06/12/2011 South Today

Good evening from South Today. In tonight's programme: On trial. The

man accused of raping two women and sexually assaulting another.

Festive disruption. Not the Christmas gift that rail passengers

in Reading were hoping for. More than window-shopping. A 24-

hour virtual shop but is it a smart idea?

And the sound of water music. The composer searching for his sacred

space. The evidence of a man accused of

being a serial rapist has been dismissed as a pack of lies by the

prosecution. Michal Tejkowski, who arrived in the UK from Poland last

October, is charged with raping two women in Brighton and sexually

assaulting a pensioner. He denies attacking any of the women. Our

reporter was in court. The prosecution says Michal

Tejkowski is a predatory serial rapist who attacked three

vulnerable women. The first, it is alleged, was a 17-year-old A-level

student in Britain. It is claimed on a February night, he tried to

from the street into this park and raped her. Michal Tejkowski's

version is that he approached the teenager, who he did not know, and

asked her to have sex with him. He claimed in court she replied, yes.

They had consensual sex. He was pressed repeatedly by the

prosecution during cross- examination. They dismissed his

evidence of a pack of lies. The prosecutors said, you targeted her

because she was a woman in a quiet and dark location. You attacked her.

Brutally raped her up for your own sexual gratification. The defendant

replied, no, it is not true. About one month after that attack, Michal

Tejkowski is accused of raping a woman in this supermarket car park

off this road. She was working as a prostitute. The defendant told the

jury she approached him for sex. He claimed that no 0.9 did she say she

did not consent. Again, the prosecution rejected this version

of events. The court has heard in May Michal Tejkowski sexually

assaulted a pensioner at a park in Maidstone. He told the jury if he

was not in the park that day. The jury has already seen a video of

her of the 67-year-old woman picking him out in an identity

parade. Michal Tejkowski denies all the charges against him. The case

continues. Our reporter is in a Brighton

studio. Tell us what happens next. We are expecting the case to be

summed up by the defence, prosecution and by the judge and

jury is due to consider five counts. They are expected to go out to

consider their verdict on Thursday. Closing his cross-examination, the

prosecutor suggested to Michal Tejkowski that he was a very

dangerous young man. The defendant replied, no, I am not a dangerous

man. Two men have been questioned by

police in Southampton following the death of a seven-year-old boy in

the Shirley area of the city. The child was taken to hospital with

serious head injuries from address in Cromarty Road on Saturday

evening. He died the following day. The main question are both in their

20s and have been released on police bail.

A pre-Christmas blitz on drink driving in Hampshire on the Isle of

Wight has seen more than 40 people arrested in four days. The campaign

was launched on 1st December, aimed at targeting drink and drug drivers.

Over the four days, more than 300 breath-tests were carried out.

Three-quarters arrested have been charged.

East and West Sussex Fire and Rescue Services are to merge

control rooms to save money. The new centre could take emergency

calls from across the county from September 2013. �3.6 million from

the Department of Communities and Local Government will be used to

pay for the move. East Sussex Fire Service said it will help them as

on more quickly to emergency calls whilst cutting costs.

A scientist has told a court he think it is unlikely that lumps of

palm oil that washed up in beaches on the south came from a tanker

anchored off the Isle of Wight. He was giving evidence for the owners

of the tanker who have been accused of illegally dumping palm oil into

the sea, triggering a pollution alert.

Today's evidence centred on the chemical make-up of the bright

yellow lumps of palm oil that were washed up on beaches in Hampshire

in January this year. The prosecution allege the material

came from this tanker, which had recently discharged its cargo of

palm oil and had sailed to an Anchorage off the Isle of Wight.

The court heard there were differences in the levels of

hydrocarbons between the lumps of palm oil found on the beaches and

samples taken from the ship. Defence expert witness, a

biochemist, said he thought it was unlikely the lumps of palm oil

found on the beach had come from the ship. The prosecution as

question that conclusion, pointing out to the palm oil on the ship had

come from a variety of sources if in Indonesia and Malaysia and was

stored in different tanks on board. Earlier, the captain from the

coastguard and Maritime Agency told the court he had found lumps of

palm oil on the tanker's Dec 20 carried out an inspection. The

tanker had been turned away from the oil refinery. That was because

of the condition of the debt and because there was solidified palm

oil in some of the pipes. -- deck. The owners of the tanker and denied

making a discharge of palm oil into the sea in contravention of marine

pollution regulations. The trial continues ills. -- continues.

