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00:00Good evening and welcome to Kentonite live on KMTV.
00:28I'm Bartholomew Hall.
00:29Here are your top stories on Tuesday the 20th of August.
00:34Taking back the neighbourhood, police launch anti-social behaviour strategy in Chatham.
00:40It will be high visibility policing.
00:43They will see our neighbourhood officers, our neighbourhood task force, they will see
00:47local police force officers.
00:50Eighty years of danger, Sheppey's shipwreck reaches milestone with 1,400 tonnes of explosives
00:57still on board.
00:59Because of the risk that some of these might actually be unexploded bombs, they've taken
01:04the safer proportion of delaying the work.
01:07And from Keeve to Kent, African lioness takes to new home in Smardon.
01:13Build up her confidence but build up her strength and hopefully get her to a point where she's
01:17like any of the other lions.
01:28Good evening.
01:29A national initiative to tackle anti-social behaviour through neighbourhood policing has
01:33been launched in Chatham today.
01:35The tactic known as clear, hold, build aims to target those responsible for causing problems
01:41in a particular area and improve community resilience.
01:44But are residents living in the New Road area convinced that the scheme will work?
01:48Oliver Leeder-Sacks has been finding out.
01:51A Chatham housing estate turning over a new leaf.
01:55While funded by the Home Office, the clear, hold, build initiative was launched in the
02:01residential areas near New Road earlier this year under the banner of Operation Neighbourhood.
02:09The aim is to rid these tower blocks of anti-social behaviour and organise crime once and for
02:15all.
02:16It will be high visibility policing, okay.
02:19They will see our neighbourhood officers, our neighbourhood task force, they will see
02:24local police force officers, they will see CID officers as well.
02:30We need to commit to investing time in this area but working in collaboration with partners.
02:37This is why it's so exciting, working alongside MHS Homes, Medway Council, the school behind
02:43me, yeah, and local businesses.
02:45All of that will then develop and make the local area better for the residents.
02:49The affordable housing provider on the estate says the impact of additional policing is
02:55already being felt.
02:57Obviously we can't claim victory overnight but actually already some very successful
03:02step forwards have been made.
03:04Like many of these issues, the people responsible are small in number and what the police have
03:09done working with us and others is actually crack down on that.
03:12So there has been action, very specific legal action, taken against those individuals to
03:18make sure that their criminal activities stop.
03:21With the first of three stages complete, continuing police activity and empowering the community
03:28to do it themselves are now the next steps.
03:32Events like the family day happening just over my shoulder are part of these efforts
03:38to make the estate safer.
03:40They are in fact the next stage, giving communities the resources they need to build back better.
03:47But do residents here actually feel safe?
03:50And do they think the initiative has been working as intended?
03:54I mean I do quite often see police around this area, maybe that's it, maybe because
04:00they are being seen it's deterring people.
04:04They've improved massively, but they've done a lot of work and it's so much better.
04:13I have noticed that we've had lots of police around the area almost every day for the last
04:20couple of months, so whether that's deterring them or not I don't know.
04:25A largely positive start then, and with dozens of families coming together to receive support
04:31here at Wellington Court, all eyes are on the future.
04:35But with some still concerned that things could go back to the way they were, there
04:40is still more work to be done.
04:43Oliver Leader of the South for KNTV, in Chatham.
04:46A Kent couple are among the six missing tourists who were on board of a luxury yacht off the
04:55coast of Italy.
04:56The boat was sunk by a tornado that struck at 5am on Monday, leaving divers to look underwater
05:02for Sevenoaks couple Jonathan and Judy Bloomer.
05:06Fifteen of the 22 passengers were rescued near Porticello, but people such as tycoon
05:11Mike Lynch and his daughter still remain missing.
05:15Italy's fire brigade have said they're creating a plan to enter the wreckage of the vessel
05:18in hopes of finding any passengers.
05:20The ship currently rests at a depth of 50 metres off the coast of Sicily.
05:26A man wielding a knife against his girlfriend and her son in Deal has been sentenced to
05:29more than two years in prison.
05:32Joshua Bruton was accused of chasing after the pair while they hid from him on the street
05:37outside their home in Deal.
