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00:00Thanks Jane. You're watching South East today. Our top story tonight.
00:04The life-changing injuries suffered by a Sussex man who contracted sepsis after cancer treatment.
00:12I can't walk anywhere. I have trouble breathing. I'm on a CPAC machine for 12 hours a day.
00:21Engineers working on the giant Godson sinkhole discover a network of Victorian tunnels around the site.
00:27We're in the village tonight where residents are getting an update.
00:32After giving years of public service, the police dogs left without any financial support in retirement.
00:39If they require emergency veterinary care and they're not able to access it because the owner can't afford it, they ultimately will be put to sleep.
00:46And offering bees a choice of trees. The project at Wakehurst identifying the plants preferred by pollinators.
00:57Welcome to the programme. I'm Natalie Graham.
01:08First tonight, the man from Sussex who was left begging for help from doctors when he suffered life-changing injuries caused by failures at his local hospitals.
01:19Paul Robinson contracted recurring sepsis throughout the year after his cancer treatment.
01:24Speaking for the first time about his experience, Mr Robinson says he's lost his freedom, his confidence and almost lost his will to live.
01:33Our health correspondent Mark Norman has our exclusive report.
01:37In 2018, Paul Robinson became seriously ill after treatment for cancer.
01:43He had developed sepsis.
01:45His family then say he was left almost a year without treatment.
01:49They were, in their words, begging for help.
01:52The pain, just so intense.
01:56And I look and I think, life every day, I don't really want to get out of bed because I get out of bed.
02:09What have I got to look forward to?
02:12I can't walk anywhere.
02:14I have trouble breathing.
02:16I'm on a CPAC machine for 12 hours a day, sometimes 12 hours at night to sleep.
02:27There's just nothing to look forward to.
02:30I have overwhelming guilt that I allowed this to happen.
02:33I can't believe this happened and I still think I'm in shock that nobody, but nobody helped us.
02:44I want Robbo to get better every day.
02:47I want that man to get better.
02:49He's not going to get better.
02:53Eventually, Paul was transferred to a London hospital, which spent five years treating his sepsis and the huge impact it had had on his body.
03:02Believing they were being ignored by the Sussex Hospital Trust, they began legal action.
03:07At the heart of this, Robbo deserves answers and we're really determined to secure that for him and the lessons that need to be learned from these identified care issues.
03:18And there are wider issues at this trust in particular that we know are being investigated.
03:24And it's just really important that the truth is shared with these patients and their families.
03:28Sepsis is a condition that you might not think about.
03:31It can present in a variety of different ways.
03:34Sepsis and identifying sepsis is a priority for the NHS.
03:38Sepsis is a huge problem.
03:40We see more people with sepsis every year in our NHS than we do with heart attacks.
03:44It's a quarter of a million people every single year.
03:48Now, of course, sadly, some of those people will die.
03:51That's around 48,000.
03:53But among survivors, around half of survivors have long term consequence.
03:59And they can be psychological.
04:01They can be cognitive in terms of brain fog.
04:04And they can be physical.
04:05Today, University Hospital Sussex told us that while they can't publicly discuss any of the details of the case,
04:12they wanted to offer their heartfelt sympathies to Paul and his family.
04:16The trust said it knows that the family have many concerns about Mr Robinson's care
04:21and that they're committed to supporting the legal proceedings to ensure the family get the answers they need.
04:27I've lost my dignity.
04:34My boys have suffered.
04:39Karen, my wife, she's had two strokes in five years.
04:48I don't know where the next one's coming from.
04:51She has to look after me.
04:53Her left, right and centre.
04:5524-hour care.
04:57It took 11 months of my husband rotting from the inside from a bacterial infection, sepsis,
05:05before someone at last referred us up to London.
05:09What I really want is that this to never happen to anybody ever again.
05:15I don't want any family to go through this.
05:18The couple are determined to pursue their case against the hospital trust,
05:23but at the same time, as a result of Paul's illness and his inability to work,
05:27they face losing their family home,
05:30something both fear could harm Paul's health even further.
05:34Mark joins me now.
05:35Such a harrowing case, Mark.
