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Catch up with the latest news from across your county with Finn Macdiarmid.
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00:36Hello and welcome to Kent Tonight, live here on KMTV.
00:40I'm Finn McDermid and here are your top stories on Thursday, 1st October.
00:44Soaring costs. Rising energy bills are forcing Medway residents into difficult decisions.
00:50They're having to choose between eating and heating and that's partly what I'm out there for,
00:54to see if there's ways that I can help them access some grants and funding as well.
00:59The last mast Sheppie resident reflects on life alongside the explosive SS Montgomery.
01:04It's been there 82 years, it's recognisable and you'll gaze across there and all you're going to see is the
01:10wind turbines.
01:11And inspiring hope. Medway celebrates the first anniversary of receiving the Baton of Hope.
01:16I'm so moved by the effort, the sheer effort and love that people put into organising the kind of event
01:26like today.
01:37Before we get into our top stories for tonight, five people have been arrested after a man found with stab
01:42wounds in Faversham has died.
01:44Police and forensics were spotted at St Paul's Avenue after reports of a disturbance came in the morning of the
01:505th of March.
01:51Kent Police told us that four men and a woman were arrested and questioned after the alleged victim passed on
01:56the 12th of March.
01:57All have now been released on conditional bail. Police are still carrying out inquiries.
02:03A Medway charity is warning that rising energy costs are pushing more people into debt.
02:08This comes as the energy regulator, Ofgem, has increased the maximum price that providers can charge for gas and electricity,
02:15meaning millions of people across the county are facing soaring bills and prices are expected to continue rising.
02:21Sophie Denning has the story.
02:23The highest energy prices in three years.
02:26That's the situation faced by millions of households across the country.
02:31And one charity in Medway says this is forcing people into making difficult decisions.
02:36So they're worried and it is affecting them. It's affecting their mental health.
02:40You know, they're having to choose between eating and heating.
02:44But if bills are going to go up, it's going to get worse. There's no doubt about it.
02:48You know, if standing charges and the cost per kilowatt hour are going to go up,
02:52then people are going to be in debt or, you know, potentially moving towards that.
02:57Ofgem, the UK's energy regulator, has increased the price cap by 4 percent,
03:01so providers can now charge more for gas and electricity.
03:04And this means the average household bill has gone up to £1,723 per year.
03:11That's an increase of £60.
03:14While it may be sunny here in Rochester, the leaves are turning brown, which means autumn is coming.
03:21And with rising energy costs, people here say they're worried about what it could mean for their pockets.
03:27There are a lot of people out there that are on a bread line and they're struggling.
03:32They are really, really struggling.
03:34You know, to some people, it's the difference between having heating and not having heating.
03:39You know, we're almost going back to the 40s and 50s, you know, where you throw another stick on the
03:44fire.
03:44Too high, too expensive.
03:46And does it mean that you're not going to be turning on your heating?
03:50No, no, it won't because I'm a bit of a chilly model and if I'm cold indoors, I've got to
03:58turn the heating on, you know.
04:00We just won't put the heating on and we'll just all have to get used to being colder.
04:04It sounds sucky because it got minus figures last year.
04:08So, yeah, I'm not really sure how that's going to work out.
04:10We'll have to put the heating on, but I'm not sure when or how.
04:16Ofgem says the increase has been caused by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East,
04:20which has disrupted gas supplies and pushed prices up for people in the UK.
04:25We know things are impacting, like the current ongoing disputes and wars across the world.
04:30They will have a direct impact on the energy bills for families here across Kent and Medway.
04:36If you're a Medway resident, we have the Crisis and Resilience Fund.
04:40That's a fund we've got in place now for a number of years, a really important fund.
04:44It will help those individuals and families who are struggling financially.
04:47The government has temporarily removed the 5% VAT from electricity bills to cut some costs.
04:53However, bills are still expected to soar by nearly £300 from January.
04:59And as temperatures begin to drop, energy prices are continuing to rise.
05:04Sophie Denny for KMTV in Medway.
05:08A man has pleaded not guilty to murder after a body was found in an abandoned suitcase in a Rochester
05:14park.
