[Mike Morley:] [music] Fresh police appeal in murder hunt.
[Dave Johnson:] We're investigating a cold-blooded execution. We badly need the help of the public.
[Mike Morley:] The man who took a one hundred and sixteen thousand pound gamble and lost.... And are we lighting up too early?
[speaker003:] with the children I know this while in front it's too soon. [music]
[Mike Morley:] A very good evening to you. An eleven year old boy has been held at gunpoint by armed raiders and forced to lead them to money and jewellery at his family home.
[Marie Ashby:] The boy's mother, father and younger brother were bound and gagged during the raid. The attack has left the family terrified for their safety.
[Mike Rowbottom:] was asleep in the early hours of the morning at his home in road Northampton. He was woken by a gun pointing to his head as he lay on the floor of his living room. Two robbers both with guns had got in through a kitchen window and were threatening to kill him.
[speaker006:] Then he said if you shout I kill you. Don't shout. Then I'm frightened. Say how many people live in this house? How many people live in this house? asleep why shut up.
[Mike Rowbottom:] Three other members of the family were pulled from their beds. Mr wife and his four year old and eleven year old sons. Mr himself was in the living room because of a back injury. They were bound and gagged with masking tape. The robbers repeatedly demanded money and jewellery. Mr eleven year old son offered to help so one of the put a gun to him and forced him to lead them to him threatening him at the same time.
[speaker006:] He shout me Dad shut up gun.
[Mike Rowbottom:] The phone was disconnected and the family's heads were put in pillowcases. Eventually they were able to raise other people in the house. Mr a forty four year old restaurant owner is still unable to sleep although his four year old son appears unaffected by what happened. The rest of the family is still terrified and don't want to be identified. The robbers described as Afro- Caribbean made off with an unspecified amount in cash and jewels. Police believe they didn't get anything near what they were expecting.
[speaker007:] It it may be because erm they believe he has access to money or money er I would say here and now that information is wrong but er there would appear to be no other motive for this attack.
[Mike Rowbottom:] For the moment detectives are stumped for the reason for the attack. They say the takings from Mr restaurant business aren't taken to the house and they've no evidence of any important jewellery being kept there. As for the family they're still frightened and they're scared that it might happen again.
[Mike Morley:] Detectives hunting the killer of a businessman who was shot dead as he walked his dogs today carried out a reconstruction involving the car and a motorbike that they think may have been used in the murder. However they admit they are no nearer a motive for the cold-blooded killing of the forty year old property developer.
[Jane Saggars:] Bouquets of flowers mark the spot where Mr Reynolds was shot dead exactly a week ago. Roses from his two children and his widow with moving tributes to the property developer police believe may have been the victim of a gangland style contract killing. Today timed to the minute a policeman wearing similar clothes posed as the motorcyclist detectives believe fired the five shots from close range in a remote country lane in Rushton in Northamptonshire.... The white motorbike with black panniers was later found abandoned in road in the town. It was here on the morning of the murder that a red Audi car then sped off from the area. Detectives say the two vehicles had been seen in and around Rushton on a number of occasions. They're appealing for urgent help from the public.
[Dave Johnson:] We're devoting hundreds of man hours at a cost of tens of thousands of pounds and of course neglecting other lines of enquiry. What we really really need the public to do is er get in touch with us and tell us of any associations between... vehicles of those types.
[Jane Saggars:] Through his business dealings the victim had been involved in a multimillion pound civil lawsuit. His home and car had been fire- bombed and Mr Reynolds had been attacked in the past. A police convoy used the streets around Rushton today in a bid to jog someone's memory to catch his killer.
[Marie Ashby:] Two teenagers who were badly injured when a horse bolted are to begin a legal fight for compensation. But their solicitor says their chances are slim unless the law can be changed.
[John Mitchell:] The schoolboys were pushing two motorbikes along this pavement when the accident happened. Three horses were being led down the lane opposite when one bolted across the road. Thirteen year old Keith and fourteen year old Colin suffered severe injuries. Five weeks later Colin is still in intensive care.
[speaker010:] The boys were waiting to cross the road here and the horse came down this lane, galloped straight across the road in front of the traffic... then onto the pavement, tried to jump over the boys... and jumped onto the boys. And Colin finished up just down here on the pavement and Keith maybe a few yards further down er with very bad injuries.
[Mike Morley:] He's had to have his spleen out, his spleen has burst inside him. Erm that was a bad time er a critical time, they didn't know if he were gonna live or die then... erm he's had a number of transfusions to keep him alive... but er he's stable at the moment.
[John Mitchell:] In cases like this the solicitor says the law favours the horse owner rather than the victims.
[Dave Johnson:] It does seem extraordinary and indeed we're hoping that we can change the law with this case. Because really in my view it should be that once something like this happened then it should be on the owners to prove they haven't been negligent. That there should be a presumption of negligence and for them to show that they've done nothing wrong.
[speaker010:] I don't want anybody to go through what we've been through. It's hell. I don't want erm I to wish this on my worst enemy. It's a nightmare.
