12/02/2014 South East Today

heading our way and wet and windy again. That is all from

Good evening. The Sussex falily of a man who's believed to be thd first

British suicide bomber to stage an attack in Syria say they're still

praying he'll return safely. Police have been searching a semiddtached

house in Crawley, where 41`xear`old Abdul Waheed Majid lived.

His uncle Mohammad Jamil saxs they had no idea he had become

radicalised. He says they'rd still hoping that it is a mistake and that

he will be found alive. Piers Hopkirk reports.

This is the face of Abdul W`heed Majid, a contractor from thd

Highways Agency from Crawlex and today believed to be the first

British suicide bomber to blow himself up in Syria. It is

understood that the father of three carried out this an attack on a

prison in Aleppo. Driving a truck laden with explosives into the

building last Thursday. Spe`king at his mosque, his uncle Mohamlad Jamil

said his nephew had gone to Syria some weeks ago to carry out

humanitarian work. He was a likeable person. He was very, very gdnuine,

very likeable person. Could you give us your personal reaction to the

suggestion he might have bedn a suicide bomber? Shocked, ard

outraged. I don't ever think he could do something like that.

Counterterrorism investigators have been searching his home. Nehghbours

here are stunned by the news. I m shocked. I feel sick. What dlse can

you say? It is quite a shock to find out that someone has actually lost

their life, albeit maybe a terrorist. I noticed a lot of people

in and out, cars turning up. It looked like somebody had passed away

and they were paying their respects. Prayers have been said in local

mosques. Much work has been done here to try to steer young people

away from radicalisation. This man is from the Islamic cultural Centre.

Do you believe there is a problem with young people becoming

radicalised here? I don't think so. We have worked so hard for `lmost

ten years now and there is no cell operating here. I'm confident that

all young people now have a venue to air their grievances and concerns.

The true picture of exactly who was responsible for the bombing remains

unclear and whether the lack of DNA evidence police say they max never

be absolutely certain. His family say that Abdul Waheed Majid kept in

contact via the Internet but they haven't herd from them for some

days. He was quite happy in this imaginative in camps. He sent

pictures with refugees. We were quite happy and content that he was

doing this and hopefully in a fury or days he will come back. That

remains the single hope his family are clinging onto.

Well, we are joined by Dr Usama Hasan, senior researcher in Islamic

studies at the Quilliam Foundation ` a counter`extremism thinktank. As a

young man, he fought in Afghanistan against the Russian occupathon, but

now he preaches moderation. Thank you for joining us. Can you give us

an insight into what motivates a British`born man ` a Crawlex born

and raised man ` to do this? It is quite simple. People who go off to

places like Syria to fight sea themselves as soldiers, likd other

young men who join the Brithsh Armed Forces, except that this is not a

legitimate war in terms of British people joining the jihad and they

are fighting for God or Isl`m as they see it and they're willing to

carry out extreme actions lhke this suicide bombing, which may have been

carried out by a British man. In this case, we're not looking at a

young, impressionable man who was driven to take extreme action but a

41`year`old apparently mature individual, radicalised in this

country over many years. Is that more worrying? It is somethhng which

is not particularly surprishng, given, as you mentioned my own

background, we have had British jihadists since the 80s fighting in

places like Kashmir and Afghanistan. I am around the same age. If this is

a suicide bomber, he is of ` similar generation and I would guess he has

held onto these radical ide`s of joining the fight for an Islamic

state and he would have seen it as his religious duty to take part and

carry out such an operation. The real question is a wider ond of what

people should do with their faith to channel it in a positive wax. My

view would be that he had a wife and three children and his family needed

him here. Although the Syri`n Moore is brittle, the best thing that

people can do is political lobbying and helping to bring a bettdr world

starting from Britain and not going abroad to fight.

In a moment: A danger to pupils ` a Kent headteacher calls for legal

high shops to be closed. Thousands of motorists are still

being affected by a huge sinkhole in the middle of the M2. The motorway

had to be shut yesterday between Sittingbourne and Faversham when it

first appeared, and diversions are still in place.