05:15Jamie Cooper, who's from Wimbledon, appeared at the Old Bailey through video link denying the murder of Dale Mundell.
05:21Dale's body was found at Borstel Recreation Ground in July, with the Metropolitan Police launching a murder investigation.
05:27Cooper was charged at the time with preventing a lawful and decent burial.
05:32The Grand Burstyn Hotel in Folkestone is set to be rebuilt, as engineers say the fire-ravaged building is not
05:39at risk of collapse.
05:40The 14-storey site in Folkestone was targeted in a suspected arson attack on September the 19th,
05:46forcing 280 guests to be evacuated in the early hours of the morning.
05:51Chloe Brewster joins me now to tell me a bit more.
05:53Now, Chloe, tell us a little bit about the fire.
05:56What do we know so far?
05:58Well, so our audience members who remember, this took place at the weekend on September 19th.
06:03We covered it the following day.
06:04And at that time, we knew that 280 guests were evacuated in the early hours.
06:10The Britannia hotel owner says that the fire caused considerable damage and that they hoped to retain and rebuild sections.
06:17We can actually see on the picture behind, or see on screen now, the level of the fire that's going
06:23on there.
06:24It actually is believed to have started in the basement and they are suspecting that was an arson attack.
06:30The latest update was that there was a risk that the hotel could collapse due to the extent of the
06:35damage.
06:35But today we're hearing that actually the hotel has now been assessed by structural engineers and has been deemed not
06:42risk of collapse,
06:43which means there is a likelihood guests who were staying there can now go back potentially to collect their stuff.
06:48And it has been a long wait for some of those residents to collect their belongings.
06:51Will this update mean they can finally return?
06:54Well, the structural engineers are still making their assessments.
06:56They're going to look at the exact areas in the building which now can be accessed.
07:02There isn't a timeline yet for the rebuild.
07:04And the chain says they're remaining focused on gathering guests' belongings.
07:08So that's clearly their priority at the moment.
07:12They will be returning items as quickly as they can and they've asked for patience from guests.
07:17In terms of nearby roads, it wasn't just the hotel that was affected.
07:21There was a whole host of roads nearby due to the fact that it could have collapsed.
07:25They were all closed down.
07:27Marine Parade and the Harbour Approach Road remain closed,
07:30but the actual exclusion zone around the hotel has been made smaller.
07:35The Kent County Council Highways team is working with local businesses to establish as much access as possible.
07:40I see. Thank you so much for your time, Chloe.
07:45A random woman who defrauded her employers and a former boyfriend out of £126,000 has been ordered to pay
07:53it all back.
07:53The court heard that Megan Reynolds spent the money on luxury hotel stays and personal car insurance.
07:59Investigators discovered that she had created fake invoices and deleted incriminating emails to cover up her crime.
08:06The Maidstone Crown Court ordered Reynolds to pay £2,000 in a confiscation order.
08:11This follows her July conviction on three counts of fraud.
08:15The judge remarked that she had repeatedly sought to enrich herself at others' expense.
08:23The final mast from the sunken ship off the coast of Sheppey has been removed.
08:27It marks the end of a month of careful work by the Coastal and Maritime Authority,
08:32who worked to avoid disturbing the 1,400 tonnes of explosives carried in the wreck.
08:38It's been anxiously watched on by residents in Sheppey, one slightly more closely than the rest.
08:43Chloe Brewster visited a resident who's been live-streaming the entire thing from his window.
08:48The SS Montgomery has sat on the sandbank here for 80 years, but now no sign of it remains above
08:56the water.
08:57Over the past month, one by one, each iconic mast has been painstakingly removed from the wreck, watched on by
09:05residents.
09:05I have a camera, a telescope camera, and I have that focused on the wreck.
09:10Initially it was for my own interest to watch what was going on, but I thought this stream is so
09:16good I'm just going to put it online.
09:17So that's what I did.
09:19Now I'm still on the beach next to Marine Parade, where Robin lives, and in the distance I can just
09:24about see Richard Montgomery,
09:26although it is very small.
09:28In 1973 it became the first wreck to be designated as dangerous.
09:33It's one of the biggest such wrecks in the world, if not the biggest, that is anywhere near civilisation.
