Catch up with all the news across the county with Bartholomew Hall.
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00:00Hello and welcome to Kent Tonight, live on KMTV.
00:29I'm Bartholomew Hall, here are your top stories on Wednesday the 6th of November.
00:35Life after Max.
00:37Sandwich mother shares the story of her son's suicide in a special documentary.
00:42Did I ever think I'd be in this situation, not in a million years.
00:44Not in a million years I had this perfect life and then it went.
00:48Trumped all odds.
00:50Kent reacts as the US welcomes the next president in historic comeback.
00:55I was hoping for a different result to be honest.
00:58My preference was Donald Trump anyway.
01:00The end of an era.
01:01Controversial Chatham Docks development plan gets the green light.
01:16Good evening.
01:17I had a perfect life and then it just went.
01:20The words of a mother from Sandwich who lost her only child to suicide.
01:24Max Timberlake was just 17 years old when he took his own life.
01:27A shock to everyone that knew and loved him.
01:30The family may never know why he did it, but have been trying to come to terms with life
01:34after Max ever since that day in 2022.
01:37During a month recognised for men's mental health, Abbey Hook has this special report
01:42as part of a documentary airing here on KMTV at 5.45 this evening.
01:46A warning, this report contains details some viewers may find distressing.
02:03The song played at Max Timberlake's funeral.
02:07The song that his family still struggle to hear since his death nearly three years ago.
02:13Max took his own life in January 2022.
02:17He was 17.
02:20Now his mother Michelle is sharing her journey with coming to terms with Max's decision that
02:26she'd give anything to go back and change.
02:29But the question she says she'll never be able to answer is why he did it.
02:36You know, it's a fact it's happened.
02:38I can't change that.
02:39I can't undo it.
02:40But what I can do is hopefully educate people to be more open minded, to, you know what,
02:46listen, to talk to people because did I ever think I'd be in this situation, not in a million
02:50years, not in a million years, I have this perfect life.
02:54And then it went.
02:56Government figures show just last year 5,656 people died from suicide in England.
03:03More than 4,000 were male, less than 1,500 were female.
03:07Of that total, 866 people died from suicide in the southeast.
03:13More than 620 were male, around 240 female.
03:18One of the questions that we get all the time is if I ask someone about suicide, will I
03:25plant the seed?
03:26Will I sort of cause them to take their own life?
03:29We want to make it really clear that that's not the case.
03:32We know that research has been done to suggest that actually asking the question about suicide
03:37and being open about it in a sensitive manner is actually really supportive.
03:42Back in October 2023, Michelle, with two other mothers bereaved by suicide, raised awareness
03:47for papyrus by walking 265 miles across the UK between their homes.
03:54One step at a time from Staffordshire to London to Sandwich, their trek ended at Sir Roger
03:59Manwood School, where Max spent almost half his life.
04:05The thing with Max was that it was such a shock and it lasted several weeks, it wasn't
04:10just the initial let's tell everybody, how do we tell everybody, it went on for the rest
04:16of that academic year because he was in the upper sixth when it happened.
04:21Now a tree planted and bench carved in his memory remain at the school, but Michelle
04:26is searching for her own place to remember him, all while trying to find some sort of
04:32peace with life after Max.
04:47And as you saw at the end there, very important, help can be found by calling the Samaritans
04:51on 116 123.
04:54Very important to have that conversation about mental health and to continue it now I'm joined
04:58in the studio by our health expert Dr Julian Spinks.
05:01Julian thank you for being here, obviously a very touching report there from Abbey as
05:05part of that documentary due to air this evening.
05:09Men's mental health, it is something that we discuss in this month, it's November as
05:13part of the kind of Movember campaigns, people raise money and awareness all throughout the
05:17month.
05:18We heard there about Max's story that his family were shocked and completely surprised
05:23when it happened.
05:25So I suppose my question is why is it that we find that men in particular tend to suffer
05:29in silence?
05:30Yeah it's a fascinating thing because I see far more women coming forward and teenage
05:36girls coming forward talking about things like depression and other things and yet there
05:40are more suicides amongst men and boys and it is probably because socially and psychologically
05:47they don't like showing weakness and particularly if for example there's a background of bullying
05:53then of course you know if you're being bullied and you show any sign of weakness that actually
05:58is you become a target and so they're very reluctant to admit it to parents, school and
06:04so on and also they're reluctant to be brought to the GP and accept help.
06:11But of course going to the GP or speaking to the Samaritans or any of those other great
06:15organisations is always a great first step.
06:17From your experience when a patient speaks to you and does open up what kind of effect
06:21does that have on them?
