Clippings (Sept-Oct 1998)Clippings (Sept-Oct 1998)Security boost for park hit by crime (T&A 23/10/98)
Hunt for 'Artful Dodger' (T&A 21/10/98)
You're blinkered, Tories told in parking fees row (T&A 21/10/98)
Robot designed to follow people trying to escape (Yorkshire Post 15/10/98)
Video check after wedding brawl death (T&A 13/10/98)
Police may extend the 'yob video' crackdown (T&A 12/10/98)
Station to get £5,000 of improvements (T&A 12/10/98)
Police switch on a camera that recognizes your face (Observer 11/10/98)
Cameras miss out (T&A 7/10/98)
Rachel 'lured to her death', court told (T&A, 15/9/98)
Teachers shame caught on TV (T&A 15/9/98)
The ever-widening gaze of big brother (Connected@telegraph.co.uk, 10 Sept 1998)
Fury over town centre firebugs (Aire Valley Target, 10/9/98)
By Ian Lewis, Aire Valley Target, 10/9/98
Council officials are examining footage from Shipley's new CCTV cameras in a bid to catch vandals who targeted the town's recently refurbished public toilets.
The attack, which saw the inside of the re-vamped men's toilets in Market Square doused in petrol, has sparked outrage among local councillors. Shipley's town centre manager Bob Parker said: "We had to close the toilets for several hours while the cleansing department cleared everything up but if it had ignited and gone up, it would have cost a fortune.
"We're checking the footage from the CCTV cameras and are hoping they might have caught whoever did it. "
Councillor Phil Thornton (Lab, Shipley East) said the consequences of the incident could have been far more serious. He said: "I'm absolutely outraged.
"Bradford Council has taken all sorts of measures to improve facilities for people in the town centre, which have been widely. welcomed by the overall community. But a few people are intent on si)oiling it for everyone else and I'd urge anyone with any information about this to contact the police immediately. Hopefully there will be something from the cameras. And if there is' , we'll be pursuing action and pressing for the strongest possible action to be taken against these people."
The toilets were officially re-opened by the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Tony Miller, just three weeks ago following a £70,000 re-vamp which took almost three months to complete.
The work to modernise the facilities came in the wake of complaints about the condition of the toilets, which had suffered attacks from vandals, and were carried out to improve the facilities for town centre shoppers and visitors to Shipley
The improvement works have included the installation of automatic hand washing units and baby changing facilities.
T&A 15/9/98
A teacher exposed himself after standing in front of a full-length mirror in a city store, a court heard.
But John Wickers didn't realise he was being filmed by the store's closed-circuit TV cameras after his changing-room antics at Asda in Knowles Lane, Holme Wood, Bradford, were spotted by a woman shopper through a chink in the curtain.
Wickers was convicted at the city's magistrates court of indecently exposing himself with intent to insult a female. He was fined £500 and ordered to pay £210 costs. Now the 45-year-old geography teacher could lose his £22,000 a year job at a Catholic school in the Manchester area.
Stephen Gration, prosecuting, said the shopper alerted a member of staff and security cameras zoomed in on his cubicle. Wickers left the store and, when seen by police the next day, denied doing anything wrong. He changed his story when he was shown the three-minute video recording.
He told officers: "If the tape says I was, I was. I'm not going to deny it."
Wickers, of Limes Avenue, Darwen, Lancashire, denied the offence but was convicted after a 90-minute trial during which the video was shown. He told the court he had attended a conference in Bradford and was making his way home when he got lost, and noticed the Asda store. He went inside and decided to try on some swimwear.
During cross-examination, Wickers said: "I did not deliberately try to keep the curtain open. I realised towards the end that the curtain was open."
By Marianne Sumner, T&A, 15/9/98
Happy teenager Rachel Barraclough spent her last hours excited at the thought of meeting the boyfriend she loved, a jury heard today.
But she never kept the date with her lover Carl Hughes, the court was told.
Instead she was lured from a bus station by his father and taken to wasteland where she was knifed to death, it was alleged.