09:41And with the tonnage of that weight of unexploded munitions, it's massive on a worldwide scale.
09:481,400 tonnes is about a tenth of a Hiroshima, so you have to put in that kind of perspective
09:54as to, you know, what could happen.
09:57Robin's built a website and has now written a book about living so close to the ship.
10:02He says it will be odd to see the masts finally gone.
10:06It is a landmark. It's been there 82 years, it's recognisable, and you'll gaze across there and all you're going
10:12to see is the wind turbines over in Essex.
10:15But I think the thinking is going to be gone but not forgotten.
10:19We're going to remember what's down there and at some point it seems likely they will have to remove the
10:25munitions.
10:26This mast removal buys a lot of time, but somewhere down the line they've got to get rid of the
10:32munitions too.
10:32The Maritime and Coast Guard Agency say the cargo is likely to remain stable if left undisturbed, and that they
10:39don't believe there is an immediate threat.
10:42But as the visual of the ship disappears from Kent's coastline, only the warning boys remain as a reminder of
10:48the risk that lies in the deep.
10:51Chloe Brewster for KMTV in Sheppey.
10:54And just before we go for our break, October marks Black History Month and one Kent woman has made it
11:00her mission to celebrate black culture and bring communities together.
11:04Joe Oluo from Ashford has founded Core Kent, organising a month of cultural events.
11:09A festival on the 4th of October will showcase black businesses from across Kent in the morning before the party
11:15starts that evening with singer Rose Mukuse and DJ Dion Nzu.
11:20The programme will continue with various events and full details of which you can see online.
11:28Coming up after this very short break, it'll be marking one year since Medway received the Baton of Hope.
11:35It aims to spread awareness on suicide.
11:37Our reporter Henry Luck went down to meet the guests, speakers and charities that were invited to that event.
11:42We'll also have all your sports news from across the county, from awards in Kent cricket to a familiar face
11:47coming back to hopefully score some goals at Priestfield for Gillingham.
11:50We'll also meet a woman from Tunbridge who's part of an international group of postcards, postcard enthusiasts I should say.
11:57All that and more after this very short break. See you very soon.
12:31We'll see you very soon.
13:01We'll see you.
13:31We'll see you.
14:01We'll see you.
14:30We'll see you.
14:54We'll see you.
15:24Hello and welcome back to Kent Tonight live here on KMTV.
15:28Now a quick warning. This next story will involve discussions of suicide, which some may find distressing.
15:36It's been one year since Medway received the Baton of Hope that raises awareness on suicide.
15:42To celebrate guest speakers, the public and charities were invited to a small gathering all to share their experiences and
15:48to support each other.
15:49Our community reporter, our community member.
15:51has more. It's been one year since the baton of hope came to Medway and since
15:58then it's been a symbol of hope for those impacted by suicide. Charities and
16:03shareholders have come together to celebrate the occasion and support the
16:09public. I formed the charity after my own son Ross who was 31 took his own life.
16:15He left a long goodbye letter and one of the things that he said in that letter
16:19was dad please fight for mental health the support is just not there and if I
16:25could have known then what I see with my own eyes now five years later you know
16:33I'm so moved by the effort the sheer effort and love that people put into
16:40organizing the kind of event like today. The baton of hope has been in Medway for
16:46about a year now and since then it's inspired hundreds of people who have
16:52been affected by suicide to share their grief and support each other. People
16:59also took part in a short baton of hope walk to empower each other on their
17:04personal journeys. Personally it means the world to me I also work as a mentor of
17:11partners are seeing firsthand the devastating effects suicide has on the
17:16immediate family and the ripples it causes throughout our communities so
17:20being able to help inspire hope help channel those conversations in a positive
17:26way so that we can support each other as a community. A new art structure by
17:32Nucleus Arts and Sunlight Development Trust is being made for the
17:36Pentagon shopping centre to raise awareness on the topic. It's going to be ten
17:41foot high and each panel within this structure is going to be either in honour
17:46of someone that someone's lost to suicide it's going to be about the different