06:22Well actually that first step is really important because also they're acknowledging to themselves
06:27they've got a problem and that they want to sort it out and sometimes it's dealing with
06:32mental health issues, sometimes the interesting thing about men is there are some people who
06:36aren't depressed but they've just decided they've got into a circumstance where they
06:39can't see a way out and the only way out they think of is depression.
06:43So helping them in social things, helping with finance and so on can make an enormous
06:48difference.
06:49Julian thank you very much for joining us, very important to have that discussion and
06:52of course that full documentary airing this evening at 5.45pm just after Kent tonight
06:56this evening.
06:57Moving on, Kent and the world has been reacting following the news this morning that Donald
07:02Trump won the US election and will become the country's 47th president.
07:07MPs, local councillors and you have been sharing opinions of the 78-year-old's ascension to
07:12the presidency from controversy to conviction.
07:15Polling data showed this week just 18% of Brits were in favour of another four years
07:20of a Trump presidency, so here's what it means for us.
07:24Four years ago, after being impeached twice and denying losing the election, Trump was
07:30out with a mountain to climb to regain the trust of the US electorate.
07:34A capital insurrection and criminal conviction later and you wouldn't be wrong for thinking
07:39that mountain was getting steeper.
07:42But as today's win shows, the love for Trump is rife in the States.
07:47This was a movement like nobody's ever seen before.
07:50Frankly, this was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time.
07:56There's never been anything like this in this country.
07:59Back here in Kent, there's been a mixed reaction to Trump's comeback.
08:04I was hoping for a different result, to be honest.
08:06My preference was Donald Trump anyway.
08:08Devastated.
08:09I just can't believe somebody that's a felon has got in.
08:14I think the main thing I've taken from it is that Trump doesn't care about women.
08:18It's going to be bad for Americans, it's going to be bad for Europeans.
08:21I think Putin and China are rubbing their hands at the moment.
08:25Meanwhile, our politicians haven't stopped to give their views, with the Liberal Democrat
08:29MP for Tunbridge Wells, Mike Martin, calling on the government to increase defence spending
08:34after he called Trump a threat to liberal democracy.
08:38Whilst others, namely the leader of the opposition at Medway Council, were more welcoming of
08:42the result.
08:43We have a special relationship between ourselves, between our peoples, and of course economically
08:47as well.
08:48So of course we send congratulations to Donald J Trump.
08:51So with Trump back in the White House, the world waits for just how this era will unfold.
08:58Well earlier today I caught up with the Tunbridge Wells MP, where Mike Martin explained some
09:02of those comments he made on X.
09:03This is the man who, when he last ran for election, and he lost that election, he tried
09:12to organise an insurrection, caused a storming of the Capitol building in Washington, so
09:20that the result couldn't be certified.
09:24It's completely obvious that Donald Trump is a threat to liberal democracy.
09:28More broadly, across Europe, I think the election of Trump has some really, really profound,
09:36will bring some really profound changes to European security.
09:39So for the last 80 years, European nations have worked together underneath an American
09:45security guarantee to secure the European continent.
09:48Trump, again in words, has kind of rubbished the idea of NATO, said that he wouldn't support
09:56certain nations, and he's undermined that implicit trust that we have as allies.
10:03And so for European countries, and particularly for the UK, and again I've spoken about the
10:06threat from Russia, the bedrock of European security has been undermined.
10:11So we need to get our act together in Europe.
10:13The UK needs to look to increase defence spending.
10:16I'm a Liberal Democrat MP, we've spoken about raising the size of the army to 100,000.
10:22I mean that's really just the beginning.
10:23What do you think this result's going to mean for your constituents and the kind of wider
10:27Kent electorate now?
10:30What I found really interesting when I was campaigning was the number of people who
10:35mentioned the poor state of the military, and the international system being quite chaotic,
10:42and it hasn't been that dangerous for 80 years, and that I think is a real indicator of the
10:49fact that these sorts of issues are actually seeping through to the public.
10:53Mike, thank you very much for your time today, really good to speak with you.
11:00Now, after months of deliberation, the controversial plans to regenerate Chatham Docks Industrial
11:05Estate to create a business campus has been approved.
11:08It comes as the government has decided not to call in Medway Council's decisions to approve
11:13the plans.
11:14The vision for Basin 3 will see the demolition of existing warehouses, and the construction
11:18of 19 business units, as well as walking and cycling routes with green spaces.
11:22However, campaigners who want to see the docks retained as a working port say current businesses
11:27may be forced out of the town.
11:30Time for a break now, but coming up, we'll be airing the full special report from Abbie
11:34Cook about a 17-year-old boy from Sandwich who took his own life, and the impact it's
11:38had on the family and friends he left behind.
11:40In this documentary, we get an exclusive access to Max Tim Blake's family, and in particular,
11:44how his mother Michelle has coped since losing her only child nearly three years ago.
11:49The Kentonite special, Life After Max, airs just after this break.