23/11/2017 South Today

Hello and welcome to South Today,

I'm Anjana Gadgil.

Tonight's top stories: Sussex Police

say it's "tragically unfortunate"

they didn't catch this man before

he beat someone to death over money

And since when did a soft drink

become synonymous with Christmas?

Not everyone in Bournemouth

is feeling the festive fizz.

Business is booming in Southampton

but what's the cost for the

environment. And since when did a

soft drink become synonymous with

Christmas. Not everyone is feeling

it.

Could Sussex Police have stopped

a violent drunk from murdering a man

in a row over £40?

Duncan Hearsey was jailed for 21

years for beating Alan Creasey

to death in Lancing last year.

But it's emerged that not only had

Mr Creasey called 999

worried for his safety -

but a pub and a kebab shop had also

dialled 999 that night because of

Hearsey's aggressive behaviour.

Sussex Police is reviewing

its handling of the case and said

it's "tragically unfortunate"

they failed to catch him.

Piers Hopkirk reports.

Holding his jeans splattered

in blood from the brutal

assault on his victim,

CCTV shows Duncan Hearsey walking

around his neighbourhood

in Shoreham, at one point

shadow-boxing in the street.

Minutes before, he had

attacked Alan Creasey,

kicking him to death

after apparently demanding £40

for a gardening job.

It's emerged police had received

a series of calls that evening

from two pubs and a kebab shop

reporting Hearsey's hostility.

On the night of the fatal

attack on Alan Creasey,

police were called on three separate

occasions by people concerned over

Duncan Hearsey's behaviour.

Then, at 8:15pm, Creasey

himself called police

after an altercation with Hearsey.

Police attended, but left at 8:30pm

to pursue leads, advising

Mr Creasey to lock his doors.

They returned to Mr Creasey's

home at 9:10pm to find

him seriously injured.

CCTV shows how Hearsey had returned

to Mr Creasey's home

after the police had left,

and kicked him to death.

Sussex Police is now

carrying out an internal

investigation into what happened,

and to examine whether

lessons can be learned.

We do need to investigate the matter

to see if the police

have erred in any way,

and as you've mentioned,

it is a local investigation

so they will be looking to see

whether we did everything

we could and everything

reasonable at the time.

Mr Creasey's neighbours

described him as a troubled man.

He has been a nuisance

to the neighbourhood in general.

Everywhere he went,

he created chaos.

He wasn't a quiet man,

he was a man looking

for a fight all the time.

I can't see the police

have got any blame.

They were trying to do their job.

They were looking for Duncan.

They did tell Alan

to lock the doors.

But Duncan got back in.

Sad.

David Simmons is a councillor

in Shoreham and a retired policeman.

The nature of the call,

the gravity of the call,

if that was seen as a high priority,

and it clearly was, they will look

at a time it took police to respond,

and whether the police could have

done anything more effectively

to prevent this crime

in the first place.

Hearsey was jailed for

21 years for murder.

Detectives described it

as tragically unfortunate

that he wasn't arrested sooner.

The force's professional

standards department

will make its own judgment.

Piers Hopkirk, BBC South Today.

Sangita Lal has been

looking into this story

and joins me now in the studio.

Sangita, why are Sussex

Police carrying out

their own investigation?

If prior contact has been made

between a victim and the police then

a referral to the Independent Police

Complaints Commission is mandatory.

The IPCC have looked into this case

and they don't believe it warrants a

full investigation so they have

reverted back to Sussex Police's

professional standards department

and ask them to carry out their own

investigation into what happened.

And what will the

investigation entail?

They'll examine the force's response

to events on that day before coming

back with conclusions -

they'll be looking to see

if anything could or should have

been done differently

and whether any lessons can

be learned following

what happened here back in May.

The jury has been discharged

in the trial of an Army sergeant

who was accused of trying

to murder his wife after it

failing to reach a verdict.

Emile Cilliers was accused

of tampering with his wife

Victoria's parachute -

charges which he denied.

The court had been

sitting for seven weeks.

The Crown Prosecution Service says

it will seek a retrial.

Ships are pouring out "filthy

pollution" across Southampton

and the Solent according

to a leading Professor.

The warning came during a Commons

hearing on air quality today.

Professor Stephen Holgate told MPs

there are currently "no solutions"

in place to the problem.