05:39The 25-year-old is from Clifdenville.
05:41He was drunk at the time and had accused his now ex-partner of cheating before threatening
05:46and attacking her.
05:47It comes after a sentencing hearing at Canterbury Crown Court on Thursday.
05:51Mr Bruton will now serve a 10-year restraining order in addition to his time in prison.
05:58Britain's oldest rollercoaster at Margate Streamland has been closed after holes were
06:02found in its tracks.
06:03Bars supporting rails on the scenic railway are said to have been broken, meaning the
06:07wooden slats were damaged and unsafe.
06:10A full investigation is being done by on-site engineers into the exact cause of the fault
06:15after passengers had to be taken off the ride.
06:17It was first opened in 1920 and is Grade II listed and suffered several fires and damages
06:23throughout its life before it was reopened in 2015.
06:28Today marks 80 years since the SS Richard Montgomery was grounded off the coast of Sheppey.
06:33After becoming shipwrecked and left in place for all that time, the vessel has become famous
06:37for its 1,400 tonnes of explosives that are still on board.
06:42The US Navy ship can still be seen by its masts which stick out above the water and
06:46are said to be removed over the next year.
06:49Well, Martin Harmer knows it more than any.
06:51He runs the boat touring company X-Pilot and regularly takes crowds up to the edge of the
06:55Montgomery's exclusion zone.
06:57I spoke with him earlier and asked why the wreck is so popular with tourists.
07:02So people enjoy getting up close to something that could potentially explode, taking out
07:08every window on the Isle of Sheppey and, as you say, sending a mini tidal wave up Thames.
07:13So I think people enjoy that aspect of it, but of course they're always perfectly safe
07:18aboard X-Pilot because we keep outside the exclusion zone that is clearly marked.
07:24I was going to ask about that exclusion zone actually because I was wondering how it works
07:27and how it's policed because we have seen reports in the past of some people that maybe
07:31weren't aware of it accidentally getting inside of the exclusion zone, maybe paddleboard
07:36users or the like.
07:38How is it policed?
07:40Well, mainly I would imagine they're using radar, so it would be Medway VTS keeping an
07:48eye on that area and warning anybody who accidentally goes into the exclusion zone via radio.
07:57I think some people, particularly on, as you mentioned, paddleboards, possibly ignore
08:04the advice and try to get their photograph taken with the Montgomery against good advice.
08:11It sounds like a scary one.
08:12I can promise you I won't be going up there on a paddleboard anytime soon.
08:16But let's talk about, because it seems like it is being very closely monitored, we've
08:20heard from the government earlier this year that there's potentially some movement on
08:24moving some of the masts.
08:26So moving a step closer towards making it completely safe and removing that risk of
08:32any detonation in the future.
08:34What's your take on that?
08:35Because you've been following it for many years now, there's been lots of conversations
08:38on it, but we haven't seen much action being taken in the past few decades.
08:42Well, they identified in one of the most recent surveys that there was a worry that the masts
08:50were going to collapse into the cargo holds.
08:53So a plan was drawn up.
08:55They even managed to get hold of a contractor, I believe, to start the work.
08:58But then the most recent surveys identified objects on the ground, the seabed around the
09:06Montgomery.
09:08So because of the risk that some of these might actually be unexploded bombs, they've
09:14taken the safer proportion of delaying the work for a while.
09:22I kind of hope that they might delay it forever because it's such a wonderful attraction in
09:27the Thames estuary and so many people have a lot of interest in it.
09:31And it's a wonderful monument to things that occurred during World War Two.
09:35Absolutely. I mean, that seems why people like to go and get as close as they can, of
09:39course, on your tours as well.
09:41And I wanted to ask because there has been some questioning if the masts are removed
09:45of potentially putting up in the town of Sheerness and having it as an attraction on land.
09:51Would you be for that?
09:54That would be fantastic if they actually do remove the masts, then I think they
09:58definitely need to be preserved somewhere.
10:01And I think at Sheerness would probably be the best option.
10:06And Martin, just before we go, I was wondering, what's your favourite kind of lesser
10:10known fact that you like to give out on the tours?
