19/08/2014 South Today

Rail passengers count the cost of

Back pedalling ` a Boris`style bike scheme in the

The final farewell ` but why are so many families not

And no longer heard in Ventnor ` the bell falls silent because

First tonight, four people have gone on trial in Winchester accused

conning hundreds of thousands of pounds out of vulnerable single

women looking for love on an internet dating site. They're

accused of creating a false profile on the site, then getting the women

to hand over money to a man who didn't exist. Much of the money was

taken out of cash machines hn Portsmouth, where the defendants

were living at the time. Duncan Kennedy as at Winchester Crown Court

Sadly, this gang was working at Portsmouth but exploited wolen right

the South. All the women were signed up to an online dating agency and

the prosecution say that thd gang targeted the site to exploit those

women to set up fake products `` fake profiles and sending f`ke

identities. One of those wolen was Suzanne from Basingstoke. She was a

divorcee, and you won't onlhne looking for a relationship. She met

a man claiming to be James Richards. The prosecution said he did not

really exist. In the end, she handed over ?174,000. Other defend`nts on

trial here and what out on bail They include Brooke Boston. They

denied money`laundering and `` money`laundering charges. Four

people are on trial. Two others have pleaded guilty to the chargds

involved. The prosecution s`y this was exploitation of these women

involved. They say the gang were working in a very sophistic`ted way.

They all deny the charges involved. The trial is expected to last

between three and four weeks. There's

a date every August that rahl to. Today's the day when next ydar's

ticket prices become clear. And for the first time many

of our season ticket holders will face a bill of more than ?5,000

for getting to work in London. The annual rise

in season ticket prices is tsually based on the rate of inflathon

the previous July, plus 1%. That's the figure we learned today `

3.5%. It will push an annual tickdt

from Portsmouth or Winchestdr to Travellers from Bournemouth

already pay more than ?6,000. And from Reading, the fare

will reach well over ?4,000. The TUC says rail fares will have

risen by a quarter under the current government, whilst

average earnings have incre`sed by 11% ` so fares have risen more

than twice as fast as wages. Hundreds of thousands

of people right across by train will, once again, have to

pay more for their tickets from next January. Many rail passengers say it

is bad news at a time when people when people are already feeling

the squeeze of high living costs. These were the views of trahn users

in Southampton this afternoon. Everything is going up,

wages are staying the same. It is a lot for people who

are travelling every day. With the trains, everything is

going up, but wages are not. On the train now,

there are less carriages and more people and I'm standing

and paying more for a train fare. A number of campaign groups

and trade unions are urging government to mind the gap between

the increase in rail fares `nd the In the period

of this coalition government, During that time,

wages have stagnated and many of the people we represent, those

working in public services, their For its part, the government says

a balance needs to be struck between increasing fares

and investing in the rail ndtwork. What I want to do is make stre we

continue with this unpreceddnted Reading Station, ?900 million

of investment being deliverdd, not just in the station but also in the

way trains move through Reading What we want is

for people to be able to colmute in comfort and also feel th`t they

are paying a fair fare. The Rail Delivery Group, whhch

represents the rail industrx, says that the UK has the fastest, safest

and most improved railway in Europe. Over the next five years,

?38 billion will be invested Our transfer cries `` transport

correspondent is here. What will be the effect of the rail incrdase

transport is the biggest dr`in off the mortgage and the family car But

the increase means that it will be half the price of going by car to

London from Reading. And thdre is no signs that commuters having put off

by rail fare rises. Passengdr numbers have risen every ye`r. It is

expensive for passengers who pay that amount of money. But the key is

value for money. If somebodx is commuting from Winchester Allport ``

Portsmouth, they should be getting a good service. They should bd on

time, and reliable and passdngers should get a seat. And I were

railway still getting a subsidy from the government? In the south, no. In

almost all our rates, the p`ssengers pay more in fares than it costs to

run the route. So the train companies are paying next to the

government. You could say wd are subsidising the North or yot could

say it is paying towards modernising the railways in the Thames Valley ``

in the Thames Valley. The government chose to limit the fares rise in to

inflation without the extra 1%. They will face pressure to do thd same

this year, there is an election coming.

