn't been

Carolyn Woods lent her life savings to a man who made her

believe he was a banker and an intelligence agent.

But he's been on the run in Spain ever since,

with police apparently no closer to catching him.

Carolyn Woods believed Mark Acklom loved her.

But the relationship was a confidence trick -

I think, unfortunately, I had sort of fallen under a spell.

It was as though I was mesmerised, to an extent.

My daughters felt that I had been brainwashed, I wasn't

behaving quite normally, it was as though he had

This is the day they met - footage taken at the shop

But, amazingly, these are the only pictures of them together.

Mark Acklom spun her a web of extraordinary lies -

saying his role in the secret service meant he couldn't be

Initially, when I met him, he told me that he was a Swiss banker.

Then, subsequently, and before I moved in with him,

he confided in me that he actually worked for MI6, and this

gave him carte blanche to appear at any time

absent for very long periods without having to explain anything.

Having won her trust, he demanded money.

Carolyn loaned him more than ?750,000.

At that time I believed that Mark was in a military hospital

in Athens, having been wounded in action in Syria.

Or actually working undercover in Syria, I should say.

So I didn't know when I was going to see him again.

Mark and Carolyn lived in this impressive house in Bath

Mark told Carolyn that he owned it, to persuade her of his

And, according to several people I've spoken to,

that kind of elaborate lie is typical of him.

Mark Acklom commissioned more than ?50,000 worth

of work from these web developers in Bristol.

In terms of the lies he tells, he can tell them so well

If an ordinary person tries to tell a lie,

It's an awkward thing for a normal person to tell a lie,

even if they're quite good at it or they're devious.

Whereas a sociopath, there is no problem with

lying whatsoever and, in fact, manipulating people is just fun.

Mark Acklom is believed to have been on the run in Spain

He's one of the UK's most wanted fugitives.

But Avon and Somerset Police have never sent officers there,

instead relying on Spanish police to hunt for him.

Even now I cannot get anything - they don't seem to have

any communication, or very little communication,

I don't get the impression that anything is followed

through or that they even tried to find out really what's going on.

In a statement, Avon and Somerset Police confirmed

but they say they're "working with the National Crime Agency

and the Spanish authorities, to locate and arrest him

And they add they've been "successful in obtaining

a European Arrest Warrant for Acklom."

So for now he remains at large, while Carolyn

continues her own hunt for him and for her money.

Experts are urging poultry keepers to keep their birds under cover

to try to stop an outbreak of avian influenza.

If it's found in a domestic flock then it could lead to thousands

Wild birds flying in from the continent, but their droppings

can contain avian influenza, H5N8 - a strain so far

But infected birds die off and outbreaks in domestic flocks can

France had an outbreak in ducks - now it's culling thousands of birds.

Chickens that lay eggs, obviously, for the free range egg market.

Poultry producers here are watching very closely.

Martin Ford has more than 20,000 chickens.

You would have 4000 birds in here, is that right?

An outbreak would be so serious it could mean the end of his business.

All the birds would be taken off-site - killed first, on site.

Then you have a very, very rigorous clean-down procedure,

that can take weeks if not months, and can cost tens if not hundreds

A farm in Lincolnshire with a confirmed case in a turkey.

A three kilometre exclusion zone now in place.

Only vets and other professionals allowed inside.

Now all poultry keepers are under what's called a housing

order, meaning birds must be kept inside,

away from the droppings ofthe wild birds overhead.

And that's everyone, says the Government,

We do encourage everybody, no matter how big or small their holding is,

to actually look carefully at the advice and to

H5N8 has spread across Europe from its origins in Asia.

Four birds at Slimbridge tested positive recently, possibly brought

In wild birds it's more or less business as usual at the moment.

Birds do die at this time of year anyway.

But for people who are bird owners, farmers, poultry smallholders, it

could be very serious indeed if it gets into your bird stock.

So, harmless to humans, deadly to birds,

and devastating if it's found on a farm.

The latest bird flu outbreak is being watched very closely, and

everyone urged to keep their flocks away from wild birds.

A primary school in a deprived part of Bristol is now one

of the best in the country, after excellent exam results.

Ilminster Avenue, in Knowle West, failed Ofsted inspections

Now, it's an academy and most children there

get free school meals, so it gets paid more

Hi, I'm Rebecca. And I'm Archie.

We live in Knowle West and we'd like to show you round our school.

We are learning about crime and punishment.

Some people might say that a school in Knowle West

wouldn't be very good - what do you think about that?

If they don't live round here they don't actually

But we can, we are a really good school.

It just gives you a lot more confidence to like what you do.

We make sure the children do lots of sport, they all learn

a musical instrument, the trips they go on...

You need some money to do it, and you need more in certain

areas of the city than you will in others.

You talk about children that can come into school and be

18 months behind in terms of their development,

and last year, on average, if you looked at children

at Ilminster school, and you look at where they ended

their experience with us, they ended up about 18 months ahead.

And Andy has the numbers to prove it.

Yes, eight out of ten children here get free school

meals, which is often why this area is called "deprived".

But 84% of them have passed their SATs in the three Rs.

That puts this school in the top 4% in the country.

But, better than that, the progress that a child makes here,

from the moment they arrive until they go to secondary school,

puts Ilminster Avenue in the top 40 schools in the UK.

But this is Rebecca... And Archie...

Well, as those children say goodbye, people in Dorset have been saying

He's made entirely from scrap metal, and is to honour those who served

It's called The Haunting, and was made by a local man

in Sherbourne who wants to remain anonymous.

It will go on public display, but for now its location

We're back with you in Breakfast tomorrow.

and leave you with Ian who has the forecast.

On. We are certainly getting underway on a cold note. By daybreak

the risk of any frost will have been. There could be fog across the

eastern part of the region but as we get laced into the evening there

will be rain on the way from the West and that will sink its way

slowly south-eastwards. Tonight there is already a fairly widespread

frost showing than any of us. Temperatures getting down to -2 -3

in some parts of the countryside. That may not be the case by

daybreak. There could be some patches of fog, eastern parts of

Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, varying cloud a bit of brightness. As we run

to the afternoon, you can see thickening cloud and hill fog

introducing light patchy outbreaks of rain, but Woods evening signs of

some of that is turning heavier. No great amounts of rain, however, in

any one spot. Temperatures will rise to about 87 or eight Celsius after a

chilly start and the weekend creeping up by a notch or two, 10,

maybe nine Celsius. Here is Louise with the national