07/04/2017 Spotlight

There's concern over the increasing number of young people who've been

admitted to hospital for self-harming in the South West.

In the last five years the number has risen to more than 1,700 -

Social media and cyber bullying are being blamed.

Our Health Correspondent, Jenny Walrond, has been to meet

the parents of a girl who began self-harming when she was 12.

Tina Mitchell's daughter, Zoe, began cutting herself when she was

Her problems have since escalated into multiple suicide attempts.

Just after her 14th birthday, she took her first overdose.

In four years, we've had between 30 and 35 admissions to hospital

for suicide attempts, self harm, cutting and suicidal thoughts.

Figures that the BBC has obtained through a Freedom

of Information request show that in many of our hospitals in recent

years, there has been an increase in the number of teenagers who have

In the 2011-12 financial year, 1,088 young people aged between

12 and 18 were admitted to hospital for self-harming in the South West.

Five years later, that figure had risen to 1,781 -

Zoe and her family still need help and live with constant anxiety.

The worst time is when I have to go and knock on her door

in the morning, because I don't honestly know

I don't know if my daughter is going to be alive or dead.

Now, a brief roundup of other stories this evening.

Part of a North Devon seaside town was evacuated after an unexploded

US landmine was uncovered today at Parade House in Woolacombe.

The mine, from the Second World War, was safely blown up on Woolacombe

A beach in Cornwall next to a harbour featured in the

BBC drama Poldark has been closed for the foreseeable future

Tonnes of rock fell on to East Beach in Charlestown on Wednesday.

Controversial plans for a ?4 million whiskey distillery at Princetown

on Dartmoor have been approved by the National Park Authority.

Dozens of objections were raised by residents concerned

Others, however, backed the plan by Princetown Distilleries Limited,

saying it would bring a much needed boost to the local economy.

Traditional cider makers in the South West fear they could be

hit with tax increases as a result of new government proposals

to tackle the abuse of cheap, high-alcohol brands.

The government says it appreciates the important role artisan cider

makers play in the rural economy and doesn't want them to suffer -

but cider makers fear it won't be that simple.

Here's our Political Editor, Martyn Oates.

Not for the first time, the government has cheap,

Mass produced high-strength white cider is

associated by public health organisations with problem drinking.

But a cider with 7.5% alcohol attracts the same level of duty

The government's now considering a duty increase

It's going to be dispatched later on this week.

The Treasury also says it wants to avoid any impact on traditional

This white cider would be regarded by artisan cider makers as very

different from the products they make.

But there is one obvious similarity - the strength.

If you look at this artisan cider from a

well-known Somerset producer, the strength is in 7.4.

The strongest cider made here is still a hefty 6.5.

Traditionally, English cider tends to be pretty potent.

So it's difficult to see how, if the government increases duty

based on strength alone, it can avoid clobbering

But could the solution perhaps lie here, in the orchard?

After all, artisan cider makers say it's the

high apple juice content which makes their cider special.

I'm just suggesting that you could invoke a percentage,

a minimal percentage of apple juice in your cider.

And at the moment, I'm saying it's very, very low.

It could be raised up, and that would protect our interests.

Cider makers now have until June to make this,

or other suggestions, to the government.

Tonight is the last night on the streets for a vicar

from Devon who decided he'd sleep rough for Lent.

Father Gary Deighton, who's the vicar of St George's

in Goodrington, wanted to raise money and awareness

It's been much worse than I thought it was going to be.

I thought the real issue would be the cold and the wet.

And the cold and the wet is bad, but actually, what's really bad

is just the kind of low level of fear you've got.

Any noise, any tin can, any whistling in the wind,

and straightaway, you're alert and worried that something

lets get the weekend weather now from Dan.

Good evening. It's been a fine end to the day, but with mostly clear

skies it does mean a cold start to the weekend. Same fine and dry.

Warmer than the past couple of days with a lot of sunshine around, too.

High-pressure edges away slightly to the east during Sunday allowing this

were different to come in through Monday, turning in cloudy and cold

again. The bulk of the rain is looking to be -- but the bulk of the

weekend is looking to be fine and dry. More in the way of mist and fog

patches forming, particularly to the East, overnight. Temperatures

reaching lows of 2-3 Celsius. The risk of some patchy frost. We start

off with one or two patchy fog areas that they will clear. The rest of

the day looks fine and bright. Hardly a cloud in the sky for many

of us. With warm air coming from the south, temperatures could hit 17-18

Celsius. Into Sunday, generally fine and bright. We Katie Clark pushing

into the Isles of Scilly and Cornwall into the afternoon. -- we

could see cloud pushing into the Isles of Scilly. We could see 19

Celsius. It is change into Monday. Turning cloudy and also feeling that

much cooler with temperatures nearer to the average for this time of

year. The next Spotlight

is tomorrow at 18:45. Monday, and north-westerly wind will

drag in more cloud and temperatures will be down by 8-9 .

Hello, my advice would be to make the most of the weather this

weekend, if you can. Because there will be a good day love sunshine on

offer and it will continue to warm up as well. This picture was taken

in Cumbria, at Workington, later in the afternoon. We