20/02/2017 South Today

A hero's welcome. The rising cost of

some parking spaces in this one are too small.

For one night only, Southampton's Craig David

announces a homecoming concert at The Ageas Bowl.

It always feels amazing when I come home. Like, I am from Southampton

and even though people stayed where I sound moment I can't be

Southampton boy, it's true. And a century on,

a fitting tribute to the hundreds of South African troops who died

in the sinking of the SS Mendi. It is very emotional to be here but

it's also pride in the sense that they did not die in vain.

Mourners from the Kurdish community in Britain paid a remarkable

spontaneous tribute this weekend to Ryan Lock from Chichester

who died in Syria fighting the so-called Islamic State.

As his body was returned to Heathrow, they were out in force

to pay their respects to a man they regard as a hero.

Our home affairs correspondent Emma Vardy has this exclusive report.

You could be forgiven for thinking this was Kurdistan,

but actually, it was Heathrow Airport on Saturday.

Ryan Lock, a former chef from Chichester, for these people a

Ryan's sacrifice will be written in our history

and humanity's history, I believe personally.

A young man, you know, going 1000 miles

Ryan Lock had told friends and family he was going on

holiday to Turkey last year before revealing on Facebook he was joining

In December, he and four others came under attack from

so-called Islamic State fighters near the Syrian city of Raqqa.

It's believed that to avoid being taken hostage,

Ryan Lock turned his gun on himself.

What Isis is doing in Kurdistan is fascist things.

Many Kurds here today, they all lost some member of

their family within the last few years.

Ryan Lock is the third British man to die fighting alongside the Kurds.

His body was recovered from IS held territory.

In Syria, he was given full military honours by the Kurds

before his coffin began its long journey home.

It's taken some eight weeks to bring Ryan Lock's body back home via Iraq.

The people who have turned out today to pay their respects,

they did not know Ryan before he went to fight,

but they see him as a British man who decided to fight their cars.

Dozens of western volunteers are known to have joined

For these young men and women to feel such responsibility to go

out there and try to do something and unfortunately to sacrifice their

The British Government is against British people

going to join this war.

Do you think they should be discouraged from doing this?

I mean, there are enough people fighting,

but of course we don't want to encourage anyone to go out there.

They don't know what kind of battle is happening.

I think probably if the British Government were doing

what they can and what they should, maybe these people didn't have to go

After this colourful sendoff, Ryan Lock's family are now

planning a private funeral for him at home.

So, just who are the YPG, and who's joining them?

There are many different groups fighting in Syria.

The YPG are the Kurdish people's home grown defence forces

in Northern Syria, in a region known as Rojava.

They have become one of the key groups fighting the ground war

And they've been battling to liberate Syrian towns

and villages that have been under the control of the IS jihadists.

The YPG allows foreign volunteers to come and fight with them.

People not only from Britain, but also from other countries

in Europe, as well as America and Canada have joined up.

For the British authorities, legally though, this is a grey area.

The government warns people not to fight with the YPG in Syria,

but no one from the UK has yet been prosecuted on their return.

These three British men have now died in Syria with the YPG.

And others are still out there fighting.

Well, a little earlier I spoke to Dr Jack Holland,

an international security expert from Leeds University,

and I asked him to spell out the risks to those thinking

So there's the very obvious risk to British

nationals who go out and fight

in one of the most dangerous battlefields in the world.

There's the risk of what happens when those people

come home having been battle hardened and pick up certain skills

and the risk of the complexities of different groups merging together

because not everyone draws the same lines between groups that the Brits

And so, is it that the British Government do not want

to get drawn into this in the sense that there are these

sensitivities with the YPG and Turkey?

Yes, they are certainly worried about the relationship

The YPG are one of the most important groups on

the ground for the Brits and the Americans

but for the Turks, that group

on the ground has actually been

a long-standing problem for the Turkish state,

so even though Turkey is a Nato ally, there is a very

different relationship with the YPG for the Turks whereas the Brits

and the Americans see these guys is absolutely crucial ground forces.

Could you see a new policy being put in place by the British Government

in the sense of taking a harder line with those going out to fight?

Belgium and Australia for example have

legislated against this, so in the same way as in Britain

you can't go abroad and support terrorism, where

as the relationship for going to support someone

for the Australians, they've just said, you cannot go

Hard to prosecute, but still, that's one option that's open

I guess the critique of that is, is it really in the public

interest to try and prosecute anyone?

Are they really a danger if they are fighting

Are they anything of a threat back home in the UK?

And how much, if you like, propaganda value

when a British person goes out and gets either kidnapped or indeed

Isis has been a pretty phenomenal fighting machine,

but it social media and propaganda presence has been

unparalleled amongst terrorist networks and any Western victim

There are calls for Wiltshire's Chief Constable to explain how

details of his force's investigation into Sir Edward Heath ended up

Officers have been investigating the former Prime Minister,

who died ten years ago, as part of a wider

It all started here at the gates of Sir Edward Heath's Salisbury home.

