28/02/2012 South East Today

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

And I'm John Young. Tonight's top stories: A White speaks out, Elaine

Tappin tells us what she thinks opera retired husband be held in a

Texas prison facing conspiracy charges.

While my husband is in America, please be kind to him. Do not treat

him unjustly. A nasty surprise for suspected drug

dealers in Medway, more than 20 people have been arrested.

Hundreds of looked after children from other areas are still in

foster care in Kent. MPs call for an urgent meeting with the Minister.

Expressing a passion for pebbles in seaside art, sculptures spreading

along the south coast. I was trying to pick my words

carefully, the only thing that was in my head was, calm down! And the

wanderer returns, comedian John Bishop rose into Dover after

travelling hundreds of miles for his Sport Relief triathlon. We were

Good evening. The wake of retired Kent businessman Christopher Tappin

extradited to the US for allegedly selling batteries for Iranian

missiles has spoken of her utter desolation about the case. Elaine

Tappin told MPs today that the allegations against her husband

were preposterous. Mr Tappin will make his first appearance later

today before a federal court in taxes. -- Texas.

A message from the Tappin family to the US authorities. While my

husband is in America, please be kind to him. Do not treat him

unjustly. Let him have his day in court. So that he can come home to

last. After being extradited on Friday, Christopher Tappin is now

in US custody, accused of attempting to sell batteries for

surface-to-air missiles destined for Iran. A charge he denies.

we heard is that he is doing OK under the circumstances. However,

he has only been let out from his cell for one hour of the day and

they have taken away all his reading materials. The family was

today addressing MPs about the controversial UK US extradition

treaty, but critics say is one- sided. His wife said he was never

given the chance to prove his innocence in a British court before

being extradited. Christopher has soldiered on, trying to sort out

the necessary practical chores, powers of attorney, selling his car

and house etcetera. While saying farewell to his friends and

colleagues. Not knowing when or if he would see them again. MPs had

invited Mr Tappin himself to give evidence to them today, but the

events of last week made that impossible. For the chief legal

adviser, he said there had been a good deal scrutiny before the

exhibition. The our perceptions that the US criminal justice system

can be harsh and its sentencing policy can appear disproportionate

by British standards. There are aspects of it there for which tend

to make people uncertain and uneasy and I am not sure that if there is

only durable. The family say they remain in a state of disbelief. --

if that is readily curable. Christopher Tappin's son Neil joins

us from Westminster if we he has been giving evidence. Mr Tappin,

what did you know about your father's welfare right now? We know

absolutely nothing, that is one of the most distressing things. Dad

left the country on Friday, we have not been able to speak to him since

he left the UK. The information we have got has come through are the

US lawyers, and to be honest, the information we have got is so

sketchy it is quite distressing. You understand from reports in the

US that he is being confined to his cell for all but an hour a day,

knowing your father, how will he cope with that? He is quite lucky,

because he is very resilient. I would say that can you imagine what

it must be like to be stuck in a cell with access to the outside

world are just one Arab day, no reading materials? Diary difficult

mentally to come to terms of that. -- one hour a day. It is still so

incredibly worrying. Your mother talked today before the committee

about the need for innocence or guilt to be considered in these

cases by the UK judiciary. But these are serious charges being

investigated by the US authorities, so isn't it right that he stands

trial in the US? The charges against him are serious, but why is

it that they have a very sophisticated legal system in this

country, he has never done anything wrong in his life, the case against

him is one of entrapment. Is there not a court to say, let us see some

of the evidence for and against before he goes to the US? Because

at the moment, he has been taken 5,000 miles away with no access to

us and the pressure on him is huge. Kent police say they have brought

down a major drugs supply network in Medway which led to more than 20

arrests this morning. Homes across the region were searched during the

operation. Our Home Affairs Correspondent

Colin Campbell accompany the police and his report contains some flash

photography. Slicing their way through a metal

gate to get to an alleged drug dealer. The raids this morning

targeted individuals accused of selling Class A drugs. Today is not

an isolated event, today is a long line of these types of operations.

They are mounted to make life very uncomfortable for people who sell

drugs. We will identify them, we will go after them and catch them

Around 20 homes were searched during the operation. Around 70

officers were involved. In this property, a sort was found.

Elsewhere, heroin, crack cocaine and stolen property was seized. The

local MP who witnessed the action denies police cuts are having any

impact. We are very committed to supporting our frontline policing

and there has been no reduction in frontline policing in Kent. The

professionalism and determination, we have a first-class police force.

Making our towns a safe place. Those arrested today will be put in

front of magistrates using the virtual court system. The police

say this technology helps speed up process, saving vital time.

Prisoners do not have to be transferred to a court room and

police can also provide evidence while sat here, meaning they can

stay at their place of work. The police say today's action is a blow

to those involved in the supply of illegal drugs. Part of an ongoing

effort, they say, to make Kent's streets safer.

In a moment, hurtling headlong to a medal, we meet the sportswoman from

Kent making it big in the world of winter sports.

