15/02/2012 South East Today

Welcome to South East Today, I'm Rob Smith. And I'm Polly Evans.

Tonight's top stories: a boyfriend is convicted of a four-month

campaign of harassment and stalking his former fiancee.

Be it is not me, it will be someone else tomorrow, maybe even yourself.

He died from an allergic reaction to peanuts at nine years old - now

Haydn Wileman's mother is setting up a charity to help other families.

Also in tonight's programme: Snother sharp rise in unemployment

- record levels of young people out The debut solo album from Yolanda

Brown, the Kent University PhD student turned jazz superstar.

Good evening. A jilted city worker described as a narcissistic

psychopath has been found guilty of orchestrating a four month campaign

of stalking & harassment against his former fiancee and her family

in Sussex. 42-year-old Al Amin Dhalla, from Brighton, subjected Dr

Alison Hewitt and her parents to a terrifying ordeal, which police

believe could have led to murder had he not been arrested. He has

been convicted of a total of nine charges at Lewes Crown Court. Mark

Sanders reports. This is Al Amin Dhalla, stalking

his ex-girlfriend in the hospital where she worked. He is in a white

coat and a stethoscope, masquerading as a doctor. He is

later arrested by armed police who found weapons in his car. Alison

Hewitt, a trainee doctor, had been living with Al Amin Dhalla in

Brighton, but when she broke up with him at the end of 2010, he

started a campaign of harassment against a her and her family. He

hired a private investigator to put her under 24 hour surveillance. He

sent anonymous letters to her employers and her mother's

neighbours. That was just the start. I want to thank the police who have

kept my family and myself a life. Stalking destroys lives and we need

to take it seriously. If it is not me, it would be somebody else at

tomorrow, maybe even it yourself. Anything you want to tell people at

home? It was great. Al Amin Dhalla was arrested for harassing Allison

in March last year. On bail, things became more sinister. He bought two

crossbows and an air rifle along with an air pistol. He got his van

and had it adapted. Detectives believe he wanted to hold people

prison after adopting them. abducting them. Our fear was that

he wanted to kidnap Allison and her parents as well. We think we have

prevented up to three murders. While free, Al Amin Dhalla tried to

burn down the family home. He also started a fire at a police station.

Detectives feared he was going to hunt down Alison's mother and

stepfather on holiday. The couple were airlifted under armed guard to

the mainland and put in a safe house. Al Amin Dhalla, who has a

conviction for violence in Canada, made his way to the Princess Royal

Hospital in Haywards Heath to find Alison. It was a mercy, his trial

heard. He was arrested by police before he could commit more serious

crimes. It is the stuff of films. It has been a horror movie. Very

difficult. I had to leave court this morning because that is still

something I find too painful. Now convicted, Al Amin Dhalla,

described as a narcissistic psychopath, can no longer harm the

The mother of a nine-year-old boy from Sussex who died after

suffering a fatal reaction to nuts after eating a bowl of cereal, says

not enough is known about the links between childhood asthma and

allergies. Nine-year-old Haydn Wileman from Newhaven died last

September. His mother Emma is raising money for medical research,

and calling for schools to be more alert to the early signs of an

allergic reaction. Steve Gaisford reports.

Nine-year-old Haydn Wileman developed a peanut allergy. The

only problem was denied he or his family were aware of it. He had

breakfast, ran to the toilet and was sick. Because he said he felt

sick, I did not think much of it. When he got to the school, I asked

him how he was feeling and he said he was not very well so I brought

him home. Things got worse as he struggled to breathe. I called 999

and he fell back. And it was back quick, half-an-hour from eating his

serial. Haydn Wileman was in hospital where they took a scanner

which revealed his brain was Spollen and that he would not

survive. We called family and they came round. We played his favourite

music, Michael Jackson. Then I sat and cuddled him until he went.

sad reality is there was no way of predicting this would happen to him

up. Allergies are present in a lot of children. We do not have a

method right now for understanding why some of these children are

being so severely affected. This is essentially the purpose of our

research. Six months later, M has started her

own charity to help raise both awareness and much needed funds for

research. The charity can do some good and say other people's lives.

