:00:14. > :00:18.Mid-Devon photographer injured in Syria. Efforts continue to get Paul
:00:18. > :00:22.Conroy to safety. We will have the latest on his
:00:22. > :00:26.condition. Also in the programme tonight, a
:00:26. > :00:29.hotline for the homeless. A scheme to ensure got rough sleepers
:00:29. > :00:33.receive support. Tom Daley and his diving partner
:00:33. > :00:36.secure a place in the World Cup finals.
:00:37. > :00:44.Incentives to encourage older people to move out of large empty
:00:44. > :00:47.homes to make way for the young. For my children moved in with the
:00:47. > :00:50.parents, which has got to be better than just me rambling around and
:00:50. > :00:53.the house. The Foreign Office says it is
:00:53. > :00:57.trying to get a Devon photographer injured in a shell attack in Syria
:00:57. > :01:05.to safety. Paul Conroy was wounded in the mortar explosion which
:01:05. > :01:09.killed two other journalists. We finally got into Homs last night.
:01:09. > :01:15.It was quiet in the evening, but this morning about 7am, shelling
:01:15. > :01:19.started. It has been continuous ever since. Paul Conroy in Syria.
:01:19. > :01:24.He was photographing the unrest in the country, but on Wednesday he
:01:24. > :01:34.was caught in a mortar attack which killed two other journalists. In
:01:34. > :01:35.
:01:35. > :01:38.this footage, he is asked how he is. The father of three says he is OK.
:01:39. > :01:44.The Foreign Office said all necessary work is being done to
:01:44. > :01:49.ensure he gets to safety. Paul's wife Kate says that she has not
:01:49. > :01:57.heard from him. Yesterday, she said she was in a state of shock.
:01:57. > :02:02.Ordinarily, I block myself off and just get on with my work, really. I
:02:02. > :02:07.just soldier on. But now I do not quite know how I will cope with the
:02:07. > :02:11.next few days, because he is not out of the woods yet. He has got to
:02:12. > :02:16.get home, and that journey is not going to be easy. He is a
:02:16. > :02:21.remarkable man, to be going back into Homs to document the horrors
:02:21. > :02:25.of this regime and to do so at a time when we know journalists and
:02:25. > :02:30.photographers are being targeted by the Syrian regime, I think that is
:02:30. > :02:38.a remarkable act of bravery. Our thoughts go to his family. It must
:02:38. > :02:45.be an anxious time for them. Paul Conway -- Paul Conroy's colleague
:02:45. > :02:49.Marie Colvin died in the attack. A telephone hotline to help the
:02:49. > :02:52.homeless is being launched in the South West. People are being
:02:52. > :02:54.encouraged to report anyone sleeping rough so they can be
:02:54. > :03:01.offered support before it is too late.
:03:01. > :03:04.A number of homeless -- the number of homeless continues to rise. The
:03:04. > :03:13.Government snapshot shows that the number of rough sleepers increased
:03:13. > :03:17.in the South West from 270 and 2010 to 337 last year. That is up 25%.
:03:17. > :03:23.Our correspondent reports. A graveyard has been home for this
:03:23. > :03:27.man. At night, he sheltered on the steps of the Church. He has been
:03:27. > :03:33.sleeping rough on and off for a decade. It is not a nice experience,
:03:33. > :03:39.and I have even shared a blanket he was out in the cold. We snuggled up
:03:39. > :03:47.just to keep warm. I have done that. Believe it or not, the guide died
:03:47. > :03:52.the next day. Hyperthermia. number of people sleeping rough is
:03:52. > :03:58.rising across the region. There is held out there from authorities and
:03:58. > :04:01.charities such as this group which runs this drop in centre. Not all
:04:01. > :04:05.the homeless are getting the support they need to turn their
:04:06. > :04:09.lives around. A telephone hotline has been launched in Devon and
:04:09. > :04:14.Cornwall to encourage the public to report anyone sleeping rough.
