00:38Hello and welcome to Kent Tonight, live here on KMTV. I'm Finn McDermott and here are
00:43your top stories on Monday 8th June.
00:46On a knife's edge, Gravesend Sikh community defend themselves against harassment in the
00:51wake of Southampton murder.
00:52It's really a tragic act, but entirely indefensible, but it wasn't caused by a
01:01Kerpan carried by Sikhs in a traditional way.
01:04One stop shop is this Chatham hub, the future of health on the high street.
01:09Often our patients tell us what we really need to have access to is what happens next.
01:14I've seen my doctor, I now need to see my physio.
01:17And who's got the science factor? Scientists from across the country compete in the Fame
01:22Lab final to become the next trainee science communicator.
01:26As a scientist it is your job to get out of the laboratory and communicate your science.
01:41A one stop shop, that's how a new health hub in the heart of one of Medway's most deprived
01:47areas has been described.
01:49With the NHS now hoping the space in the Pentagon Centre will turn around the low life expectancy
01:54and address a slew of health problems facing those in central Chatham.
01:57Well to find out how it all works we sent our local democracy reporter Oli Leda to the opening.
02:03Two, one, three!
02:05It's taken £15 million and years to get off the ground.
02:09But at last a long awaited healthy living centre has opened in the heart of one of Medway's
02:15most deprived wards.
02:17Bringing everything from a GP surgery to physio care under one roof.
02:23Often our patients tell us what we really need to have access to is what happens next.
02:28I've seen my doctor, I now need to see my physio and this provides a one stop area for
02:33all those needs to be made.
02:35Located on the first floor of the Pentagon's shopping centre, the James Williams Healthy Living
02:40Centre is named for the council's late director of health who died in 2024, the same year that
02:48the construction here started.
02:50Those at the launch now hope the centre will continue his legacy of making public health
02:56more accessible.
02:58It's on a main bus route, it's easy for people to get to.
03:01It's local to the people that we need to serve.
03:04So I think accessible is important but I think that it's so exciting to be able to offer
03:08a high spec facility to the people of Medway when that's not always been what we have experienced.
03:15Chatham Central and Brompton where the centre is located has major issues with health inequalities.
03:22Smoking, adult obesity and hospital alcohol admissions are all above the average for England and wider Medway.
03:31Preventative services here could be the key to reducing worse outcomes for those living in the town centre later in
03:38life.
03:3940% of all falls that happen, happen here.
03:43So having a facility like this with all of the practitioners and all of the experts working together
03:47and get to the bottom of that, we can think about why that is and what each one of us
03:51as partners can do
03:52to change it and make it better.
03:54There is capacity here for further preventative services in the coming months and years.
04:00But with an ageing population with more complex needs than ever,
04:05there's no doubt this centre will be in high demand.
04:08Olly Leader in Chatham.
04:12The leader of Gravesend, Gudwara, has hit back against calls to ban kerpans,
04:16the blade that Sikhs are required to wear.
04:18This comes after Southampton University student Henry Novak was stabbed to death by Vikram Digwa,
04:24who is carrying both a ceremonial Sikh knife and a large dagger.
04:27The murder has sent ripples both across the country and the county,
04:31with the leader of Kent County Council writing to the Police and Crime Commissioner.
04:34A warning this report contains potentially distressing images of weapons.
04:38Chloe Brewster has the story.
04:43Yesterday, people in Margate met to pay respects to a young man who was murdered 127 miles down the coastline.
04:51Henry Novak was an 18-year-old Southampton student who lost his life after being stabbed
04:56and then falsely accused of racism by his attacker.
05:00Last week, Vikram Digwa was jailed for life for his murder.
05:04He was found to be carrying two knives, one knife in a sheaf as well as a larger dagger.
05:08The court said this was in line with a Sikh religious uniform called a kerpan,
05:13although the Sikh Federation debates this.
05:16You can see on the monitor next to me, that's a picture of a traditional kerpan.
05:20Now, a kerpan can be of any size.
05:23The legal limit for the knife you can carry in the UK is three inches long.
05:27So that's just like a pen knife.
05:28People might take that camping or just carry it around on their person.
05:31However, a kerpan can be longer than three inches and still legally be allowed to be carried.
05:37The case has ignited debate as to whether knives of a certain length should be able to be legally carried
05:42for religious reasons.
05:44Gravesend Gerdwara is the biggest Gerdwara in Europe and is home to a huge Sikh community.
05:49It's really a tragic act, but entirely indefensible.
05:55But it wasn't caused by a kerpan carried by Sikhs in a traditional way.
06:01The kerpan is one of the five Ks, as they're known, five articles of faith carried by Sikhs who were
06:07initiated into the faith members of the council.
06:09The kerpan itself is a reminder that you're there to defend injustice.
06:15It's not necessarily there for the kerpan to be used as a weapon.
06:20People are now calling for the ability to carry a kerpan to be banned.
06:24What do you think of that?
06:25I think it's really unjustified, especially when Sikhs have been in this country for probably around 150 years.
06:34And we don't know of a single incident where a kerpan has been used fakely in an incident such as
06:42this.
06:43And even in this incident, it wasn't used.
06:45So why the focus on banning the kerpan is really hard to understand or appreciate or accept.
06:53In Kent, there are 469 cases of people being stopped with a bladed article in public in 2025.
07:00The figures prompt questions about the popularity of knives in the general public.
07:04Well, I've lived life in and out of prison.
07:07I've stabbed people with a bladed article.
07:11And depending on where you stabbed that person, it can do a lot of damage.