05:38Just remind us why sepsis is so hard to spot.
05:42Yeah, there are a lot of symptoms for sepsis,
05:44but they look like a lot of other things.
05:46Sometimes something as simple as a cold or flu,
05:49it's massively important you catch it early,
05:51but it's incredibly difficult to spot and identify early,
05:54and that's the dilemma.
05:55Sometimes symptoms can include being confused,
05:57maybe problems with breathing, maybe problems with your skin,
06:00but they can be vague, they can be variable,
06:03be particularly difficult in children.
06:05And throw into all of that, there's no definitive test for it
06:07to just add layer upon layer of complication.
06:10An interesting line in the NHS website about sepsis,
06:13it said patients should trust their instincts
06:15and speak to doctors if they suspect sepsis.
06:17I had an email from a lovely lady called Jenny today
06:20who'd done just that.
06:21She was treated and it went well.
06:23But as you say, Paul's case is harrowing
06:24and it simply didn't go well for them.
06:26No, it didn't.
06:27Mark, thank you.
06:28Now we can reveal tonight that engineers working on the giant sinkhole
06:34in Godstone have found a network of tunnels around the site.
06:37The tunnels were built for mining in the 19th century,
06:41although experts say they didn't necessarily cause the major collapse in February.
06:46Residents are being told this evening that the main road through the village
06:50may reopen in December.
06:52Piers Hopgirk has the latest.
06:54More than 16 weeks since the sinkhole swallowed up a section of Godstone High Street
07:00and today the emergence of a major clue into what may have caused it.
07:05Surveyors discovering Victorian mine workings located right next to the collapsed site.
07:10We have recently discovered that there are what we suspected,
07:15if you call it a network of tunnels or caves or voids
07:19that were man-made in the mid-1800s to extract sand.
07:23So we've managed to locate those.
07:26They're about eight metres down under the surface, so quite deep.
07:29And currently we're investigating and surveying those
07:33to then plot them and see the extent of them.
07:37Knowing then that there's a network of tunnels underneath here,
07:39what does that mean then for the time frame of finally getting the road open?
07:43We've been telling the residents that we're likely to be finished
07:45by the early part of December, and that still remains the case.
07:49But the programme that we've got has a lot of assumptions in it.
07:54So another six months' work to repair the void that cut the village in two
07:58and made this a road to nowhere.
08:01This was the scene back in February when two huge sinkholes appeared,
08:06forcing the evacuation of around 30 properties
08:09and prompting the start of the major engineering project to try and put it right.
08:15For businesses on the high street, it's been a punishing four months.
08:20Sammy Bristow says takings at her coffee shop are down around 20%
08:24since the sinkhole appeared.
08:26I think not knowing when it is going to be open has been really frustrating
08:31because obviously we have had such a lack of footfall
08:34in comparison to what we were beforehand.
08:38So having the road open is going to be probably a survival of us, yeah.
08:43Will McLean runs a residential doors and windows business on the high street.
08:47He says since February, footfall has collapsed.
08:50Financially, it's been massive.
08:54The footfall is zero.
08:57In terms of business, we've dropped at least 60%, 70%, which is huge.
09:03At this garage, they say they're having to adapt to survive.
09:07Shane, how devastating has it been on you as a business?
09:09Pretty devastating.
09:10We're down to like a third of what we were taking last year.
09:13So we're just having to adapt and overcome and try and take on more work
09:16than we'd necessarily take on to try and cover the costs
09:19and foresee us through to whenever it's going to be reopened.
09:24So it's just a case of trying to stay afloat?
09:26Yeah.
09:27The council here says a time frame is welcome.
09:30If it is December, at least we know that and they can make allowances for that.
09:34I think the worst thing is not knowing at all.
09:37So there is, it appears, an end now in sight.
09:39The road may just reopen in time for Christmas.
09:43Let's talk to Piers, who's in the village now.
09:46Where there's a public meeting this evening,
09:48Piers, where people will be given this update,
09:51does mean six more months of disruption.
09:56Yeah, Natalie, I suspect there'll be a sense of pretty weary relief here.
10:02But that is, of course, relief-tempered by knowing that this road won't be opening
10:06for at least another six months.