:04:14. > :04:17.biggest thing is to get people to contact us and know that there is a
:04:17. > :04:22.service at the end of it. It is not reporting somebody because they
:04:22. > :04:26.think they are a bad surface -- person. It is about a supportive
:04:26. > :04:33.service that will enable that person to get the help they need.
:04:33. > :04:41.You sometimes feel when people walk by a, they pay you know he'd, you
:04:41. > :04:45.feel like you are invisible. I think the helpline would give
:04:45. > :04:51.people a bit more comfort, basically. It is a good idea.
:04:51. > :04:56.People will phone. Are they too wrapped up in their own problems in
:04:56. > :05:00.this day and age? Things are hard for everyone. I have already lost
:05:00. > :05:07.several friends to the cold. They were younger than me. In their
:05:07. > :05:11.forties. On the High Street, many - - people sleeping in doorways is
:05:11. > :05:16.common and can be difficult to deal with. Many shopkeepers welcome the
:05:16. > :05:20.hotline. In this doorway, it started off as one person sleeping,
:05:20. > :05:25.but by the end of the day, there were six people sleeping rough here.
:05:25. > :05:28.At times, the situation got volatile. If you had this hard line,
:05:28. > :05:32.you could ring them up and say, look, I have got half-a-dozen
:05:32. > :05:39.people sleeping in an empty shop next door to be. What can you do
:05:39. > :05:43.about it? This man has now found temporary accommodation. He says it
:05:43. > :05:50.will enable him to go to rehab and dry out, something impossible on
:05:50. > :05:56.the streets. There is no way, no way that I am going to go out there
:05:56. > :06:01.now that I am in here. I do not want to die in a shop doorway. That
:06:01. > :06:08.is not going to happen. That is the point of the hotline, to reach
:06:08. > :06:18.people and help them. For some, before it is too late.
:06:18. > :06:19.
:06:19. > :06:23.That a hotline number is 0800 151 3441. Joining me now is our
:06:23. > :06:28.Political Editor Martyn Oates to talk about this. The increase is
:06:28. > :06:32.striking, what is behind it? Recently, the Government brought in
:06:32. > :06:35.a rigorous methods for assessing the numbers of rough sleepers. You
:06:35. > :06:41.expect the numbers recorded to go up because the system is more
:06:41. > :06:46.accurate. But this is the second year that the new method has been
:06:46. > :06:54.used. It is worrying, because it means there has been a steep
:06:54. > :06:58.increase. I talked to a homeless charity about this. There are a
:06:58. > :07:08.number of reasons, related to the economic crisis. There are rising
:07:08. > :07:08.
:07:08. > :07:13.levels of personal debt and there have been cuts to welfare services.
:07:13. > :07:18.Why have we got such a steep increase in the South West? If you
:07:18. > :07:21.look at the three areas where there has been the biggest increase, they
:07:21. > :07:27.are also the three areas where there is the biggest gap between
:07:27. > :07:30.average earnings. And property prices on the other. How has the
:07:30. > :07:34.Government responded? Government insists that the UK has
:07:34. > :07:40.some of the best services to support the homeless in the world.
:07:40. > :07:45.It has just announced another �18 million to go into helping the
:07:45. > :07:48.problem. That is on top of the existing �400 million grant. It has
:07:48. > :07:52.also lent the challenge to local authorities to copy what has been
:07:52. > :07:56.happening in Merseyside, where there is a pledge that nobody will
:07:56. > :07:59.sleep a second night on the streets. I do not have that will go down in
:07:59. > :08:06.council chambers at this time of year, when councillors are trying
:08:06. > :08:10.to balance the books. One of the South West's largest
:08:10. > :08:13.employers has announced a multi- million-pound investment in medical
:08:13. > :08:17.research which will provide a shot in the arm for the local economy.
:08:17. > :08:26.Plymouth University is to set up a new �25 million institute which
:08:26. > :08:30.will help fight disease and also bring a jobs to the city.
:08:30. > :08:34.Knowledge is power, and the knowledge economy is expanding.
