17/02/2017 South Today

I'm Edward Sault. for the news where you are.

Three young women have been sentenced for attacking

a 14-year-old girl with a wheelbrace in a Guildford park

The victim suffered head injuries and is still

The women had originally denied using a weapon until messages found

on their phones revealed they'd discussed

how to clean the wheelbrace.

This was an attack with a heavy metal object that left a young girl

with serious injuries all because of a spat on Facebook.

D3 defendants, 19-year-old Sophie Burrows,

19-year-old Lauren Coveney and a 17-year-old girl

who can't be named for legal reasons, left their 14-year-old

victim with several head injuries, black eyes, fractured nose

and bruised ribs and as well as the physical scars,

Guildford Crown Court heard she also suffers from depression

Only recently has she started going out again.

She changed her name on Facebook,

She don't want no one to know this is what happened to her.

The court heard in January last year the defendants

made a considerable journey to come to Stoughton Park in Guildford

Sophie Burrows brought a 30 centimetre long metal wheelbrace.

They told the girl to fight and when she threw the first punch,

the court heard, out of fear and panic,

they said about her and in the days that follows, they sent

Lauren Coveney said, it's good, I cut her head open.

Sophie Burrows said, she chose to fight me.

But it was electrical communications that eventually led

to the girls handing themselves into police.

An immediate appeal was issued following the incident and it

was the attention on social media that led to the girls eventually

handing themselves in at Guildford police station.

At first, they denied using any weapon of any kind

during the attack that messages were found on all their phones

mentioning the assault and the crowbar and how to clean it.

And all three were subsequently charged with GBH.

Sophie Burrows was sentenced to 14 months

in a young offenders' institution.

Lauren Coveney to 12 months suspended for two years.

The 17-year-old was referred to the youth courts.

The judge said he gave them credit for their ages, for

their genuine remorse and for in their guilty pleas

but he said all this was caused by a ridiculous and stupid

A man who shot seven cats in less than a fortnight

in the Guildford and Cranleigh area has been sent to jail for a year.

Franky Mills from Long Gore in Farncombe shot four cats

The animal rights charity Peta awarded ?2000

to a witness who provided registration details of his van.

A major town centre development in Dorchester has been waved

through, despite the fact that the 180 new properties will not

West Dorset District Council has given planning permission

to a scheme to convert the town's old Victorian prison.

The developers argued affordable units would damage

I would have loved to have seen affordable homes on the site.

We're trying our hardest to put forward

more homes and affordable homes in West Dorset.

We're doing everything we can to sustain that.

A fresh attempt to scrap charges for residents taking DIY waste

to their local tip has failed in West Sussex.

The county council says it's introduced a flat rate of ?4

a bag for any type of DIY waste like like rubble and plasterboard

Whilst some agree, it's prompted fears from some district councils

I think the research shows that the councils aren't actually

looking to profiteer from this but are actually

they are incurring in the processing of these waste streams.

They know the problems they've called for local residents

and I know the problems they have caused for the district

and borough authorities in West Sussex who have to clear up

the mess and there is no doubt that fly-tipping is on the increase.

A couple from Salisbury who've been married for 12 years are hearing

each other's voices for the first time after having Cochlear implants.

50-year-old Helen Robinson and her husband Neil,

who's 54, have been deaf since birth.

They had their implants switched on at the same time by an auditory

Half a century without sound, changed with the flick of a switch.

Neil and Helen have been married since 2005.

They've both been deaf since birth because of a genetic condition.

They could hear some muffled noises but now the cochlear implants

are sending electrical signals directly to the brain

I love sound and I want to be able to hear more.

You'll be surprised at what's caught their ears.

You know the car, when you are changing the indicators on?

For me, I knit, and when I'm doing the knitting, I can hear

the needles clacking together and it's a nice sound.

Their new fifth sense can be overwhelming at times and clinicians

also have to adjust the volume as Neil and Helen become

The new device can be switched off,

I can call her now and also learning to put up with

That's all from the South Today news team this evening.

I'm going to be here with your weekend news tomorrow

at 5:20pm and there's more on the BBC News website.

Newsnight will be starting shortly on BBC TWO but now Sam

And shorts. Not quite flip-flopped whether yet but it has been very

mild. Set to stay that way to the weekend. For tonight, dry and

cloudy. That cloud as we go through the night breaking here and there

are so we could see Mr patch is developing by Don. Not a chilly

night. Not dropping low below six Celsius. A dull morning but as the

low clouds and missed breaks up we will start to see some bright and

sunny spells develop especially to the east of the patch and everywhere

we pleasantly warm in light winds. The height of 11 Celsius. Looking

ahead to the next few days, Sunday, things started rather damp and grey

but as the day wears on, conditions improve. We will see bright and

sunny spells and 12 Celsius will be the top temperature. As we head into

the new week, Monday warmer still with a top temperature 14 Celsius

but it will be cloudy. part of next week, we could see 16

Celsius in a few spots. Here is knit with the National output.

We have turned things around in the space of a week, with a more