Earlier this year the World Health

Organisation called Southampton one

of the most polluted cities

in the UK.

Lewis Coombes is live

from Southampton Port this evening.

Big business, isn't it? Cruise ships

and container ships are to love

Southampton's biggest businesses and

both are expanding. Last year there

were nearly nine times as many

passengers compared to 20 years ago

and 85% of them either left that

ended their cruises you in

Southampton but it comes at a cost.

When a cruise ship or

container ship docks here -

they leave their engines running,

burning heavy fuel oil,

which is more polluting

than the petrol in our cars,

in particular it emits

harmful sulphur.

And today a highly respected

Professor from Southampton

University told MPs

that's a problem.

Massive great ships are pouring out

filthy smoke, blowing over the

Solent over the city with the most

toxic pollution. Our big problem is

shipping and we have got no

solution. We need to make sure that

the local authorities take it

sufficiently seriously to encourage

the good health of its populace.

How

is the situation going to be

improved? The government has set

Southampton targets to clean a third

by 2020. The council says it will

meet with local businesses and tried

to come with this clean their

strategy before the end of the year.

Their own Air Quality Review found

that the port accounts for nearly

a quarter of Air Pollution

in the city, so that's defintiely

an area to focus on.

The cruise industry will soon

build its first ships powered

by cleaner liquefied natural gas,

but they're still a few

years away and so far

only two are on order.

Another option is to charge the ship

from shore when it's docked -

literally plugging it in -

but there isn't the infrastructure

here - as it stands if you took

the power needed for a cruise ship

from the national grid the lights

in Southampton would all go out.

That's not a great plan.

ABP who own the port have told us

in the past this is something

they're going to look at.

P&O cruises told us it is preparing

a new study into its Environmental

performance, which it

will publish before Christmas.

Since when did a soft drink become

synonymous with Christmas?

Every winter Coca-Cola's Santa truck

rolls into town but this year,

not everyone has been sharing

the festive fizz.

The coke team were in Bournemouth

today handing out cans,

but, alongside them,

was another group handing

out toothbrushes.

Steve Humphrey was there too.

It is a festive road show

promoting a soft drink.

Those arriving for some fizz

and photos were greeted

by campaigners with toothbrushes,

urging people to consider

the impact on their dental

health and waistlines.

She doesn't have

them, it is only me.

We don't drink a lot of it

ourselves, we agree.

Special occasions.

You have chosen

the zero sugar option.

I would never give full sugar Coke.

The sustainable food partnership

says the message is clear.

A lot more people are aware of

the impact of what you eat and drink

on your health and well-being.

No one from Coca-Cola

was available for interview.

The company said in a statement this

road show is pre-Christmas fun

and it points out only small cans

of drink are being given away

and two of the three drinks

choices are sugar free.

We have a policy not

to market our products to under

12s and will not be providing

drinks to under trials

unless their parent or guardian

is happy for us to do so.

In a twist, Bournemouth council

which backs the sustainable food

city partnership told campaigners

they couldn't give out toothbrushes

as Coca-Cola had booked

the space for its event.

We are not actively being aggressive

to Coca-Cola or anyone else,

it is to get a message out there.

It is disappointing.

The council says the Coca-Cola truck

is very popular but it

says through sports,

recreation and well-being services,

it is encouraging everyone

to maintain a balanced healthy

lifestyle over the

Christmas holidays.

And of course other fizzy drinks are

available to drink over the festive

period.

That's all from the South Today

news team this evening.

The weekend is looking very chilly

but before that we have some rain.

It is moving northwards across the

region and behind that some fog

patches may develop. Not everyone

will see the rain with northernmost

areas as keeping the rain. The

temperature here are falling to 3-4

and a low of 6-7. There may be some

rain first thing and a lot of cloud

but a few showers dotted along the

south coast and for the Isle of

Wight but an improving picture so by

the afternoon many places will have

lots of sunshine and the temperature

reaching a high of 7-11 saw a cooler

day than today, today we saw a high

of 13 Celsius. With clearing skies

the odd isolated when today show

around a bit of hail and sleet and

maybe a snow shower so don't be

surprised if there is a dusting of

snow. Elsewhere, it will fall as

rain but under the clearing skies we

are expecting a widespread frost

first thing. The winds on Saturday

coming in from the north-west

feeling bitterly cold a high of just

6-7. A cloudy start and brightening

up.