:00:09. > :00:11.The respected councillor and his secret drug dens.
:00:12. > :00:14.Councillor Donal Hassett was part of a gang renting houses and turning
:00:15. > :00:32.Quite what he was doing at the centre of this conspiracy, only he
:00:33. > :00:37.will now. In my opinion, he has lied through his back teeth in the course
:00:38. > :00:38.of these proceedings and now he must face the consequences of the
:00:39. > :00:41.sentence in court. Could speech therapy stop young
:00:42. > :00:52.offenders committing crimes? Tomorrow is likely to start with fog
:00:53. > :00:54.and low cloud. It will turn into a fine and dry days. Details at the
:00:55. > :00:58.end of the programme. A councillor has been found guilty
:00:59. > :01:01.of conspiring to grow vast amounts of cannabis in homes he rented
:01:02. > :01:05.under fake names. Councillor Donal Hassett ? who is 56
:01:06. > :01:08.? is one of a number He has already been suspended
:01:09. > :01:11.from the Conservative Party, but he remains a representative
:01:12. > :01:13.on the council in Bath. A respected Conservative councillor,
:01:14. > :01:17.Donal Hassett has been suspended by his party,
:01:18. > :01:19.though is technically still on the council
:01:20. > :01:21.in Bath, despite now This was one of the raids we filmed
:01:22. > :01:25.with police last year. Donal Hassett had rented this
:01:26. > :01:36.Wiltshire home using fake names and cover stories
:01:37. > :01:42.to access four properties. With the rental agreements secured,
:01:43. > :01:44.Hassett's accomplices moved in, Rental properties you wouldn't
:01:45. > :01:55.ordinarily think would be used for anything other
:01:56. > :02:04.than normal families. Then electricians would come
:02:05. > :02:08.in and after three months, you have millions of pounds worth
:02:09. > :02:11.of cannabis, ready to cultivate. Four had already pleaded guilty
:02:12. > :02:14.via Vietnamese interpreters. Bath Council said it could not
:02:15. > :02:16.comment until Hassett Today the leader of its Conservative
:02:17. > :02:19.group said Hassett was no longer a member and added,
:02:20. > :02:22.we feel very let down as a party and I feel personally let down
:02:23. > :02:25.as his group leader. Cannabis farms are often part
:02:26. > :02:27.of a criminal portfolio. The farmers inside, often
:02:28. > :02:29.Vietnamese, are sometimes, say police, trafficked
:02:30. > :02:30.into the UK illegally. The young man we filmed in February
:02:31. > :02:33.last year was left looking He has since disappeared, along
:02:34. > :02:53.with another young Vietnamese man. Police are appealing for help
:02:54. > :02:55.finding Thang Van Tran and Dang Chien, not for any crimes,
:02:56. > :02:59.but to make sure they are not still The prosecution said
:03:00. > :03:02.the cannabis growing operation Councillor Donal Hassett
:03:03. > :03:07.was remanded in custody today. He will return to court to be
:03:08. > :03:10.sentenced at a later date. When he does, it is very likely
:03:11. > :03:19.he will face a prison sentence. Council tax across the West
:03:20. > :03:21.is facing the biggest rise In Taunton, there were protests
:03:22. > :03:25.as members voted through changes Council tax there will rise by 4%,
:03:26. > :03:28.that's more than ?50 ?18 million in savings
:03:29. > :03:32.will also have to be made We've got service users
:03:33. > :03:42.who are suffering now and staff making impossible choices about how
:03:43. > :03:45.to do their job to keep our services and communities safe, to protect,
:03:46. > :03:47.as we have seen here today, the most vulnerable
:03:48. > :03:49.people in society. There is nowhere else to go,
:03:50. > :03:51.I think, these days. You know, there needs to be
:03:52. > :03:53.something really radical And councils need to be really,
:03:54. > :04:04.really brave about their decisions. The former Chief Inspector
:04:05. > :04:06.of Prisons Lord Ramsbotham says councils in the West should be
:04:07. > :04:09.offering a full-time speech and language therapy service
:04:10. > :04:10.for young offenders. Government data shows more
:04:11. > :04:12.than half of young offenders Our reporter Lee Madan
:04:13. > :04:15.has travelled to Devon, where therapy is offered,
:04:16. > :04:21.to see what difference it makes. In any month, where
:04:22. > :04:27.does the 17th come? Gulliver has been working
:04:28. > :04:35.with a speech and language therapist for three months,
:04:36. > :04:37.but says his life has He spent his childhood
:04:38. > :04:42.feeling out of place, I was mixing in with
:04:43. > :04:49.the wrong crowd. I started using cannabis
:04:50. > :04:53.to fit in with people. I think it is what
:04:54. > :04:56.caused my offending. He was first caught
:04:57. > :04:58.with drugs aged 15. Gulliver got into trouble again
:04:59. > :05:04.after becoming angry while unable to explain himself and when others
:05:05. > :05:06.couldn't understand It would cause a lot of frustration
:05:07. > :05:12.because I felt stupid. Or the other person
:05:13. > :05:14.was getting frustrated that Considering communication
:05:15. > :05:21.skills such as empathy, to understand someone else's
:05:22. > :05:27.point of view, these become increasingly dependent
:05:28. > :05:30.on language as we get older. Gulliver has now realised
:05:31. > :05:32.he is not stupid or bad, but has problems with memory
:05:33. > :05:38.which he now manages. I take deep breaths
:05:39. > :05:43.and count down from ten. I have a notebook to take notes
:05:44. > :05:48.during long conversations. These techniques have
:05:49. > :05:50.helped him avoid getting He gets on better with others,
