Catch up with all the latest news across your county with Bartholomew Hall.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to Kentonite live on KMTV, I'm Bartholomew Hall.
00:29Here are your top stories on Thursday the 25th of July.
00:35Attempted murder charge, soldier named as his alleged attacker appears in Medway Magistrates
00:40Court.
00:42We failed to deliver, Tunbridge MP enters race to become the next Conservative leader
00:48and we'll be revealing exclusively which local star will be performing in this year's
00:53Dartford Panto.
00:56Right now my name is Fairy Christmas, at your service.
01:12Good evening, a man charged with attempted murder in Medway is alleged to have run up
01:16behind a uniformed soldier and stabbed him several times.
01:20The victim is in serious but stable condition after the incident near the Brompton Barracks
01:24in Gillingham.
01:25This prompted national reaction, even from the Prime Minister and shocked the local community
01:30here in Medway.
01:31Abbey Hook joins me live with more now.
01:34Abbey, what more have we learnt today?
01:36Well, this morning 24-year-old Anthony Essam was charged with attempted murder and possession
01:42of an offensive weapon in a public place at Medway Magistrates Court.
01:46That was after Tuesday's attack on an army officer near the Brompton Barracks in Gillingham.
01:51He was actually arrested in Rochester near his address after reportedly leaving the scene
01:55on a motorbike following the attack in Sally Port Gardens.
01:59Now the most shocking part of this story, what's rocked the whole community, not only
02:03here in Gillingham, Medway, but Kent and right across the UK, what's made this such a huge
02:09case is the victim.
02:11He's been named as Lieutenant Colonel Mark Teton.
02:15Now he's a soldier, he was wearing his uniform at the time and was airlifted to hospital
02:21after he was reportedly repeatedly stabbed and this all happened shortly before 6pm on
02:25the 23rd of July this Tuesday.
02:27Now he's said to be, as you said Bartholomew, in a serious but stable condition in hospital.
02:33I was going to say, what more do we know about the actual attack on Tuesday?
02:38So what actually happened on Tuesday, it's alleged that Essam ran up behind the soldier
02:42and actually stabbed him several times.
02:45He left two knives there at the scene and the prosecutor told the court today that three
02:50kitchen knives were found in a box on the back of the moped we saw in those pictures
02:54earlier.
02:55Now here we can see the scene over the past few days, what was a huge response not only
03:00from police but forensics teams and of course the national media too.
03:05It's something the community and the Prime Minister alike have been appalled by.
03:09We reported yesterday Sir Keir Starmer's well wishes to Mark and his family, that was his
03:13first Prime Minister's questions.
03:16But back here in Medway, in court today, Essam spoke to confirm his name but he also
03:22asked why he was being asked the questions by the clerk.
03:26He'll remain in custody ahead of his next appearance, that's at Maidstone Crown Courts
03:29on Thursday the 22nd of August.
03:32But it is important to note, officers say they have been supported throughout by counter-terrorism
03:38police but as of yesterday they say they do not believe the incident to be terror related.
03:43And just to summarise there, he will remain in custody until his next appearance at Maidstone
03:47Crown Courts on the 22nd of August.
03:50We're following this story very closely.
03:52Abi, thank you very much for those updates.
03:56Now a motorcyclist has been killed in a crash involving a tractor in Sissinghurst.
04:01The crash with a white Honda motorbike and green John Deere tractor happened at Common
04:05Road yesterday around noon.
04:07The 19-year-old biker was pronounced dead at the scene.
04:11His name has not been made public but his family have been approached.
04:17The road was closed for hours and traffic and public transport had to be diverted.
04:23One of the county's last remaining war widows has passed away in East Kent.
04:28Bernice Bartlett's husband, Harry Golding, was killed during the Second World War in
04:32Italy, leaving her to raise two small children by herself.
04:36Despite this and other difficulties early in her life, Bernice became one of Kent's
04:41most loved landladies, running several pubs across the county, with her first opening
04:46way back in 1952.
04:48She passed away at Oakfield Care Home in Wingham just five days before her 101st birthday,
04:55leaving behind two sons, two daughters, eight grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
05:01Her funeral will be held next month in Ashford.