Dozens of engineers have bedn assessing the damage, but the

Highways Agency is refusing to say when the motorway will reopdn. Simon

Jones reports. This huge hole which has catsed

misery for motorists has bedn filled with 40 tonnes of shingle, but that

is just to investigate what caused it. The investigation will take

another 48 hours. We have bden brought down the closed motorway by

the Highways Agency to take a look at the work that is going on but

this is the closest we are `llowed to get because overnight it actually

increased in size. An empty motorways year but gridlock on the

stretch which remained open. , adding hours to journeys. Forcing

some, like these tourist guhdes to give up. We went to Leeds C`stle and

wanted to travel to Canterbtry and the weather was so bad and we

couldn't get on to the motorway so we gave up and came home. It

definitely put two hours on my time. Quite frustrating. Yes, defhnitely.

Many are left with one question Why is it taking so long to fill a hole?

We have to find out the cause. We want a long`term solution, not a

short`term one that means wd could have to close the motorway `gain. We

understand and appreciate motorists' patients. Sinkholes can

occur when a layer of rock underground is dissolved ovdr many

years by acidic water. The top collapses into the eroded c`vity

when it can no longer support the weight above. Heavy rainfall can

trigger this. You hear of three or four per year but we have h`d a

spate due to the weather. Some people turned up hoping for a

glimpse of the whole. It's not something that happens everx day.

You never see the motorway with no cars on it. The Highways Agdncy

hopes to open the hard shoulder to traffic tomorrow morning.

A man is to be charged with the unsolved murder of a Kent schoolgirl

more than two decades ago. 45`year`old Colin Ash`Smith is

accused of killing 16`year`old Claire Tiltman in 1993 in

Greenhithe. She was stabbed more than 40 times in an alleywax near

her home as she took a short cut. He will appear in court at the end of

the month. The Church of England has b`cked a

programme of changes designdd to tighten up child protection

procedures, after a warning from the Archbishop of Canterbury th`t it

should not forget the "profound shame and sorrow" of past abuse It

comes follows the final report, published last year, into child

abuse scandals in the Chichdster Diocese.

A storm with hurricane`forcd winds has been battering the southeast,

with the threat of more flooding. Weather warnings are in place with

up to 25mm of rain expected to fall and winds around 80mph.

The Met Office has issued mtltiple alerts for the region, with the

Little Venice Caravan Park hn Yalding being evacuated agahn and

there are fears tonight that the Brighton's West Pier could suffer

more structural collapse. We have very strong winds at the

moment and overnight tonight. We will be monitoring the situ`tion. We

are not on particularly high tides at the moment so we don't anticipate

problems on the coastline btt we will monitor in the morning to check

that our beaches and defencds are OK.

Well, let's cross live to Brighton and speak to our reporter Ellie

Price. The South Coast has been taking quite a battering thhs

afternoon. It has. The West Pier was still there but facing a barrage

from the waves. All the lights have been turned off and closed since the

wind started. This wheel can run in winds up to 50 mph but it h`d to

close earlier today. Although it was still moving because the cars cause

less damage when it is moving. Winds of up to 60 mph along the coast

today. The Environment Agency issued for flood alerts `` flood w`rnings

across Kent which means immddiate action is required. It is lhkely to

come down tomorrow but we expect up to 30 millimetres of rain on Friday.

What does this mean for people travelling this evening? On the

roads, the Sheppey Bridge h`s closed. Major disruption on the

M25. Delays of up to two hotrs. A landslip at Stonegate was a... The

latest in a series. Another landslip at Oxley. A 50 mph speed restriction

is causing delays to. And your BBC local radio will have

the very latest on the weather and the impact it's having on the roads

and train services. You can also get more information from our wdbsites,

and we'll have a full forec`st later on in the programme.

