Catch up with all the news across the county with Gabriel Morris.
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00:00Hello, good evening. Welcome to Ken Tonight live here on KMTV. I'm Gabriel Morris and
00:25here are your top stories on Friday the 1st of November.
00:30Murderer sentenced. William Cozier hears verdict after fatally stabbing man outside Fabersham
00:36pub.
00:37We've got a minimum tariff of 25 years. I believe that that's reflective of the severity.
00:45A waste of public money. Fears multi-million pound campus will sit empty in Ramsgate.
00:51Out of a budget of 50 million, at the moment we're looking at an empty tin shed with solar
00:56panels on the roof.
00:58And guess for word, we'll ask people in Kent what they think the Collins Dictionary Word
01:02of the Year is.
01:18After the murder of Adam Pritchard in Boughton-under-Bleen pub last March, William Cozier heard his sentence
01:24at Canterbury Crown Court today, when it marks the end of a long legal battle.
01:30Just a warning, some of the topics surrounding murder will be discussed and Daisy Page joins
01:35me now from Canterbury Court.
01:36Daisy, tell us a little bit more about the sentencing this afternoon.
01:41Well, it has been an intense atmosphere at the court today and we've been getting a sense
01:47of the whole picture. We can now confirm that William Cozier has been sentenced for
01:51life imprisonment after his murder charge. We spoke to Detective Inspector Lee Nill earlier.
02:03Well for any murder, someone's going to receive a life sentence, but with a minimum tariff
02:08of 25 years, I believe that that's reflective of the severity and the senseless acts that
02:16William Cozier carried out on that fateful evening in March earlier this year.
02:23I'd like to acknowledge the courage and dignity of all the witnesses that helped us to achieve
02:31this conviction and sentence for the family, but also for the courage and dignity that
02:37the family have shown throughout this investigation.
02:40Well, Daisy, as you were saying, it's been a long case since March we've been covering
02:46it from the day, but take us back to that day in March. Tell us about that crime itself.
02:54Well Mr Cozier was charged and convicted of the murder after stabbing on Wednesday the
02:5813th of March. He went to the Queen's Head in the street, Boughton-under-Gleene, where
03:03he spent some time at the bar. Later, Adam Pritchard entered the premises and spoke to
03:09Cozier while walking towards him. They ended up fighting before leaving the pub. Cozier
03:14took a knife from the kitchen, which he concealed behind his back as the fight continued outside.
03:20Mr Pritchard fired a BB gun in Cozier's direction. After stabbing the victim, Cozier fled the
03:27scene in his car that had been parked nearby. Mr Pritchard returned towards the pub after
03:32suffering from two stab wounds. Two people placed him in the back of a car in an attempt
03:37to get him to the hospital. On the way, they flagged down an ambulance and he was treated
03:41by paramedics at the side of the road. He was later confirmed deceased at the scene.
03:47Mr Cozier handed himself in at Canterbury Police Station on the 14th of March. He later
03:54had the charge of murder against him. He pleaded not guilty at Canterbury Crown Court and on
04:00Wednesday the 9th of October, he was convicted following a trial and he now faces life imprisonment.
04:07A 75-year-old patient at Medway Hospital says he had no other choice but to sleep on the
04:12floor. Martin Wakely suffers from multiple sclerosis, meaning he is unable to sit down
04:17for long periods of time. When his back pain worsened, he tried to lie across for seats
04:22but was told he needed to sit up to allow space for the other patients. But having had
04:26to wait for more than 12 hours in A&E for a bed, he felt the only option was taking
04:32to the floor. The NHS has issued an apology, saying our staff are working tirelessly to
04:37provide the best possible care for patients at this particularly busy time.
04:45Well an elderly vandal has cut down and thrown away hundreds of hand-knitted Remembrance
04:49Day tributes in Folkestone. The town's Poppy Project display thousands of homemade and
04:56handmade poppies every year in honour to fallen soldiers, but a vandal described them as red
05:02weeds when he was questioned by the local Beat officer. The act has been described
05:07as wicked, disrespectful and disgusting by local residents and the volunteers who put
05:12their heart and soul into making of the knitted and crocheted poppies.