It can get the information to parents. It is what I can do for

him now. A bench dedicated to him at school is there as a reminder of

the happy boy whose passion for life once lit up the classroom --

classroom. Hopefully, there will be a solution that will save others

one day. It has left a great big hole in our lives. I don't want any

other parent to go through that because it is horrible. It never

leaves you. I still struggle every day.

Emma Wileman ending that report by Steve Gaisford and he joins us now

from outside the Royal Sussex County Hospital where Haydn took

part in asthma research. What's the long-term hope for a cure to the

condition? Haydon and his family visited this

hospital here to take part in research studies to help better

understand the link between asthma and allergies. Are they making

progress? The honest answer is a no. Unless they put more money into

research into what is a relatively rare condition, it could be maybe

15 or 20 years before they better understand the problem and find a

cure. Thank you. In a moment, a child in wartime;

how a Sussex woman's cherished photo has uncovered the story of

Jobless figures released today show that the number of people in the

South East out of work has risen again, with young people bearing

the brunt. Nationwide, the unemployment figure stands at 2.6

million, the highest for 16 years. Of those, just over one million are

aged 16 to 24. In the South East, there are now

more than 105,000 young people out of work - that's 38 per cent of the

jobless total in the region. The figures come as a fresh effort is

being made to find new opportunities for apprentices who

lost their jobs when the Thamesteel plant closed in Sheerness. Simon

Jones is there now. Simon, young workers are particularly affected.

Almost 400 jobs are going at this site. Some people have worked here

for over 30 years, but many were setting out on their careers as

apprentices. The council are worried about them and tonight,

they are sending an open letter to business is asking if anyone can

come forward to help them out. Looking for work, Daniel had been

an apprentice at Thamesteel Fort 2.5 years. He thought he had a

guaranteed job at the end, but that certainty has gone. I feel

gobsmacked. I am pretty upset because I wanted to work there for

a long time afterwards to get my experience up so I could move on to

somewhere else. It is always going to be hard. My son is unemployed. I

have to try to support the whole household without getting into

deeper problems. There is nothing we can do because we are all in the

same boat. At this JobCentre, similar fears

for the future. There are not a lot of opportunities for people my age.

If you -- you have to look for work to find it. That is how I look at

it. I tried to support my parents and it is not working. In Kent over

30,000 people are seeking work, a rise of more than 3,700 on this

Experts say it is particularly tough on young jobseekers. In this

part of the world, in 2020 Tyke -- 2025, it will get better.

Particularly for the needs required for professional and managerial

skills, technical skills and support skills. Thamesteel remains

empty, looking for buyers. Some of the apprentices have been

taken on by the college they were studying at one day a week to

complete their apprentices. Some hope on the jobs front because

Virgin Atlantic have announced they will take on 500 more staff, but

people here are left asking what is the opportunity for them?

Joining us now is the Conservative MP for Chatham and Aylesford,

Tracey Crouch. The cuts package has been pushed through, unemployment

is at a 16-year high. At what point will the country see the economy

improve, and people start finding work?

I think that any increase in unemployment is going to be

disappointing. -- decrease. We need to do what we can to try and

support those people who are finding it difficult to find work.

It will not be easy, no one is saying that it will be. We have to

do our best to support them. Balls says the Bank Bonus Tax

should be imposed for a second year and the money spent on youth

employment schemes. Good idea? are doing a lot to increase youth

employment. We have done a lot already it with work experience

programmes, youth contracts. There is an increase in public sector --

private sector vacancies to try and make up some of the public sector

losses and we need to continue with that. But they are not keeping up,

are they? Public sector jobs fell by 60,000 and private sector jobs

rose. That is why we are trying to support the private sector, trying

to encourage them to take people on through work experience programmes.

It will not be easy. We just have to do our best to try and support

those people get into work. We are talking about more than one million

young people out of work. There is a real danger that a lot of them

will miss the employment boat completely. We need to support

youngsters as much as we can, but unemployment affects everyone and

we need to support everyone back into work. Thank you. East Sussex

Healthcare Trust has been given yet another warning to improve patient

care. The Care Quality Commission is raising the concerns after three

separate inspections last year highlighted a series of failings.