The Gosport MP woman back has again called for the Government to honour

the veterans of the Arctic Convoys with a special medal. It has been a

long running campaign to get recognition for the 66,000 men who

braved the Arctic Circle during the Second World War to keep the supply

lines to Russia open. The MP for Gosport said it is a disgrace that

200 veterans, who are still alive, have not been honoured. Big is the

only major sea campaign of will walk not to be awarded a special

medal. -- campaign of the war. understand everybody hides behind

residents. There is another criteria that should take priority.

This is the right thing to do. These men are not politicians. At

their age they should not have to fight for justice. It appals me

that people who gave so much to ensure the freedoms we take on a

daily basis for granted should have to beg for the recognition that

they deserve. Caroline Dinenage. It is a case of

deja vu for rail users in Reading this Christmas. Passengers are

being warned to expect disruption over the festive season as the next

phase of Reading station's upgrade takes place. Last year, the work

caused problems for rail users as a new bridge was installed. This year,

another bridge will be put in place at Cow Lane on Boxing Day.

It has become part of the festive calendar but just in case anyone

had forgotten, passengers were being told today that Christmas in

Reading means the arrival of not a man in a red suit but hundreds in

orange safety gear. The biggest impact will be felled just down the

tracks here. We are working on both narrow bridges at Cow Lane and this

Christmas we will be replacing one of the bridges with a new 1,600

tonne bridge. It will be wheeled into place on Boxing Day. A similar

operation last year it saw this bridge replaced. This year's work

is also expected to cause disruption but the new bridge

promises to ease one of the town's most notorious bottlenecks. A rail

bottleneck will begin as this new platform is constructed. This is a

platform alteration. Will this confused commuters? The rail work

had not. Someone said if someone is on autopilot, no-one will notice

the stoppage is just the numbers of the platforms that are changing.

That could be important. As Reading station gears up for a one of

influx of travellers in 2012. With its proximity to the Olympic rowing

site and on route to the Weymouth rowing event, Reading will be at

the centre of people's travel plans next year for the Olympic Games.

The revamping of the station, that will still be very much a work in

progress. BBC South has learned a Chief

Executive of the Royal Berkshire Hospital has taken indefinite

annual leave and may not return. A Donald took up the post in 2009 but

sources say he made a series of unpopular decisions over the years,

including restructuring the way key parts of the hospital are run. The

Chief Medical Officer -- of Sir has taken over the running while Ed

Donald is on leave. He was not available for comment.

The public inquiry into the future of the old Weymouth fire station is

underway. Developers want to knock it down and build retirement

apartments. If the fire station needs the money from the sale of

the land so it can fund a road safety education centre. Some

residents say the apartments would run in the skyline. British ships

have been given the Government's position to protect themselves from

pirates with armed guards. The move comes after is significant increase

in the number of attacks against vessels in places like the Indian

Ocean. The guidance, published by the Department of Transport,

stresses Home Office permission will still be needed before

security guards can be deployed. Still to come: Is the cold weather

here to stay? We will have on the weather.

We will also have the sport, including the marathon dream of the

Long Distance runner and is looking for others to join him on a relay

around Great Britain. West Sussex County Council is

spending �50 million in an effort to kick-start the local economy.

The decision to spend some of the money up grading the Chichester

Festival Theatre has been criticised by people whose bus

services are being lost due to cutbacks in Council subsidies.

Rita and Glenn are catching the 86 bus to go Christmas shopping. Next

year, the route is said to be axed as part of the council's �2 million

cut back. It will be awful. A lot of lives will be disrupted. School

children, especially. Now the villagers have been further angered

by the council's announcement of a �50 million spending package,

including improvements to the Chichester Festival Theatre. They

should be focusing on the essential things. We have a theatre and a

theatre in Horsham. You need to promote them and keep them going,

you do not need to spend that amount of money at the moment when

you cannot get people from eight to be. The council will contribute �1

million towards a �22 million improvement to Chichester Festival

Theatre. They say it will help boost tourism. The council says

government rules means its �50 million spending package cannot be

used to fund buses or social care budgets. We are investing capital

in our infrastructure, not in revenue spending, which is

frontline services like buses. you cannot use this money? No. We

can use this money to boost jobs in West Sussex, Bruce the

infrastructure, and improve the foot-fault for shops. -- boost the

infrastructure. The Lib Dems support some of the measures such

as making homes more energy efficient. We believe not enough is

being spent on the most deprived seaside towns. The highest

incidence of youth unemployment have are all along the coast.