10:08You know, talking to businesses, as I have done today,
10:10the one thing that kind of unified all of them was saying how difficult it was
10:15planning or running a business, not knowing when there'd be light at the end of the tunnel.
10:20At least now they have a time frame to work to.
10:23As for the discovery of the Victorian tunnels here,
10:26I suspect that's hugely satisfying to the engineers,
10:29who'd long suspected that they were there,
10:31that they may have been a contributory factor.
10:33They are at pains to point out that it's not seen as the sole cause of the collapse.
10:38They say it's a single piece in a jigsaw,
10:41and they warn we may never know exactly what caused this sinkhole to appear.
10:46Interesting. Piers in Godstone. Thank you.
10:48A 20-year-old man has been arrested in Kent on suspicion of murder
10:52after a 16-year-old boy died after being struck by a car in Sheffield.
10:57The boy, who was described by police as an entirely innocent bystander,
11:01died from his injuries after being taken to hospital for treatment yesterday.
11:05A woman and two men have also been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.
11:10A former Gillingham footballer who imported £600,000 worth of cannabis from Thailand to the UK
11:16has been jailed for four years.
11:18J. Emmanuel Thomas, who played for Arsenal and Queen's Park Rangers,
11:22orchestrated the smuggling of 60 kilos of the drug,
11:25which was found at Stansted Airport in September last year.
11:29Now, a mother whose son was killed in a car being driven by a teenager
11:34has joined dozens of families calling for tougher laws for new drivers.
11:38Keena Entwistle's son, Ethan, died when the car he was the passenger in
11:43crashed into a tree in Broadstairs.
11:45You may remember the driver pleaded guilty to causing death
11:48by dangerous driving only on Tuesday.
11:51Well, today, Ethan's mum met MPs
11:53to argue the case for graduated driver licences.
11:56She told our reporter, Sam Harrison, she's determined to see a change in the law.
12:03The male police officer walked into the kitchen.
12:07I need to let you know, he said that they've called time on Ethan.
12:11Ethan has died.
12:13And then there was a horrible noise,
12:19which apparently was me screaming.
12:22It's a loss which will never stop hurting.
12:24Keena Entwistle's son, Ethan, passed away after the car he was a passenger in
12:29crashed into a tree in Broadstairs in October 2023.
12:34He was just 18 years old.
12:37Today, Keena joined campaigners in Parliament in a meeting with MPs,
12:42aiming to introduce new rules for young drivers
12:45to better protect themselves and their passengers.
12:48We don't want young people to have to either suffer serious injuries or death.
12:56And we don't want the young drivers having to live on their conscience
13:01that they've killed a friend, they've killed somebody that they may know.
13:06The campaign aims to promote several changes.
13:09Firstly, to extend the learner driver period.
13:12It also wants to ban new drivers aged 17 to 19
13:16from carrying peer-aged passengers for six months
13:20and make motorway and rural road training mandatory in lessons.
13:25They talk about penalising young drivers and that's not what we're here for.
13:29I mean, in actual fact, if you look at it,
13:31it's very expensive for these young drivers to be able to afford to learn to drive.
13:37And if there were fewer collisions, those insurance premiums would come down.
13:40The petition which brought campaigners to Parliament
13:43now has around 108,000 signatures.
13:47A politician who recognises that support is Labour's Mike Reader,
13:51who hosted today's meeting.
13:53I would like to see the introduction of a graduated driving licence.
13:56What that looks like, I think we have to listen to young people,
13:59we have to listen to charities, we have to listen to the police
14:01and make sure it works for everyone.
14:04I mean, people say, oh, I can't understand what you're going through.
14:08I don't want you to understand what I'm going through.
14:11It's the last thing I want.
14:13And that's why I'm doing this.
14:15I don't want other parents to have to suffer.
14:19Campaigners like Keena are determined to secure these potentially life-saving changes
14:24and their work in Westminster continues.
14:26Well, in 2019, the Department for Transport announced it was considering
14:31introducing graduated driving licences in England.
14:34But the idea was put on hold, partly because of the effect it might have
14:37on young people's employment prospects.