A 60`year`old man from Newbury has appeared

Nigel Talman is accused of killing 62`year`old Sandra Talman,

whose body was found at Carnarvon Place, Newbury, on Sunday.

Mr Talman will next appear in court on Thursday.

A firm of Southampton funer`l directors has appeal today.

They're looking for relatives to come forward and

collect over 400 sets of ashes which have been left at their branches.

They've put the details onlhne, so that people can see

if their relatives are amongst those whose remains are with them.

Some are from funerals dating back almost 30 years.

Charlotte Stacey has been to find out why.

Some of these ashes have bedn here for nearly 40 years. It seels hard

to believe that people's crdmated remains could be left uncollected

after a funeral. But here at this funeral directors, it has bdcome

such an issue they have launched an appeal. We are hoping that hf the

next of kin are no longer around, then possibly a son or daughter or

maybe even a third generation of grandchildren may come forw`rd and

say, we think you may have our grandparents' cremated remahns.

Jerry is an expert in grief. She says that there are many re`sons why

people might not collect ashes. Some people may not find it easy to make

a decision. Sometimes, people are not sure what to do with thdm. You

put a body in the ground, you don't bring a part of the burial home with

you. When you have the person cremated, there was the rem`ins to

collect and some people don't know what to do with it. If you want to

pick them up... There are m`ny ashes here from the 1990s and 1980s when

it was not so common for people to plan for their funerals. People can

stipulate on a funeral plan where they want their ashes to end up

That was not around as much in the 1970s and 1980s. The companx

stresses that this appeal does not relate to recently bereaved families

at all for people who have `sked them to keep ashes for a spdcific

reason. This is about ashes which have been uncollected for a long

period of time and reuniting them with their next of kin.

Still to come in this evening's South Tod`y:

The monument to a hero that many have now forgotten.

Plans for a public bike rental scheme rejected

by the National Park Authorhty despite the fact that it had already

secured government funding to help get it off the ground.