Although some money is propose four Bognor Regis, there has not a lot

for other places, such as areas where people have difficulties.

Rita and Glenn are just hoping �60,000 can be found to save their

bus service before it comes to the The an increase in the number of

animals abandoned because of the recession is putting pressure on

animal welfare charities in the south. ABC Animal Sanctuary near

Paul Brett in West Sussex is struggling to keep up with its

running costs. -- Paul Bray. The newest residents at ABC Animal

Sanctuary, their mother was given up by her owners and taken in here.

Alexandra has been running the centre for 30 years. This is the

busiest she has ever seen it. up at 7:30am, and finished the e-

mails about midnight. There can be 30 requests asking for us to taking

ponies, pigs, everything, across the spectrum, but everything is

finding -- everyone is finding hard. It is staffed entirely by

volunteers but it costs �1,000 per week to run. Not all abandoned

animals are as lucky as these. you turn away at an animal and you

know it will be put down, it is hard.

It is not just smaller charities that are struggling. Last year in

the south almost 9,000 animals were left by their owners. The RSPCA

says its costs are spiralling. are seeing a steady level of lots

of animals being abandoned, tied to Gates, dumped in fields. It is a

great strain on us and other charities, people think we have got

lots of money, and that it doesn't hurt us. I am afraid these things

are all relative. Smaller charities, larger charities, all feel these

difficulties in a similar way. Some of these piglets already have

a new home to go to and the hope is all of them will find a family soon.

Difficult times for Animal Welfare Charities at the moment.

People in Berkshire are being urged to use less water because of the

strain on the River Kennet. Thames Water has started Britain's first

awareness campaign in preparation for a possible drought next summer.

Rainfall in 80 of the last 20 months has been below average in

the area and levels in the river are low -- 18. If you ever wanted

to buy something after the shops have shut, of course, you can be an

on line dropper but there is another choice, using a smart phone.

-- shopper. A store in Britain has become the first to launch the new

idea which will enable late night and early bird shoppers to do more

than just window-shop. Apples, Vanish, I don't need water

chestnuts. That can go off the list, what next? Laptop. It is not a

traditional Christmas window display, but every space is being

maximised to boost sales. This Waitrose in Brighton is the first

to have a win best bit -- display showing joyless product. If you

have the right facility on your phone you can scan the sky black --

square and buy it. It is being described as a 24 hour virtual shop

but it is a month real shops and you collect your items the

following day. It saves a long journey to John Lewes. The nearest

ones are in Southampton and London. They say the service is proving

popular. People I spoke to didn't seem to get it. Do you use these

codes to do your shopping? I have no idea, what is it? The little

box? Not many people know what it is for all had to use it.

This is just a trial and will disappear after Christmas, which

may come as a disappointment to those hoping to hit January sales

whilst grocery shopping. Window-shopping with a difference.

The historic World War II submarine HMS Alliance has been chosen as a

location for a new project by composer Marvin Ayres. The idea

behind sacred spaces is to capture the sonnet spirit of a place. --

behind Sacred Spaces. He uses the cello, violin and viola to create

the piece. Cold and a little on the small side,

the engine room of HMS Alliance is not the typical venue for composer

and musician Marvin Ayres, but this historic submarine is part of a new

project aimed at capturing the spirit of places rarely connected

with classical music. I think it is an unusual place to

think about composing and recording. But this is a permanent memorial to

the submariners. In its way it is a sacred space. He works with the

sound engineer to record the resonance of the instruments as the

sound interacts with the space. Working in HMS Alliance presented a

different challenge to what they were used to. It will be quite

interesting trying to find ways of recording the cellos and violins.

They sound quite nice, but at the same time we want to preserve the

sound in here. The whole point of coming here was to capture the

sound as cities. This is the second recording as part of Sacred Spaces.

He is hoping to continue the project in other places such as

Winchester Cathedral. In each location uses the same series of

notes which will be assembled to create one collective peace. Today

we will record does, and then compile all the echoes together

from those next to create, almost like an instrument, very ethereal

and beatable. The work is likely to be displayed early next year at

HMS Alliance, an interesting choice. He has been to churches, cathedrals.

Fascinating. Now we have the sport. In a moment we will find out about

a marathon challenge which has got some people in this building quite

excited. Clearly not you in your state. Not happening until May and

hopefully I will be a bit slimmer by them.