05:05The MP for Tunbridge has formally entered the race to become the next Conservative leader.
05:11Tom Tugendhat is the third member of the party to announce that he's standing.
05:14In his bid to become the next leader, he's implied that he would be prepared to quit
05:19the European Convention on Human Rights.
05:21Our local democracy reporter Gabriel Morris joins me now with more.
05:25Gabriel, leaving the EHCR, is that a step further to the right for the party?
05:30Indeed, it does seem like it could be that, particularly coming from Tom.
05:35This is something you might remember from the election campaign that did split the Conservative
05:40party in half.
05:42The Tunbridge MP says he hasn't categorically agreed to pulling away from the EHCR.
05:47He was pressed by the media this morning, but he wouldn't commit to say a yes on that.
05:52But he has said he does want to protect the UK borders and has alluded to that he might
05:58do this if he was to become the Conservative leader and if there was a general election
06:02to become the subsequent Prime Minister in, what will it be, 2029, if it goes to schedule.
06:08What we did see on the 4th of July, the last general election, Reform UK sweeping up lots
06:12of the votes across the country.
06:15Although in Kent they didn't win any seats, they certainly did seem to take many traditional
06:20Conservative voters' votes themselves.
06:24Now I was at the Maidstone in the morning and the Favershire and Mid Kent camp.
06:27There Helen Workley was and I spoke to her after the election and she actually did talk
06:32to me a little bit about this and she was telling me actually how she did think that
06:35the loss of some of her voter share was down to Reform UK.
06:39And if you do look at the general picture across Kent, across the UK, Reform did take
06:43a lot of the country's votes and they are in favour of leaving the EHCR.
06:48So you can see why Tom might be eager to go down that path and other members of the party
06:53are.
06:54Now Mr Tugendhat will need the support of at least 10 of them to be accepted as a candidate
06:58and nominations to replace Rishi Sudhak have to be in by 2.30pm on Monday.
07:04I was going to ask because the last time he ran for Conservative leader nationally he
07:08wasn't as well known as he is now.
07:10Of course we know him here in the county.
07:12Since then he's become security minister, now shadow security minister.
07:15So what chance does Tom Tugendhat actually have of winning?
07:18Well he's been there before, he's now known as you were saying.
07:23But we don't know quite for certain yet what his competitors are going to be.
07:27There are only three candidates in the race as far as we're aware of at the moment and
07:31he will need those support of 10 other candidates.
07:33The winner being declared on November 2nd.
07:36Now we have been phoning around Kent MPs today to find out if they're supporting that.
07:40We know that Damien Green was a big supporter of Tom back in 2022 when he stood to replace
07:46Boris Johnson.
07:47However, Damien Green is more of a Liberal Conservative and he has written a letter in
07:54the Guardian saying that he doesn't want the party to go too far to the right.
07:57So it seems there could be some opposition here between Damien Green and Tom Tugendhat
08:02and what direction they'd like the party to go in.
08:04But we haven't heard from any MPs.
08:06We did hear from Sir Roger Gill who's the Herne Bay and Sandwich MP.
08:09He didn't want to do an interview with us today.
08:11He is not publicly declaring support to pass the deadline which is Monday and he wants
08:15to hear from all of the candidates to see what he would like to put his tick in the
08:20box for.
08:21Now I think that's going to be the same for most MPs.
08:24Monday morning or Monday afternoon we might have a better picture.
08:27We'll be watching closely.
08:28Thank you very much for those details, Gabriel.
08:30Now don't forget you can keep up to date with all your latest stories across Kent by logging
08:35on to our website kmtv.co.uk where you'll find all of our reports including this one
08:40about a model recreation of Margate made to celebrate Hornby's 70th anniversary.
08:46Margate is well known for its beaches, music scene and iconic Lido but it's also home to
08:51one of the oldest model train companies in the country.
08:54Hornby who have been making trains in miniature since the 1920s have celebrated their 70th
08:58anniversary of being in Margate with competitors Triang Railways having built a factory there
09:03in 1954 which would later become Hornby's HQ.
09:07To honour the event they created their mini Margate train set to be opened and kept in
09:11Margate station for a number of weeks.
