91Èȱ¬

The Inside Out team are taking a short break for the festive period but we are back with a half hour special on the .

We've a stellar cast lined up in our behind-the-scenes documentary that sees just what went into the big refit. The aim was to return the theatre to its glory days of 1901.

Make sure you tune in to 91Èȱ¬ ONE on Wednesday, 4 January 2012 at 19:30 GMT.

Have a wonderful and peaceful Christmas and see you in 2012!

Chris & all the team
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Rob Sloan has been vilified as a cheat. The accusation is that while competing in the he flagged down a passing bus, jumped off near the finish and crossed the line in third place.

Although he was stripped of the medal he insists he won it legitimately and agreed to be interviewed by me on Inside Out so he could put his side of the story.

Even he says there's something dodgy about the whole affair. However as a former soldier in the he asks: "Who in his right mind runs 24 miles of a 26-mile race, diversifies (sic) off the route, manages to find a bus, makes his way back in the race, lies in wait until the first and the second has passed then joins the race and finishes third."

Sadly there was no CCTV on the bus which would have finally proved one way or the other whether he was a bus-hopper or finished the race proper.

Yet stacked against him is a lot of circumstantial evidence.

Witnesses remember quite distinctly how a runner flagged down the spectator bus.

They recall him as wearing a vest, earrings in both ears, and text-only tattoo on his right calf.

It matches Rob Sloan to a tee.

The first thing I noticed when I met him was the tattoo. It looks like a paragraph from a book, only it's in Greek. I've certainly never seen one like it before.

As I put it to him: What are the chances of another competitor fitting that description? Even at those odds he did not waver. Whoever it was on the bus, he insists, it wasn't him.

Why hasn't he appealed against his six month running ban? Too expensive, he replies.

In his defence he turns to his runner's sat nav device. You can see more of this in the video clip below. The read-out shows him running at a constant pace for most of the marathon, but towards the close of the run it goes haywire.

His explanation is that it was because he was definitely running the end section of the course, which has tree cover and so it sent the device into a spin.

But the same evidence could be seized upon by those wanting to brand him a cheat. It went haywire, they'd say because he got on a bus and then hid amongst the trees before rejoining the race.

One thing is not in dispute. Rob Sloan can run a distance. We put him on a treadmill for three hours and he did complete what is arguably a tougher version of the 26 miles and 385 yard run.

He returned his medal and accepted a ban. No criminal offence has taken place, so there's no judge and jury other than the court of public opinion.

Rob says he wants some good to come out of the notoriety he has gained.

He wants to run the in aid of "". However fellow Sunderland born runner may have something to say about that. As organiser of both races he wants to see a full admission by Rob Sloan before he'll be given a place.

We've something of a crimewave on the show this week (Monday, 5 December 2011 at 19:30hrs GMT).

The boys and girls in blue show us just what they face when trying to tackle cable thieves and deer poachers. Meanwhile in the largest force area in England we are out with the patrols as officers adapt to big budget cuts.

Be prepared for lots of blue flashing lights and night vision cameras.

In recent months the traffic bulletins on local radio seem to have been filled with delays on the trains and metro services.

Often the common thread has been cable thieves. Even though the wires are live they risk life and limb to cut into them to get at the copper which is in such high demand.

The North East is the worst region in Britain for cable theft - something that has prompted and to almost quadruple the resources they devote to detecting and deterring the criminals.

The police say that after terrorism metal theft is their biggest priority.

In officers not only patrol hotspots they also target known offenders and give them unannounced home visits to let them know that if they nick copper they can expect a copper to nick them.

It is a very costly problem. Since April this year the has spent more than £300,000 replacing the stolen wiring. As passengers of course we ultimately pick up that bill.

Not that we are alone in this. The rise in global metal prices has fuelled this type of crime and it is indeed a global problem.

In Fresno, USA they have started as so many were being lifted and taken away.

America may also have been taking the lead on how to tackle the issue.

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Here in the UK the in which a seller will have to prove their identity.

It will be interesting to see if trying to choke the supply chain will have an effect and those of us hoping to use the train or metro can have confidence we'll get to our destination on time.

Also in the show - How have been coping with the budget cuts and how deer poachers in West Cumbria can expect the long arm of the law to catch up with them.

As always all comments are welcome on the blog.