01/05/2014 South East Today

In South East Today at 6.30pm: the BBC News

In South East Today at 6.30pm: Tonight's top stories.

An investigation's launched into the charity that helped a Sussex man

travel to Syria, before he became the first UK suicide bomber there.

We're live in Crawley with the details.

The big beasts fighting for your vote. George Osborne and his Labour

Shadow Ed Balls come to the South East, ahead of this month's

elections. Also in tonight's programme: Legal

high shops want a trade association to legitimise the industry.

Victims' families say it can never be safe.

We don't know what's in them and our kids are playing Russian roulette

with their lives. Kent and Sussex are the worst

affected areas in the country for ash dieback. Scientists say we could

lose three`quarters of our ash trees.

And a lifetime's work rediscovered, locked in a filing cabinet for

decades, revealing pictures of Hollywood stars and British greats

from the '50s and '60s. Good evening.

The charity that enabled a man from Sussex to travel to Syria, before he

became Britain's first suicide bomber there, is under investigation

tonight. The Charity Commission says it has "serious concerns" about

Children In Deen which has organised aid convoys to Syria. Abdul Waheed

Majeed, from Crawley, joined one of the charity's convoys last year. He

then went on to carry out a suicide bomb attack at a Syrian prison in

February. Mark Norman joins us live from Crawley. Mark.

How serious an investigation is this for the charity?

It is serious. I am sure they are taking it seriously. Majeed used to

pray at this mosque and lived down the road. The charity is being

investigated not just for financial irregularities but the way they

vetted people before allowing them to travel to the Turkish Syrian

border. After a long 10`15 days, it's

emotional at the moment. The boss of the charity Children In

Deen leading a convoy towards the Syrian border at the end of last

year. In one of the vehicles, the Crawley father Abdul Waheed Majeed

who went on to drive a truck full of explosives into a prison in the

Syrian city of Aleppo, on an apparent martyrdom mission. When the

charity acknowledged Majeed had travelled to the Middle East on a

convoy they had organised, the Charity Commission got involved.

Initial concerns led to this enquiry. The Charity Commission told

us today they had serious regulatory concerns. And that they were

investigating the financial controls and management of the charity. Those

investigations would include the charity's vetting procedures when

administering convoys. If people do want to help,

particularly in a war zone, it is right they do that through

well`known international agencies, such as the united nations or Red

Crescent, and perhaps avoid small organisations whose validity I think

must be under question. Abdul from Brighton had also

travelled to Syria with an aid convoy. He was killed last month

fighting alongside an Al Qaeda`linked group. The commission

has reiterated its advice, along with Foreign Office warnings, of the

risk of aid convoys travelling to Syria.

The government has warned us there are dangers there and charities

should be careful. Our advice is to take the government's notice, and

not go unnecessarily and risk our lives when so many people are being

killed. Speaking to us earlier this year,

the mosque in Crawley told us how much money had been raised locally

for Syria. Slightly over ?100,000 cash.

And added they would now be sending their aid through Foreign Office

approved routes. Children In Deen are not alone. The Charity

Commission are investigating a number of other charities sending

aid. It includes one case of alleged inappropriate links between the

charity Al`Fatiha Global, and armed activities in Syria. A full report

into Children In Dean will be published later this year.

All these reports will be released later this year. Children In Deen

would not respond to us but they have told me in the past there won't

be organising any more convoys, but will be organising aid through

Foreign Office approved routes. The Chancellor of the Exchequer and

the Shadow Chancellor have come to the South East today, as the

campaign heats up to win our votes in this month's European and local

council elections. The Conservative MP George Osborne visited Brighton

to announce funding for the ?420 million redevelopment of the city's

hospital. Meanwhile, his opposite number, Ed Balls, came to Crawley

this morning, to launch Labour's election campaign in the South East.

Before travelling onto Chatham this afternoon. In a moment, we'll speak

to Ellie Price in Chatham. But, first, our political editor Louise

Stewart's live in Brighton. A huge investment announced today by

the Chancellor, Louise. But cynics will say it's no coincidence that

it's come as we prepare to go to the polls on May the 22nd.