[John Mitchell:] The families are now appealing for witnesses. Today the owners of the horse were unavailable for comment but their solicitor said that while they accepted the horse broke loose they do not accept liability and are disputing any claim the horse caused the boys' injuries.
[Mike Morley:] A teenager who thought that he'd won more than a hundred thousand pounds on a bet has today been told that he'll get just seven hundred and twenty eight pounds. After five months of arguments a special committee has ruled that the bet wasn't valid.
[speaker003:] Phil who's seventeen and works as a barman in Mansfield Woodhouse in Nottinghamshire thought he'd won one hundred and sixteen thousand pounds by correctly predicting the first three horses in the Derby. Ladbrokes accepted the bet without hesitation but claimed afterwards that their rules clearly state they can't take on such wagers. They agreed to pay him thirty three thousand pounds but he rejected the offer. Today the Tattersalls betting disputes committee met in London and ruled in Ladbrokes' favour. Now Phil will get just seven hundred and twenty eight pounds, the thirty three thousand pounds offer is no longer on the table.
[Marie Ashby:] You're watching Central News here in the East Midlands, coming up next... Police appeal for information after a horse is stabbed to death.... Cash help for surgeons still waiting for keyhole training.... And boring or brilliant, are the Christmas lights going up too early? [music]
[Mike Morley:] An investigation has started into an attack on a pony which was left dead and mutilated in a field. The police say it was one of the worst attacks that they've seen on a horse.
[Marie Ashby:] Police were called in after the fourteen month old grey colt was found dead on a farm on road in Lincoln. The attack happened on Saturday night or early Sunday morning. Police say a sharp instrument possibly a knife was used to mutilate the animal. They describe the attack on the pony as malicious and are appealing for information.
[Mike Rowbottom:] Anybody who might have been er at the Tesco store on Saturday any time during the day who might have seen the pony or even... people who walk their dogs because the field's used quite extensively for dog walkers.
[Marie Ashby:] The police are appealing to horse and pony owners to be extra vigilant. Detectives investigating the murder of a woman at her home are following up new leads. They're appealing for help in tracing a red car. who was thirty was strangled at her house in the Peartree area of Derby. The car was parked near her her home on road last Tuesday. The body was discovered that night. Meanwhile two people who were held for questioning over the weekend have been released without charge.
[Mike Morley:] Figures just out show that coal imports have risen by five hundred percent over the past ten years. It comes just days after the announcement that even more East Midlands pits could be closed down.
[speaker006:] The figures released by the government show clearly the economic problems facing what's left of Britain's mining industry. In the ten years between nineteen eighty two and nineteen ninety two imports have risen from four million tons to twenty million tons. During the same period sales to the domestic market fell from one hundred and seven million tons to eighty million. And as a result the amount of coal produced by Britain's deep mines has fallen substantially. The government says these are the harsh economic realities faced by the industry. Mining unions who've been told even more pits may soon close say the government must do more to secure orders.
[Marie Ashby:] Meanwhile residents have begun a campaign to stop a former pit being turned into a waste recycling plant. The scheme could provide more than a hundred jobs.
[speaker007:] The campaigners all live within sight of Silverhill Colliery which shut down a year ago. The U D M is planning to set up a giant recycling plant here to provide employment for an area badly hit by pit closures. Local people say they don't want it.
[Jane Saggars:] Filth, dust, pollution, children getting run over on the roads, road traffic.
[John Mitchell:] I don't think any of the committee disagree with the fact that people want jobs. This is what we're not against that. Er but it's at what cost to the environment that these jobs are provided.
[speaker010:] Some of these residents have lived in this road particularly all their lives and they've suffered the traumas of living next to a pit and are absolutely horrified er at the prospects of what is basically going to be a scrap yard.
[speaker007:] A decision on whether the plant will be given the go-ahead will be taken early next year.
[Mike Morley:] Hospital authorities are worried because surgeons and nurses aren't getting enough training in a fast developing new form of surgery. So called keyhole surgery is being hailed as the way most operations will be carried out in the future but only a minority of surgeons can actually do it. Now thousands of pounds is being spent to make sure that they know all about it. For this patient at Leicester General Hospital the T V screens are what make the operating theatre different. Shortly the screens will give the surgeon their only view of the patient's abdomen. The operation is one of hundreds that have been carried out in the last few years by keyhole surgery.
[Dave Johnson:] The area of surgery has expanded at an incredible speed from virtually from nothing three years ago to taking over as much as fifty percent or even seventy five percent of general surgery.
[Mike Morley:] But the training of surgeons and operating teams for keyhole surgery isn't keeping up with demand so Trent Health Authority is spending a hundred and fifty thousand pounds on a training centre at Leicester General.
[Dave Johnson:] Around the country there have been isolated examples of operations going wrong perhaps because surgeons have not had good enough training.
[Mike Morley:] For the patients keyhole surgery means no big scar. It's done through holes a centimetre across. There's less pain and a quicker recovery. For the surgeon suddenly everything's in closeup.
[Dave Johnson:] A lot of the operations now I do I think I can do better that I'm now seeing detail that I never saw before with the naked eye.
