24/04/2017 Points West

after the Lib Deb hopeful for Yeovil pulls out of the election race,

tonight another candidate does the same.

the new service helping victims and perpetrators.

Nobody should have to go through nine years of living in fear

and really not knowing where to go, who to go to, how to

The next phase of the week brings noticeably colder weather and the

risk of frost. Details towards the end of the programme.

Two candidates for the Liberal Democrats have pulled out

of the election today, with just weeks to go.

Within the last hour the party hopeful for Bath, Jay Risbridger,

has decided not to stand, citing business

It comes as Daisy Benson withdrew from the race to be

The party dramatically lost that constituency

Here's our Somerset correspondent, Clinton Rogers.

The South Somerset constituency - Liberal Democrat yellow

The heart of Paddy Ashdown territory.

That was until the last general election, when,

for as far as the eye can see, the political landscape turned blue.

Nationally, the bookies may have the Conservatives

But around here, both parties still view this as a winnable seat.

And both parties point to the history books.

After the First World War, Yeovil returned Conservative MPs

for 65 years, the last 32 of those exclusively by John Peyton.

That was until former Royal Marine Paddy Ashdown

painted the town yellow, as first a Liberal then

His successor David Laws lost the seat in 2015,

handing Yeovil back to the Tories after a 32-year break.

The yellow team have been buoyant in Yeovil since the snap

election was called, an opportunity, they say.

And they had big hopes for their young candidate, Daisy Benson.

Until today, that is, when she suddenly announced she'd

pulled out of the race, for personal reasons.

So in Lib Dem HQ she's now a discarded poster in a corner

While upstairs, volunteer supporters continue to stuff canvassing

I think life never is a straight road and things appear and you deal

As if the town doesn't have enough to think about,

the football team battling to stay in League Two,

the biggest employer nervous about new orders.

So on the streets what's the big issue?

Well, you stopping me instead of me going into Marks Spencer's.

What matters to me is that we can run our own country.

Does that mean that the Liberal Democrats, pro-European,

Wherever you look, the Tories are just wrecking everything

so there is another way, there's a choice, so it's

He may know what party he's voting for but the big question is, whose

Well, the news has gone down well with the Conservatives.

On the campaign trail in the West today

Michael Fallon visited the Bristol and Bath Science Park,

and talked of the threat they face from the Lib Dems.

We've actually got a huge list of achievements.

I was probably more in doing mode and getting things

set up for the future, thinking I had a few more years

to communicate that, but I've got to do it in seven weeks

so that's where we are and I'm looking forward to cracking on.

Police have issued CCTV images of a Bristol woman who hasn't been

27-year-old Anna Lewis was last seen leaving

Southmead Hospital around noon on Thursday the 13th of April.

She's a trainee nurse studying at the University

of the West of England, at the hospital on placement.

People at risk of being stalked are to get more help

in Gloucestershire, thanks to the Hollie Gazzard Trust.

Hollie was murdered by her former boyfriend.

Now money raised in her memory will be used to pay for a case

worker, who with the police will help identify those most vulnerable.

Here's our Gloucestershire reporter, Steve Knibbs.

In February 2014, Hollie Gazzard complained to police

that her former boyfriend, Asher Maslin, was harrassing

Now the trust set up in her name, headed by her dad Nick,

wants to stop that happening to others and is paying for a case

worker to help high-risk victims of stalking.

Early intervention, looking at behaviours,

not just actions but intentions, even the small elements of stalking

can lead further down the line to rape and homicide,

so we must take it seriously, get professionals keyed

up as to what to do, get the police keyed up, get them,

in terms of the stalking clinic, ready to deal with high-risk

stalkers and then provide that support to victims so they do not go

Awareness of the new support available is key to this project

and will involve the likes of the police, clinicians

and probation, who will all identify and work

Ellie Aston is a Gloucestershire GP who was stalked for nine years.

Nobody should have to go through nine years of living in fear

and really not knowing where to go, who to go to,

how to manage the situation, and this is going to put experts

here in Gloucestershire who are going to be able to help

Today's launch comes on the day that the University

of Gloucestershire published research showing that

94% of homicides had elements of stalking,

such as obsession, control and surveillance, and often

That is the biggest number of cases and I have worked on cases

where there have been cameras in the home that the person

didn't know about, there has been GPS tracking,

tracking on the car, bugging devices.

Those are all really serious stalking behaviours and those

Stalking is a growing problem, with easy access to online data

This new support clinic wants to make sure that anyone who feels

threatened now has the confidence to ask for help in the knowledge

Well, earlier I spoke to the MP for Cheltenham, Alex Chalk,

who successfully fought for tougher sentencing for stalkers.

I asked him if he thought enough people were coming

I think they're not, and that is part of the problem.

We are starting to understand that at the beginning of some

of these horrible offences, violence or even murder,

stalking is taking place but sometimes people

This is an exciting development which will hopefully stop some

As recently as 2012 there was no offence of stalking.

As a society, ten years ago we thought, "Oh,

We now realise this is a really serious matter.

I think the police have been fantastic at completely

changing their attitude towards this and recognising how serious it is,

Parliament has given the offences now, and there is now

This is an important step in the right direction.

This comes on the day that the University

of Gloucestershire published research showing that

94% of homicides had elements of stalking.

If someone is being stalked what are they meant to do

We found similar evidence, though not as stark,

when we were doing our campaign in Parliament.

People who are being stalked need to take it seriously,

If they need to get support and intervention,

even if it is fairly small-scale, they have the reassurance.

We cannot have a case like my constituent who went seven to nine

This gives hope to people like that that these problems can be addressed

There is an element of reaching out to grassroots, to people

identifying stalking, amongst the young people,

The overwhelming priority must be to protect the victims but we also

These people often have borderline mental-health problems and we want

them to have the intervention that they need so they can be

rehabilitated and brought back into society.

Victims, yes, but perpetrators as well.

A hidden network of World War One tunnels has been found

Archeologists discovered more than 100 inscriptions

from soldiers training in the First World War there.

Now the site's being dug up to build new houses for returning soldiers

Good evening. We are undergoing a fairly mild step change in the

weather going into tomorrow, most profoundly felt in terms of colder

conditions, setting up tonight with the risk of frost. Into choose date,

chillier feel all round, it looks like it will be largely dry, but the

afternoon will be punctuated by the risk of showers for a fair number of

you. Tonight temperatures dropped away quite widely, one or two

Celsius, some areas down to freezing or even below, so gardeners should

be aware of the risk of frost. After the cold start there will be some

sunshine but a fairly brisk northerly breeze. Some showers in

the rest earlier in the day and more widely in the afternoon. There could

be some hail, possibly flashes of lightning as well, fading away as

the evening continues. Temperatures only about nine to 11

course, there'll be the threat of some rain. More with the national

forecast now. Good evening. It's been turning

colder from the north so far today. It's been cold enough for

significant snow in northern Scotland. This was mid afternoon.

More recently it's been blowing around over the tops of the

mountains. Snow in April not necessarily unusual but it's usually

unwelcome. The colder air coming in behind the front which clears

towards the near continent, opening the floodgates to this Coldstream of

air all the way from the Arctic. That cold air increasingly cold air

will spread its way across all parts tonight and