22/02/2017 South East Today

A reminder of the day's main story... The

Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage strongly denies allegations his team

broke election expenses law during the bitterly fought

A transgender murderer from Sussex, segregated for their own protection,

was not unlawfully treated by the Prison Service,

The Shadow Health Secretary calls for an inquiry into the poor

performance of Coperforma, who lost the contract to run

non-emergency transport across Sussex after hundreds

Abandoned to die on a roadside in Kent - we check on the recovery

of the dog who was so thin she was mistaken

All the dog wants is some love and some food and it's obviously

been totally left without any of that care.

Just a year ago he was an unknown from Uckfield, now he's

a big deal at the Brits - Rag'n'Bone man is up

Claims that UKIP flouted electoral law during Nigel Farage's

unsuccessful bid to become the MP for South Thanet in 2015 have

been strongly denied by the former leader.

Left-leaning pressure group Hope Not Hate is calling

for Kent Police to investigate its allegations that thousands

of pounds spent by UKIP were not declared to the electoral watchdog.

Mr Farage has told this programme that he has been "absolutely

assured" that the returns had been done".

However, South-East Today has spoken with a former UKIP campaigner

who claims he was paid by the party for working in South Thanet,

The fight for South Thanet in the full glare of the world's press was

fearsome frantic and nearly two years later that followed is still

being felt. Now there are claims from a pressure group that Ukip may

not have declared thousands of pounds spent on its attempts to get

Nigel Farage and elected as an MP. BBC South East is booking this man,

who doesn't want to be identified, he says he works for the campaign in

the vital six weeks running up to the election. Definitely on the

phone canvassing it was I am calling on the half of Nigel Farage and

Ukip, something along those lines. At the door-to-door canvassing of a

slightly different because they tried to get the local candidate I

does well, but if Nigel was there he was the main focus. It was, this man

is running for MP, would you like to meet in? He was paid more than ?1000

bike Ukip, money he said was a disc -- wasn't declared. It is bizarre

that that money wasn't registered anywhere. I was specifically working

in South Thanet talk and beyond the national expense, but even so it

wasn't registered anywhere I was paid that. We watched the South

Thanet returns and were unable to find any entry that matched the

payments. BBC south-east has spoken to three young activists who

confirmed they were paid to work on-site South Thanet. It is unclear

where the salaries have been declared. The rules around how much

candidates can spend up elections are strict, particularly in the

final weeks running up to polling day. Then a Parliamentary candidates

can spend a maximum of ?8,700 plus 9p per registered voter. On South

Thanet that give a maximum spend of just over ?15,000. Overspending or

unknowingly not declaring all costs can lead to criminal sanctions.

Nigel Farage Goldust this afternoon that while he did not complete a

return to themselves he had been absolutely assured that Ukip had

done them as thoroughly and professionally as it could and that

he had no reason to think anything was wrong. The basic principle is

fairness. What we in this country try to do as boats to the United

States were huge money is spent and candidates have to be wealthy, we

have tried to make a level playing field so that candidates and parties

are not disadvantaged because they do not have much money. These claims

about spending on Nigel Farage's campaign comes just months before

the deadline for Kent Police to decide whether it is going to take

action over the winning candidate, Greg McKinlay. His spending is being

scrutinised by the electoral commission over accusations over

illegal spending by the Conservatives around the country. In

Ramsgate, this latest twist in the turbulent politics of planet has

done little to inspire voters. It should be fully investigated. If

there is foul play somewhere. I don't think most liberal will be

that worried about it. More likely the political people who have a

point to make. Of course it matters. I think they should be much more

careful with the way they spend the money. A spokesman for Ukip told us

that they were confident that the party had met all the regulations.

Helen, Hope Not Hate are calling for a police investigation.

