06/04/2017 South Today

I'm Allen Sinclair. On tonight's and on BBC One we now join the BBC's

I'm Allen Sinclair. On tonight's South Today we reflect on the two

year battle over term time holidays and what it has cost the family from

here who fought and lost the case. It was 60 quid. If I had my time

again I would probably pay because it has been hugely stressful. A

father's anguish as a man that broke into his house and climbed into his

daughter's bed is found not guilty of sexual assault. Old enemies

united to remember the fearsome firepower of the iconic Tiger tank

at a new exhibition. It is a shame we could not have this relationship

before. Now we are all comrades. Everything else is forgotten.

"You are not the final arbiter of what's right for your child!"

Those the words of a furious Isle of Wight father, Jon Platt,

as he today lost a legal challenge against a fine for taking

his daughter on holiday during school term time.

The Supreme Court ruled against Mr Platt, even though he'd

won earlier legal battles against what started out

as a ?60 fine, imposed by the council.

It means after two years the case will now go back before

Whatever happens there, today's outcome will have

repercussions across the country - because it's an issue that affects

In 2015, truancy prosecutions were up by more than 20%

with action taken against nearly 20,000 families.

That led to more than 11,000 fines being issued,

and in eight cases parents were given jail sentences.

The Isle of Wight has long been on the map as a holiday destination but

in the last two years it is the foreign holiday plans of one

Highland family which have hit the headlines. In 2015 Jon Platt refused

to pay a fine for taking his daughter to Florida during term

time, winning his case at the magistrates and High Court, arguing

despite the holiday her overall attendance was regular, as required

by the law. I looked at the legislation and it said children

must attend frequently and I made the decision that my child had done.

And the one decision I made was not to pay that penalty notice and I was

taken to court and everything that happened since is out of my control.

He normally handles PPI claims but since the publicity over the case

they have had hundreds of cases from parents looking for support. Money

has successfully been used to challenge fines for term time

holidays around the country. I was shocked at how many people it has

affected. And these situations people are in where they are being

refused time off for their children and the reasons to me seem perfectly

reasonable. Now the process of fines has been stopped in its tracks. The

Supreme Court ruled today regular attendance means in accordance with

school rules, meaning a good overall attendance is not a defence for

unauthorised absence. Jon Platt said it was a shocking decision. It is no

longer, if it ever was, about turn time holiday. It is the state taking

the right of parents away when it comes to making decisions about

their children. You cannot take your child away from school without

permission. You can't say it is all right if you attend 95% of the year,

90%, 85%. Take a charred away from school for a day and you risk

prosecution and being fined. -- child. The council said it provided

clarity for what constitutes regular attendance in school. It was echoed

by the Department for education saying that it damages life chances.

But on the island there is much support for the local father who

took on the authorities. The prices tourist companies charge you for

taking kids on school holidays is ridiculous. As long as you're not

doing it every week, take them, take them for a week. There should be a

certain amount of time that parents are allowed to take their kids out

in term. Jon Platt must go back to the magistrates court. He said he

will plead not guilty. If convicted he faces a ?1000 fine and a criminal

record. Earlier this afternoon,

we caught up with Jon Platt, from our central London studios,

along with Neil Richards, who's a Hampshire teacher, a father,

and a regional representative I asked Jon Platt if the case had

been a burden upon him and his family.

It's nearly two years and it has been exhausting.

How have you dealt with that pressure?

You have been at the centre of a media storm today.

Going on holiday is my solution to it.

After the hearing in January I went on holiday and I am taking my wife

Neil Richards, you are a local teacher but also a parent.

Do you have sympathy with the situation

Jon found himself in and his solution?

As a parent I have enormous empathy for anyone, any

parent who wants to take their children on holiday but as a

teacher, as a member of the union, I cannot

agree with what Jon did and I

agree with the decision today in the Supreme Court.

Taking your child out of school is disruptive to your child

and the education of other children in their class.

He is entitled to his view, he is a parent.

In my view he should be able to have his children in school

100% of the time if that is what he feels is best for his child.

What I would say to Neil is that if you

believe that every absence from school

has a negative impact, I have

research paper 171, which shows taking your child in a family

holiday correlates positively with educational outcomes.

If every absence had the same negative impact

on children's education, that would justify the school never taking them

All absences are not the same and the impact

At least now we have clarity, don't we?

I guess from a school point of view it helps.

It is a clear outcome from the Supreme Court.

I hope there is a realistic interpretation of the outcome so

in, there has been a free for all in recent months.

Statistics have risen rapidly with unauthorised absence.

Nearly 200,000 unauthorised absences in the last year alone, compared

There were over 300 million absences because of illness.

The figures you are saying, the number of unauthorised

absences has risen dramatically, the number

A bigger proportion are unauthorised.

That is a reflection of policy and not fact.