:08:34. > :08:39.Plymouth University already employees around 3,000 people in
:08:39. > :08:49.the city. It is still growing. It has just announced a �25 million
:08:49. > :08:53.investment in medical research. There has not been such a big
:08:53. > :08:58.investment in Plymouth ever into help research. It is incredibly
:08:58. > :09:01.exciting, particularly for areas such as didn't -- degenerative
:09:01. > :09:06.diseases including dementia and multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's
:09:06. > :09:11.disease, but also cancer and obesity, which are important for
:09:11. > :09:16.the whole country. This investment will initially create around 20
:09:16. > :09:20.high quality research jobs and bring it state-of-the-art Lab --
:09:20. > :09:23.laboratories and equipment. It should also enhance the
:09:23. > :09:31.University's growing reputation, bringing further expansion and more
:09:31. > :09:38.investment in the future. We would regard this as seed caught money --
:09:38. > :09:43.seed corn money to help us grow further in the future. Exeter
:09:43. > :09:47.University unveiled a similar �20 million project in January, shortly
:09:47. > :09:52.after the two founding partners of the dentistry school announced they
:09:52. > :09:56.were to go their separate ways. Both are now racing to tap into the
:09:56. > :10:02.lucrative research sector, which should be a win-win situation for
:10:02. > :10:05.the universities and the South West economy.
:10:05. > :10:08.Plymouth diver Tom Daley has been in the pool for the first time
:10:08. > :10:12.since the manager of the Great Britain squad told him to cut back
:10:12. > :10:19.on his media work to improve performance. The 17-year-old hopes
:10:19. > :10:23.to emulate fellow Plymothians Tonia Couch and Sarah Barrow by winning a
:10:23. > :10:27.medal at the World Cup. The 17-year-old has qualified for
:10:27. > :10:37.tonight's final at the World Cup, diving with Peter Waterfield in the
:10:37. > :10:38.
:10:38. > :10:47.men's synchro event. It is regarded as a test event for this year's
:10:47. > :10:51.games. It was quite nerve-racking going into the competition, but the
:10:51. > :10:55.crowd really carries you through the competition. It will really
:10:55. > :11:01.help in the final. We did our job today and got into the final, and
:11:01. > :11:07.that was the main thing. We did not dive near our best and we still
:11:07. > :11:10.scored over 400, which is good. Plymouth Jouko Tonia Couch and
:11:10. > :11:18.Sarah Barrow claimed Great Britain's first ever international
:11:18. > :11:22.diving medal for women at the World Cup last night. They jumped from
:11:22. > :11:29.8th to third place with their final drive. It was the best of the
:11:29. > :11:35.evening, taking them into the medal positions. When we are up on top of
:11:35. > :11:43.the board, I said, let's do this. We knew we could do it, but getting
:11:43. > :11:48.it there and then, it was good. Talk me through that more might --
:11:48. > :11:55.moment. It took me a while to realise. I saw the number come up
:11:55. > :12:01.and I was unsure. I heard the crowd shouting for us. It was really good.
:12:01. > :12:05.It is a big improvement and it all goes well for the biggest test of
:12:05. > :12:09.all, -- bodes well for the biggest test of all in July.
:12:09. > :12:13.We will hear from Yeovil Town's former midfielder Darren Way in a
:12:13. > :12:19.moment he was battling for compensation after devastating -- a
:12:19. > :12:22.car crash. Still to come, the children
:12:22. > :12:25.paintings bear portraits for the Palace as part of the Jubilee
:12:25. > :12:30.celebrations. # Reasons to be cheerful... # as if
:12:30. > :12:37.we needed any more reasons. A treat at the end of the programme for Ian
:12:37. > :12:41.Dury fans. Couples and single people are being
:12:41. > :12:45.encouraged to move to smaller homes in a bid to ease the housing crisis.
:12:45. > :12:49.Cornwall has 23,000 people on the housing register, more than 9,000
:12:49. > :12:54.of which are families. One Cornwall Council is calling for the
:12:54. > :12:58.expansion of a scheme which can pay social housing tenants up to �3,000
:12:58. > :13:02.if they downsize. We will speak to Nina Parnell from Age UK in a
:13:02. > :13:06.moment. First, this report from David George.
