MAN QUESTIONED OVER FATAL CRASH

Police are continuing to question a man arrested in connection with a crash after which a seven-year-old boy died. Dexter Watts was struck by a Vauxhall Vectra on High Street, Smethwick, at about 1700 BST on Monday. West Midlands Police said a 27-year-old man from Oldbury, arrested on suspicion of failing to stop after the accident, remained in custody on Wednesday. Two 23-year-old Oldbury women, detained on suspicion of perverting the course of justice, also remains in custody. Police said a man and two women were in the car that hit Dexter, who lived in Smethwick. He was taken to Birmingham's City Hospital suffering from head and internal injuries, but died there later. Officers are appealing for anyone who witnessed the collision, which happened near the junction with Corbett Street, to come forward.

SHOP PETROL BOMB VICTIM "SERIOUS"

 

SATELLITE TAGGING  LAUNCHED IN MIDLANDS
The home secretary, David Blunkett, today launched the first project in Europe to use satellites to track paedophiles and other criminal offenders.
Mr Blunkett launched the initiative, which uses a new generation of electronic tags, in Manchester. He described it as a "prison without bars" that can pinpoint an offender's position to within six and a half feet. A pilot programme using the satellite-linked technology will involve up to 120 offenders being tagged across three trial areas - Manchester, the West Midlands and Hampshire.
If the trial is successful, the new generation tags could be fitted to thousands of offenders across the country. The technology is being used to track sex offenders, domestic violence offenders and prolific offenders.
Mr Blunkett said the pilot scheme would ensure the system was "robust and reliable" and it would be expanded "as soon as possible".
"The public have to be confident that this 'prison without bars' works, and that it gives the police and probation services the tools they need to protect them," he said.
Ministers have put aside £3m to cover the cost of the 12-month project, which is thought likely to cost an average of £68 a day per offender. It uses global positioning system satellites, backed, in some cases, by mobile phone technology, to monitor offenders' movements.
The system will sound an alarm if, for example, a tagged paedophile entered an area from which he or she had been banned, such as a playground or school, alerting police.
Offenders will be tracked following their release from jail or as part of a new community penalty, the exclusion order, which courts can impose to prevent an offender from going to specific locations.
It will also be used as part of existing intensive supervision and surveillance programmes for persistent juvenile offenders.

RECORD PASSENGERS FOR BIRMINGHAM AIRPORT
Birmingham International Airport has welcomed record annual passenger figures and said the numbers reflected growing confidence in the aviation sector.
The airport registered an 8.2 per cent rise in turnover to almost £110m during the last financial year, according to its annual report.
Results for the year to the end of March also revealed that passengers numbers increased by 11.5 per cent to 9.2 million, and profit was also up by more than a quarter to £19.9 million.
Commenting on the report, airport chairman John Hudson said: "Over the last 12 months, Birmingham International Airport has continued to reinforce its position as the Midlands' premier airport.
"It has seen new records for passenger throughput, additional routes and frequencies have been added to the network, and the airport has been selected as the Government's preferred site for an additional runway in the Midlands.
"Against this, increasing competition continues to generate significant challenges for the business, but our commitment to provide high quality services in an efficient and cost-effective manner has been recognised by our airlines as they further develop their activities."

PAIR HELD AFTER MAN BADLY BURNED
A man in his 40s suffered 50% burns in a suspected arson attack on his home.
West Midlands Police said the fire at a house in the Hamstead area of Birmingham, also forced a woman in her 30s to jump from a first floor window.
Two people have been arrested on suspicion of setting fire to the property in Langdale Road on Tuesday night.
A police spokesman said: "It's believed a propellant was used and the fire is being treated as suspicious."