The most recent, back in September, found that while some improvements

were being made, more needs to be done. The Trust has until the end

of next month to prove that it is properly monitor the quality of

service provision. Other areas for concern include staff shortages and

incomplete care plans. There's been a large increase in

the number of vulnerable adults in Kent suspected of being abused in

care. Nearly 2,300 allegations concerning the elderly or adults

with disabilities were referred to social services last year. In 2005

the figure was 1,300. The county council says the increase could be

down to a rise in the number of whistle blowers prepared to come

forward. The Roads Minister is to meet

councillors in Kent over efforts to get money from the Government to

cover the large number of foreign lorries using the county's roads.

Ministers are planning to charge foreign lorries �10 a day to travel

through the UK, but have so far ruled out sharing the cash with the

county council. The vast majority of overseas hauliers travel through

Kent from Dover. Controversial plans to close eight

fire stations in Kent have been approved. Halling, St Margaret's,

Horton Kirby, Queenborough, Seal, Rusthall, Sturry and Matfield will

shut as part of a review of fire cover. The Fire Authority says the

changes are needed following a 25% drop in fires and other incidents

since 2005, The authority also says the closures are part of a proposed

�12 million cut in government funding over the next three years.

Our reporter Katherine Downes joins us now from Tunbridge Wells.

Katherine, what has the reaction been to this announcement?

Here, out of town, two fire stations will close, while this one

in town will stay open to cover the whole area. The fire service say it

is the basic allocation of services, but it will put more pressure on

open services. The fire brigade motto, every

second counts, but closing a number of stations across Kent will admit

to response are times and campaigners say it will put lives

at rink -- at risk. They have signed our death warrants. They

have taken this decision without fully accepting the consequences.

If the fire authority feel that the decisions that are made today are

worth a life, they are not representing the public.

This is a fire station a couple of miles to the north. Kent Fire and

rescue service station say that this one does not need to be here

because there are a couple close by. But the five fighters will have to

come from further afield. There is a national research that shows that

any increase in response times leads to an increase in fatality

rates. Put simply, the longer it takes us to arrive, the greater the

risk of serious casualty is. concern is that response times will

increase by up to 4.5 minutes. But the fire authority says it is

investigating the use of new vehicles for certain types of

incidents. It stresses there will be no compulsory redundancies of

firefighters. We have found money from other places. We have even

invested money into new equipment and ING's -- a fire engines. Lives

will not be at risk, no more than any village in Kent does -- but

does not have a fire station either. The fire fighters whose stations

are closing will be formally told that meetings tonight, even if they

are not losing their jobs. The stations will close in April

now. A new station is built in Ash Green. Kent Fire Service says it is

the best way ensuring that it has a good service that saves lives.

Campaigners say it is too big a risk.

Tonight's top story: A former City worker convicted of stalking his

former fiancee has been found guilty of possessing a loaded

crossbow. 42-year-old Al Amin Dhalla from Brighton was found

guilty of a total of nine charges, including arson and harassment.

Also tonight: She gave up studying for a doctor and in management

science in order to become a jazz superstar. We meet the gifted

Yolanda Brown. Temperatures are turning colder by

the end of the weekend, but how low will they go? Joined meet later for

a full forecast. If you have a story you think we

should be covering, callers on this For years, Ann Hayes from Rye in

East Sussex has cherished a photograph of her mother, taken

during the first world war. Now she's stumbled across a childhood

scrapbook from 1915 with 40 pages of cuttings created by her mother

as she grew up in wartime Britain. For the latest our My Photo series,

Ann has been telling us about the This is my mother aged 10. This is

her mother and her father. The fact is that she is there with her

brothers. The three older brothers were all in the forces. She had

borne in the Navy, one in the Army and one in the air force. He flew

some of the very early planes and we have quite a collection of those.

She loved her brother's. Throughout her life, she did everything she

could for them. She herself was at home and she decided to make this

connection -- collection of everything that was going on, which

is rather interesting foresight on her part. Christmas 1918. My mother

put this scrapbook together and she has taken cuttings from newspapers

of absolutely everything that has gone on. These men closed upon it

with great luck for it was firing in the most deadly way. They flung

bombs at it and clambered on his back. Just look at that!

That was the story behind and's photo. We would like you to send us

your memorable videos and photos, particularly if you have met the

Queen as part of our Jubilee -- a You could also feature on the

programme. Not so long ago Yolanda Brown was a

studying for a PhD in Management Science at the University of Kent.