I'm really appealing for anybody who's been a victim of crime

or who is a victim of anything that may have taken place involving

At a cost of more than ?800,000, Wiltshire Police's investigation

Operation Conifer, has been trawling through every aspect of the former

Wiltshire Police say they have a duty to properly

investigate all allegations of historical sexual abuse.

With such a high-profile investigation,

there is no surprise it has come under intense scrutiny.

None more so than from friends like his former agent.

It should have stopped months and months and months ago.

It's our money that's being spent and it's destroying the idea

And today, she and others, including Wiltshire MPs,

are concerned about apparent leaks or briefings to the

Mail on Sunday about operational details in this case.

Yesterday, the paper claims that more than 30 alleged

victims had come forward and that the Chief Constable was certain

The Chief Constable made a promise that

there would be no leaks confirming numbers or any details of the

alleged victims and that he is responsible for this investigation.

But the force have refused to answer my question

as to where this leak or briefing came from and whether

was involved in the Mail on Sunday's story.

from the investigation but they have no links to Sir Edward Heath.

For now, his life remains under investigation.

In the last few hours, it's been revealed that

the Hampshire mother who's been imprisoned in an Iranian jail -

has been taken to a Tehran hospital to see a specialist neurologist.

For the past month, Nazanin has been complaining

of neck and back pains and there are concerns

about the nerves within her right arm and hand.

The young mum, from Fleet in Hampshire, is facing

a five-year prison sentence on what are described

And also later for a special announcement...

I've got some amazing news for all the Southamptoners out there.

Well, right here on Saturday, I'll be telling you

Frustration is growing in Berkshire over repeated delays to the opening

The Shinfield Eastern Relief Road has been dogged by setbacks

and should have been finished last summer.

Local businesses say it's killing their trade and residents

The Swan Inn at Arborfield Cross reopened for business last summer,

about the same time the new relief road should have opened.

Expected profits are down by at least 15%.

We've got quite a good reputation so far,

but to try and get here, it's impossible.

We lost a lot of trade when they actually stopped work for

a week because some of the signs never got

moved and basically, it closed down,

which no one knew it was supposed to be opened and it

wasn't open and it did cost is major problems.

When they've got that road closed, the detour is miles, so I tend

if I've got to go that way, I don't bother.

I'll go to Aldershot or somewhere instead.

It's a nightmare here for traffic in the mornings,

Melina Harrison says patients at her clinic are often late

We're in our 14th year here and I've never known

Even getting the business off the ground was easier

They're getting so frustrated with the traffic that

they actually missed their appointment and, you know, when

you're trying to get somebody better and maybe are rehabbing them after

they've had disc surgery or something like that, the timing of

appointments is really important to their well-being.

The road will serve Reading University's

huge new Science Park currently under construction.

But with so much house building also underway here,

it's vital to the local authorities future development plans.

In a statement, Wokingham Borough Council told us it

shares people's frustration with the delays.

It says it doesn't have any control over the contract but it's

working with Hochtief and the University

of Reading to get the project finished and open.

It says though, with complex projects like this,

there are always unforeseen problems.

Currently issues include water seeping up through the road

The contractor Hochtief UK has apologised for the delays and says

it's brought in significant extra resources to address

the unforeseen challenges it's facing.

The road should be open within the next couple of months.

Parking and issue but this story is very different.

South West Trains is having to repaint part of its car park

at Southampton Central station after a driver proved some

Jago Lawless got a penalty notice because his car overlapped one

And that's when he turned to his tape measure,

he proved that the car park doesn't actually meet

Keeping between the lines isn't always easy.

And it's even harder these days because cars are bigger, but

I've been to meet one man who has proved in his case it wasn't

It was just over a week ago, 46-year-old Jago Lawless was issued

a penalty notice because his car just overlapped one

of the spaces at Southampton Central Station.

My front wheel, where I had pitched the front of the car over so

I could actually get out of the door, the front of the car

had moved over an inch, two inches over the line.

But he felt something wasn't right and as a naval architect by

day, who reviews detailed measurements, he took out his own

measuring tape to find out what was going wrong.

When I first measured the entrance into the car park bay,

But because they have angled parking bay

over, the parallel with between the lines is actually only 1.978

metres wide which is too small for the

After he highlighted the issue to South West

South West trains says the car park was painted out before the

Government advisers came in and the fee was withdrawn.

But it appears small parking spaces isn't

In general, all parking spaces are way too small for today's cars.

My personal opinion is that I have two

children with disabilities and that's even worse because if you

don't qualify for a blue badge, you're forced to park

I find that parking spaces are a bit too small because whenever

I go out with my fiancee, he invariably has to let me out

beforehand otherwise I can't open the door properly and squeeze out.