05:16He's well having some technical difficulties this evening. We'll work to fix those as the
05:21programme goes on.
05:22Now a multi-million pound training campus in Ramsgate, funded by taxpayers' money, could
05:27sit empty. The Regeneration Alliance believes businesses have been left in the dark, not
05:36knowing what they're investing in. The green campus is part of successful levelling up
05:41funding, but a third is set to be funded by public sector funding. Well I've been finding
05:45out more about this as businesses are interested, but none have so far signed on the dotted
05:49line.
05:50Projects bring training, education and business opportunities in the maritime sector to Ramsgate.
05:57The green campus has £6 million worth of levelling up funding from the government.
06:02But there are now concerns that the building might sit empty, with no public sector match
06:07funding so far, which was meant to be part of the bid.
06:12Neither you or I would go and sign a contract with a building company to come and make structural
06:18changes to our houses without actually having an idea of what those changes might be. And
06:23that's part of the frustration many of us have. Out of a budget of £50 million at the
06:27moment, we're looking at an empty tin shed with solar panels on the roof. I don't want
06:32to see us disadvantaged, I want to see £50 million spent to this community's advantage.
06:38It's understood the council will construct two blocks, with a third available for a maritime
06:43related business. But the local Regeneration Alliance says the project has a serious flaw.
06:48It doesn't have a business plan.
06:50In truth, I don't understand what the problem is, because it seems to me to be self-evident
06:55that you don't go and invest in something unless you know what the return on the investment
07:00is going to be. So it's not build it and they'll come. It's build it and provide a complete
07:08management infrastructure to enable their businesses to grow and the hub as a whole
07:12to grow. So what we miss at the moment, in all of the data that I've seen so far, is
07:19there actually is no business plan.
07:21In a statement, the local authority says they've had significant interest in the opportunity,
07:26which will contribute to match funding for the Green Campus programme. The council remains
07:31committed to engagement and collaboration with the local community. And they hope it
07:36will create a positive narrative that highlights the opportunities available in Ramsgate.
07:42Money from the government's levelling up fund is time limited, so the district council has
07:46to spend it by March 2026. The authority is now looking for a contractor to construct
07:53the site.
07:54Gabriel Morris in Ramsgate.
07:58Next night, a Kent police officer has been barred from ever joining the force again after
08:02trying to avoid being caught speeding. We apologise about those technical difficulties
08:06this evening. We'll carry on as much as we can.
08:08Well, Thomas Smith has pleaded guilty to putting stickers on his number plate in a bid to get
08:13away with speeding. Well, earlier today, I caught up with our local democracy reporter,
08:17Dan Essin, to find out more about this case.
08:19Basically, he was speeding, I presume in London, because it was the Met who caught him, but
08:24he was speeding. His car was registered as speeding. He got some speeding tickets. When
08:28officers from the Met police confronted him about it, he told them that his vehicle had
08:33been cloned, which is basically a criminal practice where people steal your vehicle's
08:36vehicle identification number and potentially copy its number plate and put it onto another
08:42vehicle. So he said that his vehicle had been cloned, and he then went and put stickers
08:47on the number plate of his car so that it didn't look like the one that was caught on
08:51CCTV speeding.
08:54This was later found out. It's not really clear how. The police just said that it was
08:58through anonymous intelligence sources, but this was later found out. And then he was
09:03charged officially with, presumably, the speeding tickets, but also perverting the course of
09:08He pled guilty to that immediately at Croydon Crown Court in July this year.
09:13So what does this mean now for a police officer, or a former police officer?
09:20Well, I was told he's not in prison anymore. He's served the eight-month sentence that
09:25he was told to serve. The short of it is he'll never be able to work as a police officer
09:32again. Whether he was planning on that, I don't know. Whether you can serve as a police
09:35officer again once you've been convicted of any crime, I'm not sure. But he'll definitely
09:38need to be able to serve in force again. He'll be put on the barred list, and basically he'll
09:44always be on Ken Police's blacklist.
09:47And how often do we hear of police misconduct hearings? Are they common, or are these few
09:52and far between?