09:13We've had a relationship with South Easton for a long, long time because we produce models
09:18of their trains along with many other trains across the global network but when we started
09:24thinking about what could we do, how could we make something special about this anniversary
09:30it was the first people we called because we're railways, they're the local station
09:35and they were brilliant.
09:36They were very welcoming to ideas and also gave ideas of inspiration and for us to be
09:41able to put this layout and this model actually in such a prominent position in one of the
09:47busiest stations is absolutely amazing.
09:50In order to involve people travelling through Margate who use the trains the model boasts
09:54the feature where commuters can get 3D scanned and placed somewhere on the train set thanks
09:59to a 3D rig set up by Model U so I just had to give it a go and here's the result I think
10:04my good looks translated well into miniature form though I probably should have tucked
10:08my shirt in.
10:09Well despite the heat many have come to see the unveiling of Margate's miniature station,
10:14a miniature railway featuring Margate's most iconic landmarks such as Dreamland, the oldest
10:19roller coaster in the UK and Margate's only but ultimately iconic beach.
10:23The aim of the project isn't just to promote Hornby but to promote Margate as well.
10:29Yeah the atmosphere in the station is electrifying, everyone's happy to have a layout especially
10:37the passengers, we'll have thousands of people coming through throughout the summer and just
10:42seeing children smile just makes it worthwhile but it also helps promote the railway in general
10:48and there might be someone who leaves Margate with a really positive vibe and think actually
10:54I might want to visit again so it will also help our local economy with that.
10:58With Margate's place in the far east of Kent it can be overlooked but the beach town has
11:02so much rich history that is often forgotten or not known about outside of Margate so hopefully
11:08locals and visitors will enjoy being part of Margate's history to come.
11:12Finn McDermid for KMTV.
11:15Exciting stuff there now it's time for a break but coming back afterwards we'll be revealing
11:20exclusively here on Kent Tonight who will be playing a special part in the Dartford
11:27Orchard Theatre's panto of this sleeping beauty plus I'll be joined by Chris DC ahead of the
11:34upcoming Kent Film Club episode tonight and Jack Darkin will be here too catching us up
11:38with all the latest sports news. I'll see you after the break.
15:04Hello and welcome back to Kent Tonight live on KMTV. Now it might be the middle of July
15:19but Kent's theatres are very much thinking about heading into panto season. Not least
15:24Dartford's Orchard Theatre which will be putting on its production of Sleeping Beauty in the
15:29temporary Orchard West Theatre for the second year running as works continue on the original
15:34building following the discovery of rack concrete last year. But here tonight we can exclusively
15:40reveal that the Britain's Got Talent winner Sydney Christmas will be there playing the
15:45part of Fairy Christmas. I sat down with her earlier today to talk all about it.
15:51It's not every day you get to meet the winner of the UK's most popular talent competition.
15:56Gravesend's Sydney Christmas stole the hearts of TV viewers across Kent when she sang her
16:00rendition of Tomorrow from Annie in her first audition before going on to win the whole thing.
16:11What have these past few months been like for you?
16:17Crazy, mental. I feel like a rocket has been set off and I haven't come down yet which is amazing.
16:26I mean you said you've said in other interviews that Britain's Got Talent was kind of like your
16:29last shot. I mean thinking back to that decision to apply and to go for Britain's Got Talent you
16:34must be so thankful that you did it. I am so thankful that I got brave because I was on and
16:41off trying to get on BGT for about four years. So you have to go back and forth sending videos
16:47and apply and things like that and I kept pulling out the process because I was frightened and I was
16:53like if this goes wrong this is going to ruin my career and that's when I think I was brave enough
16:58to go well why not I've got nothing to lose now. I got told I could go in front of the judges so I
17:04was like okay got accepted let's actually do it this time. Now just weeks on from that fateful day
17:12it's back to her home county where she'll be performing as Fairy Christmas in this year's
17:17Orchard Theatre Dartford pantomime production of Sleeping Beauty. Even when I was young all my
17:22friends were getting in panto. I couldn't just, I couldn't book it and then the last time I went
17:29to a panto audition was about three years ago then I went back to Starlight and then
17:34yeah I'm living my panto dream. I've ticked it off. Yeah you're giving something back to your
17:39younger self as well. Absolutely we've done it Sid we've got into a panto. The Orchard Theatre West
17:45as it's known is a temporary theatre preparing to stage its second and hopefully last pantomime
17:51before the company moves back into the original Orchard West building which was closed after
17:56rack concrete was found last year. Kind of supporting the industry as well? 100 percent
18:01this is fantastic this is amazing I'm so impressed I think everyone's going to love it. I used to go
18:07to the Orchard to watch pantos when I was young so it's really good to now be a part of it
18:15the Orchard West but you know what I mean. There's still lots of magic to do before audiences pack
18:20in here for some pantomime fun and with an album on the way plus a royal variety performance still
18:26to prepare for it's clear the Christmas season has arrived. Bartholomew Hall for KMTV in Dartford.