17:50community groups that support suicide well prevention of suicide and it will all
17:55come together and then for the the anniversary of next year we'll unveil it and
18:01it will stay in the Pentagon as sort of like an honour to the baton of hope. The Kent and
18:05Medway
18:06Suicide Prevention Conference will be taking place in November where the work
18:11of suicide prevention will continue with discussions and new strategies
18:16lighting the way through the darkest times of anyone's life. Henry Luck for
18:22Kane TV in Rochester. Kent's biggest scrapyard has won a battle to remain open
18:29after a row about horses. Rackleme which operates a vehicle and metal recycling centre in
18:35Washington had faced closure after the Environment Agency moved to strip it of
18:38its permit. Neighbours at Nelson Park Riding Centre have previously described the
18:42sound of vehicles being dismantled and crushed as relentless, saying it spooks
18:46their horses and puts riders at risk. Following a three-day public inquiry in May
18:51the inspector has now allowed the company's appeal, a decision which Stuart Mann, the
18:55owner of the scrapyard said has brought clarity. Now it's time for all of our
19:01sports headlines including the latest on Jill striker Tom Eves. He's returned after
19:05seven years up north. We'll also take a look at Chatham's position ahead of the
19:09third FA Cup qualifying round this weekend. We'll also get an update on who took home
19:13the trophies at Kent's Cricket Awards and how the ice hockey team Invicta Dynamos are
19:18faring for a match against an Essex side where they've previously taken home a victory. Let's have a look.
19:32Starting us off, Gareth Ainsworth says that former Jill striker Tom Eves can still strike
19:37fear into lower league defenders. He's returned seven years on from making the move to
19:42championship side Hull City, having also played for Rotherham and Northampton. The physical forward
19:47scored 38 times in 84 appearances for the Jills. With 10 goals in League One last season,
19:53Ainsworth's put his faith in the forward. He said his size alone will put fear into defenders,
19:57never mind the way he can score goals, win herders and he's more mobile than people think. The Jills
20:02will face off against Newport County at home this weekend. Moving down a couple of leagues to Chatham
20:07Town, they're taking on Dorking Wanderers in the FA Cup third qualifying round this weekend. The Chats beat
20:12Slough Town in the last round, but they'll have to put a punch above their weight against the National
20:16League Southside. Boss Kevin Haik said we'll go there with belief, look to impose ourselves on the
20:21game and hopefully give the supporters another memorable FA Cup day. This comes against a loss
20:26against Berkhamstead last Saturday in the third qualifying round of the FA Trophy.
20:31Over to cricket now and Kent's own Matt Milnes and Coco Street won several awards at the club's end
20:36of season awards in Canterbury last night. Scene bowler Milnes, who's returned to the county team
20:41after a three-year absence, took four men's awards including Player of the Year. Vice-Captain Street
20:46also won Player of the Year, Player's Player of the Year and Batter of the Year after her three
20:50centuries for the Kent women's side. The club celebrated successes across the sport. Two semi-finals for
20:55the Kent women in the Metro Bank One Day Cup and Vitality Blast and the Kent men's promotion back to
21:00Division One of the County Championship. Rounding off our sport we're going to hit the ice where
21:04the Invicta Dynamos are preparing for their next National Hockey League South Division One match,
21:09this time against the Chelmsford Chieftains. It was mixed results the last time out with a 5-4
21:14victory over the Romford Buccaneers in Essex but a 7-3 loss to Slough the next night. Head coach Carl
21:18Lennon is hoping his side will give more for the home crowd to shout about for their Chelmsford match.
21:23He said the side will bring travelling support on Sunday and of course we won't want to be out
21:27sung so our fans will be out on top. That's all for your sports.
21:42Well let's see, will it be cold and chilly and icy just like on that Invicta Dynamos rink? Let's find
21:47out.
21:53Tonight we'll see lows of 11 in those southern towns of Tunbridge Wells and Ashford. Highs of 15
21:58over there in Dover. Into tomorrow morning, midzone, a chilly 13 degrees. Dover staying warm at 16,
22:04a cloudless day unless you live in Tunbridge Wells. Warming up in the afternoon, 19 and 20 degrees across
22:09the board. The seaside areas will see some sun, partial cloud everywhere else. Here's your outlook,
22:1421 degrees across the board, no sun on Saturday, some partial cloud cover on Sunday and Monday.