09:55They're not tremendously common, but they only really happen if a police officer commits
10:02a criminal offence in the course of their job. The misconduct hearing like happened
10:07today will usually take place much later, because obviously the priority is the actual
10:11judicial process rather than the semi-judicial employment tribunal nature of a police misconduct
10:19hearing. So they're not particularly frequent, but they usually have to happen in public
10:23so that members of the press can attend them.
10:26That was Denison on a police misconduct hearing today in Maidstone on a Kent police officer
10:32who's been barred from ever joining the force again.
10:35Well, folks don't residents fear they'll lose their independence as a bus operator is set
10:40to cut routes this month. Sageco plans to change its timetable when the long-awaited
10:44fast-track rapid bus service begins. But that would mean one service stopping at a hospital
10:49is being reduced from twice hourly to once. Well, we've been speaking to some of those
10:54planning protests.
10:56So if you take my bus route, the 74, 50,000 people use that every year. And Sageco stopped
11:04it. So now Kent County Council are running it. And we went from a 70-hour a week Monday
11:10to Saturday to a 25-hour a week Monday to Friday.
11:14This is going to be devastating, particularly in the rural community that we have, because
11:19the services have been cut back. And what we need is clean, reliable, safe and frequent
11:27bus services.
11:30Well, bus operator Sageco says they've looked carefully at the 64 service, but they say
11:35sadly, the number of passengers using the buses between town and river is very small
11:39and does not provide the cost of providing two buses an hour. By changing the frequency,
11:44they say they're able to keep the service going because they know it provides an important
11:48link for people locally.
11:51Well, that's all we've got time for on this half of the show. We'll be back after the
11:55break with more news made just for Kent. I do apologise about some of the technical issues
11:59we've been having. We'll look at them in the break and we'll be back with more news in
12:02just a few minutes.
12:19Hello and welcome back to Kent Tonight, live here on KMTV. Well, it's another Friday and
12:30that means another episode of the Kent Politics Show, with a debate that gets the politicians
12:35of the county talking. Well, joining me to explain and unpick a little bit more about
12:40tonight's programme in the Westminster Headlines is our politics producer, Oliver Leader. The
12:45Sachs. Well, we're off air for a little more than 15 minutes on the politics show now,
12:49but take us back 15 minutes. What was on the show this evening?
12:52Well, Gabriel, you've seen me enough times on the sofa this week. We were obviously discussing
12:57the budget. We had some quite interesting guests for it this week. We had George Perfect,
13:01the leader of the opposition at Medway Council. He's a conservative voice. Meanwhile, David
13:06Powell is even more interesting, a former diplomat, the chair of the local television
13:12association, the trade association for places like KMTV. For full disclosure, a KMTV board
13:18member as well. So we talked a little bit more about what national insurance will mean
13:23for local broadcasters and also a bit about what it will mean for people's pockets here
13:29in Kent. It wasn't just the budget, though. There's more news than just that this week
13:34in politics, including GB News being slapped with a £100,000 fine, which they are fighting.
13:40They say it's unfair. But obviously, Kent Politics Show is about holding account to
13:45people who are holding our politicians to account as much as it is about the politicians
13:50themselves. We talk a lot about Ofcom. You can catch all our episodes on our website.
13:54It's something that's also in the Kent Politics briefing and podcast. You can find it on the
13:58Kent online website. So lots to talk about in this programme.
14:03And, of course, the big news story of the week has been the budget. Labour's first in
14:06more than 14 years. And you did a story yesterday which I think had a very interesting headline
14:11about a food bank which says they might have to lay off some of their own staffs because
14:15of some of the changes announced yesterday. I mean, I think some of those, you know, would
14:19be rising minimum wage, but also national insurance for employers.
14:22Yes, Gabriel. Neil Charlick from Dillingham Street Angel said he made the layoff one of
14:26his 60 staff due to the budget, due to national insurance rises and rising the minimum wage,
14:32which will mean more pocket in the working man's pocket, but it could impact him.
14:37But the other big news story we discussed, the one that I think you may not realise is
14:42going to impact the county, is the US election. That is just four days away.
14:47And while we are the Kent Politics show, the American politics will have an impact on us.
14:52Whether or not the US leaves NATO, what it will mean on trade tariffs, all of this will
14:57have a huge impact on people here in the county and obviously with some Labour staffers
15:02travelling across the pond to canvas for Kamala Harris.