Some other bits and pieces. Bournemouth chairman Eddie Mitchell

has said he is still intent on buying back the Dean Court stadium.

The club was forced to sell in 2005 at the height of financial troubles,

and now pays �300,000 per year in rent. The landlord has turned down

two offers, one for �4.5 million. Mr Mitchell has now asked them to

name their price and is hopeful of securing funding.

Bad weather meant there was no racing at the World Championships

in Perth, but in ocean racing Hampshire's Mike Golding is

currently leading the fleet in a solo sprint across the Atlantic.

After fitting the Transat race from Normandy to Costa Rica and number

of the skippers including Alex Thompson are racing back from the

Caribbean island of St Bart's to Brittany. It is seen as good

preparation for the prestigious Vendee Globe next year.

It is a critical part of the preparation for the Vendee Globe.

It is the only solo race prior to the Vendee Globe. Crucial to finish

the race, but of course it would be nice to get a good result as well.

But pressure is on for two of the South swimming marathon runners

hoping for Olympic selection, there is no just one place left after

Paula Radcliffe and Mara Yamauchi were today should places. Louise

Damon achieved the qualifying time in the London Marathon but she will

need to approve -- improve on that in April to get a chance of the

final place. Liz Yelling from Poole is also in the frame although she

is yet to achieve the qualifying standard having been hampered by

injury. As we spoke about marathons, this

is a marathon run on a mission. Not content with completing multiple

races himself, he is busy organising an event to get hundreds

of other people running for charity. John Stanford from Basingstoke is

the brains behind RelayGB, a round Britain relay duty take place next

year and if all goes to plan will set a new world record -- due to

take place. We first met him last December in the middle of the snow.

He had set out to run 12 marathons in 12 months. He ended up doing 20,

completing them in March, and raising �11,000 for brain cancer

research. Move on one year and he is still running, but limbering up

for a bigger challenge. I cannot quite remember exactly where the

idea came from, but the idea of pushing it a bit further and

running around Great Britain, not on my own, but getting other people

involved, at raising awareness and targeting half-a-million pounds for

brain tumour research. He is hoping 700 people will sign up for the

event. They will be running day and night, each group of individuals or

teams completing their 26 miles before handing over to the

competitors for the next leg. All the time they will be notching up

miles needed to smash a world record for distance relay running.

For John, most of the legwork is in the organising.

A lot of people have given their free time to help get the thing

started. I need some assistance. I have still got a full-time job I am

doing. I am finding that a bit of a struggle to keep the thoughts of

RelayGB out of my mind. Truly a marathon challenge. RelayGB

takes place next May. A great idea. If you would like to

take part or put together a team of runners for one of the legs, which

is 26 miles, there is more information on the website,

relaygb.org. John also wants some help organising events so if you

are interested in that he would be delighted to hear from you. For he

is very keen to get a team from BBC South running that marathon.

I have got a simple answer, she is sitting here. Our resident marathon

runner. You could do one marathon, and could be due a mile each? If

you get 26 people. -- could you do a mile each.

Could we get Rehana out of her high heels?

It is totally possible. If you are a business or a school,

it is worth considering. As long as it is flat.

The athlete and monks dust once it A very cold start. Some sunshine.

Also some showers. Tonight, cloudy and breezy. It is edging its way

towards us. The showers will be hit and miss, some areas could stay dry.

A fair bit of cloud -- cloud overnight. The wind will be brisk.

Coming in from the West or north- west making it feel very cold. At a

damp and cloudy start for some of us tomorrow. It will be an

improving picture. The outside chance of a shower. Temperatures

struggling. Tomorrow night, more cloud will arrive through the early

hours of the morning. Outside chance of a shower. Most places

will stay dry. Temperatures very similar to tonight. The wind

remains strong. It turns a very unsettled on Thursday. This is what

we are expecting. Very strong wind. Despite the rain and wind, it will

be very mild. It is all coming from this area of low-pressure moving in

from the Atlantic. The wind will be brisk, but they will draw in the

mild air from the Atlantic, moist air so it rain by the end of their

stay. On and off throughout Thursday daytime as well. You can

see the gusty wind. A wet day on Thursday. An improving picture on

Friday. See the rain cleared off towards the near Continent and the

sun will make an appearance. Here is the summary for the rest of the

week. A dry sunny day after a damp start, wet and windy on Thursday. A