28/03/2017 Points West

Our headlines tonight: Weeks away from freedom.

As his supporters celebrate we hear from a comrade

When you're surrounded by absolute lunacy a little bit of lunacy

probably seem so bad. The workers repairing the tallest

pylons outside London Spring showers, but there will be

some warmth to. There were scenes of celebration

in London today, as the former Royal marine Alexander Blackman was told

he could be freed in a few weeks. His original murder conviction

for killing a wounded Taliban already spent in prison

he could soon back We are overjoyed at

the judge's decision sentence, such that he can be

released imminently. This is the moment we

have all been fighting It is hard to believe that this

day is finally here. The point is he was placed under

circumstances that no-one back here All the mitigating circumstances

that weren't fully heard in the first case has now been

heard along with his mental illness that was agreed by three top

psychiatrists and the right But although a judge said today that

Alexander Blackman's responsibility was diminished,

he said he still retained a "substantial responsibility

for the deliberate killing". In the past even some senior

military figures have said Others have said it is impossible

to judge decisions made Clinton Rogers has spoken

to one of Blackman's colleagues, who was with him

when the killing took place. Rob Driscoll was a Sergeant

with the Royal Marines on the same He has undergone years

of counselling since. He says the horrors about

Afghanistan will probably never Through my career, I have seen some

pretty horrific things. But I hadn't seen them use body

parts as bait, I haven't heard or A real hatred built

up inside me for the insurgency and the people that were

prepared to use these techniques Do you think that is the background

against which Alexander I think it is certainly

a contributing factor. There is no way that we can argue it

it wouldn't have affected I think we are

surrounded by absolute lunacy, a little bit of lunacy

doesn't seem so bad. Rob Driscoll says he

still supports Alexander He acknowledges that what Blackman

did on the battlefield, captured on helmet cameras,

may have been illegal, but militarily, he made the right

decision in not summoning help for the wounded

Taliban fighter. If he hadn't have done

what he did, then I would be walking out of the main gate

with eight or nine guys and that would have meant me rolling those

dice and potentially not coming back

with all the guys I walked Earlier I spoke to Lord Ashdown

and asked if he understood I've not seen anything like

what Sergeant Blackman saw, but I I have given evidence three

times in front of the For actions against

international law. Unless you have that

law asserted and tested in a court,

you can't have Nuremberg, you can't bring walk

on No one is saying that

sudden Blackman is. The soldier goes into

someone else's country If the soldier in the process

of a battle does not uphold If the enemy is in your site, you

must do everything you can to kill If the enemy is in your power,

you have to do everything you can to I remember you saying that,

but the truth is that he did break the Geneva Convention

and he has admitted that. I remember you saying that,

but the truth is that he did break the Geneva Convention

and he has admitted that. The people he is fighting

against, the Taliban and so-called IES, couldn't care less

about the Geneva Convention. With the enemies

that we need to fight. It does not mean that

you do not follow it. I remember saying to slobber

than the loss of itch -- a It does not mean that

you do not follow it. In the end, the court has decided

on that decision needs to be In the end, the court has decided

on that decision needs to be There were mitigating circumstances

and that is where the We should be celebrating

with Claire Blackman. A security guard who was arrested

on suspicion of manslaughter after tackling a suspected

shoplifter will face Kieren Church died when the glass

bottles he was hiding smashed as he was apprehended

by the security guard at The Shires The police have issued a fresh

appeal for information in an unsolved case of a woman

who was murdered 30 years ago today. 66-year-old Helen Fleet

was found in woodland She was last seen alive that morning

when she parked her car near Worlebury Woods

to take her dogs for a walk. Her body was found by another dog

walker and it sparked a major police investigation,

but no-one was ever charged. This the view from the top

of one of the two pylons They are some of the tallest

in Britain and today workers have been right to the top to replace

vital parts that haven't been Shrouded by a thick fog this

morning, this pylon has helped keep the South West's light switches

working since the late 1950s. And is so tall the top is often lost

among the low cloud. They call these river crossing

towers or pylons to you and me, and what we've

got here in the west is the second-highest pair

anywhere in Great Britain. And through pretty dense fog

here this morning, you can see the one over there

and that is carrying longest span anywhere

in the UK, actually. Over a mile of wires

going through the air. And over the side,

the Chepstow side, 500 feet up to the top,

you might just be able to make up the yellow jackets

of the people carrying out Those insulated as they are changing

haven't been switched since This is what it

looks like when you work Carrying 275,000 volts

across the river severn, you can see the Severn

bridge in the background. Filmed over half an hour,

this shows the view up the tallest pylon in the UK anywhere outside

London. They connect the whole country

to the power stations and you have got the grid network around

the whole country supplying power so they can divert power

all over the country. And the distribution networks,

the country your door. The insulators they're replacing

were last changed in 1969. As you can see, health

and safety procedures The new ones should be fitted this

week and keep the electricity A huge team of builders

and volunteers turned up to transform a home

in Bristol today. electricians and carpenters are now

working on the house for At the moment his parents face

a five-hour round trip In about ten days their house

should be ready for him People in Bath have been

among some of the first in the country to get their hands

on the new pound coin. The 12-sided coin came

into circulation today and the city was one of the few places to receive

them on launch day. 80,000 were released in Bath

and were immediately snapped up by people who wanted to keep them

as collectors items. by people who wanted to keep them

as collector's items. And that's the news

from across the west tonight - we're back tomorrow but now

I will say goodnight and leave you with Sara who's here with me

in the studio. We saw some fog and thing this

morning. It will remain unsettled tomorrow morning. It is difficult to

say exactly where we will see wet and dry weather. You can see right

across us is the dividing line between much wetter weather out west

the next few days and more dry weather out east. Take some of the

graphic you're about to see with a pinch of salt. We have had some rain

in the evening skirting its way through the rest of the night. There

will be rain going into wheels via the Bristol Channel but most of us

will be dry in the morning. It will be pretty gloomy to start tomorrow.

We will keep close to a good part of the day and again looking at any wet

weather out towards the West. You might see some showers out east

towards the channel that was visible have dry weather tomorrow.

Temperatures like today in the mid teens. Warmer still for Thursday. We

will get a nice southerly drawer they are all the way up from the

Azores. We could have some showers out towards the east so it

of year. This stay tuned for the national weather forecasts with John

Hammond. Good evening. Your parents might

have told you once that life 's not fair and they were right. He is the

proof. Over the next few days some of us will enjoy some lovely

sunshine, temperatures in the low 20s. It will feel like early summer.

For others, quite a lot of rain around and it will feel like late

March. This is showers earlier on today and dampness this evening in

the West Country and Wales. That is heading north eastwards. A different

sort of night. A lot of cloud around, quite damp and misty in

places. Cloud cover will prevent temperatures falling much at all. A

much milder my than we have seen recently. Except for the North of

Scotland, but elsewhere in double figures. It will be a Graeme Murty

start of the day for most of us, not much in the way of sunshine. As we

head through the morning some heavy