It has to be said the Conservatives had repeatedly said they would not

be holding an election launch here. It certainly felt like one today.

There were two major infrastructure announcements, the announcement of

the go`ahead of the dual `` duelling of roadways.

George Osborne came `` The Chancellor George Osborne came to

the Royal Sussex County Hospital today bearing good news. He's

finally given the go`ahead for a ?420 billion redevelopment of the

19th`century site. This is a great boost for Brighton. It means a great

new hospital facilities, more beds, more space for the patients and

staff. New cancer services. This would not have happened if we hadn't

had a great local MP in Simon Kirby campaigning for it, or a long`term

economic plan. Parts of the hospital even predate

Florence Nightingale. Its chief executive says the redevelopment is

long overdue. The facilities aren't what you would

want in 2014. What this will mean is we are able to match the care we

give to our patients with the facilities, and help provide even

better care to our patients. Critics have questioned the timing

of the announcement, three weeks ahead of the local and European

elections. Fellow Brighton MP Caroline Lucas says it shouldn't be

a party political issue. The campaign to get a new hospital

here has been a cross`party campaign, a community`led campaign.

Everybody who has got anything to do with the hospital, doctors, nurses,

will be delighted they will be able to care for people now in better

surroundings. Local residents welcomed the news.

I used to work there two years ago, and the old building here, the wards

are very small. You can't even get the patients in and out. It is

brilliant, personally I would have put it in the middle of Brighton

but, for the population, it is superb. If the elections give the

impetus to politicians to do something, then I am not surprised.

It is good anything will be done. Redevelopment work is due to begin

later this year and won't be completed until 2024.

The chief executive has said preparatory work had started `` will

start as early as next week. There is a long awaited infrastructure

project of the duelling of that road. It has been given the final go

ahead and work could start by this autumn, a year ahead of the previous

schedule. While the Chancellor was in

Brighton, Labour sent the Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls to campaign for

votes in Crawley and Chatham, key electoral battle grounds where the

party's desperate to win back support. Our political reporter

Ellie Price has more. Labour have their own deadline,

elections in three weeks. On a visit to an audiovisual warehouse in

Crawley, the Shadow Chancellor was making sure his message was being

seen and heard. There are very many of your viewers whether they are in

the Medway towns or Brighton, Dover or Hastings. In Crawley, they are

finding things hard. When they hear George Osborne sing his plan is

working, they say it is not working for them because people feel under

pressure. Labour has two show we have the answers to the challenges.

Labour lost the Crawley Parliamentary seat in 2010 and they

want it back next year. I have spoken to some people in Crawley,

some Labour voters who are still not convinced. Have you voted Labour in

the past? I have, but not this time. Because I think they have lost their

way a bit. Have you ever voted Labour? All. Will you again? I don't

know, I'm not very taken with any parties at the moment. Have you

voted Labour in the past? All my life. Will you be voting again? No,

I am voting UKIP because I want to run our own country. I am sick and

tired of it. Shouldn't you be doing better at

this time in the political cycle than you are? There will be Labour

voters who are angry at politics and asking if UKIP has the answer. The

UKIP leader says he wants to privatise the NHS, have tax cuts

only for the rich then `` for the rich, then they will realise he is

not for them. Are you taking UKIP seriously enough? Over time, people

will look at UKIP, people who are angry, and say they don't have the

answers. The party will put that to the test on the 22nd of May.

So, looking ahead to the local elections in three weeks' time, how

tough is the task facing Labour in the South East? Seats are up for

grabs on six of our councils, with Labour in control in Hastings, and a

close second to the Conservatives in Crawley. But the party has just two

seats in Tunbridge Wells. One each in Adur and Maidstone. And none at

all in Tandridge. And the party has just one of the ten South East MEPs

ahead of the European elections on the 22nd of May. Ellie Price is live

in Chatham. What does Ed Balls say will constitute success for Labour?

Labour are realistic about their chances. They want to win back

Crawley Council from the Conservatives, they need for seats.

In Europe, they would like to increase their number of MEPs up to

two MEPs. He has said people use the European

elections as a protest vote. Ed Balls is in Chatham and Crawley is

because of the general election next year. In 2010, Labour were wiped off

the political map here. They need to win these seats if they are to win

that election. The campaign said that starts here.