There is not really a way of doing it under the law because police

investigate candidate's spending but there is a cut. They have to start

proceedings within a year of those returns being filed. We are well

past that. What about the election watchdog? They only have the remit

to look at party spending on a national level. There are open

investigations by both the police and the electoral commission is

looking at the spending of the conservative candidate, Craig

McKinlay. We expect the commission report to come back soon, they are

looking at it as part of a wider look at Conservative spending across

the country. Once back comes back, Kent Police have a few months to

decide if they are quick to take any further action. -- if they are going

to take any further action. -- if they are going to take

any further action. A transgender prisoner from Sussex

who severely mutilated themselves while in jail,

has lost a High Court appeal Christopher Hunnisett

was jailed for life over the killing of a gay man,

Peter Bick, in Bexhill in 2012. Hunnisett, who now identifies

as a woman, wrongly believed In 2015, she attempted to perform

a sex-change operation A judge ruled that the Prison

Service had not acted unlawfully in keeping her segregated from other

prisoners for her own protection. Our special correspondent,

Colin Campbell, reports. Convicted as a man living in prison

as a woman, temp two claim that they're being segregated behind bars

her wrap -- her rights as a transgender women were being

violated. She appeared in court via video link, dressed in a blouse with

long hair. It is a sad case. Pretty appalling details of what has gone

on. But a difficult case for the courts and for the prison

authorities. In court, gruesome detail was given about high

Christopher Hunnisett had performed an attempted sex change wealth in a

prison cell in Durham. He explained how living as a transgender women in

prison has resulted in her being segregated, restricting her access

to education, work, church and visiting opportunities. Christopher

Hunnisett was first jailed in 2002 for the murder of Sussex Preece

Rommel Glazebrook. Sure what in the belief acquitted in 2010 after

revealing she had been sexually abused as a teenage boy by Reverend

Glazebrook. In 2012, Christopher Hunnisett was again jailed, this

time for the murder of Bexhill supermarket worker Peter Bick.

Christopher Hunnisett falsely claimed that the time that she had

been on a mission to rid the world of paedophiles. He had obviously

been my brother's torture, judge, jury and executioner all in one hand

what a horrid, evil animal he is. Christopher Hunnisett took her case

to the High Court after refusing to be placed on a wing for vulnerable

prisoners were she posed a potential risk to convicted sex offenders. She

has not been allowed to remain in the general prison population for

her own safety. It is a no-win situation, but ultimately of course

the solution is to find special units, to create special units, for

transgender prisoners. Christopher Hunnisett claimed that her human

rights had been breached, but the High Court disagreed, saying that

segregation is lawful for her own protection.

In a moment: Safeguarding the nation s heritage: How scores

of organisations have gathered in Kent to debate crime

The Shadow Health Secretary has called for a public inquiry

into the controversy surrounding the awarding of a major ambulance

contract to a private company in Sussex last year.

Coperforma suffered a series of disastrous headlines

after taking over last April, having to apologise when hundreds

In July, one of Coperforma's sub-contractors went bust,

In November, the NHS trust lost patience and announced

they would strip Coperforma of its multi-million pound contract

and bring the non-emergency transport service back in-house.

Today, there were angry scenes in the Commons as the Prime Minister

defended the Government's record on public-private

Our Health correspondent, Mark Norman, reports.

These are drivers for the NHS nonemergency patient

Addressing them, the Shadow Secretary of State for Health

who is making some political capital of the fact that Coperforma won't be

running the service from 1st April and is calling for answers

I think there are serious questions now that need to be answered

and I hope that there will be an enquiry into how this contract

was awarded because, clearly, it was not in the interest

of taxpayer, and not in the interest of patients in this community.

Over the last year, these drivers have had issues with pay,

It's made them uncertain about the new contracts

with the new provider, South Central Ambulance Service.

At the moment, we're going through training before

We are all apprehensive, especially after what's happened to us.

The NHS is there for the public, not for the private people to come

in and take that away because, obviously, we have experienced

it first hand, that standards are not as good.

And that political debate over the NHS and the way it's run

was the subject of a feisty exchange at Prime Minister's

So why is it that one in six of A units in England are set

Back in Sussex, NHS bosses are planning for the new transport

provider to start work next week and take over the contract

Having recognised the problem and cancelled the Coperforma

contract after just a few months, they will be hoping for a smooth

Our Health correspondent, Mark Norman, is in Hove.

Mark, you've highlighted problems in the NHS in Sussex,

but there's news tonight of possible major changes of services in Kent.

That's right. We have been hearing from staff at the hospital in

Canterbury who were telling us they're a possible major changes

being planned because of issues around staffing levels, changes

around medical admissions, possible plans to downgrade the urgent care

centre at the hospital, already downgraded from an accident and

emergency a few ago, and turn it into a major minor injuries unit. I

ever, I have had a long discussion with the trust he tell me that this

assembly contingency planning and that they are looking at worst-case

scenarios and that there are hospitals are safe and fully

staffed. I said are you planning for possible worst-case scenario in the

next week's or months, and they didn't get a straight answer. The

trust only that the hospitals are safe and staffed and this is simply

contingency planning. Air accident investigators say

they will publish their final safety report into the Shoreham air

disaster next week. 11 men died when a vintage

Hawker Hunter jet crashed Families of the victims

have been calling for the publication of the findings

by the Air Accidents Sussex police are also investigating

the role played by pilot Andy Hill, A Sussex factory worker has been

charged with making online threats against the MP

for Eastbourne on Facebook. 50-year-old Mark Sands,

who lives in Eastbourne, is accused of sending an "offensive,

indecent, obscene or menacing Well, let's cross live

to our correspondent Yvette Austin, 50-year-old Mark stands, accused it

sending an offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing message to the