:05:51. > :05:58.can hold down a job Important factors that make it less
:05:59. > :06:02.likely he will commit more crime. He received help because he lives
:06:03. > :06:06.in Devon, where the council employs two speech and language therapists
:06:07. > :06:10.specifically to work In the Points West region,
:06:11. > :06:17.it is less likely he It is one of the scourges
:06:18. > :06:21.of this century. I wish all councils
:06:22. > :06:22.would think this through. This lack of communication
:06:23. > :06:24.was the cornerstone and the cornerstone
:06:25. > :06:32.of improving their prospects. Most councils in the West told me
:06:33. > :06:38.they want to run a full-time service for young offenders,
:06:39. > :06:40.but are struggling with limited Spending money on speech therapy
:06:41. > :06:49.works and it is the reason he is Dave Gardner works for the charity
:06:50. > :06:55.Key4Life which helps Earlier, I asked him
:06:56. > :06:58.if speech therapy would I believe it's great and I think
:06:59. > :07:06.it's part of the whole answer because we look
:07:07. > :07:19.at a holistic approach. We see that speech therapy would be
:07:20. > :07:22.brilliant, it's great as part of the initiative
:07:23. > :07:27.to look at offending. We look at positive attitude,
:07:28. > :07:30.we look at weather people change So it really important that they get
:07:31. > :07:34.all the skills that they require We see that young offenders
:07:35. > :07:38.are going back inside prison So anything that's going to help
:07:39. > :07:44.a young offender to stop offending and become a really good member
:07:45. > :07:46.of the community, it At a time when funding
:07:47. > :07:50.for services is tight, do you think this is a bit
:07:51. > :07:52.of a luxury? Well, there are no
:07:53. > :07:54.luxuries, I don't believe. Like I said, it is going to cost
:07:55. > :07:59.the taxpayer a lot more seen Like I said, it is going to cost
:08:00. > :08:02.the taxpayer a lot more seeing that young man or person
:08:03. > :08:05.going back inside. We are seeing figures of between 35
:08:06. > :08:08.and ?50,000 to keep a person So anything that's going to stop
:08:09. > :08:11.that from happening Playing devils advocate here,
:08:12. > :08:14.some people might say, look, these offenders might turn
:08:15. > :08:17.round and say, I didn't know how to communicate my feelings
:08:18. > :08:23.and that's why I didn't. Well, they need to take
:08:24. > :08:28.responsibility for their actions, We can look at where they have come
:08:29. > :08:32.from, what's happened, what we find out is what they have
:08:33. > :08:35.always done, if they keep doing So with the programme
:08:36. > :08:39.that we are running, what we're finding is that they are taking
:08:40. > :08:42.responsibility and they are changing their behaviour,
:08:43. > :08:43.therefore, going forward, Have you seen the benefits
:08:44. > :08:46.of this first-hand? I've worked with young offenders
:08:47. > :08:51.in their communities and I've seen how they are now being part
:08:52. > :08:54.of the community and not only going back to the community
:08:55. > :08:57.and being a different individual and contributing, but also changing
:08:58. > :09:00.the people around them, so we are asking them to be
:09:01. > :09:03.a leading light themselves. Therefore, the community
:09:04. > :09:05.is benefiting right across the wider part of the community,
:09:06. > :09:09.to make sure these A fundraising bid has begun
:09:10. > :09:18.to finish off massive structural The pool, which opened in 1962,
:09:19. > :09:21.is beginning to show its age. One of the cracks is so big
:09:22. > :09:24.the water level was dropping It is hoped the pool will open
:09:25. > :09:47.in two months time, I will say good night and leave you
:09:48. > :09:55.with the weather forecast. Thank you. We head off into tomorrow
:09:56. > :10:00.with initially the risk of seeing some fog or some areas of low cloud
:10:01. > :10:05.around. Want we gradually left that out of the way, it should be a fine
:10:06. > :10:10.day. A lot brighter by lunchtime. A very low chance of an isolated
:10:11. > :10:17.shower. Almost certainly pretty mild. For the rest of the evening
:10:18. > :10:21.and into overnight, some mostly liked and patchy rain. Dying away.
:10:22. > :10:27.The rest of the night is looking dry. Some fog forming in the South.
:10:28. > :10:31.That might be a strip along southern areas where temperatures could be as
:10:32. > :10:41.low as two or three degrees. Maybe some frost. The fog and low cloud
:10:42. > :10:46.might take a while to lift. We are confident that process will get
:10:47. > :10:52.under way during the morning. In the afternoon, much brighter. Some light
:10:53. > :10:59.showers, but that shouldn't detract from an overwhelmingly mild day.
:11:00. > :11:03.the weekend. Wouldn't promise you two dry days but you never know,
:11:04. > :11:06.here is Nick with the national picture.
:11:07. > :11:10.Hello. We put that cold weekend well behind us now. Temperatures edging
:11:11. > :11:14.upwards and our weather watchers are seeing plenty of signs of spring.
:11:15. > :11:18.Spending more time looking down than looking up at the skies, we see
:11:19. > :11:22.these early blooms. They are set to continue as we are set to stay mild
:11:23. > :11:25.for several more days to come. Average daytime temperature this
:11:26. > :11:28.time of year around eight, but getting into double figures all the
:11:29. > :11:35.way through the weekend. The start of next week into the mid-teens
:11:36. > :11:36.potentially, very mild indeed. It was