10:14Well, probably we were approached by Sky at one point who wanted to film a show there
10:22and they asked whether they'd be able to put helicopters and drones.
10:25And I advised them, no, that's never going to happen in a million years.
10:29And of course, they contacted the relevant authorities and they weren't allowed to do
10:33that. And indeed, they weren't even allowed to use the name Montgomery in the show.
10:38They went ahead with having an explosion in the Thames estuary.
10:41Goodness me, it is a very closely protected site, of course.
10:45And now, I did say just before we go, but one final one.
10:48I was asking, how can people get involved with your tours if they did want to go and
10:52see the Montgomery?
10:55Well, we do regular tours, Grand Forks tours, Forks tours and special tours just to the
11:01Red Sands House and the wreck of the Montgomery.
11:04Everything's available on our website.
11:05So if you're interested in seeing the Montgomery, you can go to the Red Sands House.
11:09Everything's available on our website.
11:11We're ex-pilot and you can give us a call, get in touch by email.
11:17We're more than happy to make booking for you.
11:20Martin, thank you very much for joining us.
11:23You're welcome. Thank you very much.
11:25Time for a short break now, but coming up, we'll be hearing reactions after an abandoned
11:29prison in Goudhurst will not be reopened, despite the government saying that it needs
11:34emergency space for prisoners in the wake of recent riots.
11:39And Finn McDiarmid will have the story about a rescue line from Ukraine that is
11:43undergoing rehabilitation at a sanctuary in Smarden.
11:46All that and plenty more news made just for Kent after this break.
15:08Hello and welcome back to Kent Tonight, live on KMTV.
15:15Now, two of Maidstone's Shaun the Sheep sculptures have been vandalised, leaving up to
15:19£10,000 worth of damage.
15:22This is the scene that volunteers from the Heart of Kent Hospice found when they
15:25arrived to remove the sculpture.
15:28It's believed that they were damaged deliberately, which the charity has described as
15:31heartbreaking. More than 100 sculptures have been dotted around the county town since
15:35the start of July as part of a partnership with Maidstone Borough Council.
15:39The remaining Shaun's are due to be auctioned next month.
15:45Now, amidst a countrywide issue of prisons becoming more crowded, the government has
15:49begun emergency plans to help the service cope, but one Kent prison has notably
15:54been missed out.
15:55Blantyre House in Hordham was a resettlement prison for men and closed for
15:59refurbishment back in 2016, with no current plans to reuse the now
16:04empty site, which can hold more than 100 prisoners.
16:07People are starting to ask why.
16:09Well, Gabriel Morris joins me now.
16:10Gabriel, what more can you tell us?
16:12Yeah, a little known site, unused, sitting empty.
16:15Could that be the solution?
16:17We've seen the reports on TV at the moment, on news articles about the
16:21shortage of prison spaces.
16:24Now, that is because, partially because of recent riots, which have seen nearly 1,000
16:28people arrested and now more than 450 of them have been charged within the past
16:33week. The government have just launched Operation Early Dawn.
16:37Now, that means that defendants can be held in prison cells and not summoned to
16:41magistrates court until a space in a prison becomes available.
16:44It's not the first time that it happened under the previous Conservative
16:48administration. Now, let's have a look at Blantyre House at Holden near Goudhurst
16:54in our county. It was a Category D resettlement prison made for male prisoners
16:58that closed back in 2016 in January.
17:01It was sold to the prison service in 1954 after being used as a home for young
17:06people. Because of its remote location of the prison, not many people are aware
17:11of it. And some are questioning, did the government know about it, as we'll hear from
17:14a councillor in a second. But due to its focus on rehabilitation, when it was a
17:18prison, it had extremely low reoffending rates of just 8 per cent.
17:22The national average is 57 per cent.
17:25So it was mainly used for those coming to an end of their sentence.
17:28It's not known what state that prison is in at the moment.
17:31And in recent years, it has been used as a training facility for prison officers.
17:35Now, around 460 spaces are needed in the country because of those riots.
17:38As I said, we've been speaking to a local councillor who is questioning why haven't
17:42the government looked at this?
17:45I think it's obvious that Blantyre House could be brought into use.
17:50I don't know what the condition of it is.