At the Leeds Crown Court trial where Stephen Hughes, 46, of Stanley Street, Wakefield, denies murdering Rachel of Carr Bottom Road, Bankfoot, Bradford, the jury heard a statement from her sister Jayne who said she had been excited by a phone call during the evening.
She said: "Rachel had a big smile on her face and she was saying 'yes, yes' as someone spoke to her. I could hear a male voice on the end of the phone and the person said '9pm' and she said '9pm'. My dad said where she was going and she said 'Out'. My mum said 'With Sonia?' and she said 'No'."
Rachel told her father she was going to her boyfriend Carl's house and started getting ready. Jayne said while Rachel waited for her taxi to Bradford interchange she saw Rachel was wearing a red blouse, black satin skirt, black shoes and her best coat. "I thought she looked really nice and she had made an effort to look really nice and had done her hair differently."
Earlier that day Rachel, her parents, sister and new baby had visited their grandma earlier in the day in Wibsey. When they returned Rachel's mother cooked tea while her dad listened to a Bradford City game on the radio.
The prosecution says that within hours of the happy domestic scene Rachel was knifed to death by her boyfriend's father.
The court was told how Rachel and Carl had had a fierce argument during the previous weekend. It resulted in a black eye and bruises for Rachel.
Yesterday, on the first day of the trial, the prosecution alleged Hughes had rung Rachel to say he would meet her off the bus if she came to Wakefield.
Prosecution barrister Paul Worsley QC told how several CCTV cameras showed Hughes meeting Rachel off the 9.15pm Bradford bus on September 5 last year, and walking through Wakefield.
The last picture shows them walking towards the murder scene at 9.27pm.
Hughes is spotted by the same camera walking on his own in the opposite direction at 11.24pm.
Rachel's mutilated body was discovered by three walkers on wasteland next to the River Calder in Wakefield.
She suffered 17 injuries in all including cuts to her hands which showed she tried to fight off her attacker.
Police believe the weapon used was a knife, about 7cm long, which has never been recovered.
There was evidence of a sex attack, but not enough to carry out DNA tests.
The case continues.
How CCTV helped catch a killer
(T&A 7/10/98)
SHIPLEY. Crooks used a stone to smash the window of a shop in Kirkgate and stole items from a display counter. The raid happened at Annabel's between 5am and 5.12am on Tuesday. Closed circuit television cameras were facing away from the shop at the time of the incident.
(T&A 12/10/98)
A successful police initiative in Rastrick to crack down on unruly youngsters could be extended to other parts of Brighouse. Between February and July this year officers from Brighouse station used video cameras to film teenagers causing mayhem on the streets in the evenings.
The film was then shown to parents to prove their children were angering residents with their anti-social behaviour. It was hoped a good ticking-off from the parents would stop the troublesome antics. About 20 children were captured on film.
Inspector Nick Dyson, of Brighouse police, said the scheme proved a huge success in curbing the culprits. He said: "We were getting at least four phone calls a day from residents all over Rastrick complaining about children hanging about the streets and causing mischief. It ranged from children shouting and being verbally abusive to residents to children being drunk and throwing empty bottles everywhere.
"But the calls from residents are down to one a week, if that. Once word got round about what we were doing, the trouble stopped. We won't hesitate to use the video cameras in other areas if there is similar trouble.''
He said the scheme involved officers in unmarked cars patrolling the streets to catch children red-handed. Insp Dyson added: "Previously children would run off as soon as they saw a car with police written on the side, but with a video camera we have the evidence we need. In some cases the officers would ask the children on the spot for their name and address but if they refused or ran off we would go to the local schools to ask them to help identify the children involved.''
He said a separate initiative over the summer - to stop children swimming in the canal locks at Brighouse - had also been successful. It involved an officer patrolling a two-mile stretch of the canal at regular intervals to deter youngsters from diving in.
Insp Dyson said: "We had a lot of complaints from barge owners about being unable to use the locks because children were jumping in when the locks were full of water. The boat owners complained the children would swear at them when they tried to tell them off.''