An increase in the number of vulnerable children sent to live

that foster families in Kent by councils at side of the South East

has prompted MPs in panic to request an urgent meeting with the

Children's Minister. Many London boroughs have used fostering

agencies in Kent to place children when they cannot find a home in the

capital. Last year, the Government introduced new guidelines to ensure

that the children should be fostered within 20 miles of their

home. The latest figures show that more than 1,300 looked after

children from other authorities are still in foster care in Kent. Kent

County Council reckons that costs council tax payers feist hundred

�1,000 year in schooling, whilst the cost of dealing with the 79

children who have offended is the equivalent to the salary of three

social workers. It really is imperative that London boroughs and

other authorities do everything they can to place children more

closely to home so that they can not taken her to their schools and

their friends. That is critical. None of the London boroughs sending

children to Kent accepted her invitation to be interviewed. Laura

Sandys and Roger Gale, the two Conservative MPs for Thanet, say

the situation is not sustainable and they are threatening to name

and shame the councils. Laura Sandys joins us now from

Westminster. Thank you for joining us. These new guidelines, will they

help? They have to go somewhere, these children. They should help,

but what we are seeing is an increase that actually is not

acceptable and does not reflect the intentions of the Government to

stop placements beyond 20 miles from local authority boundaries. So

that is why we are seeing the Minister to ensure he understands

it is not working. We need greater pressure on those local authorities

and we need his help to take action. But what about the big society

year? Shouldn't we be trying to share this out? Should there be a

boarder going up at county boundaries? The most important

thing is actually the health of those young people. Until -- the

research shows that extracting young people from their home

environment and their friends, from the school and from in some ways

really causes problems. That is why we also have quite a lot of

children trying to return, the runaway children going back to the

places where they came from. From an economic point of view, it can

help the Independent companies in Kent, because of the children and a

common, they will lose out. most important thing is that we

think about the children. But this is not the most appropriate place

for children to be located, and it must be stopped. What we need to do

is to ensure the local authorities in London are taking care of their

children, and in many ways, we have a lot of challenges in Thanet

carousels and the need prioritised those people from Thanet. We then

need to ensure the right provision is being given to those children

from London local authorities closer to home.

More than hectare of heathland in the Ashdown Forest was set on fire

this morning after a clearance bonfire got out of control. It is

usual at this time of year for contractors to burned vegetation as

part of the management of the area, but with a unseasonably dry by the,

the fire spread across the heath. 22 firemen put the fire out.

top of the ground is very dry. We did not have any rainfall, so the

surface vegetation is drying out very quickly, unseasonably so. All

it needs is a spark. Southern Water has been granted a

drought permit to refill its Bewl reservoir until the end of March.

The permit makes it easier for the company to take water from the

Teston Weir on the Medway. It is hoped it will be able to be fill in

time for the summer after two consecutive dry winters.

A driver has escaped serious injury after an object thrown from a

bridge near the M20 landed on her windscreen, making it shatter. The

woman was near Junction 3 when it happened two years ago. Michael

Baker died when a rock was thrown at a lorry he was travelling on at

the Swanley interchange. The wife was up -- of a Sussex

policeman who was found hanging in a mental health units as her

husband had been worried he would be disciplined over his handling of

a fight between two youths. Sergeant Richard Bexhell died in

August 2009 after being detained at mental health unit in Hastings. Our

current -- our correspondent reports from Eastbourne.

A father or four and a recently promoted policeman, Sergeant

Richard Bexhell died after being found hanging at the Woodlands

mental health unit in Hastings. Today his wife described his

deteriorating mental health after suffering a heart attack, the death

of a close family friend and Lynette bake sale told the inquest

that her husband had blown a do for proportion of a minor problem at

work. She said he had stepped in to intervene between two fighting

youths but began having palpitations. Richard became

concerned that he would somehow be disciplined for his part in the

incident. But the inquest heard today that the incident preyed on

his mind. It was during a family holiday that his condition

deteriorated. He twice attempted suicide and was sectioned on his

return. He became seriously ill around 19th August 2009. There the

following afternoon he was found hanging in his bathroom. Senior

nursing assistance were the first to find him. He was resuscitated

but died in hospital the following day. The inquest resumes in the

morning. Our top story tonight: The wife of

the retired Kent businessman Christopher Tappin, who's been

extradited to the US for allegedly selling batteries for Iranian

missiles, has spoken of her "utter desolation" about the case. Elaine

Tappin told MPs in Westminster today that the allegations against

her husband were "preposterous". Also in tonight's programme:

Comedian John Bishop arrives in Dover after rowing the channel for

his Sport Relief triathalon. Kent will the leap year bring us

any unusual wear their? Find out later on.

A homeless man from Sussex says he's turned his life around, thanks

to a very unusual form of sculpture. George Geebers spent two years

walking up and down the coast of Britain, building artwork from

pebbles on the beach. He reckons he clocked up nearly 7,000 miles and

shifted some 2,000 tons of stones, all for the sake of art - and to

raise awareness of the problems homeless people face. I met him

this afternoon for our special report. He calls himself the Pavel

Man. Well acquainted with beaches all owned rid the country. The

beach used to be his home. Now he has settled here in Bexhill it is

simply his workshop. I started off in Brighton and we

were just having a bit of a laugh. Then I started to do sculptures.