17:52It's been empty for about eight years, seven or eight years.
17:55If we have this kind of emergency, then obviously we could turn to that.
18:00I don't know why they stopped using it as a prison and maybe all sorts of reasons
18:04about conditions and so on and so forth.
18:06But right now we have an emergency.
18:08We're turning people out of prison early.
18:11We don't have enough spaces.
18:13And then rapidly filling them up with rioters who are sometimes first offenders,
18:18sometimes with people who've said things and nothing more than that on social media.
18:24But leaving that aside, we need to find more prison places.
18:29If the conditions aren't quite up to the scratch, this is an emergency.
18:33And so we should be using Blantyre Prison as an addition to using police cells.
18:39Gabriel, what's been the response from the government?
18:41We've got a statement from the Ministry of Justice.
18:43They said that the former HMP Blantyre House is now an older building, now
18:47dilapidated and insecure.
18:49That would cost taxpayers a disproportionate amount of money to bring back into
18:53service for only 120 places.
18:56Gabriel, thank you very much for those details.
18:59Now, don't forget, you can keep up to date with all your latest stories by heading
19:01along to our website, kmtv.co.uk.
19:05There you'll find all of our reports, including this one about a Folkestone and
19:08Hive councillor calling for a barbecue ban on the district's beaches.
19:13School's out in the sun with it here on Kent's south coast.
19:17But seagulls and sandcastles aren't the only thing to keep an eye out for on
19:22Folkestone's beaches, with the Harbour Ward councillor increasingly
19:27concerned about the risks posed by disposable barbecues.
19:32These barbecues that we're seeing more and more of on our beaches, especially
19:37the disposable ones, are causing issues.
19:41You know, when you go home, if you take your barbecue with you, that's great.
19:46But when you leave them on the sand, even buried in the sand, they gather heat
19:51and children and dogs and adults have burnt their feet badly on these
19:56contraptions.
19:58With children at the seaside all August, the local Labour representative wants to
20:04see a ban to ensure barbecue free beaches.
20:07Barbecue bans are nothing new for people living here in Folkestone.
20:12Just up the road from Sunny Sands, right here at the Lower Leeds Coastal Park,
20:17barbecues have been banned since 2020.
20:20After visitors were leaving behind lit barbecues, posing a fire risk.
20:26But our beachgoers here convinced a ban is the way to go.
20:30I think if you're sensible enough, I think it's a good idea to do.
20:36If you dispose of them correctly, obviously, if you're putting them in the
20:40correct bins, make sure they're all out, you know, not on fire.
20:45Yeah, I'm not in favour of having them on the beach.
20:47I think they're a nuisance to smoke.
20:51You know, don't have a barbecue at home.
20:53That's my opinion on it.
20:55I think if they're left, it can be quite dangerous for young children because of
20:59the coals remaining hot and things like that.
21:01But I think we want people to come to these areas and we want people to have
21:05staycations in this country.
21:07So I think people are having a nice time and a barbecue is a nice thing to have.
21:11The potential of a barbecue ban has been raised with Folkestone Hive District
21:16Council, which noted that enacting a general ban on
21:20barbecues would need an amendment to the existing public space
21:25protection order or more likely a new standalone
21:29PSPO requiring public consultation.
21:33As Councillor Polly Blakemore, the Green Cabinet member for Transport,
21:38Regulatory Services and Building, stated, enforcing a ban
21:42effectively along our coastline at the height of summer would need a significant
21:47increase in staffing and budget.
21:49And I think we're still in practice struggle to implement.
21:54A ban then seems unlikely in the short term.
21:57But when you're next on the coast, keep an eye out for embers, coals
22:02and disused barbecues.
22:04The marks they leave behind won't disappear with the tide.
22:09Oliver Leader of the Saks for KMTV in Folkestone.
22:13Now, let's take a look at the weather.
22:20Tonight, you can expect clear skies, highs of 15 degrees in Ashford and Dover.
22:26As we head into Wednesday morning, it'll be sunny with cloud in most of the county,
22:30lows of 16 degrees down in Tunbridge Wells.