(T&A 12/10/98)
Rail and transport authorities are to form a funding partnership which will signal the start of a £500,000 facelift for Menston station, it has been revealed.
Northern Spirit is getting together with Railtrack and the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority (Metro) to plough more than half a million pounds into the scheme, which it is hoped will get under way before next April. The project will include the installation of long-awaited additional car parking spaces at the station and the creation of a bus interchange section.
Other plans include the conversion of the former porch area of the main building on the Ilkley-bound platform as a passenger waiting room, with both platforms being provided with information screens.
Staff could also be re-introduced to the station under plans to open a ticket office and a shop in the main building. And the station area, including the car park, will be covered by a high quality surveillance system with colour cameras, if costs for the project can be met.
A spokesman for Metro said: "This scheme will hopefully deliver a considerable number of benefits to passengers.
"It is also hoped that a dedicated bus link can be developed to serve outlying areas including Otley, in order that bus and rail integration can be promoted successfully."
The West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority has already approved its contribution of £222,000 towards the cost of the scheme and Northern Spirit is developing elements of it in order that work can start before the end of the financial year. Coun Audrey Brand, chairman of Ilkley Parish Council today applauded the scheme, which has been in the pipeline since 1990.
"The whole scheme will be of benefit not just to people in Menston but to residents from across the district."
(T&A 13/10/98)
Videotape of the, brawl outside Keighley's Victoria Hall, where a man collapsed and died at a wedding at the weekend, is being scrutinised by police.
The battle after a wedding feast in the hall was captured o%i the security video installed by Bradford Council to combat cartheft.
The man who died was 58-year-old Ajeeb Hussain, of Bradford Road, Keighley, who was a guest at the wedding. A postmortem examination at Airedale General Hospital, Steeton, revealed he died of natural causes. He is believed to have had a heart attack.
Ambulance crew members failed in their attempts to revive the victim at the scene and on the way to hospital.
The brawlers - said to be more than 100 strong, armed with iron bars and chains fled when police arrived at about 2.30pm on Sunday.
Two men were arrested and have been released on police bail. Two others were treated for injuries.
Police are appealing for witnesses to the fighting and especially those who saw the incident outside Keighley Leisure Centre, 30 yards from the hall, where Mr Hussain collapsed.
Yesterday relatives and friends from throughout the area arrived at Mr Hussain's home in Bradford Road to pay their respects to the family.
Yorkshire Post (15/10/98)
Big Brother could soon be following you thanks to the development of a surveillance robot designed to avoid being given the slip, it was disclosed yesterday.
The Autonomous Observer is a small mobile robot which not only watches targets but can work out their potential escape routes and reposition itself accordingly. Unlike other surveillance systems it is able to follow moving objects trying to escape detection.
Although confined to a laboratory at present, AOs could one day be used in sensitive installations to track intruders. Companies could also use the tracking software to improve their closed-circuit security systems. Following a target in this way sounds simple but is a huge challenge for robots since they must "understand" exactly what is around them.
To work out where objects are, the AO uses a laser rangefinder to add depth to images captured by a video camera. This creates a three-dimensional representation of its environment that it can refer to as it follows a target. As the AO tracks the target, it uses this model to look for the structure the target is most likely to hide behind – such as a wall or corner.
The robot then moves to give its video camera the widest possible field of view, making it harder for the target to escape.
Since the AO updates its 3D map four times a second, escaping detection becomes very difficult. To navigate, each robot uses a camera to monitor its position relative to a grid pattern on the ceiling. They should be able to work outside as well if fitted with a satellite global positioning system.
The system was developed by computer scientist Jean-Claude Latombe, of Stanford University in California. New Scientist magazine said Mr Latombe was now receiving help from the United States military.
(T&A 21 Oct 1998)
Tories on Bradford Council have been accused of being "blinkered, prejudiced and arrogant" over plans to charge for parking in 13 city centre streets.
The attack, by highways sub-committee chairman Coun Phil Thornton, came during a stormy debate about the scheme at last night's council meeting.