The number of children missing school, 0.4% of

the possible days in school, were lost to family holidays.

And the government has gone through this

enormous amount of litigation to try and squash 0.4%.

As we said, Jon, you have been at the centre of this.

I will certainly consider the Supreme Court verdict

in any decisions I make in the future.

If the school rules say I can take my child out of school for

ten days year, I will probably at times have

If they say that my child must be in school every

single day, unless the

school authorise it, I will probably have to move my child

Joanna has been catching up with your comments and she is live in the

newsroom tonight. It has divided opinion on the Facebook page today.

Mark asks, how can a teacher decide my daughter can have a reward day

and I cannot? Why are the kids finishing at midday tomorrow for

Easter holidays? David disagrees and says it is a good decision. Why

should any parent be allowed to disrupt the education of children

whose parents do not take their offspring away on holiday during

term time? Jonathan Harmer, holidays are a luxury and not a right. I had

my first overseas holiday when I was in my 30s. I did not cry about it by

-- like some righteous entitled parents. Tracy is backing Jon Platt.

She said she had taken her son out of school for a week since 2009 and

his education had not suffered as he has learned from life rather than a

book and blackboard. A lot of parents make the point of the

costings of holidays. John Shapley said, that is right, bully the

parents out of more money. Why not take action on holiday companies

charging extortionate rates? Thank you. Other news now.

A man who broke into a house in Weymouth and got into bed

with a six-year-old girl has been found not guilty of sexually

Jervaise Kevin Jones was asleep in the bed when police arrived.

He maintained throughout that he had not interfered with the girl.

The case centred on the events taking place

early one morning in a terraced house in Weymouth last October.

In court there was no dispute that the

26-year-old Jervaise had broken into a house and got

The question at the heart of the trial was whether he had

Today, after deliberating for almost four hours

the jury found him not guilty of sexually assaulting a child under

the age of 13 and not guilty of trespassing with intent

For legal reasons the girl and her family cannot be identified.

Her father spoke to us after hearing the not

His words are spoken by a BBC journalist.

It is something we're feeling very deeply.

It's not something that is going to go away.

The court was told police found Jervaise Jones asleep

and naked from the waist down when they arrived at the house.

He had been out drinking in Weymouth and said he had no recollection

The jury heard he had a series of previous convictions

for theft, drug offences and assault.

Defence barrister Nick Robinson said Mr Jones had not

committed any previous sexual offences.

He told the jury it was remarkable that none of Mr Jones DNA

Next Monday, in a separate and unrelated case, he is

due to be sentenced for drug offences

and an assault on a police constable.

A BBC investigation has found more than 1,000 gun crimes have been

investigated by Thames Valley Police in the past six years.

Firearms were involved in 158 incidents between January

and October last year - up from 152 for the whole

The Office for National Statistics says there were four gun

crimes for every 100,000 - that's below the

Joel Campbell is in Dorset for the launch of a new exhibition. We will

hear from some of those who fought in these tanks and others who found

themselves at the sight of the rest of the Tiger family.

A soldier who murdered his former girlfriend at her Bournemouth

home has been sentenced to life in prison.

Jay Nava, who's 27, will serve a minimum of 21 years behind bars.

He was found guilty of stabbing 26-year-old Natasha Wake 11 times

Academics from Portsmouth have looked for the first time at the

effect on social media of children running away from home. Around

140,000 under 18 go missing from the UK each year. A report says

publicity appeals trying to find them can remain online for years

leaving a negative aftermath difficult to shake off. It suggests

children need better protection from a digital footprint and possibly

asking old sites to remove stories. Bournemouth's unbeaten run is now

five games in the top flight. Tony, they are going great. I was a

bit worried about them a couple of months ago. Another valuable point

in the Premier league last night. Before kick-off...

Anfield remembered the 28th anniversary of the Hillsborough

were in front early on as Benik Afobe capitalised

on this error, Bournemouth had to show their character though,

Phillippe Coutinho levelled and then after half time, Divovk Orgi

But Eddie Howe's side dug deep and in form Joshua King grabbed

I thought we showed a really good mentality in the game.

I thought we defended excellently at times.

In the end I don't think anyone can argue we got the draw.

I was at St Mary's last night, where Southampton produced

an impressive second half display to end Crystal Palace's

but there was some new turf on the Saints penalty spot.

Palace took the lead with a fine goal from Christian Benteke

Palace complained vocally about the equaliser from Nathan Redmond

after an apparent push by Steven Davies on Wilf Zaha.

In a second half full of chances, Palace hit a post before

Maya Yoshida got the last touch to Redmond's cross.

Just a minute or so later, James Ward-Prowse competed a fine

move to seal a win which lifts Saints to 10th,

Where you aggrieved at the nature of Southampton's equaliser?