18:35Straight after the break tonight we'll have a brand new episode of Kent Film Club the show's
18:39presenter Chris Deasy is here to give us an idea of what's to come but before we talk about that
18:44Chris I want to reflect a little bit on that story because the theatre and the cinema they
18:48have a similar link obviously you've got the audience you've got the kind of fourth wall there
18:53I was just wondering have you thought in recent times about some of those really
18:58prominent theatre adaptations that have turned into film? And also the other way around
19:03because I was just thinking Groundhog Day brilliant film has been made into a musical
19:09so of course it's the film that you could never actually remake because the whole point is that
19:13the film itself is the sequel so what a brilliantly inventive way of putting it on stage and letting
19:19it have an afterlife that way but of course the obvious answer to your question is Mamma Mia.
19:23Yes of course no I think Mamma Mia is one that's definitely loved in the newsroom we're constantly
19:28playing music like that so now let's talk about this summer's films coming out we've got the
19:34Wolverine and Deadpool film now is this going to save the kind of summer blockbusters or are people
19:39kind of getting a bit bored let's say of the superhero film? Well to be honest tonight I'm
19:46going to see Twisters for the second time this week not because it's an amazing film but
19:52because the first one came out 28 years ago this week I'm not actually sure whether Twisters is
19:58a remake or a sequel but Wolverine and Deadpool I think that the fact that they've put them together
20:04shows that it could be seen as a sort of a smack of desperation or it could be a creative way
20:09forward I kind of think that we're maybe hitting the end of the road as far as that type of film
20:14is concerned and I will watch it but I think there are so many different types of films out at the
20:19moment including of course the children's films with Despicable Me 4 and Inside Out 2 then I think
20:24that there's a lot of choice for people and lots of well some very good art house films including
20:29a lot of films actually from the African continent as well which are doing the rounds in cinemas
20:34across Kent. Lots of well-known characters kind of coming back as well and okay let's talk about
20:39the film club this evening who have we got on? So we have Julie Wasserman who is a brilliant
20:44screenwriter she's worked for London's Burning and for EastEnders and Whitstable Pearl which
20:48of course is doing the rounds at the moment on You now she has chosen some classics including
20:53The Man Who Failed to Worth and The Italian Job now she is a wonderful raconteur she has some
20:58wonderful stories including her encounters with some of the people behind those films so it's an
21:03absolute watch tonight. It's interesting when you talk to people who are storytellers themselves
21:08appreciating other stories do you find that with those conversations you kind of get a
21:13different perspective? Well when I met Julie I think she was thinking you know all these films
21:17to talk about but it was the impact on her life so she talks beautifully about the films if you
21:21haven't seen any of these films or haven't watched them in many years as in my case I hadn't seen
21:24The Man Who Failed to Worth in decades but she brought it all back she's a great storyteller
21:28of course that's also her craft but when she's talking about the films there's a perfect mixture
21:33of the personal the autobiographical and the film about which she's talking so it's a wonderful
21:37interplay. Fantastic we'll be we'll be watching it straight after the break this evening thank you
21:42very much Chris. Now let's take a look at the weather. Tonight it's looking to be 17 degrees
21:55across the board some rainy temperatures some rainy conditions to be expected in the east of
22:02the county. Tomorrow morning temperatures rising slightly to 19 degrees heading into Friday that
22:08sun returning unless you're in the west of the county where the rain will continue. Here's your
22:13outlook it's looking to get increasingly hotter reaching highs of 23 degrees on 24 degrees on Monday.