BRMB DJ HAS A BASH AT GROWING A TACHE
New BRMB Breakfast show DJ, Elliott Webb, will be sporting a slightly different look for September as he is taking on a hairy charity challenge and growing a tache for the Everyman Campaign to raise vital funds for research into testicular and prostate cancers.
Last year’s campaign raised over £100,000 which went directly to support research into prostate and testicular cancer at the Everyman male cancer research centre. This year’s campaign is being sponsored by Yorkie and if there’s one thing other than Yorkie that’s Not for Girls, it’s a tache.
Elliott from the ‘Big Brum Breakfast’ is slightly wary of this challenge, “I’m not sure what I will look like with a tache but I’m sure it’ll raise a laugh with my co-host Claire and the listeners.I will be doing regular updates on my tache growth during September discussing my varying tache experiences! It’s all for a good cause and I hope I encourage more men to take the TacheBack challenge and to raise money for Everyman.”
The rules of TacheBack are simple. Growth should happen during September and beards are not allowed. Men just need to grow a tache and get their friends and colleagues to sponsor them.
Everyman was set up by The Institute of Cancer Research in 1997 specifically to raise awareness of and funds for prostate and testicular cancers. All the money raised by this campaign will go directly towards supporting research at the only dedicated male cancer research centre that was set up by The Institute.
Alison Morgan from the Everyman Campaign said, “We are delighted that Elliott Webb is taking the plunge and growing a tache. TacheBack is a fun and easy way for any man to raise money for our charity and we hope to raise even more than last year so that our scientists can find out more about testicular and prostate cancers.”
For more information about joining in with the challenge and how to go about getting sponsorship please call 0800 7319468 or look at www.tacheback.com
 

FIGHTING BACK AGAINST MRSA
Hospitals battling the MRSA superbug have been given a boost in a £5 million programme to help small businesses.
AddMaster, of Stafford, is being helped to set up a new base to continue developing a product to control the killer bug, which is believed to be partly spread by poor hygiene.
The company, launched four years ago by self-taught chemist Paul Morris, produces additives for the plastics industry, but has been hailed for its success in developing an additive said to halt the growth of MRSA germs.
The formula is being kept a closely guarded secret as the firm continues with its development with grants and advice from a local business support partnership.
Mr Morris said it could be used to help keep hospital floors, beds, rubbish bins, cubicle curtains, laundry bags and even nurses uniforms free of the superbug germs. "We've had a grant for our website, a lot of business advice and a diversification grant."

AXE POISED OVER LAND ROVER AND JAGUAR JOBS
Thousands of jobs are on the line at the Ford Premier Automotive Group Land Rover and Jaguar plants, a British newspaper said on Thursday.
 The jobs may be axed as the plants - Land Rover’s Lode Lane, Solihull facility near Birmingham, and a Jaguar plant in Coventry - fight for survival.
A report in the Sun said Ford has warned it may shut the two factories and has already told workers at the Solihull factory the Land Rover plant was in doubt. Ford could also shut Jaguar’s main Coventry factory – where the XJ8 and XK8 model lines are assembled - within two years with the loss of up to 2,500 jobs, the Sun added.
Premier Automotive Group lost £202 million ($US361.4 million) in the last quarter.
According to the newspaper, PAG head Mark Field on Wednesday rejected a survival plan proposed for Solihull and has given the management and its 8,000 workers a week to rewrite it.
Jaguar and Land Rover chairman Joe Greenwell reportedly told The Sun: “We want to succeed with Land Rover and keep Solihull. We won’t accept a fudge.”
The paper noted that production of the next-generation Land Rover Freelander will be moved next year to the Jaguar X Type factory on Merseyside, shifting 1,000 Solihull jobs to the Halewood factory.
According to the Sun, Field said: “We’re talking about the future of the plant and the team has to deliver.”
Spokespersons for Land Rover and Ford have so far declined to comment directly on the reports.

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MAN TRIED TO BURN RAPE VICTIM
A terrified young woman was trapped inside a burning car by a man as he tried to murder her hours after cutting off her hair and raping her, a court heard today.
Justin Clements, 23, allegedly threatened to butcher his victim as he tied her to a bed with electric cables before chopping at her long blonde hair and clothes.
He then drove her to a road bridge where he torched her car and held her inside as it burned in a bid to kill them both, the jury was told.
They only escaped within minutes of the vehicle exploding after she begged him to save her life, the jury at Birmingham Crown Court heard.
Clements, of Harthorne Road, Littleover, Derbyshire, denies attempted murder, arson with intent and rape on February 6.The jury was told he has admitted arson, being reckless as to whether life was endangered.