22:20Greeting us into next week. A cat which spent three days tree climbing in Maidstone has finally been
22:28brought back down to earth. Right look, I'm a person. Orange cat Momo had been missing for two weeks
22:35before he was found meowing in a sycamore tree at Maidstone's army barracks. Stuck 50 feet in the air,
22:40he wasn't keen on coming down and spent 72 hours up there. That was before a local tree surgeon came
22:45to the rescue. Connor Carey of Maidstone Tree Surgeons is no stranger to rescuing pets and even
22:50drones from branches. He told Kent Online his cat rescues have made him viral, calling himself the
22:54Cat Man. Today marks World Postcard Day. Here in Kent, a woman from Tunbridge is celebrating the occasion
23:00by sharing what she loves about sending postcards. She's part of an online forum who send the messages
23:05all around the world and meet up as a community to talk about their hobby and their lives. Shelby
23:10Rathbone Smith has sent hundreds of the cards, so I spoke to her earlier. Well, thank you so much for
23:15joining me. You know, some people play checkers, some do horse riding football. You send postcards.
23:21Tell me a bit about that. How exactly did you get into that particular hobby? I do well. So I
23:26spend a lot of
23:26time in front of the screen, as most of us do. And I was scrolling at home at night one
23:31day and I saw a
23:33TikTok of someone talking about a website called Post Crossing. I really enjoy scrapbooking and
23:39everything like that. And she was talking about how she decorates and backs postcards to send to
23:44people across the entire world. And I was thinking that's really interesting and that's fun to talk
23:48to people from literally so many different countries. So two years ago I decided to sign up and I haven't
23:54looked back since. Now this year's theme for World Postcard Day is building bridges. Tell us a bit about how
24:00you're celebrating. So in Post Crossing there's a lovely online community in a forum. I'm a part of
24:08the British Isles Forum and I have been for two years and we like to meet up in person to
24:13chat about
24:15all things postcards and just about daily life as well. So I'm celebrating World Postcard Day today
24:20by meeting up with some of my friends in the forum and we're going to a pub in London where
24:25we're going
24:25to sign cards and swap postcards and just talk about our lives together. Brilliant and I know you
24:31have some postcards with you. What makes a good postcard? Tell me a bit about it from your expert
24:35view. Well it's the actual postcard itself in front of the picture as well but also people forget that
24:45the important part is also what's on the back. I've had so many wonderful people tell me so many stories
24:50about their whole life through just sending postcards to me. I asked a question out to everyone
24:57each month to see what they would say. One of my favourites was how did you meet your significant
25:02other and I got a lovely response from someone in Finland saying they actually met their significant
25:07other on Post Crossing. So you'd think it's not a very interesting card but on the back I've got a
25:14lovely story about how he met his wife through Post Crossing. You mentioned there people you know
25:19falling in love over these postcards. What are some of your favourite personal postcards that you've
25:24received? I love, well I love film and TV and I like to collect movie posters from all across the
25:34world. So actually I have one here from one of my favourites and I'm a really big Lord of the
25:38Rings
25:38and Hobbit fan so I got a lovely movie poster from China. Wow that's brilliant. Shame you can't send
25:45it to the Shire. Yeah one day I have gotten postcards from the Shire actually as well. In New Zealand?
25:54The set in New Zealand yeah. Oh that's brilliant. Actually sent from location which has been lovely so
26:00a lot from my collector's heart. Amazing and I'm curious if someone's watching and they want to become
26:05a postcard pro like you. How can I get in? Well literally I would really recommend looking at
26:13Post Crossing. So it's a lovely website. It's free to sign up and you just have to send a few
26:19cards and
26:20you get a confirmed account and then you can join the community forum if it's too much to send stuff
26:26internationally. So I really recommend having a look into that. You don't have to have any really cool
26:32expensive cards like that even just something you pick up from your local shop or even you make your
26:37own cards. I've gotten plenty of cards from people who have just cut out some cardboard stuck some
26:41stickers on it and made their own. It's just the community side of it that I really really recommend
26:48to people. Well I'm afraid that is all the time we have for tonight. Thank you so much for watching
26:54and we'll see you very very soon. Goodbye.