Jago tells me he's happy that the company is taking positive

steps to widen the spaces and I'm sure that

will be thankful that one man really had it taped.

Southampton's Craig David has announced he's to play a one-off gig

The singer shot to fame as a teenager at the end

of the '90s after growing up on a Southampton council estate.

He's currently enjoying a spectacular career comeback,

with a number one album, and a nomination as best solo male

# I feel nothing like this, like this

# I have felt nothing like this, like this... This is what is taking

Craig David back to the top. 16 years since his first album went to

number one, he would did it again stopped on the 1st of September, he

will play for founds new and old at the Ageas Bowl. The generation think

of people who are now discovering my music who would have only followed

my last album. The were kids who only just found out about my music.

Calling me a new kid! I loved the new kid thing, I will run with that.

And then there was a generation who grew up with my stuff from back in

1999. Last year, things really took off again for Craig David. He had a

residency and I be there with his DJ sets TS five which she also

performed at Southampton's Common people Festival. But the date at the

Ageas Bowl will be his first headline show in his home city. You

can take the boy out of Southampton but you can't take Southampton at

the boy and it's true. Wherever I go, as soon as I come back down the

avenue, I feel like I'm home and the crowd responds in that way and any

shows that I've done here, either at the Guildhall or at Common People, I

could feel that there was an ownership of coming from here and

we've got your back. A source on his ties with home that this afternoon,

Craig took the time along with his manager to talk to and perform for

students at the city's Solent University. When you meet your

favourite artist, you kind of get disappointed but I don't feel like

that. I was like, yeah, man! That was exciting. To see an idle but is

performing five metres from you, it's amazing. Craig David's story is

about talent and staying power. Through it all, he has never

forgotten his roots. Tickets for his Southampton concert go on general

sale this Friday. I like that line, talent and staying

power. We know all about that, don't we?

I met Craig before the FA Cup final in 2003 and I'm still here! I could

be on stage with him. Big Southampton fan and we will hear his

spots about that EFL Cup final which is going to dominate the week,

really. Later in the week though, so as was his concert, he was keen to

talk about saints. Football to start with as well tonight.

The two horse race at the top of the Championship saw Brighton

leap above Newcastle and back into top spot, although

could return to the top if they beat Aston Villa tonight.

A double from Sam Baldock in the second half at Oakwell

was enough to hand Albion their 20th win of the campaign,

Reading on Saturday, then Newcastle a week tomorrow.

Meanwhile with no Premier League action this weekend,

Good luck to Sutton United and their former Eastleigh boss

Paul Doswell, the Surrey club take on Arsenal tonight live on BBC One.

Oxford United's cup dreams ended on Saturday and we start

Three and a half thousand Oxford fans were in the north-east aiming

for a giant-killing at the home of Premier League opposition. For the

first hour, that seemed highly unlikely after Stewart Downing was

bundled over in the box, Grant Leadbeater scored from the box.

United had been unable to weather the early storm and it got worse.

Acrobatics put Middlesbrough two up before the break. But it was far

from over. Chris Maguire placed this free kick perfectly to pull a goal

back just after the hour mark. The momentum of that goal was ensemble.

Within 60 seconds, they swept forward again and although Maguire's

effort was boiled, Toni Martinez followed up to level the scores. A

replay would have been the right reward for Oxford's endeavours, but

four minutes from time, their hearts were broken. We've got one big

semifinal coming up that we're all looking forward to and then to be

fair, we have about 16 cup finals is well on the way, so we've still got

two great opportunities to have a little bit of success this year and

we're not going to let go of that. In the two, Portsmouth remain on

course for the play-offs but ahead of a huge travelling contingent,

they fell behind at Barnet through this free kick. Inspiration was in

short supply until Conor Chaplin stepped up late in the game with a

brilliant long-range effort, probably his best. In week one, MK

dons were beaten at home by this goal at the Stadium MK. A big game

for Reading the championship tomorrow night.

It was a successful weekend for some of the country's top

university sports stars in the British Universities

Rhys Gray from Southampton University took the honours

with this performance in the elite men's trampoline.

The 22-year-old is a former Great britain trampolinist who left

the national programme to pursue his academic studies.

And a reminder this week is all about the EFL Cup final.

Southampton take on Manchester United on Sunday in their first

major cup final at Wembley for 38 years.

We'll be building up to Wembley where Claude Puel's men

go for glory and we want to hear from you, wherever you might

How will you be watching the game, how far have you come to be here.

Give us a shout via our Facebook page.

We would love your video messages to the team.

We will play them out on Friday night. It's each week for

Southampton. We will look forward to that.

It was a terrible maritime disaster but the sinking of the SS Mendi

is a story that remains largely unknown in the UK.