14:40We know that drivers under the age of 24 are around four times more likely
14:44to be killed or seriously injured than those over 25.
14:48And the latest government figures suggest a fifth of all fatal or serious injuries,
14:54crashes, involve a young driver.
14:57Graduated licences do already exist, though, in Australia, New Zealand,
15:02Canada, France and Northern Ireland.
15:04Let's go to Westminster now and speak to Sam Harrison.
15:08Sam, this campaign does seem to be gaining support.
15:12Well, Natalie, hopefully you got a sense there of some of the motivations
15:15behind this campaign.
15:17People told me today they're not trying to penalise young drivers.
15:21They genuinely believe that this will bring a whole host of benefits
15:25across the board.
15:26For example, at today's meeting, we heard from representatives from the NHS,
15:30from emergency services, even from the insurance industry,
15:34all of them saying that their sectors will benefit from changes in law
15:39to young people's driving licences, hopefully bringing down the number of collisions.
15:44What campaigners need is more people in this place behind me to support their courts.
15:50They already have the support of some MPs.
15:52They say they need more if they're going to take this onto the floor of the House of Commons.
15:57Sam in Westminster.
15:59Now, their lives are put at risk in the line of duty, but those years of service take their toll.
16:06And when they retire, police dogs often need extra care.
16:10One charity which looks after former police dogs argues they should have a pension
16:14to help pay their vets' bills.
16:17Charlie Haynes has been to meet Zippy, who's served in the Surrey and Sussex dog unit
16:21and who's retired alongside Dan with their owner Jenny in Kent.
16:26Hey, you!
16:26Put the weapon down!
16:28What are you going to do?
16:28What are you going to do, eh?
16:29Sit in!
16:30Good lad.
16:32Good boy, Jorah.
16:33Police dogs work hard and at the end of their career,
16:36they're adopted and have a well-earned retirement.
16:40So Dan here was a metropolitan police dog.
16:43This is Zippy.
16:43He's only recently been retired.
16:45He was a digital dog, so he used to find phones and things like that.
16:48Zip, zip, zip, zip, zip, zip, zip, zip.
16:50Jenny is a retired police dog handler and adopted Dan and Zippy when they too stopped serving.
16:57When the dogs are working, the forces take great care of their dogs.
17:00Sadly, when they retire, they're no longer needed by the forces
17:04and they no longer fund anything that they need.
17:09That falls to the person who takes them on.
17:12She's had nine over the years.
17:13In the past, her own dogs and now others.
17:15But it's come at a cost.
17:17Over the course of the 20 years that I've had retired police dogs,
17:21possibly up to £45,000, I would think.
17:26Police work is intensive for the dogs and that can lead to health problems.
17:30They're expected to jump over fencing, hurdles, disorder, firearms.
17:34So quite a lot of high-level threat that they deal with and it's quite impactive on them over their career.
17:39Each year, 50 to 70 police dogs retire.
17:42Dog charity, The Thin Blue Port, says those retired dogs should be given more support in the form of a pension.
17:49Leave! Down!
17:50So on average, it's about an extra £250 a month.
17:53After a lifetime of service, if they require emergency veterinary care
17:56and they're not able to access it because the owner can't afford it, they ultimately will be put to sleep.
18:00The Home Office told us service animals are managed by individual forces who rely on charities and volunteers
18:05and that there's currently no plans to change the retirement process.
18:10For Jenny, not adopting police dogs isn't an option, despite the cost.
18:14You get in and out of scrapes with your dogs and you build up a huge bond, so therefore you take them on.
18:19You can't necessarily afford to take on the bills that come with them, but you do because you love them.
18:28Charlie Haynes, BBC South East Today.
18:31It's just gone ten minutes to seven. This is our top story tonight.
18:35A man from Sussex has told us he was left begging for help from doctors
18:39when he suffered life-changing injuries caused by failures at his local hospitals.
18:43Paul Robinson contracted recurring sepsis throughout the year after his cancer treatment.
18:49He says he's lost his freedom, his confidence and almost lost his will to live.
18:54Also in tonight's programme, pollinators expressing a preference.