Eastbourne MP temp one. Sussex Police said that he will appear

before Hastings magistrates next month. In a separate case,

73-year-old man is being held by West Sussex Police in connection

with allegations that two MPs received offensive messages on

social media last year. Increasing numbers of vulnerable

child migrants are returning to Calais, putting their lives

at risk trying to cross the Channel by getting

on lorries bound for Kent. That's the warning today given

by aid charities to an influential They say some unaccompanied minors

who have family in the UK have now lost faith in the system

and are taking matters You have the papers that you could

appeal? Yeah, yeah. At the start of the week the chair of the Home

Affairs Select Committee went to Dunkirk and Calais to speak to

children who had applied to come to did UK under a scheme called the

Dublin regulation. Today, more questions in Westminster. In Dunkirk

on Monday I spoke to a 13-year-old and 14-year-old who had been

rejected for dubs and applications, both of whom said they had nothing

in writing at all and just an oral decision from someone at the centre,

so he didn't even know why it was they had been rejected. When the

Calais Nolan as The Jungle close, more than 2,000 children were moved

to centre to cross France. 750 were given permission to come to the UK

because they had family here were considered to be extremely

vulnerable. Some children refused permission to claim the applications

were judged fairly. We have seen children coming out of the camp,

moving back to Dunkirk and Calais and taking their lives into their

own hands against. Many local authorities here say taking in more

children has big financial implications. It is almost chipping

and egg about capacity. We have children's home providers, Kerry

even support providers saying we can find you some advisers and some

accommodation, but that has to be paid for. In response to the

concerns of the charity, it says it needs to find the balance between

enabling legitimate children become to the UK and ensuring that local

authorities have the capacity to for them. -- to care for them.

Well, our reporter Simon Jones is in Dover for us now.

Simon, there seems to be no clear consensus on how to deal

with the vulnerable children arriving in Calais.

On Monday, Yvette Cooper told me she was shocked at the conditions in

which some children were living over in Dunkirk. At the Home Affairs

Select Committee today is one of the MPs bid to the charities that many

people did not believe that some of those claiming to be children were

actually children. What they did seem united on was the belief that

they need to tackle the people traffickers. Save the children said

today they could not going to the Cabot Dunkirk and speak to children

for fear that those children would face reprisals from the traffickers,

another sign that this situation is extremely difficult to resolve.

Nigel Farage has strongly denied claims his party broke electoral

expenses law during the 2015 campaign in South Thanet.

Also in tonight's programme: Just a year ago he was an unknown

from Uckfield, now he's a big deal at the Brits - Rag'n'Bone Man is up

We are expecting storm Doris opened next day. Warnings for us in the

south-east about gale force winds with travel disruption expected. I

will have the details for you later in the programme.

Plundering shipwrecks, robbing ancient buildings,

and illegal metal detecting - just some of the crimes

that our most significant historical sites are subject to.

But today more than 50 organisations have gathered in Kent to discuss how

to make our shared national heritage less vulnerable to

Research from English Heritage found nearly

a fifth of all listed buildings are affected by crime each year.

Across the country that works out as 70,000.

Here in Kent there are nearly 18,000 listed buildings -

and 11 protected shipwrecks, more than anywhere

Claudia Sermbezis has tonight's Special Report.

Eight 2,000 and -- 2,000 year old ball stolen, a statue Tunbridge

Wells Park and two weeks ago to diapers and alleged with removal

from a sunken warship. Heritage crime is a big business. A lot of

stuff has been left behind over thousands of years, whether it be

features in the landscape, objects in the ground. It is a shared

cultural resource. The launch of heritage watch and the introduction

of the countryside is using modern technology to help us protect the

past. The app is intended to encourage people to report

suspicious behaviour or prime around heritage sites. He opens up the app

and if it is safe to do so takes a picture. It is a scheme that this

estate manager could have benefited from two years ago. Two statues were

stolen from Coddington house. They were very fine lead statues and we

had done our best to secure them and they had some alarms, but the

thieves were clever and managed to remove them from the plinths and

take them away and we never saw them again. Leeds Castle is an isolated

rural estate and for the curator there is always an element of risk

when deciding to put things on display. It is so important to keep

in contact with other heritage organisations about heritage crime

that goes on, not only damage to buildings and structures, but also

theft from our interior collections because once something is gone it

really is gone and these things tend to be one and are irreplaceable. It

is hoped the new scheme will lead to more heritage crime convictions.