And these art mosaics are in fact sculptures. Look carefully at this

Segal, inspired by a stone that cried out to become a beak. I think

it is amazing, he is very talented. I was down here the other day when

he made a boat. I have never seen anything like that before. The one

he has finished his marvellous. is working on an octopus. He wants

to compile a book about his work and perhaps we check -- recreate

the trip with other homeless people. When I started doing this is just

turned heads. I was just doing miniature things but then I decided

that I had to be taking seriously, I used to be drinking heavily and

taking other substances. It was time to sort myself out. He has and

Bexhill is the venue for his latest exhibition, built payable by Kabul.

-- Pavel by a pebble. John Bishop has been a fast rising

star of the comedy circuit. He regularly sells out big venues and

now has his own show on the BBC. You're probably used to seeing him

like this. As an stood facing 3000 copies, I'm trying to pick my words

carefully. The only thing that was in my head was, calm down!

But he's taken on a challenge that's possibly even more daunting

than telling jokes to thousands of people. For Sport Relief, he's

already cycled from Paris to Calais, is currently rowing from Calais to

Dover with various celebrity friends and tomorrow begins running

from Dover to London. Our reporter is in Dover it now where John

arrived about an hour ago. Steve, I gather it's been pretty tough going

for him today on the Channel? Exactly. You have already run

through what he has already achieved and there is more to come.

But he arrived just over an hour ago to the marina at Dover and

there was a fantastic reception. It has been a remarkable journey.

Halfway through pair were finding it very tough. But the friends that

he took along with him, they got over the finish line in Dover. They

only had an hour of sleep before stepping into this boat that they

came across the Channel in. Then they undertook a 10 our journey.

I am shattered! Absolutely shattered. I did that thing you do

when you're driving a car and you doze off. I thought I was in the

middle of a dream! Only three marathons to go! Yes, thanks for

that! Nothing can compared to that. When you're in the middle of the

Channel you have got nowhere to go. That is the hardest thing.

He had some sterling support today. Yes and he certainly needed it.

Davina McCall as you heard was there alongside him. And a thing

she was quite useful to him in making it across the Channel.

was amazing. I do not know how John did it. He fell asleep, growing! It

was amazing. Well he will certainly need a good

night's sleep tonight because when he gets up tomorrow he will run the

first of three marathons, he will do the same on Thursday and again

on Friday and hopefully then arrive at the finish line in London.

Quite a few tired people down there in Dover! To find out how you can

raise money and for Sport Relief 2012, including details of the

nearest mile event to you, just have a look online at

bbc.co.uk/sportrelief. Now we're hardly blessed with world

beaters when it comes to winter sports in this country, so when we

win a medal at the World Championships, it's well worth

celebrating. 23-year-old Lizzy Yarnold from Sevenoaks has just

flown home from the US having secured bronze in the bob skeleton,

an event where she races face down, along an icy track at speeds of up

to 85 miles per hour. I'm delighted to say Lizzy's here in the studio

now. We'll chat to her in a moment after seeing her in medal-winning

It is an amazing thing to be able to do. I just really enjoyed it.

I'm very lucky. You looked pretty pleased with

yourself. What was that like? You looked thrilled. I was thrilled. I

was not sure what was going to happen, I have to keep

concentrating but everything went to plan. I was just so happy.

People at home will be thinking, how on earth did you get into a

sport that involves you going headfirst down sheet ice? UK Sport

runt talent searches every few years and I was involved in that. I

had never heard of it before but I had a go. I was a bit scared at

first but fell in love with it. I became hooked.

You do not want to hit any walls because you are exposed. These two

runners are in contact with the ice. But really you just get in at the

top of the track and just hold on until you finish at the end.

How odd it -- how did it feel to receive your medals? It was such a

great experience. My family were with me and I had such great

support. It was nerve-racking to wait to find out the results.

to a family think of all this? Because it is not entirely safe?

Not entirely but I have a great team. I just hold on and hope I do

not hit too many balls. They're all very supportive. And they travel

with you when you go to these competitions? They do and it makes

a massive difference. a massive difference.

Now in this country we are flush with facts and figures. And even a

leap year has its own set of statistics. In 1948 temperatures

are got up to 18 degrees Celsius. But we also equalled that last

Thursday. So although it is unusual, we have enjoyed those kind of

temperatures quite recently. But there will be no match for those

1948 temperatures for the rest of this week. We still have cloud

cover and for the rest of the week. Temperatures of around 12 degrees.

But still above average for the time of year. Certainly by night it

is not Julie. Not much lower than around nine or 10 degrees overnight.

But the difference is that we will start to see a bit more mist and

fog returning especially around the coast. And also in the land which

could be slow to clear up tomorrow. So Omagh Keet start to the day

tomorrow and the cloud once again struggling to clear. -- a murky

start. Temperatures up around 12 degrees, a couple of degrees lower

than today. Tomorrow night, again and that mist and fog return

especially around the coast. So not a lot of change through the rest of

the week. Again that rainfall we so desperately need is not on the