CASE AGAINST POLICE OFFICER DELAYED
The case against a policeman accused of careless driving as he answered an emergency call was adjourned in his absence today.
Pc James Nicholas Hibbert, 39, is charged with driving without due care and attention when his unmarked car collided with 12-year-old Sadie Stevens, who later had her right leg amputated.
Hibbert, of West Midlands Police, was not required to attend today’s hearing after his solicitor submitted a letter to the court.
Magistrates in Birmingham adjourned the case until October 1, although the proceedings may be transferred to Staffordshire in light of Hibbert’s employment as a police officer.
Sadie, from Newtown, Birmingham, was injured on the A34 on February 7, this year.Then aged 11, she was admitted to the city’s children’s hospital, where surgeons decided to amputate the limb below the knee.

BULLRING - UK'S BUSIEST SHOPPING CENTRE
In the 12 months since the £530 million Bullring opened to the public, it has welcomed more than 36.5 million shoppers - making it Britain's busiest shopping centre. By the close of business on Wednesday 36,613,580 people had wandered through the centre, spending more than £400 million, over the past 12 months. A new survey, commissioned for the centre's first birthday, revealed shoppers spend an average of 94 minutes inside the mall, and 53 per cent of them then visit other retailers in the city including House of Fraser, Marks and Spencer, and Pavilion Central.
Tim Walley, Bullring's general manager said: "The impact on the city has been a boom to the local economy. Retail is now a major employment sector here, and tourism has benefited as hotel occupancy has risen.
"Birmingham is finally gaining a reputation as a top flight shopping destination."
With more than 600,000 people a week visiting the centre, Bullring is now regarded as a tourist attraction in its own right.

CRITICISM OF RAIL SERVICES
A rail watchdog is criticising the industry for not coming up with alternatives to services that are to be cut later in the month.
Services between Birmingham New Street, Birmingham International and Coventry will be reduced from 27 September.
The West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority says only one extra relief train will be on standby for off-peak weekday services, after cuts are made.
The watchdog says it called a meeting with the rail industry and gave it a week to suggest ways of addressing gaps in services under the proposed new timetable.
It added that the extra relief train was proposed in a joint response from Network Rail, the Strategic Rail Authority and train operating companies.
The watchdog claims the cuts will lead to even more overcrowded trains.
It says that on Saturdays there will be two big gaps every hour, along with a 40% reduction in the number of seats.
On weekdays there will be three departures from Birmingham New Street in six minutes, followed by a 24-minute gap, under the latest proposals.

GIRL RAPED BY YOUTHS
A 14-year-old girl has been raped by a gang of youths in Birmingham.
West Midlands Police said the teenager was attacked as she walked along Stratford Road in Sparkhill at about 2100 BST on Wednesday.
As the victim neared the swimming baths, three youths surrounded her and dragged her into some bushes.
Police described the attackers as Asian and aged about 16 and have also appealed for anyone with information to come forward.

CAR PARK WATCH LAUNCHED IN BIRMINGHAM CITY CENTRE
‘Don’t stand and stare, show you care’, is the latest police message to users of Birmingham city centre parks, as motorists and car park attendants are being actively encouraged to be vigilant and reduce vehicle crime even further.
Figures up to the end of July show vehicle crime in Birmingham city centre has almost halved – down 48 per cent – from 881 offences at the same period last year to 459 offences this year.
Officers are keen to continue their success and hope the new ‘Car Park Watch’ scheme will encourage car park users and attendants to be alert and report any suspicious activity.
Reporting forms are being given to car park attendants and will prompt them to record a full description of all the circumstances surrounding a criminal incident such as breaking of windows and theft from a vehicle, or suspicious behaviour such as people loitering in the area.
Motorists using city centre car parks will be given a leaflet to keep in their car, asking them to ‘do something positive’ if they see a vehicle crime. They will be asked to record details of the incident on the leaflet, which can then be passed on to a car park attendant or police officer.
Inspector Karl Agg, from Central Birmingham operational command unit, said: “Everybody can play a vital role in making it too difficult for criminals to commit car park crime. Many people witness vehicle crimes taking place, but don’t realise what a difference they can make by letting us know what they have seen.
“Our message to motorists is: don’t stand and stare, show you care and report it now.”

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6th.September 2004