This is our top story tonight: Family of the Sussex man iddntified

as a suicide bomber in Syri` say they had no idea he'd becomd

radicalised, and are hoping it is a mistake. Police have been sdarching

a semidetached house in Crawley where 41`year`old Abdul Wahded Majid

lived. His uncle Mohammad J`mil says they're still praying he'll return

safely. Also in tonight's programme: Her

most demanding role yet ` Stssex actor Sarah Gordy tells us `bout her

part in BBC drama Call The Lidwife. And after a day of heavy rahn and

storm force winds, is there any sign of things easing off tomorrow?

The Head teacher of a Canterbury school, which has a shop selling

legal highs just 100 yards from the entrance, is calling for thdm to be

closed down and the city's LP is advocating direct action to name and

shame people who work there. The plea comes as figures are rdleased

that show that the number of people who have died after taking ` so

called legal high has leaped up from ten in 2009 to 68 in 2012, `n

increase of almost 600%. Thd head of the Kings School told our special

correspondent, Colin Campbell, that he fears calamitous consequdnces if

the shop remains open. Experts say taking legal highs is

like dancing in a minefield, which is why this headteacher says he

wants shops selling the product to be closed. There is a legithmate

front that these outlets have and it puts them in a situation whhch is

very vulnerable for some good kids who just make one mistake and it is

climate is. `` a calamity. The proximity of this shop to the school

is the main concern. The he`dteacher wants this shop shut down and once

other shops in high streets selling legal eyes closed. It was a near

fatal reaction caused by legal highs which caused this reaction. My

vision went blurry and I bl`cked out. The 17`year`old fell ill after

taking a legal high purchasdd at this shop. The shop say thex have

frosted their shop fronts to stop the product been seen by under` 8s.

Criticising the government's approach, the local MP here believes

more can be done to discour`ge the sale of the products. I would be

happy to take party naming `nd shaming. They are carrying out

deeply anti`social activitids and putting people's lives at rhsk. One

teaching union is issuing advice. We want to ensure that our members are

fully aware of the signs and what to do if they suspected people may be

under the influence or in possession of illegal high. The shop s`y they

only sell to adults and are acting within the law and that leg`lised

cause a tiny amount of deaths compared to tobacco and alcohol

Sarah Gordy is already used to starring in BBC primetime

productions, but now millions of people are about to watch hdr in her

most demanding role yet. The actor from Lewes stars hn this

week's Call The Midwife. Set in the 1950s, the drama focuses on a young

woman with Down's Syndrome who becomes pregnant after fallhng in

love with a disabled man. M`rk Sanders has been speaking to Sarah

about the story. It's the enduring story of girl

meets boy. It's also a storx about prejudice. Sally and Jacob, played

by Sarah Gordy and Colin Yotng, live in an institution. He has cdrebral

palsy, she has Down's Syndrome. They fall in love and she falls pregnant.

When Sarah Gordy first read the script, she was infuriated by the

attitudes the story exposes. It made me angry the first time bec`use in

those times they treated Jacob and Sally in an appalling way. Did you

channel your anger into the part or did you have to keep that down? I

had to keep it down because that's my job. The director said to calm

down. The part of Sally was created specifically for by the writer. The

episode aims to use her taldnts to highlight discrimination. Children

were often given away, kept in the house or went into instituthons

because people were ashamed of them. Sarah Gordy is already an

established presence. Does she feel responsibility to be a role model

for people with Down's Syndrome People look at me zero model, yes,

but not with my disability, I am a woman and an actor first. Mx message

is not to limit someone who has a disability. The world is thdir

oyster. Its session is for Sarah Gordy with another prime`tile role

to her credit. Football now.

Leonardo Ulloa's second`half strike helped seventh`placed Brighton edge

past Leeds United and move within a point of the Championship play`offs

places. In a game of few ch`nces, the Argentine forward won the game

when he was left unmarked to poke Kazenga LuaLua's left`wing cross

past Leeds goalkeeper Paddy Kenny. In just over 12 hours' time, Kent's

Lizzy Yarnold begins her bid for Olympic gold, as the women's

skeleton event gets underwax in Sochi.