15:07There are concerns it could hurt our relationship if Donald Trump, the Republican candidate,
15:12gets another term in office.
15:14Well, that US election has come around very quickly. It's Tuesday, isn't it?
15:18Or Wednesday, I think it is. Tuesday 18th.
15:21Well, I'll be watching that closely to see who wins. I think it's going to be a long day.
15:26Sweepstake Gabriel?
15:27I'm not going to say that on air, are they? We'll talk about it after the programme.
15:32Now, don't forget, you can keep up with all things going on in Kent by logging on to our website
15:38kmtv.co.uk. There you can find all our latest stories, including this one about a new skate park
15:44which is set to open in Margate.
15:47Yesterday, a council meeting was held on whether or not to introduce a skate park to the Margate town.
15:52And it seems like it will go ahead.
15:54The council have decided that they will retain ownership of the seafront site
15:58and aim to promote sustainability, safety and community involvement in the area with the new addition.
16:04They will collaborate with Margate Skate Club and hope that it inspires other towns in the district
16:09to follow in their footsteps.
16:11What it is, is that by putting a skate park in an area, it gives kids something to do.
16:17So rather than them going out and smashing windows, they might get into skateboarding.
16:23Giving kids something to do stops them from getting involved with any social behaviour.
16:29Just having something where you can go to a skate park for 8-12 hours a day, skate all day, socialise.
16:36It's good for your mental health, it's good for your physical health.
16:39And it's also good for learning social skills and they become valuable later on when you work and stuff like that.
16:48Efforts will be made to minimise carbon emissions and ensure the site is accessible and welcoming to all,
16:54aiming to foster inclusivity and reduce discrimination.
16:58From car parks to seafronts, this is where plans for the new skate park may go ahead.
17:04The project has funding of almost a million pounds and includes things like toilets and a new food area.
17:10And after speaking to some locals, it seems that many of them are excited and feel positive for the possibility of the new addition in this area.
17:18We have a skate park near where I live and it works quite well. It's a focal point for the youth.
17:22It's good activity, it's outdoors. It's not a year-round thing, so you have to consider what's going to happen in the wintertime.
17:28I think it's a good idea to have them because it gives kids an outlet to express themselves and get into a hobby
17:37and have somewhere to go rather than complaining that they've got nowhere to go.
17:41So yeah, go for it.
17:42Go for it, I say. It's only a good thing. Who knows, you might get an Olympian out.
17:46Exactly.
17:47As the town prepares for the possibility of the new arrival, it seems like they will be getting more than they bargained for
17:53with an added £35,000 to improve the surrounding area to help improve safety and wellbeing with improved lighting, railings and CCTV.
18:03Kristen Hawthorne, KMTV.
18:08Well, exciting stuff. We'll keep you updated when we hear more on progress on that new skate park for Margate.
18:14Well now, take a look at this. A garage in Maidstone has swapped saving cars for cats.
18:22Well, this is the moment mechanics rescued a kitten which had gotten stuck in a brake test roller.
18:29Oh, how scary for the kitten.
18:30Well, elite garages say they were first alerted when they heard that little girl meowing.
18:36Well, after some careful manoeuvring, the team managed to free the brave little feline unharmed
18:42and the kitten went to a vet and is now safe and sound, being safely vaccinated.
18:47Well, although the Maidstone garage has a reputation for saving cats now, they say they're going back to what they're best at and repairing cars.
18:55God, amazing, amazing story that. I wonder what the owner is for, I wonder where it went.
19:00Interesting stuff. I heard they've changed the name of the cat as well, so I wonder if it's got a car-themed name or something like that.
19:06We'll have to find out and update you.
19:08Well, next, will they be looking back in anger?
19:11Tomorrow, thousands will see an effigy burnt at the Eden Bridge bonfire night.
19:16This year, organisers are taking on Ticketmaster in response to the Oasis concert ticket scandal earlier this year, taking aim at controversial figures.
19:25Previous year's effigies have depicted figures such as Harvey Weinstein and Boris Johnson.
19:30The festival is attended by almost 10,000 people travelling from all around the south-east, including London, Surrey and Sussex.
