27/02/2017 South Today


27/02/2017

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Hello and welcome to South Today, I'm Laura Trant.

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The top stories this evening: Living with the cost

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of using a mobile phone at the wheel.

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The day Meg met the man who killed her boyfriend.

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Is this one of the most dangerous roads

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A BBC South investigation examines the record of the A34.

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And the cold, wet and blustery conditions will continue at times.

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These are the faces of people who have died in car

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crashes in the south - all of them victims of motorists

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This week, a new law comes into force which will double

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Well, one teacher from the south is calling for schoolchildren to be

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taught about the dangers of drivers using mobile phones.

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She has her own reasons for wanting to change the culture

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Matt Graveling has this exclusive report.

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Gavin was an Australian through and through.

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We'd talked about holidays, potentially going out

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It was something we were both really looking forward to.

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He was on his way to work and then he was about six miles

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or so from work and then just didn't make it.

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Lewis Stratford - a 24-year-old painter and decorator

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from Oxford was driving - and arguing with his

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girlfriend on the phone - when he crashed into Gavin's car.

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I wish I could turn back time, change obviously not

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And from that moment I was just blaming everything on me.

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And I didn't want to get better then, I didn't want the physio,

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I didn't want the treatments, I feel like I've been kept

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here to pay for the mistake that I've made and punished.

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Gavin died of his injuries four days after the accident.

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Lewis has already pleaded guilty to causing his death

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When someone gets convicted of a crime or an offence you never

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get to see what that person's like and what background they got.

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Just days before he's due back in court to be sentenced,

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I want to ask what he was thinking, what possessed him to pick

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up his mobile phone behind the wheel - I want to know how he's feeling

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now, how it might affect him and to let him know how I'm feeling.

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Lewis agreed to meet Meg with our cameras present,

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and restorative justice councillor Helen Leney.

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An apology that's given in court is very often mistrusted by a victim

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whereas if a victim sits down face to face with the person who has

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caused the harm that can be enormously helpful in allowing

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victims then to be able to move on from what's happened.

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I'll never forget it ever and I'll never be sorry enough but I can't

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every time I say sorry it sounds a bit cheap, it just sounds not

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A little bit, but then so many people do it, so many people.

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I don't want to hate you for ever, I'm not that type of person.

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Eventually I will probably be able to forgive you.

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English teacher Meg is now calling for all schoolchildren to be taught

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about the dangers of using mobiles behind the wheel before

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You can see more on that story on Inside Out South on I player.

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The road from Winchester through the Thames Valley has had

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several serious and fatal accidents which have hit the headlines

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But is it any more dangerous than similar routes?

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We asked the independent organisation, Road Safety Analysis,

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Over the last ten years the number of crashes

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on the A34 has reduced in line with the national trend.

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it was worse than the A303 in Wiltshire.

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The A34 is around one third safer than the average A road.

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the result of driver error, NOT the design of the road

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The Newbury MP says improvements have to be made. There are major

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strategic issues as well as safety issues and I don't think that that

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evidence has changed my opinion one iota. In fact it has made it clear

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that if the A34 is more dangerous, that is an added impetus for us to

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get major investment in this key arterial route. And if we don't get

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major investment, could smaller things be done to make a significant

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difference, things like road marking chevrons? Absolutely. And there are

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a number of minor junction improvements, some of which have

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been announced and some in due course. I want to future proof this

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road for the kind of traffic we are going to be seeing in the next 20,

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30 years. That road was built to use a fraction of the traffic on it

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today. If you look to the future and with the expansion of Southampton

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freight terminal, and the demands of the economy, we have got to be

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planning for decades ahead, and not just treating the problem as it

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exists today, which is serious, but looking further into the future as

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well. Thank you very much. The BBC is holding a special debate on this

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story tomorrow morning. That is on three of our local radio stations.

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Bournemouth father-of-three Stephen Mallon was fatally injured

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after being attacked by armed locals and pushed from a 16ft ledge.

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Today, at an inquest, his family were told they are now

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free to cremate Stephen's body - eight years after he died.

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A quiet Spanish village and an unlikely scene for the most

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Stephen Mallon and his two sons were set upon by 30 men armed

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with knuckle dusters, iron bars, belts and bottles.

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When they came out of that bar they were surrounded and cornered in.

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An armed mob waiting for them, two young lads with their dad

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Spanish courts took five years to imprison just one man.

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He served five years for the equivalent of manslaughter

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It really is like a living nightmare and we got so used to Stephen

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being in the mortuary and it seemed really quite normal to us,

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which is really weird because it is abnormal.

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The delay has been caused by an appeal process and a lack of legal

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aid. The family have criticised the coroner's offers for the lack of

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communication. The coroner today apologised for the delays and any

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statement blamed the Spanish judicial system but said it was

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something beyond their control. The conclusion of unlawful killing was

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held. The funeral has now been scheduled for later this week.

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He would be so heartbroken to see really what his family has had to go

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He would just want his children to recover and move forward from this.

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The Duchess of Cornwall has praised soldiers returning home

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She spoke today to men and women of The Fourth Battallion

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"The Rifles", in Aldershot, about their recent

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deployment helping to train Iraqi security forces.

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Friends and family watched on as it rained heavily on the parade

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

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We're back tomorrow with bulletins in BBC Breakfast and there's more

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We saw a lot of rain. Quite a soggy day all in all. The weather for the

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week ahead will have been and showers at times, some sunny spells

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and each morning will be pretty chilly, so tonight we have a few

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heavy showers at the moment which is why the Met office in the last few

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moments have issued a weather warning for icy conditions through

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parts of Wiltshire and Doctor Chad and we may see a wind today show

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what the temperature following to freezing. There may be one or two

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showers along the south coast but mainly falling as rain so the

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showers by away tomorrow morning and the bright and sunny start but then

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the showers get going once again with increasing cloud and they could

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be when Tilly and they could be when Tyrian places. Falling mainly as

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rain. The temperature tomorrow up to around seven Celsius and the brisk

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westerly wind making it feel colder. Tomorrow night the showers ease

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during the early hours and one North two wind today through parts of

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Oxfordshire but otherwise a dry start and the temperature falling to

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around three Celsius. A chilly start on Wednesday, right and a sunny spot

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and cloud will thicken into the morning and we see outbreaks of rain

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which will become persistent at times and heavy in places through

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the day on Wednesday and engulfing much of the region. Highs of 7-10,

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milder conditions along the south coast, so the rain eventually

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clearing Wednesday night and once it does Thursday will be mainly dry

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with a Reg high pressure and cloud increasing through the afternoon and

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into the evening and the arrival of another weather systems through

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Friday. Friday still a few days away so things can change but we expect

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rain at times, gradually easing during the course of the afternoon

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and into Chevening. The temperature up to around 10 Celsius, so the

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weekend and settled with rain and showers at times, some sunny spells

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and feeling chilly. John Hammond has the weather for the

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rest of

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