18:59The Sussex Project finding out which trees are liked by bees.
19:03And it's been a grey day today, but bluer skies tomorrow.
19:06What about the weekend? I'll give you the full forecast later on in the programme.
19:13It's less than one month until the start of the women's Euros when the squad announced today will hopefully defend England's title.
19:23But while more women and girls are playing the sport, there's been a big drop in the number of female football coaches.
19:30It's thought many mums would like to give it a go, but they're put off because of a lack of confidence.
19:35One grassroots club in Kent, Favisham Strikeforce FC, is trying to change that though, as Juliet Parkin reports.
19:45Wanted more female coaches to guide and inspire a whole new generation of players.
19:51No experience required.
19:54Volunteer coaches, mums, parents, whoever they are, are the heroes of our sport.
19:59And who better to back a campaign to get more women involved in coaching than a former England player who has seen sport from every angle.
20:07Anita Asante is also a coach and mum and is passionate about inspiring others to come forward.
20:14It's just about trying and learning and knowing that no one is the finished article when you're coaching.
20:20You're constantly evolving as a coach and you're working with different players and people and you're gaining confidence.
20:26Female coaches were celebrated at a special event this week at Favisham Strikeforce.
20:31A Kent grassroots club leading the way in breaking down the barriers to mums and women taking on coaching roles.
20:38Their This Mum Can campaign supports women in becoming volunteers.
20:42For the younger kids, you don't have to know lots about the game.
20:46You know, you have to understand that it's about having fun and keep the kids moving and keep them enjoying it and making friends.
20:51Let's go.
20:52One mum here swapped the sidelines watching her son for coaching.
20:56When her daughter started playing.
20:57Sadly, one of our other coaches had to leave so they needed a new coach.
21:01And they've got two male coaches and I thought, you know what, I'm involved a little bit.
21:04Let's step up, let's get involved.
21:05It's such a great thing to get involved with.
21:07So I thought, yeah, let's go for it.
21:09And it's the best thing I've ever done.
21:10If I'm perfectly honest, sometimes it's funny seeing her kick a football.
21:14But all in all, it's nice to be here with her.
21:18Research has shown that gender balance in coaching attracts more women and girls into and staying in sport.
21:25We know from the UK coaching research that women and girls, especially when they're starting sport or returning to sport and physical activity,
21:32that they prefer to be coached by somebody of the same gender that they can relate to.
21:36So the more women in the coaching workforce hopefully will mean better experiences and more women and girls being active.
21:42Undoubtedly, with success in major tournaments, participation increases.
21:48It's hoped that so too will the number of female coaches stepping forward by breaking down barriers, blocking the way.
21:56Juliet Park in BBC South East today, Faversham.
21:59Well, Alessia Russo is among those who've been named in the England squad for the women's Euros.
22:04The Maidstone-born strikers scored for the Lionesses on Tuesday night when they were beaten by Spain.
22:09Brighton low-knee Michelle Aguimang has also been included, but there was no place for her team-mate forward Nikita Paris,
22:17who was part of the larger squad for England's most recent games.
22:22If you're a gardener, you might already be doing your bit to support wildlife, growing flowers, which you know the bees will love.
22:31But at Wakehurst, Kew's Botanical Garden in Sussex, they want plants which support pollinators to be designed into every landscape.
22:40So they're carrying out a study of trees to find out which ones the bees prefer.
22:46Sarah Smith has been finding out more.
22:47At this time of year, the flowers can appear alive with bees, going from bloom to bloom, gathering nectar.
22:57And while they're feeding themselves, they're helping feed us too, spreading pollen so we can grow crops.
23:03But with numbers declining, here at Wakehurst, they're looking up for a solution.
23:09This is our sensor. It's a bioacoustic sensor.
23:13So this is telling us the number of bumblebees that are visiting the flowers on this tree.
23:20At the moment, there's already one sticking out the top, which you probably can't see because of all the foliage.
23:24And then there's one lower down that's already in there.
23:26So this is going to go sort of middle way around the tree, basically.
23:30By placing them all the way up, the monitors should pick up bee activity in any part of the tree,
23:36triggered by the unique frequency of the beat of a bumblebee wing.