In the run`up to the local and European elections, which take place

on the 22nd of May, we'll be bringing you more details of the

main parties in the South East and their campaigns, plus giving you

information about all the other political parties asking for your

vote. And there's in`depth coverage on our website, bbc.co.uk/news.

The jury in the trial of three men accused of murdering a Kent

pensioner has retired to consider its verdicts. 69`year`old

grandmother Harjit Chaggar was reported missing in Chatham last

September. Her badly decomposed body was discovered 12 days later in the

basement of a shop in the town. Three shop workers deny murder.

Ten children exposed to a potentially fatal strain of the

E`coli bug at a Surrey petting farm have been awarded compensation

payments, after the owners admitted full liability. They include Paddock

Wood twins Todd and Aaron Furnell, who both needed hospital treatment

and dialysis after visiting Godstone Farm in 2009, when they were just

two years old. Three of the ten children have developed chronic

kidney disease. A 54`year`old French man, whose two

daughters were killed in a crash on the M26 motorway in Kent two weeks

ago, has died in hospital. Two lorries and three other vehicles

were involved in the collision near Sevenoaks. Two people are still in

hospital. A 45`year`old man arrested in connection with the incident has

been bailed until August. The mother of a Sussex student, who

died after taking a so`called legal high, says young people are

continuing to play Russian roulette with their lives. Maryon Stuart's

comments come as the shops selling the drugs seek to form a trade

association. They're pressing for greater government regulation of the

industry so they can sell substances deemed to pose a low risk of harm.

But campaigners say it's difficult for legislation to keep up with

drugs that change every week. Fiona Irving reports.

It is a tragic roll call, victims many believe of so`called legal

highs. Sussex University student Hester Stewart died in 2009 after

taking GBL. In 2012, the deaths of Daniel Lloyd and Hugo Wenn from

Canterbury were linked to a substance called MXE. Last year,

Jimmy Gouchard from Gravesend died from a massive heart attack and

brain damage. His toxicology report came back clean. The legal high

industry is now calling for regulation.

The industry does exist, and there is a demand to be met, through the

general public. Whether the market is regulated or not, we are trying

to introduce a regulated market for public safety.

Maryon Stewart has been campaigning against the substances since her

daughter Hester died five years ago. What do you think about the call to

regulate the industry? You can't have things to sell in

retail outlets that have not been tried and tested. You can't sell

research chemicals to young people thinking they are legal and safe. We

don't know what's in them and our kids are playing Russian roulette

with their lives. The Home Office has been looking at

how other countries legislate against legal highs. In New Zealand,

the government decided on a policy where they tested them before they

could be sold. In the last few days, the prime minister John Key has made

a U`turn. Now he has issued a blanket ban against them. Those who

wish to market this product can go through an approval process as for a

medicine. The concept is they have withdrawn the temporary approvals.

The numbers of deaths lead to legal highs in the UK is thought to be on

the rise. There is growing urgency to find a way to tackle the problem.

Fiona joins us live from Westminster. It is proving extremely

difficult to regulate the sale of legal highs.

It can be incredibly difficult when the chemical compound keeps

changing. Norman Baker has called it a race against the chemist who are

reducing new products every week. No sooner has one big band than a

slightly different one is on the market. There is a concern about the

lack of tolerance of side effects. There is a low tolerance of side

effects given they are only recreational drugs. The government

is committed to addressing the uncertainty and confusion

surrounding these drugs. This is our top story tonight.

An investigation has been launched into the aid charity that took the

Crawley suicide bomber on his way to Syria. The Charity Commission says

it has "serious concerns" about Children In Deen which has organised

aid convoys to Syria. Abdul Waheed Majeed joined one before detonating

a truck bomb in Aleppo. Also in tonight's programme: Hidden

in Sussex for decades, a cache of original photos of golden era

Hollywood greats and British stars. We have had heavy and thundery

downpours but things are improving towards bank holiday weekend. Join

me later for the forecast. Three`quarters of all ash trees in

the South East could be hit by a deadly disease within the next four

years, according to the latest Government statistics. It follows

research by scientists at Cambridge University into ash dieback fungus.