Today, life is very different. She's just released her first album

as one of the UK's top jazz saxophonists and last night she

played the Hammersmith Apollo with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Yolanda Brown has won two MOBO awards, picking up the title of

best jazz act in 2008 and 2009. She's played across the world from

the USA to Russia, all while working on a PhD. And she's played

with stars such as Mica Paris and Alexander O'Neal. Robin Gibson has

She is becoming used to the look Today's look was after giving her

all to an audience of thousands and too late last night. This morning,

she is launching her first album. Yolanda Brown knows no fear.

I am really excited to get my message across and get my music out

there. The aim has been to make Yolanda Brown, the saxophone and

jazz to make -- to be a household thing. We met at a saxophone

warehouse which has played its part in the Yolanda Brown story. I think

this was the one you originally had your eye on. This is where I

purchased my second saxophone. At the time, I was on a student

instrument and grew and invested in a wonderful professional saxophone

and I played many of these before I chose one. It was her choice to

quit her University PhD for jazz. In her first album, the track did

John is for the professor who backed her. My professor, Professor

John at the University of Kent, was so Graces when I it said, I want to

pursue music. -- so gracious. He's was so encouraging and said go and

do it well. I discovered that she has got an album and it has a song

that she has done in memory of all the times she had to say Dear John,

I have not done the work I was meant to do. At the end of the day,

that is the best thing. Someone is carving out a career with such

success, that is what she needs to do at this time. Yolanda Brown has

not ruled out the idea that one day she may finish that PhD, but for

now she is chasing another sort of dream.

I had no idea there was a saxophone warehouse at their!

She is very talented. They left it late once again but

Brighton and Hove Albion maintained their unbeaten record in 2012 by

coming from behind to draw with Millwall at The Amex last night.

Meanwhile Charlton have stretched their lead at the top of League One

to eight points, but in League Two a defeat for Crawley drops them out

of the top three. Ian Palmer reports.

How valuable could this draw be come the end of the season?

Brighton had this free kick with just two minutes of normal time

Earlier, this man levelled the scores after a blocked the shot.

The seagulls remained just after -- outside the play-off places. The

manager said his side made too many mistakes. We did not defend as

usual. We considered too many opportunities were given away.

penalties ensured the team took all three. So. Charlton are clear at

the top of League One. The manager said his team deserved to win.

In League Two, another defeat for Crawley Town. They were badly

beaten by Swindon. The former League leaders have slipped to 5th

in the table. The good news is that they are just -- just one point

separates all five teams. Ian Palmer reporting.

And at half time during last night's match at the Amex, an

unusual pitch-side proposal took place when Brighton fan Tabitha

Lewis took advantage of the leap year to pop the question to

boyfriend Darren Downer. I just wanted to know it he would marry

me? He says Yes! It is a good job he did say yes

otherwise it would have been a down! The couple, who've been

together for two and a half years, say they haven't set a date yet but

they seem a perfect match. She is such a brave lady to do

I am not convinced that that was a convincing Yes!

But he did say yes, but was caught on film.

Over the next few days, you might be on the edge of your seat for

this because by Saturday, we have got this double-fronted cold front

coming from the north and it will make quite a difference to the

temperature. On Saturday, top temperature of 11 degrees. Just to

a few hours later, it could drop to four or five degrees, so it will

feel colder. It might not mean much now, but it is the difference

between one jumper on Saturday and potentially three jumpers, a hat, a

scarf and gloves on Sunday. Before then, things are staying mild. We

will have temperatures over the next few days in double figures,

but that weather front on the Saturday that will bring us the

cold air. For tonight, we have got some clear skies so temperatures

getting a bit lower than last night. Last night sought five or six, but

tonight, it could get down to two or three degrees in some periods.

Occasionally the cloud will be can, giving some light rain or drizzle.

That is the same for tomorrow. Overall tomorrow, we will have some

good sunny spells. With lighter winds, the temperatures will be in

double figures. A couple of degrees above average, so it should not

feel too bad. Friday, at more cloud which could give drizzle, but

temperatures will be 11 or 12 on Saturday. We will see be changed in

the weekend with the cold front coming and the winds changing,

leaving us with a icy conditions. Although it is sunny on Sunday, it

will fill a big order. A bit of excitement for the weekend, but not