07:18This guy who stabbed Harry, he can't say,
07:25Oh, I was at a ceremony or something.
07:30And most of the Sikh community are not using them knives to cause harm to anyone.
07:37But because it's happened, there now has to be a general.
07:43These debates begin on religious knives and allegations that different races receive different treatments by police.
07:49With King County Council leader Lyndon Kimcarron muscling in too.
07:53Nowak's family say they don't want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension.
07:59Chloe Brewster for KMTV in Gravesend.
08:03A bomb disposal team was called to a street in Gravesend over the weekend after reports a man had allegedly
08:09threatened a woman with a weapon.
08:11Kent police attended the scene in King Street alongside two forensic investigation vans and found an imitation firearm with Class
08:17A and B drugs.
08:18They arrested Ammar Kundi, who has now been charged with possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear
08:25or violence, possession of Class A drugs and possession of both Class A and B drugs with intention to supply.
08:30He's due to appear at Sevenoaks Magistrates Court today.
08:34Angry Ashford residents are describing their new build, a state as a nightmare.
08:41They're saying it's been left in a constant state of disarray by the developer Nightingale View in Ham Street is
08:48the name of it.
08:48It's been the recipient of complaints of cracked footpaths, dead trees and dying grass.
08:53And our reporter Megan Shaw joins me now to tell us a little bit more.
08:56So, Meg, tell us a little bit about this story.
08:58Well, as you mentioned there, Fane, residents began moving into the Nightingale View in Ham Street near Ashford.
09:04But since then, they've cited frequent issues with the site's landscaping.
09:09So on screen, you should be able to see the landscaping master plan that was submitted to Ashford Borough Council's
09:14part of the planning application.
09:15And in it, there's grass, there's hedgerows and there's trees.
09:18There it is there, nice and green.
09:20Residents since then have complained of cracked footpaths, as you said, dead trees, dying grass.
09:25You should see all those images on the screen in just a moment.
09:28There's some dead trees there.
09:30The site was built by Bovis, part of the Vistry Group.
09:32And now Ashford Borough Council are investigating whether there have been breaches of planning permission here.
09:37I see. I can't imagine residents being particularly pleased about this.
09:40What have they been saying?
09:41Well, of course, the ones that spoke to Kent and I were beyond frustrated.
09:44They thought they were moving into what was meant to be a very green and well-maintained estate, they said.
09:50That lots of things were planted, but never maintained or looked after.
09:54This is a group of some of the residents there.
09:56One of them, Alan Jopling, that you'll see in just a second, said that there was very little topsoil.
10:01And that meant that it's just got washed away.
10:03The plants have died and they've just got a lot of plastic left.
10:06As you can imagine, they're, you know, really quite angry that this is where they live.
10:10Absolutely.
10:11Tell us a little bit more about how exactly the developers responded to these claims.
10:15Of course.
10:16So Vistry have said that they will fund fixing this, whether that be replacing the dead trees
10:22or resolving wider issues at a cost to no residents.
10:26There's a full statement there on the screen in Ashford Borough Council upon being contacted.
10:31Also confirmed that they're investigating these landscape issues to see if any planning breaches have occurred.
10:36Because, of course, Vistry have come out and said this is what, you know, this nice green space is what
10:40it will look like.
10:41Residents are paying maintenance fees for, you know, the grass to be cooked.
10:45So Ashford Borough Council are going to investigate.
10:48I see.
10:48Well, thank you so much for your time, Meg.
10:51A very interesting story that we'll have to keep up with when we hear more.
10:55Thank you very much for your time.
10:58And coming up after the break, we'll be taking a look at all of your sports news from across the
11:05county,
11:05including a new Jill signing, the under-21 from Brighton.
11:10We'll also be looking at two best friends who started from an antique store selling some small trading cards
11:16that now opened Snodland's brand new trading card shop called Country Cards,
11:20which marries together trading cards and country music, what they call their two great loves.
11:24We'll also take a look at the former England footballer Joe Cole.
11:29He's made the trip down to Margate to surprise one pub ahead of the World Cup,
11:33not just with his presence, but also with £10,000 towards new TVs
11:38and a whole redecoration of the interior of the pub.
11:42I went down, I got to meet him.
11:43He's a former West Ham, Chelsea, Liverpool and even England legend.
11:47And did you know that two out of three pub owners think they don't have a good enough TV quality
11:52to bring in a crowd?
11:54Well, ahead of the World Cup, they're especially concerned about that, which is why the competition was started.
11:58We'll have all that and more after this short break.
12:01See you in just a few minutes.
25:41activity and then space art or a space activity and then space poetry and it's going down incredibly
25:48well with with students in front of a live audience contestants would judge on the accuracy
25:53of their content the clarity of the presentation and their charisma but why do we need science
25:59communicators most scientists believe that communicating science is not their job it's
26:05the job of a journalist it's the job of someone else but i will maintain that as a scientist
26:09it is your job to get out of the laboratory and communicate your science and make people
26:15understand that scientific discovery is what has made the world the place it is today and given us
26:20a good quality of life and if we want that to continue we have to keep telling people the good
26:25that science does after another rotation around the sun this year's finalists show that science is more
26:31than just a scientist it's about turning complex ideas into something that everyone can connect
26:37with nayla mahammad for kmtv in cheltenham well you've been watching kent tonight live here on kmtv as
26:49always there's more news made just for kent throughout the evening but that's all the time we have for
26:53now thank you so much for watching and we'll see you very soon have a good evening
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