They've found that Kent is the worst affected county in the UK, with East

Sussex a close second. The disease first emerged in the UK in 2012.

It's the result of a fungus carried on the wind, and causes loss of

leaves, and dieback of the tree crown, usually followed by the death

of infected trees. Our environment correspondent Yvette Austin has

tonight's special report. Sapling after sapling claimed by the fungus,

Ash Didak has taken hold in the woodlands of East Kent and there is

no stopping it. We have two young trees here. You

can see that the infection has probably entered this tree through a

leaf up here and got into the stem. It is killing the tree. This one is

still going. But its neighbour has got the full brunt of it and is

completely dead. In this particular woodland, this is becoming quite a

feature of regeneration. With no known cure, it is expected our ash

trees will continue to succumb to the fungus, particularly in the

south`east. Experts monitoring sites are waiting to

George Douglas was the face behind the lens. The Brighton

photographer's work hidden away in a filing cabinet until he bequeathed

it his friend and fellow photographer Roger.

Astonished. I just didn't realise how much there was. I knew about the

filing cabinet in the locker downstairs. If you opened it, all of

the negatives fell out. But I didn't know what the quality was going to

be like. George Douglas worked for Picture

Post, his position giving him extraordinary access to the stars of

the day. What we have got going on here is a

story of a photographer, and we want to represent it we can. `` if we

can. We start in his days in Santa Monica, taking documentary images of

regular people around the beach life which he enjoyed. That's why he

liked Brighton. At the same time, he is walking up to big film stars, and

taking photos of them. Jane Russell, Peter Lawford, part of the Rat Pack,

Ocean's Eleven. A lot more of that and we are still discovering

negatives as we go along. As this sifting process continues, more bits

of photographic pressure are being uncovered day after day. Piles and

piles of negatives being printed to reveal the heroes hidden within. The

newly unearthed collection will now go on display as part of the

artists' open houses festival which opens on Saturday.

A life's work we discovered. A host of celebrities have gathered

in Canterbury today for the unveiling of a bronze statue of the

Kent comedian Dave Lee. He starred in more than 1,000 pantomime

performances over 16 years at the city's Marlowe Theatre, and raised

millions of pounds for charity, before his death through cancer two

years ago. Within five minutes, I felt I had known him for years. All

the wonderful work he did the less privileged children here in Kent. He

has raised over ?2 million so that those children have holidays. What a

brilliant, generous man he was. It has not been a day for

maintaining a nice hairdo! For the weekend, it should be

staying dry and bright. We have seen heavy and thundery downpours, we

have a warning for heavy rain added during the first part of this

evening. Generally it will be an improving picture. High pressure is

building from the north. Still the chance of a shower. The Bank Holiday

will be settled with sunshine. The showers have been feeding in from

the west. Heavy, thundery downpours, feeling cooler than yesterday.

Temperatures yesterday, 17. Today, 13 degrees with a gentle westerly

breeze. Tonight, we will see outbreaks of rain. Generally, an

improving story. Temperatures staying relatively mild, down to

eight degrees. Quite a mild, cloudy start tomorrow. Mostly staying dry,

still the chance of a shower but not as heavy as today. Top temperatures

tomorrow, 13. The reason for that, these north`easterly winds, 50 mph

giving a chilly feel. Tomorrow night, clearer skies will develop.

Feeling chilly, down to three degrees. A frosty start in rural

spots on Saturday. Quite a pleasant weekend, plenty of sunshine and

staying dry. High pressure will build and temperatures will rise to

15 degrees on Saturday. An improving picture. More like 16 degrees on

Sunday and Monday. That is what we want to hear.

Sunshine. That is it from us for the moment.

We will be back with the late bulletin later on, and tomorrow.

Goodbye. 'The last two generations have been

robbed of an opportunity 'And yet it has greater impact

on our everyday lives than anything 'We need to put this issue

to bed now, 'and not leave it

for another generation.' I want a Britain that is free

to control its own destiny. 'another three million people

in Britain by 2020. 'Our public services

are already stretched.