More than 600 people lost their lives when the troopship

went down off the Isle of Wight exactly a hundred

Most of those onboard were black South Africans,

travelling to France to assist the allies.

Today their loss was commemorated at a service attended

by Her Royal Highness Princess Anne in Southampton.

I'm driving to honour lost countrymen, members of the South

African Navy have sailed 6000 miles to Southampton to commemorate a

tragedy their nation has never forgotten. In February 1917, the

trip ship the S S Mendi was on the last leg of her journey from Africa

to France. She carried members of the South African native labour

corps, forbidden to bear arms, they were recruited to build trenches,

railways and roads for the Allied forces. In thick fog, south of the

Isle of Wight, the Mendi collided with the much larger ship. There was

effectively cut into by the impact, take relatively quickly in only a

matter of minutes so many of those who lost their never even made it

out into the water. Many of those who did drowned and many of these

men had never even seen the sea, let alone been to see before. It must've

an incredibly harrowing experience. More than 600 men died. A few bodies

washed ashore and were buried but most were lost at sea, their names

recorded here in Hollybrook Cemetery. Natalia is here on a

pilgrimage to remember her relatives, the Reverend Isaac Job.

Survivors said he calmed the men as the ship went down saying to them,

we are the sons of Africa, let us die like brothers. It is very

emotional to be here, but it is also pride in the sense that they did not

die in vain. 100 years later, they are brought to life with this

commemoration. Though long honoured in South Africa, in the UK, the

recognition for trips lost on the Mendi have taken time, the story

only becoming more known after the wreck was discovered by an Isle of

Wight diver in 1974. It is just a horrendous story of loss of life.

Almost half the loss of the number of the Titanic and here it is of the

Isle of Wight. There are two ways of looking at it. Either it was covered

up by the Admiralty for propaganda reasons and row or we have to look

the other aspect of was it because they were black people and they were

considered, you know, not as important as white people and

unfortunately we had to consider that aspect. Now the story of the SS

Mendi is being taught to a new generation and in the centenary

year, two nations stand together to remember the contribution and

sacrifice of men who died far from home in very different things. --

very different times. Remembering the SS Mendi and those

who lost their lives. Moving ahead to the weather now. Very mild today

with a high of 17 Celsius. That is around 8 degrees above the seasonal

average. So, we sat some sunshine today and

through the course of this week, we will have some brighter spells here

and there. But there will be a great deal of Plaid as well and the chance

we could have some outbreaks of rain. Mild start to the week but

turning cooler with a brisk, called Westerly winds from Thursday

onwards. Through the course of two nights, there will be a good deal of

cloud, outbreaks of rain here and there. Could be on the heavy side as

well with one or two heavy bursts and president for a time before

temperatures fall away by Don to around nine or 11 Celsius so a mild

night. It cloudy start to the date tomorrow. Slow, improving picture

has to ring for the morning, we will start to see one or two brighter

spells more likely the further north and west you are. Generally, cloud

tomorrow and another mild day but today's temperatures, culturally

different from tomorrow. High today of 17, high tomorrow of 12. Through

tomorrow night and the early hours of Wednesday morning, the winds will

increase from the south-west. Quite a cloudy night tomorrow night with

outbreaks of light and patchy rain. Drier interludes as well with

temperatures falling away to around nine or 10 Celsius. A cloudy day on

Wednesday. Outbreaks of rain at times and winds will strengthen to

touch the force. Even stronger winds inland with one or two brighter

spells. Highs of ten to 11 Celsius. On Thursday we start to drop in

Calder, Westerly air. That will bring us an area of low pressures of

the chance of deals and again. A real squeeze on the isobars. Very

cold winds coming directly down from the north and there will be spells

of rain during the course of Thursday daytime with a great deal

of cloud so a fresh feeling take and it will also feel very cold on

Friday with it the chance of the wintry showers. A bit of sweet and

even the stall shower here and there with height of 8-7 Celsius. Frost on

early Saturday, wet for a time and showers on Sunday.

That's always got time for this evening. There is more at 10:30pm

tonight and will be back tomorrow at 6:30pm tomorrow. Join us then if you

can, but have a lovely evening. Good night.

You're sponsored to swap clothes? I don't get that.

Maybe you wear your mother's clothes? Cool. Yeah, finally. What?

I don't get it, what does she wear? No, no...

Like, she wears someone else's. Cool, yeah. No, she's...

OK, that's too complicated. Do another one.

So, like, you get sponsored to let people lick stuff off you for a day.

Ugh. No, but, like, you get these flavoured... Not going to happen.

You take a selfie and post it on social media or whatever,

and then people have to pay to guess who it is?

That's a no-brainer, we love the secret selfie.

'For better ideas, get your free fundraising kit now.'

Alex and Steph are on a mission to help people