22:33Time to take a look at the sport headlines now and see what's been making the rounds across Kent
22:38we're joined now by Jack Darkin our reporter. Jack what's your first story for us? Well my first story
22:43involves the man on the screen at the moment the former Margate manager Mark Stimpson he's been
22:47found guilty of assault by beating so the 56 year old he appeared at Stevenage Magistrates Court
22:52last week following an incident that involved another man last year of course Kent fans may
22:57know him as I said earlier he was the manager of Margate but he's also he's managed Gillingham as
23:01well between 2007 and 2010 and as I said he was found guilty and he's been ordered to pay a total
23:06of £1,052 including £750 towards the cost incurred by the crown prosecution and £50 in
23:13compensation to his victim. Obviously a very serious situation there I know Margate new manager
23:19now Ben Greenhalgh has been taking over so hopefully for the club and then they'll be able to
23:23move forward and look forward towards the next season potentially with a bit more positivity
23:28and focus on those results. Definitely yeah so my next story for you it goes to the world of
23:33boxing now so 19 year old Moses Itoma from Chatham he's set to defend his WBO intercontinental
23:39heavyweight boxing title he faces and you have to bear with me for the pronunciation of this one
23:44Mariusz Vak from Poland at the O2 Arena his opponent is more than double his age at 44 years
23:49old and he stands at just a bit taller than him as well and their fight is set to be on the undercard
23:53of two very famous boxers if you're a fan of boxing you'll know probably the names of Joe
23:57Joyce and Derek Chisora as well so Itoma is currently sat on a 9-0 record and of course
24:01he'll be hoping to make a 10-0 record come Saturday night. Definitely and I think we've all been
24:05watching Moses Itoma's journey of course local boy around here where we're based in Medway and
24:10he's really been making a name for himself some of those names you mentioned there I'm sure one day
24:14will be putting him on the same level. Absolutely yeah and then for my very last story I'm going to
24:19go a little bit back to football now we're going to go to Maystone United so the new Maystone United
24:23Alexis Andre jr says that he's ready to follow in the footsteps of course of the previous
24:27Mason United's goalkeeper Lukasz Kolowant of course you followed Mason United's journey
24:32very well last year in the FA Cup that magical run that they had and Lukasz Kolowant has become
24:36a bit of a Maystone legend throughout Maystone of course he even picked up the man of the match
24:40award in their game against Ipswich Town with so many saves that he made and basically this is
24:45coming off of him Kolowant basically he's rejected a new contract with Maystone and basically Andre
24:50is now set to become the new number one so the 27 year old Frenchman says he's got very big
24:54shoes to fill but he's very determined to deliver for his new team yeah of course Kolowant of course
25:00making a big name for himself in that FA Cup run as you mentioned but yeah following in some big
25:05footsteps but Maystone another one of our teams that will be following this season especially as
25:09they look to finally get that promotion into the National League Jack thank you very much for
25:15joining us with the sport details thank you very much thank you
25:20now let's take a quick look back at the weather
25:29tonight it's looking to be 17 degrees across the county a bit of rain in Folkestone
25:34and Margate Friday morning the sun is set to come out across the east lows of 18 degrees in
25:40Tunbridge Wells set to heat up in the afternoon a little bit of rain falling in Maidstone
25:49and as we head towards the rest of the week getting increasingly hotter
25:52reaching a high of 23 degrees or 24 degrees on Monday
25:57so
26:07a double dose there of the weather but looking to be getting a bit more positive as we head
26:11into the weekend there you've been watching Kentonite live on KMTV there's plenty more
26:16news made just for Kent throughout the evening don't forget you can always keep up to date with
26:20the latest news across your county by logging on to KMTV.co.uk and of course you can also keep us
26:26on your social timelines by liking us on Facebook following us on X and on TikTok and of course if
26:33you have a story you think we should be covering then do get in touch on our website you can also
26:38look back at some of our special programs too all available on demand. From me I'll see you tomorrow, bye bye.