The plan would have introduced 50 bikes at a number

But just recently there havd been strong feelings against large`scale

Travel anywhere in the new Forest and you will be hard pressed not to

see a bike. One idea was to bring in Boris bikes similar to thosd in

London. 250 available at docking sessions across the forest. But

today, members of the park `uthority voted against it. We had thd chance

to use ?2 million government money to trial a project. What I heard

from other members was that they were not prepared to a risk. Last

year, the National Park authority secured millions of pounds to

encourage family cycling. ?2 million of this would have been spent on the

part `` bike scheme. It is understood that there were concerns

about the financial viability of the project and there have been a change

in public opinion regarding cycling and big event in the new Forest and

their impact on local peopld. This report recommended that the project

should not proceed. The authority insists that the new Forest will not

be missing out. Avenue constltation showed that Boris bikes schdmes are

not top of the list, but cycling is and it has always been top of our

list. So I don't think the new Forest will miss out in any way We

still have these funds and we have every intention of finding other

ways to spend it to make cycling more safe and more availabld to more

families whether as residents or when they come to visit. Thd scheme

had been backed by Olympic gold medallist Chris Boardman and a

petition in support attractdd 2 00 signatures. There are many

authorities were trying to lake bike share a reality without that level

of funding and I'm not sure this level of funding will happen again

for the new Forest. The authority says it will spend the monex

elsewhere. For many people the sound

of a church bell is reassurhng, idyllic. But at Ventor, on the Isle

of Wight, the hourly chime of a church bell all day and night has

led to claims it's a noise nuisance. Now the bell has been silenced while

the council investigates. Sdan At Holy Trinity in Ventnor,

the hourly chime in no longdr In April, it was turned off

for two months for repairs. When it was resumed,

one local resident complaindd to the council about it sounding

the hour day and night. The church agreed to silencd it

while the council investigates. The hourly chime has not sotnded

since the middle of July. Mark Bell is going to

demonstrate for us. This is what it would sound like

if the chimes were ringing. We were advised

by the environmental health officers that they had taken readings

and they were above the World Health Organisation's limit and that

four individual environment`l health officers gave a subjdctive

view that it was a nuisance. The council says that it has not

served a notice on the church but is We are looking at our nuisance

legislation and what we do hs look at the complaint, assess it, and

the nuisance looks at reasonableness Something which may be fine during

the day may be a problem at night. But silencing the bell has caused

a row. OK, respect the rights

of that one person. Yes, I like to hear the clock,

if you wake up in the night, The church is considering sdtting

a timing mechanism to silence the church at night but has been

told that that could cost ?2,00 . `` to silence the chime at night. So

the bell has fallen silent for the moment. On to sport, a cracking

weekend. Britain top of the charts as far as medals were concerns. Yes,

European athletics. And the rugby. They were the undoubted stars of the

weekend. England's victorious world cup

winning rugby squad are still to terms with their stunning vhctory

in Paris on Sunday night. It was the culmination of months

of hard work for the squad who fit Earlier this year you may rdmember

we filmed them in a special training session at

HMS Collingwood in Gosport. Among the squad, Claire Purdy who

comes from Ash near Aldershot. Claire joined me

in the studio earlier and I started by asking her to sum up the feeling

of being a world champion. I don't think it has sunk in yet. It

is only 48 hours since we played. I have the medal to prove we did it.

It has come to fruition aftdr four years of effort and training camps

and selection worries and wd got there and achieved our goal. And the

elation on Sunday night in Paris must have been amazing. Yes, the

stadium was electric. There were 28,000 people there. A numbdr of

England supporters have comd over, friends, family. It renders

reception when you came homd, women's rugby coming into the

spotlight. We experienced at Heathrow, the cheers. And wd took

the bus and we had a parade and there was a band. On the page, you

drew with Canada and then you went to the final and do with thdm more

comfy `` and beat them comfortable. What was different? Canada put up an

amazing fight and was a fantastic game to be part of but we wdnt back,

reviewed it and we tweaked the game plan in the semifinal and then got

through that. Then in the fhnal we through that. Then in the fhnal we

tweaked it again and the result speaks for itself. And end of an era

for some of the players. Yot are 34, wants to keep going? I do, while my

body is still in one piece. And I am still motivated to train twhce a day

and getting paid for club and country. I don't want to retire You

girls are playing as amateurs. This is for the love of it. It is. A

number of us are fortunate hn that we are allowed the time to

participate. But once you gdt to a level that we are at, it is through

the dedication and training and you get the results and you want to keep

winning. Savour this moment and celebrate that medal. Hold ht up for

us. World Cup winner! World Cup winner.

Football ` Bournemouth will aim to make it

in the Championship tonight when they host Nottingham Forest at Dean

Court. Reading are looking for a second consecutive home win, they

host managerless Huddersfield. Brighton go to Leeds. In Le`gue One

MK Dons are at Chesterfield. Swindon go to Gillingham. In League Two

Oxford are at Morecambe. Portsmouth play at home against Northalpton.

All the games are live on BBC local radio.

Britain's Young athletes ard at the world Olympic `` youth Olympic Games

in China. watched the spectacle of thd third

Youth Olympics opening cerelony this weekend in Nanjing. Among them was

18`year`old archer Bryony Phtman . It is a full programme and we will

be watching other sports and trying to get to know the other athletes.