:13:06. > :13:13.Housing association tenants Mike Thorne has already downsized. He
:13:13. > :13:18.now lives in a two bedroom house. was living in a three-bedroom house.
:13:18. > :13:27.That was fine while the children were at home. When they left home,
:13:27. > :13:32.then my wife died, I thought the house was getting too big, so I
:13:32. > :13:36.moved into a smaller property. is the three-bedroom house he says
:13:36. > :13:42.he was rattling around in before he moved out one year ago. The new
:13:42. > :13:46.tenants, who have four children and were on the housing register for
:13:46. > :13:56.five years, are delighted. We are very lucky that he was in a
:13:56. > :13:57.
:13:57. > :14:03.situation to move out to allow a family to move in. Obviously, if he
:14:03. > :14:07.was -- without this home, we do not know where we would be. Cornwall
:14:07. > :14:12.council's limited scheme to encourage tenants to move will pay
:14:12. > :14:21.up to �3,000 if they downsize bike two bedrooms. One councillor says
:14:21. > :14:25.it needs to be expanded. They could be held would be packing and
:14:25. > :14:35.removal, and we could make sure they have moved to an area of their
:14:35. > :14:36.
:14:36. > :14:39.choice. It will never be forced upon anybody. Meanwhile, housing
:14:39. > :14:42.charities point out that the Government's approach is different.
:14:42. > :14:46.Changes to the housing benefit rules means that people will be
:14:46. > :14:56.paid for the size of property they need, rather than the size a
:14:56. > :14:58.
:14:58. > :15:03.property they have got. It will With me now is Nina Parnell. What
:15:03. > :15:07.do you think of this idea? I think it is a really good idea if that is
:15:07. > :15:11.what people want to do, but it has to be down to personal choice. For
:15:11. > :15:16.economic reasons it is fallible and would be helpful both to people
:15:16. > :15:24.with families, but also those struggling to make the cost of
:15:24. > :15:30.running a larger house. What are the implications for or perhaps an
:15:30. > :15:36.older parson who has lived there for 30 or 40 years? -- for an older
:15:36. > :15:40.person. There is a lot to think about. That is the important thing.
:15:40. > :15:45.We have got to think about that it is not just bricks and mortar and
:15:45. > :15:49.money, it is about an elderly person's well-being. They might
:15:49. > :15:53.have been there for 50 years. They will have social connections and
:15:53. > :15:57.they will be linked into their health surgery there, familiar bus
:15:58. > :16:03.routes, all those things. They have probably brought up a family there
:16:03. > :16:08.and they will want to visit. Family visiting is very important to an
:16:08. > :16:11.older person. The council said that nobody would be forced to do this.
:16:11. > :16:15.Do you think older people might start to feel under pressure to do
:16:15. > :16:20.it, knowing that there are so many younger families looking for a
:16:20. > :16:25.bigger houses and they might feel they have to consider downsizing?
:16:25. > :16:31.think they will. For some people they will be thinking that maybe it
:16:31. > :16:35.is time for them to considerate. We must stress that it is down to
:16:35. > :16:39.choice. When they make the move it has to be an informed decision.
:16:39. > :16:46.They have got to think about all sorts of things. Where will they
:16:46. > :16:50.move to? What social that works will be there? -- social networks.