Assistant referee's totally out of order.

It is not nice going behind in the game but I

think it shows the character we have got in the dressing room and the way

the fans got behind us, you know, they really spurred us on.

Oxford's promotion hopes were damaged by defeat against Fleetwood

last night. But conceded the early goal. The visitors are now third and

went back in front through Ashley Eastern and scored a third goal late

in the game, as well. In a year's time we'll be

into the first few days of competition in the Commonwealth

Games. And two Bournemouth-based beach

volleyball players hope to be bidding for gold in the inaugural

staging of the sport at the Games. Jake Sheaf and Chris Gregory play

on the international circuit but missed the Olympics last year

when Chris was injured, so they're determined not to miss

out on another big event. Think of beach volleyball, think

Sun, sand and sea. In this case it is under a roof in Bournemouth. For

Jake and Chris it is training. This hard work should result in a place

in the England team at the Commonwealth Games were beach

volleyball makes its debut. It is huge for the sport. The Commonwealth

Games is highly recognised as an event in England. Everybody watches

it as they do the Olympic Games. Having beach volleyball there will

put it on the map a bit more. And hopefully bringing a medal home will

make the country proud of having a beach volleyball team. The pair

still work part-time to support their sporting endeavours, and being

a close partnership is not without challenges. We have clashes

sometimes. And I think when the dynamic is good if those naturally

and sometimes one thing outweighs the other but on the court, we share

captaincy sometimes, and depending on who is under pressure, somebody

will take the lead over the other. Aggressive. You had to adapt always

in situations in any type of sport and find a way to win. That is what

we try to do. Jake and Chris have a punishing schedule ahead. Up to 12

world tour events around the globe. They have to sustain their world

ranking to make sure they get their places at the Commonwealth Games. I

think we are going for gold. I don't think anything... We are going to

win the thing, those of our aspirations. We are going to be

working towards that. The Gold Coast will host 23 sports at the 21st

Commonwealth Games. These beach buddies could bring a slice of gold

home as well. Meanwhile on the first day

of the Grand National meeting at Aintree Dorset trained Cue Card

was edged out in the Grade One Bowl chase by Lizzie Kelly aboard

Tea for Two. The Colin Tizzard trained Cue Card,

with Paddy Brennan aboard made a desperate attempt to haul tea

for two in, but was Meanwhile Sam Sunderland has claimed

victory in the Abu Dhabi desert The motorcyclist, originally

from Poole triumphed after several First round of the US Masters golf,

it is going on right now. We featured Hampton and Scott Gregory.

Not a great day for the British amateur champion, six over on the

back nine. Justin Rose, former Hampshire player, one under early in

his round. Coverage on five live and BBC TV across the weekend. Thank

you, Tony. Now it was one of the most iconic

and terrifying weapons of the Second World War,

the German Tiger Tank. Today, a new exhibition

has opened in Dorset, featuring the fearsome fighting

machines, and the people To mark the event, four

veterans from that conflict, two German and two British,

had an extraordinary meeting. This is the Tiger Tank. One of the

most feared weapons of the Second World War and just beyond you can

see a collection of the relatives. The biggest gathering since the

conflict itself, as it were. Coming to the belly of the beast as it

were. Four inches of steel armour to keep the crusade. And this is the 88

millimetre gun which was guaranteed to strike fear into the hearts of

those who faced it. Today some of those who fought their war from

inside these cramped positions and some of them who were in their

sights, came together once more. It is wonderful we can meet like

this 70 years afterwards. Almost unbelievable, isn't it? Enemies no

more. The men here today no the Tiger Tank inside and out. He drove

one with the seventh Panzer division. Ernest fought against them

after D-Day. When we heard it on the radio, there was a tiger around, we

were scared. We knew what it could do. TRANSLATION: It was a very

impressive tank. Much more advanced than other designs. I was pleased to

operate it. It was the bees knees when it came to technology. Such was

the fear of the Tiger in Dorset, Britain developed a special version

of the American Sherman tank, squeezing in an extra powerful

British gun into the turret. Ken helped to accrue one of the

so-called Sherman firefly is. I was in action when one of the fireflys

knocked out three of these things in seven minutes. It was not a

one-sided story. The man in the Tiger Tank was still in danger.