Bryony's progress through the junior ranks has been rapid thanks to

countless hours of practice and the guidance of her stepfather who

Technique and the physical side of things, she does a lot of strength

training to have the strength to pull the boat back. Mainly ht is

good technique. Whilst the games in China are

important Bryony's target is a place I want to go to Rio in two xears

time, and busy I will try mx hardest to get there. But there are seniors

I will have to beat to get there. It requires skill,

focus and a steady nerve but there are few things more satisfyhng

in sport than hitting a bullseye. Another fine sporting

achievement now. a stunning spell of bowling to help

his side to victory Jem Warner took seven wickets

for just one run in a four`over spell, the fhrst of

his wickets was caught on c`mera. The Dorset under`17 player

helped his side to a crushing Jem also starred with the b`t

in the game, with 68, beford You know how sometimes you see

something Well, for 170 years,

a huge stone obelisk has loomed over Lymington in Hampshire, but not many

people can remember why it's there. That could all be about to change,

as Briony Leyland explains. nestled in the trees standing

monuments to a local hero. Ht was built a local hero. It was heroes

have `` local people have any idea who he was? Know. I wanted, but I

don't know. I used to, but H've forgotten. Do you know why ht's

there? Can you tell me? The obelisk is a monument to an Admiral and it

was much more prominent previously. It is a hidden gem, well hidden

Peter Stone is leading a project to restore the monument and thd

gardens. Look at this. Goodness 75 feet of Dartmoor granite cut out of

the same granite as Nelson 's column. Born in Yarmouth Castle

Harry Barrett joined the Navy just at 17. He took his wife's strname,

Neill, and they lived near Lymington. Their house is now a

school. In 19 `` 1877, Sir Harry curled a mutiny. He broke a mutiny

and King George was forever in his debt. `` in 1777. Before long, he

was an Admiral of the Fleet but despite his success, his roots

remaindered Lymington. He w`s mayor of the town on several occasions but

was MP for Lymington for many years. He brought gas lamps to Lymhngton

streets. There was effusive praise on the inscriptions on the obelisk.

He delivered the ball and f`therless and them who had none to help them

and caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. Sir Harry was buridd in

Saint Thomas 's church and donations came from 200 people, including

members of the Royal family. Thousands came to see his grand

memorial. 170 years later, the obelisk is in disrepair. Surveys

confirm that there has been water penetration and we have bushes

growing out of it. You can see the state of the stone work herd. It

would be good to get it back to the sort of condition we can sed in the

early postcards. Next year will be Sir Harry's 250th birthday. By then,

it will be hoped to get his monument in better condition. It will be a

start to real wake can be m`ny months of Sir Harry. It was a money

was put up for putting in g`s lighting. We think it is solething

to do with panel borough. The Admiral will once again be

recognised as a local that `s a local hero. So now you know much

more about the obelisk. A suitcase containing 15 kittens has

been dumped outside hospital The kittens,

who are only six weeks old, were found in this suitcase outside

the PDSA animal hospital on Mount The RSPCA has asked

if any members of the public saw I'm sure there will be findhng good

homes for those kittens. Now onto the weather. You have probably

noticed how nippy it is getting We have just been debating. He wondered

whether you should put his heating on.

He may need it, Sunday mornhng, there is potential for frost.

So there is a risk of a few showers. They will gradually eased through

the course of the night and it will turn drive for most places. Under

the clear skies, a pretty chilly night. Particularly in the

countryside. In towns and chties, a bit warmer. A dry start to the day

tomorrow and tomorrow will be a much better day than today. The odd stray

shower lurking but most places escaping. The cloud will st`rt to

increase throughout the aftdrnoon from the north and west. Thd breeze

tomorrow not as strong as today so feeling slightly pleasant in the

sunshine. The odd shower is a possibility tomorrow but thdy will

not be as frequent as today and they will tend to fade away overnight

tomorrow night. Once again, clear skies and chilly temperaturds in the

countryside particularly. It will be a dry start to the day on Thursday

and in fact, the bulk of Thtrsday should stay mainly dry until the

latter part of the day. The evening time and overnight. A cold front

sinking southwards introduchng more clout for the afternoon. And the

rain will arrive by the evening and overnight into Friday morning.

Friday is a bright, breezy `nd showery day. And they called a as

well. Tomorrow the risk of the odd stray shower. `` and a cool day as

well. Friday bright and bredzy with the showers and feeling cool as

well, Saturday and Sunday f`irly good. On the bank holiday wdekend,

suddenly `` sunny spells, m`inly dry. Sunday will be mainly dry.

Monday will be cool with showers but sunshine as well.

We could club together to ptt the heating on! Tomorrow night, you are

running? I have been for a jog. As guests will be taking on a next

ordinary sporting challenge. We will talk about tomorrow. Good nhght