29/12/2016 South Today

Hello, I'm Jo Kent with the news here in the south.

The Debenhams department store in Portsmouth has apologised

after a homeless man, who was sleeping outside

on Boxing Day, had his bedding drenched with water

The store says it was an accident, but there has been an angry reaction

from many in Portsmouth, as Roger Finn reports.

Russell Allen was sleeping in a doorway at Debenhams

in Portsmouth, on Boxing Day morning, when he was woken

by a security guard and told to move on.

Sneaky little comment as he walked away.

I argued back, said to him, there's no need to be like this, you

don't realise what people are going through.

He just continued being rude, walked off.

I've gone to pack up all my bedding and whatnot,

lifted up my sheet and it's absolutely soaking, and I don't mean

just a little bit - it was absolutely drenched.

There was an outpouring of sympathy on social media,

We could all be in that situation one day, who knows?

I think it's awful, to be honest with

I don't know how, with the Christmas spirit,

I've been homeless over the years myself and I wouldn't

In a statement, Debenhams say they take

this matter seriously and have investigated it.

They say it was an unfortunate accident, in which some

routine cleaning on the inside of the fire exit resulted in the

gentleman's property on the outside of the fire exit becoming wet.

Debenhams have apologised to Russel Allen and provided him

But there have been threats against members of their staff

and one local councillor, who has been homeless himself,

This isn't just about this incident - it's

And it's an opportunity for us to raise awareness for the homeless

and hopefully bring the business sector a bit closer to working

with us for the greater understanding of the homeless.

A man's appeared in court in Portsmouth charged

with manslaughter, following the death of a man

57-year-old father of two Nick Medlin, a prison

officer at Parkhurst, was pronounced dead at the Rose Inn

on Pier Street in the town, in the early hours of the morning.

32-year-old Michael Hudson, of no fixed address, has been

charged with his manslaughter, and was remanded in custody.

He'll appear at Winchester Crown Court in January.

St Mary's hospital on the Isle of Wight remains on black alert

today, meaning planned operations are being cancelled after very high

But the operations director's told the BBC, this morning,

the pressure has eased slightly with extra nurses and doctors

being brought in to deal with demand, and more

The outgoing chief executive in charge of three of Hampshire's

hospitals, has spoken about the difficult times facing

the health service as she comes to the end of 40 years working

Mary Edwards is responsible for Hampshire Hospitals Trust,

with sites in Winchester, Andover and Basingstoke.

She's been speaking to our reporter, Joe Campbell.

Mary Edwards isn't saying goodbye just yet,

but come the New Year this will no longer be one

That doesn't stop her noting the emergency department here hasn't

been spruced up under the last three Prime Ministers.

Really we ought to be investing in new lifts so we didn't

have to keep repairing, but each lift is probably up to ?250,000 and

at the moment we can't prioritise that above other things.

One priority will be keeping overseas staff,

many of whom have been unsettled by the past year's events.

So what does she say to those negotiating Brexit?

I would be asking them to do their best to try and

make sure we don't destabilise those people who work in an

We need staff from overseas, and we need them to feel

Soon there will be a new picture hanging here and, after

forking out a hefty sum for health care to visit family

in Australia and the US, on her retirement Mary Edwards

for one remains convinced the NHS is still a bit of a bargain.

Onto football, and Southampton will not appeal against the decision

to send off Nathan Redmond in last night's 4-1 home

defeat against Spurs, despite their manager Claude Puel's

belief that referee Mike Dean got it wrong.

Redmond was red carded for this challenge on Dele Alli,

Saints had taken the early lead in the game through

But though Harry Kane missed the penalty awarded

when Redmond was sent off, Spurs went on to win the match

Now if you've ever tried to hula hoop you may have found

But a little girl from Oxford has really mastered it.

Poppy Campion decided to use her hula hooping talents

Thousands of pounds have now been pledged, for a charity

As Jeremy Stern reports, Poppy had the idea after her

It's an unusual skill that is tricky to master.

Nine-year-old Poppy says it's all in the hips, and set herself

a target of hula hooping for 30 minutes.

I have never really had people watching me doing hula

hooping, I have never really had the encouragement for it.

I do it but I just never thought I was...

Poppy has raised ?2500 for the Oxford charity

Seesaw, which supports children who have suffered a loss.

In March, Poppy lost her grandfather - ex Royal Marine Graham Campion.

She was the light of his life from the moment she was born.

They both loved each other very dearly and she made him

feel so much better when she would visit him

in hospital, as she did most days.

People can still donate online through her Justgiving page.

Now let's take a look at the weather, with Dan Downs.

We're seeing a few subtle changes in our weather as we

The high pressure which has brought us a couple of settled days is

slipping away to the south, the isobars squeezing up behind it,

And then this weather front's moving down,

bringing us rather cloudy conditions to start the New Year,

Behind that, though, it does turn a lot clearer and colder.

Tonight we're seeing the return of a lot of fog patches

around, maybe not quite as dense as the past couple of nights,

with a bit more breeze around, but it will be a cold night,

quite a widespread frost, as temperatures dip towards

Tomorrow, a much cloudy day than today.

We start off rather cold and foggy again, and then one

or two breaks are possible but generally a lot more cloud around

and not feeling particularly warm - a bit more of a breeze around, and

temperatures of around 7 or 8 degrees.

As we end the year it stays rather cloudy through Saturday.

Milder than recent days, though - temperatures just scraping into

But it turns rather damp to start New Year's Day, before

brightening up later, and then colder but clearer

There's more on the BBC News website.

Our next programme is tonight at 11:10pm.

Temperatures have dropped away shortly and we have seen some fog,

particularly through the Midlands. We do have some clout drifting in

from the west. By the end of the night, towards the East Midlands as

well. Further north, more of a breeze from the south-west, bringing

in a weather front. Keeping the temperatures at seven or 8 degrees.

Freezing or just below to the south-east corner. Fog will live to

low cloud and generally speaking a lot more cloud than we saw today.

Northern Scotland is the focal point for wet and windy weather. Confined

to the north and west of Scotland where temperatures will be quite

mild, ten or 11 degrees for Glasgow,