:16:50. > :16:56.Really importantly, they have got to think about how they will
:16:56. > :17:00.facilitate the move. For you and I it is stressful, for an older
:17:00. > :17:07.person without family, all of the practicalities have to be thought
:17:07. > :17:10.about. It is more than three years since a
:17:10. > :17:16.road crash ended the career of Yeovil Town professional footballer,
:17:17. > :17:22.Darren Way. To date, he has not received any compensation. He has
:17:22. > :17:28.told BBC he feels cheated and has vowed to continue his fight Crown
:17:28. > :17:34.Court. -- the High Court. This was the crash which wrecked Darren
:17:34. > :17:43.Way's career. He was a passenger in the right -- white van. A car
:17:43. > :17:48.across the lines and collided head on. 13 operations later, he is at
:17:48. > :17:54.least able to walk. He will never play football again. He had
:17:54. > :18:01.expected financial compensation. He has not received a penny. Every day,
:18:01. > :18:06.there is a memory of the accident, whether it is the injuries are the
:18:06. > :18:12.legal case. There is not an end to the story at the moment. I just wat
:18:13. > :18:17.to be at the end of the tunnel. suffered multiple fractures and was
:18:17. > :18:21.in a wheelchair for months. The battle over compensation is taking
:18:21. > :18:25.longer. The issue is whether the driver of the other car was at
:18:25. > :18:30.fault. His insurers are claiming that he suffered a heart attack at
:18:30. > :18:37.the wheel prior to the accident and therefore, he is not culpable.
:18:37. > :18:43.Today, the company refused to comment further. Darren Way has
:18:43. > :18:47.made a video of his long road to recovery. The battle, even to walk
:18:47. > :18:51.again. He says that mentally he is still far from recovered and finds
:18:51. > :18:58.it hard to accept he is not entitled to be compensated for a
:18:58. > :19:03.lost career. I was completely innocent in all of this. It is
:19:03. > :19:10.frustrating. When you tell people the situation of what the story is,
:19:10. > :19:16.they are am as amazed as I am. -- they are as amazed. A High Court
:19:16. > :19:19.trial will be schedule for later this year.
:19:19. > :19:22.We asked the Association of British Insurers for a comment. They told
:19:22. > :19:27.us that in cases where it is proven that the driver could not have
:19:27. > :19:31.prevented the accident or had no conscious knowledge of it, then
:19:31. > :19:35.they or their insurers may not be liable.
:19:35. > :19:40.Children from across the south-west are working on self-portraits which
:19:40. > :19:43.will be projected onto the front of Buckingham Palace for the
:19:43. > :19:47.celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics. Eventually they
:19:47. > :19:55.will be pulled together to form a picture of Her Majesty the Queen,
:19:55. > :19:59.which could be a new world record. These youngsters are busy working
:19:59. > :20:03.on a national project celebrating children and young people. This
:20:03. > :20:07.class has got its pupils creating a picture where half of it is a
:20:07. > :20:14.photograph, the other half their own portrait, as abstract as they
:20:14. > :20:20.like. I am doing a picture of myself, how I think of me inside my
:20:20. > :20:28.body. Last time, I did blue hair but I didn't really like it. This
:20:28. > :20:31.time, I tried green hair. Art is when you get to draw what you want
:20:31. > :20:38.and no one tells you what exactly to do. You just feel free to do
:20:38. > :20:41.what you want. Last year, these children took part in a new forum
:20:41. > :20:46.day in London, where their ideas were discussed with other children
:20:46. > :20:50.and it helped form part of the project. The whole school has been
:20:50. > :20:57.taking part and the pictures will be uploaded onto the internet and
:20:57. > :21:04.form a montage projected onto but the young Palace. One of the
:21:04. > :21:09.children's photographs -- picture was discussed on Blue Peter. That
:21:09. > :21:17.sort of raise the profile for us. Mason has done an abstract portrait.
:21:17. > :21:21.How would you describe that? I like the colours, very complimentary.
:21:21. > :21:27.it would not have to be a normal portrait, there is no right or
:21:27. > :21:31.wrong way? It is doing something that will broaden their horizons
:21:31. > :21:35.and give them a broader experience. There is a danger that we don't
:21:35. > :21:41.have the opportunities that other places possibly do. If enough
:21:41. > :21:48.people take part this will break the world record for the number of
:21:48. > :21:53.artists working on one installation, currently standing at 28,000.