[Mike Morley:] At the moment it's mainly gall bladder and gynaecology patients who benefit but the skills the Leicester General will be passing on should mean more toddlers will be having operations through the keyhole too.
[Marie Ashby:] Apologies if you're eating your tea. A city council has come under fire for putting up its Christmas lights too early. Some businessmen say they're losing trade as a result because... people are getting bored with Christmas weeks before it arrives.
[speaker003:] [shouting] Oyez, oyez, oyez. Here in the town hall square in Leicester the city engineers are starting the erection of the Christmas lights. [] Already there are lights everywhere in Leicester but no sign of Christmas. Many businessmen say the big switch on is proving a big switch off for shoppers.
[Marie Ashby:] Lights and everything like that is is is lovely to see but you see they've got lights here in Leicester which other cities and places haven't got. We've so we've got an extended night lighting er er display going on for er two months or more.
[speaker003:] Other retailers don't agree and say the lights are essential to creating a happy and relaxed mood in the run up to Christmas. But many shoppers aren't so convinced.
[Mike Rowbottom:] Christmas doesn't start until the end of December really or twenty fifth of December and you've got Guy Fawkes to come yet and Halloween and all that.
[speaker003:] I think it spoils it for children it makes them it seems too long for them they're looking forward to Christmas.
[speaker006:] I always feel it takes some of the magic away if you put things up too early.
[speaker003:] Leicester City Council says that with forty thousand light bulbs to install it doesn't really have any alternative to starting so early.
[speaker007:] We to put the decorations up in th in a s in a short time limit, the decorations take quite a long time to put up and as you know the decorations are erm are very famous er they're nationally recognized.
[speaker003:] With signs the recession is ending the next two months will show whether the Leicester lights help or hinder shopkeepers.
[Mike Morley:] Now though it's time for the break and coming up after that... crossing the channel with those magnificent men in their microlight.... In sport reds blushes speedy chops forest down... And preparing to take America by storm. [music]
[Marie Ashby:] Two businessmen have just completed an epic journey which has taken them across the English Channel in a microlight aircraft. They took up flying for a hobby and say all you need is courage and a taste for adventure.
[Jane Saggars:] A little shaky a little bumpy the start of a thousand mile journey that would test endurance to the limit. Pilots Philip and Ian began their challenge in southwestern France. The aim to compete against the elements and fly the craft safety home to Nottinghamshire. The flight was a tribute to a fellow enthusiast who died earlier this year from cancer. Ten thousand feet up there's just you and the clouds. With no telling when a sudden bout of turbulence can mean a sudden landing. Not far from the Channel the two surprised a French farmer and his family when forced to land unexpectedly.
[John Mitchell:] We put down er obviously a local gendarmerie came along to see what was actually happening and actually bent over backwards to help us. It was absolutely terrific. Er they actually took us to the petrol station to get more fuel and after a er five course lunch with the local farmer and his family er which was all very nice and er not too much wine of course as you can well appreciate erm we telephoned the gendarmerie and they came along and er closed the main road for er approximately twenty minutes and we took off on a road.
[Jane Saggars:] The next stage of the journey was the most perilous, the crossing of the English channel. The last time a group of pilots attempted the trip an engine failed... a pilot crashed and drowned. But this time success. Back on the ground in Nottinghamshire Philip has nothing but praise for his flying machine.... Tell us about the propeller, it's behind you on a machine like this?
[John Mitchell:] Yes it's er actually pushing you along rather than the sort of conventional aeroplane light aircraft er which normally er pull you along. Erm as you can see it's er had quite a lot of damage on it since we actually came back but er it's been a very very trustworthy er propeller and engine. It's er the actual engine is er a Rotax five eight two and er it never let us down once. Er we're really we're really pleased with it.
[Jane Saggars:] And the next journey an even greater challenge. A microlight flight across China.
[Mike Morley:] Wow and from those dizzy heights to the new depths that Forest has sunk to here's Keith with all today's sport.
[speaker010:] Mm and in our magnificent Monday montage we pay our regular visit to Goal City.... Just the one at Leicester but strike makes the foxes that top dogs.... And Derby are on the scent of promotion too after shattering Crystal Palace at the B B G.... Walker wings in as the magpies pinch a point against Portsmouth.... There's no hanging about here tonight it's straight into the action from all the weekend and we start with the big match at Filbert Street, Leicester City against Nottingham Forest. [music]
[Mike Morley:] Leicester's new stand will be ready by Christmas. Some of the Filbert Street faithful reckon they'll have clinched promotion by then too.... was about to introduce a note of caution. Leicester are on a high though this season while Forest are very hit and miss.... David certainly more hit than miss, goal number eight of the season coming from this corner.... You just can't keep a good man down even if he is only five foot seven. Ironically Leicester are heading for the top using Brian Clough's style of passing football and it's Forest who are reverting to more of the long ball game. Leicester particularly dangerous from set pieces too. A speedy show.... It's all going wrong for Forest just when Frank Clark thought his problems were coming to an end.... Even Stan could only find one opening [tape change]