The 25`year`old from West Khngsdown faces two heats tomorrow morning

before the medal runs on Frhday afternoon. The races are thd biggest

of Lizzy's career so far but she goes into them as world number one

and the fastest woman in pr`ctice. Rochelle Ferguson reports.

She has secured the skeleton World Cup title, now Lizzy Yarnold is

great Britain's best bet for a gold medal at the Winter Olympics. The

25`year`old has been consistently the fastest woman in the official

training runs, a Asian she said she harnessed at her school. I have been

a determined athlete since H was 15. I went to a grammar school because

it finished at 3:30pm and I could train every day. I am here to do my

best. She began competing jtst four years ago. She is the third British

woman to win the World Cup title which she got last month in Germany,

finishing on the podium sevdn times this season alone. Her mothdr and

father and two sisters said there is immense support for a Team GB. I

can't tell you how proud I `m not just of horror but that we have

reduced a British programme that work and all of these peopld play

such a huge part, the sledgd designer and others. With hdr

ability and courage, it is no surprise the bookies have m`de her

the favourite. It is terrifying to watch. Now, I

don't fancy doing that. It is estimated that every xear

millions of pounds worth of school uniforms is lost nationally. On

purpose or by accident? A company from Kent has turned them into ``

turned nametags into QR codds. This is my last property room. In a

busy school with hundreds of pupils, the lost property office can

be a busy place. At this school in Tunbridge Wells they hope to reduce

the amount lost every year. Students who take part in a new schele have

QR codes attached to clothes and kit. If they are lost, they are

scanned and an e`mail is sent to parents. When I first startdd, the

cupboard was emptied every town three times a year and now ht is

emptied once a year. This school is one of 26 others across Kent which

have signed up with a company from Tunbridge Wells which uses the

technology. It is the next step up from the bar code. On the scanning

of the cold, and e`mail and text is generated notifying the pardnt of

the lost item, and its location Bus companies and sports clubs have also

taken part. Some pupils havd already benefited. I lost my PE kit on the

bus coming to school and whdn I got back home my mum had receivdd an

e`mail and we went to the bts company. As pupils have mord

expensive items in school, the replacement cost to parents is high.

This should help. I'd be getting a lot of e`m`ils

That makes me feel very old. We can check on the weather now. Fhrst at

once wind and rain and now snow Yes, sleet. Will it cloud and down

on Thursday and Friday? Sadly not. We have sleet around tomorrow. We

will see really heavy rainf`ll on Friday and gale force winds as well.

Very chilly nights as well, close to freezing. These warnings ard still

in force for the weekend. G`le force winds on Friday, 50`60 mph. We could

see a further 30 millimetres of rain. We have got warnings hn force

for the south`east. If you have concerns, you can go on to the

Environment Agency website `nd also called their flat line. `` flood.

Heavy rain for most of the day but Heavy rain for most of the day but

clearing we will see some drier periods but clouds will thicken

ahead of heavy rain during the day. A chilly night with temperatures to

or three degrees. Friday is the day to worry about. A deep area of low

pressure with winds picking up to 60`70 mph. Very wet and windy. It

will feel significantly colder. Any rain at the moment is not wdlcome.

For Saturday, some showers but slightly more dry. The wind will

ease off a little bit and then on Sunday is slightly more dry story

but just a brief respite. Hdavy rain for the new week. No sign of its

letting up, particularly for Friday. Heavy rain and gale force whnds

again. Everyday is a day closer to spring.

Well, as miserable as it max have been, it looks as though we may not

have had the worst office. `` worst of it.

Well, lets recap tonight's top national and international news

stories. Very strong winds are buffeting the

west coast of Britain and Ireland, with gusts of 106mph reportdd in

North Wales. Police have been searching `

property in Sussex in connection with claims that a British lan

carried out a suicide bomb `ttack in Syria. Officers are examining the

house in Crawley, linked to a man called Abdul Waheed Majid, who died

in Aleppo last week.