:21:53. > :21:59.There is a treat for the fans of Ian Dury in for a row over the next
:21:59. > :22:08.few days. There is a play about the singer. It is called Reasons to be
:22:08. > :22:18.Cheerful. This show is called Reasons to be
:22:18. > :22:20.
:22:20. > :22:26.Cheerful. The story is based on the efforts of a group of Ian Dury fans
:22:26. > :22:29.to get to one of his shows in 1979. He wrote about things that possibly
:22:29. > :22:39.other people find difficult to to articulate but he cut to the chase
:22:39. > :22:41.
:22:41. > :22:47.and said what needed to be said. His lyrics are so blind. We have
:22:47. > :22:51.them up on the screen. -- his lyrics are sublime. People say they
:22:51. > :23:01.have no idea how intricate and how brilliant the lyrics are, they are
:23:01. > :23:04.
:23:04. > :23:12.fantastic. As a child, Ian Dury spent a long time in Cornwall with
:23:12. > :23:16.his grandmother in Mevagissey. There is something about Ian Dury
:23:16. > :23:26.and his life that was chaotic and anarchic and terribly moving and
:23:26. > :23:28.
:23:28. > :23:35.terribly sad. It was very joyful. This is a disabled led theatre
:23:35. > :23:43.company and Ian Dury used to be a patron. The show is on until
:23:43. > :23:51.Saturday. Is the weather a reason to be
:23:51. > :23:57.Some of us had sunshine today. There are some spring flowers to
:23:57. > :24:01.enjoy. For those of us who have been stuck in the damp conditions
:24:01. > :24:07.today it has not felt cheerful. There has been some bright weather
:24:07. > :24:13.and tonight, the mild but rather cloudy conditions continue. They
:24:13. > :24:17.continue into the next couple of days. The top temperature today was
:24:17. > :24:25.14 degrees. Quite a warm day with sunshine coming through and lifting
:24:25. > :24:30.temperatures. More cloud drifting in from the north tomorrow,
:24:30. > :24:33.producing some light drizzle. You can see a high pressure giving us a
:24:33. > :24:39.lot of clear skies across the Bay of Biscay and northern France. That
:24:39. > :24:42.is not close enough. We have a weather front to the north which
:24:42. > :24:52.will thinks rough words and begin to produce rain or drizzle come the
:24:52. > :24:55.
:24:55. > :24:59.end of the day tomorrow. -- think southwards. From midday on
:24:59. > :25:03.Saturday,, it will be quite cloudy with further outbreaks of light
:25:03. > :25:11.rain and drizzle. Those visibility problems we have seen today will
:25:11. > :25:16.continue. Overnight, what holes in the cloud we see in the cloud will
:25:16. > :25:21.fill in. The mist and fog on the coast of Cornwall and Devon will
:25:21. > :25:27.continue overnight. Hill fog returning for those who have had a
:25:28. > :25:31.clearance. Clearer skies in Lyme Bay, from Torbay towards Lyme Regis.
:25:31. > :25:41.There could be some holes in a cloud and temperatures down to
:25:41. > :25:43.
:25:43. > :25:49.seven or eight degrees. Tomorrow, cloud the start with with drizzle.
:25:49. > :25:56.In the afternoon, a good clearance of league cloud in Eastern areas.
:25:56. > :26:04.The sunshine will bring temperatures up. The weather front
:26:05. > :26:12.returning at the end of the day, bringing Devon into Exmoor. --
:26:12. > :26:18.bringing drizzle. The further west you are, because
:26:18. > :26:28.it will be. -- the Kerner it will be. A fairly chilly and miserable
:26:28. > :26:58.
:26:58. > :27:02.Saturday, cloudy, dull and drizzly. Sunday, brighter. Rain returning on
:27:02. > :27:05.Monday. Have a good evening. You may
:27:05. > :27:08.remember we interviewed the owner of Plymouth Argyle earlier this
:27:08. > :27:14.week. You can watch a longer interview where he talks about the
:27:14. > :27:22.football club on the Facebook page. You do not have to have his face
:27:22. > :27:28.burka can't. -- you do not have to have a Facebook account. The