23:42And if the results show this is a tree bees like, it could have big possibilities.
23:46We're really interested in trees because if you think about, they're covered in pollen and nectar.
23:52And when they're flowering, this is like this big 3D structure rather than a wildflower meadow.
23:56So we're really interested in putting trees in the landscape that are good for pollinators
24:01to give them that maximum forage throughout the seasons.
24:04Here at Wakehurst, they have around 1,500 different species of trees.
24:09And this project should find out which the bees prefer.
24:13Information that can then be used in the planning of landscapes across the country
24:18to make them as bee-friendly as possible.
24:22That is our end goal, is to inform policy, inform land management,
24:27so that we're creating, you know, habitats that are really suitable.
24:32Bees are really important.
24:33They are natural pollinators.
24:36Without bees, our food system would collapse.
24:39So planting the right trees in urban landscapes, for example,
24:42where there's no space for wild meadows,
24:44could be a way to provide the bees with what they need.
24:48So you can see the different areas show you the abundance of the bumblebees.
24:53They describe Wakehurst as a living laboratory.
24:56What they discover here, they hope, could provide some answers for an environment under pressure.
25:03Sarah Smith, BBC South East Today, Wakehurst.
25:07I'm a bit worried now about all the bees being buffeted around by the wind, John.
25:12They'll survive.
25:13They'll survive.
25:14We will survive.
25:15I've already heard mutterings, where's the summer gone?
25:18We have short memories.
25:19We've just endured the warmest and sunniest May, you may recall,
25:23and the warmth will return.
25:25In fact, it may return next week, as I'll talk about in a moment.
25:28But yeah, it's been a grey, dank, dreary, cool old day, hasn't it?
25:31But yeah, not a lot of brightness around.
25:34The flowers did try to cheer things up earlier on today,
25:37but we want a bit more of the way of blue sky, don't we?
25:40And we're going to see some of that, I think, as we go into tomorrow.
25:44Certainly tomorrow, a brighter day than it was today.
25:47There'll be a few showers knocking about.
25:49Saturday, looking rough.
25:51Wind and rain.
25:52But yes, hints of some warmth returning as we head into next week.
25:57A little gap in the weather fronts tomorrow.
25:59That's what I'm hanging my hopes on before more fronts and more wind and rain arrive come Saturday.
26:05Now, it's been dreary and at times quite damp.
26:07Most of the rain easing away just at the moment, but only for a while,
26:11because I think we'll see another dose of wet weather later on this evening.
26:14That will then clear through.
26:16So I think by first thing in the morning, most of us will be dry.
26:19Another cool night to come.
26:20Temperatures in some places dipping down to 9 or 10 degrees.
26:24Still breezy, but not quite as blustery as it was today.
26:27A few showers scooting through in the morning.
26:30The odd one left behind, but actually increasing amounts of sunshine through tomorrow afternoon.
26:34So reasons to be cheerful as we end the week.
26:36As a consequence, it will be a bit warmer.
26:38North Kent Coast, 19, maybe 20 degrees.
26:40A bit cooler towards the south coast with that blustery wind.
26:43But yeah, a bit of sunshine makes a difference.
26:46Doesn't last.
26:47Here comes the rain on Saturday.
26:49Some very heavy rain, we think.
26:50Could be quite disruptive in combination with a very gusty wind.
26:54If you've got outdoor events planned for Saturday, good luck and make sure that marquee is well tethered down.
27:0016 or 17 degrees.
27:02Gusts of 47 miles an hour.
27:04That's unusually windy for this time of year.
27:07But hopefully things will settle down as we head on into Sunday.
27:12And actually that's a trend which will continue as we go into next week.
27:16So after a rough old spell, particularly on Saturday, becoming drier.
27:21And yes, that signal that it's going to turn warmer is still there, Natalie.
27:24Fingers crossed it will continue.
27:26I think it's getting warmer and warmer into next week.
27:28And warmer and warmer.
27:29Well, we'll watch that one, John.
27:30Thank you very much.
27:31That's it from us for now.
27:32Ellie will be here with you at 10.
27:34Bye-bye.