22:33Wednesday afternoon, it will stay sunny and cloudy, warming up to highs of 22
22:38degrees in Dartford and Chatham.
22:40And here's your outlook as we head towards the tail end of the week.
22:43Expect some rain on Friday, highs of 22.
22:55And finally, tonight, a lioness who was found with extremely poor health in Ukraine
23:00has been brought to Kent to live a new life at Smardon's Big Cat Sanctuary.
23:05Despite feeling nervous about her new surroundings, the sanctuary doing everything
23:09it can to make her feel at home, from painting the glass of her enclosure
23:13to specially designing its layout to help with her mobility issues.
23:17Finn McDermott has the story.
23:20The Big Cat Sanctuary in Smardon has seen tigers, leopards and jaguars,
23:24but its enclosures have never held a lion with a journey quite like this one.
23:28Una is an African lioness from Ukraine who travelled 1,400 miles to get to England.
23:34But with any luck, she won't be the only one.
23:36Rory, another of the five lions from Keeve, was dropped off in Belgium
23:40and will join his furry friends at the sanctuary when their larger enclosure,
23:43the Lion Rescue Centre, is finished in November.
23:46The charity have been fundraising towards their rescue from the public,
23:49who raised £300,000 of their £500,000 target for the mission,
23:54which went towards the lion's food, treatment and the building of a new rescue centre.
23:59All the donations are massively appreciated, and it's helping
24:02give these lions a second chance at life, and they really do need it.
24:06They're severely traumatised, and the ongoing care and support
24:10that they're going to need into the future is a massive one.
24:13So all help is really important for these lionesses and Rory, the male lion.
24:19Una is no ordinary lion.
24:21She was kept in poor conditions, a three by four metre bare concrete enclosure
24:26with another lion who became aggressive when the shelling started,
24:29which gave her a concussion and shell shock.
24:32According to rescuers, she was in very poor health and struggled to balance
24:35herself when they found her.
24:37Even now that she's arrived,
24:38she hasn't quite taken to her new outdoor enclosure, preferring to stay inside.
24:43Well, for the foreseeable future, this enclosure behind me will serve as Una's home.
24:48And the keepers here at the Big Cat Animal Sanctuary
24:50are doing everything they can to make her feel welcome.
24:53That includes painting on the glass to make sure that she understands
24:56that it's a barrier that people can't just walk through,
24:59as back in Ukraine, she'd never seen glass before.
25:02She has also never seen grass and remains unstable on her feet,
25:06so it's understandable why she might be nervous.
25:08So because we know that she's historically had some issues
25:11with the shell shock and concussion,
25:14we've got things like mounds with gentle slopes
25:17that she can take herself up there nicely.
25:18There's no kind of steep drops, as it were.
25:21There is a platform, but she doesn't have access to it.
25:23And we'll just kind of build things up to the point where she's she's comfortable
25:27and it'll be safe for her to be able to go up there.
25:29Yeah, I think we're really hopeful that she's going to settle nicely.
25:33We'll do a lot of work just taking it really slow at her pace
25:37and build up her confidence, but build up her strength
25:39and hopefully get her to a point where she's like any of the other lions.
25:43Well, hopefully, by the time that Rory, Vanda, Amani and Lyra
25:47arrive at the sanctuary, Una will have gotten used to her new surroundings.
25:50Finn McDermid for KMTV in Smarden.
25:54Well, that is all we have time for this evening, but before we go,
25:56there's just two days until thousands of GCSE students across Kent
26:00will be opening up their results.
26:02And our sister station, KMFM, will be taking to Canterbury College,
26:05along with the EKC group to host their annual GCSE surgery
26:09with expert and student advice on what the options are available
26:13for those students.
26:14Ben Pearce and the Hit List team will be on air between seven till 10 p.m.
26:17on Thursday evening,
26:18with all your questions answered in the A-Levels, T-Levels and Apprenticeships.
26:23For more information, head over to KMFM.co.uk.
26:25But that is this from us here on KMTV this evening.
26:29There's more news made just for Kent throughout this evening.
26:32Don't forget, you can keep up to date on our website, KMTV.co.uk.
26:36But that's it from us. Good night.
26:55Transcription by ESO. Translation by —