19:37The effigy will be lit up this Saturday, tomorrow, and the burning being accompanied by explosions and the traditional fireworks.
19:44There we go, some former pictures there from previous years.
19:48Well, if you're going to go to a firework display this weekend, or out and about, you're probably going to want to know what the weather's going to be like.
19:54Let's take a look at the weather.
20:02Well, going into this evening, it's going to be highs of 12, lows of 11.
20:07Waking up tomorrow morning, highs of 13 and lows of 12.
20:11Sunlight winds, but cloud covering most of the county.
20:14Going into the afternoon, warming up slightly, 14 for most of the area, and sunlight winds.
20:21And this is what the next few days look like.
20:22Starting with Sunday, highs of 13, Monday 12, and warming up again on 13.
20:27But no sign of sun anywhere to be seen.
20:30Looks like we really are getting into winter.
20:38Well, it's that time of year again, when the Word of the Year is announced.
20:44I have to say, when I found out about this in the news meeting this morning, I had no idea what the word was.
20:49Well, our reporter, Christine Hawthorne, has been out and about in Kent today, speaking to people.
20:54If they know what the word is, it's BRAT.
20:57In 2023, the Collins Dictionary Word of the Year was AI, which stands for Artificial Intelligence.
21:04Another popular word in that year was RIS, a Gen Z slang term meaning style or charm.
21:10Can you guess what it is this year? It is closely tied with the colour green and pop music.
21:16It's BRAT.
21:18I asked people at the University of Kent to see if they could guess what the word is.
21:23RIS, AI, or BRAT?
21:26I'm going to go RIS. I'm not very down with the lingo of today, but I'm going to go with RIS.
21:33RIS.
21:34RIS.
21:35Yeah.
21:36I was expecting you to say RIS.
21:39RIS.
21:40BRAT. I know it's BRAT.
21:42About BRAT summer.
21:44Yeah.
21:45Most people understand the word BRAT to be a badly behaved child, but the word has secured an added definition,
21:50meaning confident, independent, with a hedonistic attitude.
21:54And this is thanks to the popular pop singer, Charli XCX.
21:58Her album BRAT took the number one spot on the charts,
22:01starting a cultural movement for those who wanted a BRAT summer.
22:04US presidential candidate Kamala Harris even gave her social media a BRAT rebrand
22:10to attract younger viewers during the summer.
22:13Collins Dictionary says that thanks to Gen Z and social media,
22:16a lot of the popular words this year have come from online trends,
22:20such as the word ERA, which also made it onto this year's list.
22:25Interestingly, only one political term made it onto this year's list,
22:29despite it being a year full of elections.
22:32As the effects of social media, online trends and artificial intelligence
22:36become more prominent every day, the future words of the year are increasingly unpredictable.
22:42Kristen Hawthorne for KMTV.
22:45There we go. BRAT, word of the year 2024, Kristen.
22:55As I was saying earlier, I never had heard of that.
22:57Well, I have had heard of it, but kind of didn't really know what it meant.
23:01So, I mean, what does it mean? Were people surprised out and about on the streets today?
23:06I mean, there was one man who knew, but that's because he'd seen it in the news earlier.
23:11Everyone else, they thought it was Riz and they didn't really know.
23:14Well, that was last year's, wasn't it?
23:15That was last year's, of course. Yes, that was last year's, along with artificial intelligence.
23:20But the people that I asked that didn't know, they had no idea what it meant.
23:24And they guessed the other ones because they said, I don't even know what it is.
23:28So, I guess it's very niche, maybe, for a certain group of people.
23:32Well, it's not just me who didn't know. There's a lot of people on the streets.
23:34I was talking on a morning meeting with all the other editors around,
23:37and nobody knew what it meant. I thought it was a doll.
23:40Other people thought it was, as you were calling it, a naughty child.
23:42But there we go. And there are other words, so it's worth having a look at some of those others.
23:45Kristin, thank you so much. There we go. We learn something new every day.
23:49I wonder what next year's word of the year will be.
23:51Well, that's it. That's all we've got time for this evening on Kentonite Live here on KMTV.
23:56There'll be more throughout the evening and over the weekend. We'll see you on Monday.
24:12KENTONITE LIVE