TRANSLATION: Even in a tiger you always had fear for your life. You

felt vulnerable. Those who said they were not frightened were lying. The

Tiger still draws the crowds. For these men, who knew it on the

battlefield, it ties them together still. It was a secret guilt of

those who had been in the front line and therefore new when a man was

surrendering, you were probably responsible for doing to his

comrades what he had been doing to our comrades. TRANSLATION: It is a

shame we could not have this relationship before. We are all

comrades now. Everything else is forgotten. I am with David, the

curator at this museum. Was this such a fierce opponent as our own

commanders think it was? It was certainly impressive. A good thing

brought the British and the allies is that they never made that many of

these famous Tiger Tanks. They were too few to make a difference,

luckily. We know they were not perfect. Look behind us here. One of

the once you have got here for this show is actually effectively a

prototype of one of the versions which did not work at all, the

elephant here. They were notoriously unreliable. A lot of them broke

down. Not that many were made in the production runs. Thankfully, even

though they look big and impressive and with the audience everybody

knows they are called Tiger Tanks, fortunately for the Allies they do

not do that much damage on the Western front. We are so lucky of

course having a range of them here so everybody can see them and see

the idea. You can understand why the crews were frightened of them. The

chances of meeting one, honestly in wartime, fairly thin. Thank you,

David. These tanks will be here for the rest of the summer and beyond.

STUDIO: Thank you, Joe. He was in his element! A boyhood dream

realised. Alexis had joined us on the sofa. Lovely day again.

The good news is it is warming up for the weekend. Sunday potentially

the hottest day with a high are potentially 21, 20 two. Some unusual

weather photos. This was photographed by Chris in Winslow in

Buckinghamshire. A vertical shaft of light formed when sunlight reflects

from the services of ice crystals associated with high-level clouds

such as Cirrus. This was captured in Portsmouth by Maureen. Thank you.

And one more, in Weymouth, taken earlier today, this is the sun

pillar here. Clear skies overnight. Chilly temperatures courtesy of

clear skies and light wind. Temperatures falling away. In the

countryside we could get down to two Celsius, in towns and cities, those

of 7-9. First thing this morning, at Bournemouth airport, around 0.5

Celsius, similar first thing tomorrow morning, we could have. A

lot of sunshine on the tomorrow. Maybe cloudier than today.

Particularly further north and east. Generally in the sunshine

temperatures up to around 14, may be 15 and even 16 Celsius. Similar to

what we had today, especially for cell third spot. Wind light and

variable. Similar damages to deny. -- similar spots. Temperatures in

the countryside could get down to three or four Celsius. This is in

towns and cities. Over the weekend, drawing in warm air from the near

continent. We can see high-pressure starting to pull away towards the

east. That means we develop a southerly breeze. Fairly light in

the course of Saturday. Warm air moving in on Saturday afternoon. On

Saturday, ten bridges in the high teens in Celsius. On the coast with

sea breeze it will feel fresher. -- temperatures in the high teens.

Maybe 14 or 15 at best. Looking at the weekend as a whole, sunny

spells, Chile each morning and maybe a touch of frost each morning. Warm

on Sunday. Could go up to 21 or even 22 Celsius. Outlook for the rest of

the week and into the weekend and next week when it gets cooler.

Tomorrow, lots of sunshine, lovely conditions over the weekend, a high

of 21 Celsius on Sunday. A warm southerly breeze, fairly light,

bringing temperatures into the low 20s in Celsius. All changing next

week. A cold front moving in on Sunday night making conditions

fresher on Monday, back to the seasonal average. I do, a lot to

look forward to. You might remember at school you might have had a class

pet, gerbils, rabbits, perhaps. School pupils in Berkshire have been

looking after trout! It is part of a major project where schools were

given hundreds of trout by a conservation group. Tom Pett work

went to reading-macro to find out more. You remember what a brown

trout nest is called? -- reading-macro. A school of fish in a

tank in a classroom. -- Reading. Children took delivery of these eggs

in January. They are now ready to be released into the wild but the

journey has not been without jeopardy. All the trout was sucked

up into the filter. But some of them survived. How many do you have left?

Yesterday the teacher said we had 13. How many did you start with?

About 100. It is tougher in the wild. Just 5% of brown trout

survived more than one year. It is time to say goodbye to these fish,

one by one. Goodbye. Are you sad to see it go? Yes. What was the best

part about looking after them? Probably learning about them. Very

nice to see children that might not have visited a river or ever thought

what lives in it, nice to introduce them to something new. Maybe in

future with their parents and grandparents they will return to

that part of river. This tributary is now home to the Ridgeway brown

trout. After Easter the children are getting eels.

Wiping their trout on its way! It is time for us to say goodbye, as well.

The next news is here on BBC One at eight o'clock and more at 10.30. We

are back tomorrow. We hope you can join us again. Have a good evening.

Good night. Stacey and Chris are preparing for

marriage by spending a few days living alone with

their in-laws to be, and asking them all kinds of

questions. Did you get a kiss on

the first date? No. What does their in-laws' marriage

tell them about each other's I expect you'll want to become

a schoolmaster, sir. That's what most of the gentlemen

does that get sent down for indecent behaviour.

Evelyn Waugh's classic novel. Have you ever been in love,

Mr Pennyfeather? No, not yet. The fire escape is very dangerous

and never to be used.