The leader of the Tory group, Coun Margaret Eaton, claimed Labour intended to use some of the £300,000 raised by charging for 150 spaces to extend the city-centre's closed-circuit television system.
She said a control system would be set up in City Hall, creating extra jobs. But Coun Eaton added the cameras would end up filming a ghost town as shoppers and tourists went elsewhere.
"Is this a price really worth paying in order to secure cash for additional CCTV cameras in the city centre and a new high-tech control HQ?'' she asked.
"Extending camera coverage is not going to be our salvation, although it may provide Bradford Council with an underhand way of improving its figures under the Best Value pilot project."
But Coun Thornton strongly defended the plan, which is going ahead despite hundreds of objections and an overwhelming vote against it by Telegraph & Argus readers.
He said: "The city centre trader is the person most likely to benefit.
"Bradford is well served by short-term parking spaces."
He accused the Tories of having an elitist attitude over cycling and public transport and pledged full consultation over the use of the proceeds from the pay and display scheme.
(T&A 21 Oct 1998)
Police believe a young villain who tried to steal a woman's purse in a town centre supermarket could be part of a Fagin-style gang.
The shopper targeted in Asda's Shipley store described the would-be "Artful Dodger" as no older than nine or ten and police believe he may be part of a thieving ring run by older criminals.
Detectives are now hoping he and his teenage accomplice may have been captured on footage filmed by CCTV cameras in the town centre.
Inspector Nigel Cawthorne, of Shipley police, said: "Criminals are quite prepared to use children as young as nine to assist with or carry out crimes.
"It's partly because if they're under ten they're below the age of criminal responsibility and partly because people assume they are innocent."
The pair fled empty handed after the woman shopper felt her handbag, which had been hung over the handles of her trolley, being tugged as the boy tried to remove her purse from inside.
The woman had been distracted when the older boy approached her and asked where the raisin bread was kept.
Insp Cawthorne said the incident was the latest in a series of attempted or actual bag thefts from shoppers using Asda and other town centre shops.
He added: "It's a common method and we're obviously asking shoppers to be aware that if they're asked a seemingly innocent question then someone else could be stealing their purse. Bags should be kept as secure as possible and should never be left unattended.
"The town centre CCTV operators have been informed about this matter and are looking at the footage."
The would-be boy thief, who struck at about 2pm on Monday, is described as white, aged about nine or ten, 4ft 11in and thin with dark curly hair, a sallow face and large dark eyes. He was wearing a dark coloured top.
His accomplice was aged about 15 or 16, 5ft 6in and thin with thick dark curly hair, deep eyes, a pointed chin and dressed in dark clothing.
In a separate incident a woman shopping at the Cancer Research shop in Market Square had a purse containing £35 and a bus pass stolen from her handbag at about 3.20pm on the same day.
Anyone with any information about either incident should call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
T&A Oct 23 1998
Security cameras and extra lighting will be installed in Keighley's Victoria Park to combat a dramatic increase in crime. The £92,000 safety scheme aims to attract back people who have stopped using the park, hall and leisure centre.
Staff and visitors, particularly women, have been assaulted or verbally abused, and cars have been stolen or broken into.
A brawl a fortnight ago involving up to 100 men wielding iron bars and chains ended with the death of one man.
Bradford Council's recreation chief Barry Thorne said the fight was the final straw for concerned staff. He said: "After this incident people will be even more alarmed. It's very dark and not very secure."
The new system, funded by a mix of Council and Single Regeneration Budget cash, will link the park to Keighley's central CCTV security system. Councillor Thorne said Keighley police would be able to access high-resolution pictures of people committing crimes such as car theft.
The new initiative will involve new closed-circuit TV cameras around the park, play area, kickabout pitch and three car parks. Lighting will also be increased, particularly around the leisure centre and kickabout area, enabling children to play for longer during autumn and winter months.
A ten-year-old CCTV system already covers the immediate area around the hall and leisure centre, and this will be linked to the new network. The council hopes that by increasing public safety it will restore the confidence of existing and former visitors.
In recent years security guards have been employed during live events in Victoria Hall to ensure the safety of visitors.
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