An emaciated dog found abandoned in Maidstone is now

receiving specialist care at an RSPCA animal centre.

Officers say they believe the female lurcher was just hours from death

Snoopy, as they've called her, was so thin she was mistaken

Officers say they were shocked at her condition and believe she had

been deliberately starved and kept in a confined space.

If Snoopy hadn't been found last Thursday evening,

it is almost certain she would have died during the night.

She was left shivering and starving on Wooley Road in Maidstone,

but miraculously, passing motorists rescued her.

Now, RSPCA officers are trying to find out

I mean, she could have escaped, but how extreme she is,

if she had been a stray, she would have been scrounging

She doesn't appear to have had any food for a considerable time.

All the dog wants is some love and some food and it's obviously

been totally left without any of that care.

Snoopy is now being looked after at Leybourne RSPCA centre.

Because she's so thin, there's every chance

When Snoopy was found she weighed just over ten kilograms.

The average weight for a dog like her is about 15 to 16

kilograms, so she still has a long way to go.

Snoopy is being fed five times a day.

Since she was rescued she has now put on nearly half a kilogram.

With a dog this emaciated, you can't just give her a big load

That will cause problems in the long run.

It needs to be fed little and often and you just kind of take it as it

comes and let her put on weight at a manageable rate, esentially.

The RSPCA says it will be a slow and steady recovery and its officers

will continue their search to find out who mistreated her.

Only a year ago, Rory Graham was an aspiring blues singer,

almost unknown outside of his hometown of Uckfield.

Today, he's on the fast track to becoming a global star under

His debut single, Human, has already gone platinum,

selling more than 600,000 copies in the UK alone.

It has also reached the Top 10 in 29 countries around the world.

His debut album, also called Human, was released this month

and is already officially the fastest selling male debut

album of the decade, selling 117,000 copies

He's already been named the Critics' Choice at this year s Brit Awards

and he's hotly tipped to pick up another tonight.

Lizo Mzimba is on the red carpet at the O2 in London for us now.

Well, it has been an amazing evening so far. Rag'n'Bone Man already named

the winner of the critics's choice awards. That is picked by industry

expert and critics. Look at the people who have won before, the

likes of Sam Smith, a Dell and Rag'n'Bone Man has been selling huge

numbers of albums. His debut album outsold the rest of the top ten that

together on a distributor. -- put together.

He's never had a singing lesson, but tonight he's likely to become

one of the UK's best-known musicians # But I'm only human after all.

likely to become one of the UK's best-known musicians.

The singer-songwriter from Uckfield took the name Rag'n'Bone Man

from the 1960s sitcom Steptoe and Son.

But this former care worker isn't fazed by the call of fame.

I don't know about dreaming about being the stage here.

Like, I used to watch it all the time, but I never

Like I say, I just carry on doing what I'm doing.

I don't feel like that weight on my shoulders or anything.

# Every word you say has been hanging over my head #.

Already named Critics' Choice winner for 2017,

a title previously held by Brighton's James Bay

and Tom Odell, for the first time ever a Critics' Choice winner has

been nominated for Best British Breakthrough Artist.

For Brighton, you know, we are known for Nick Cave and Fatboy Slim.

But to have someone as cool as Rag'n'Bone Man as well now...

I think when you listen to his voice, it's a global voice.

It's not just like a chart voice, it's not an overproduced track,

it's an absolutely beautiful emotive track and it's quality.

You can catch him on tour in Brighton on 20th May.

A lot of highlights from tonight are likely to include performances from

the likes of Ed Sheeran, little mix, Katy Perry, but for Rag'n'Bone Man

this is probably the going to be a night he will never forget. Iqbal

are already talking about next year's BRIT Awards when they are

tipping him to be nominated in many different categories because of its

outstanding talent. He does have an extraordinary voice.

Widespread travel disruption is expected and the reason for that is

gale force winds. There will also be some heavy rain that the winds are

expected to be a problem. The reason is they are going to be developing

through the day so inland we could well be seeing gusts up to 60 mph

and we will see a second wave of those winds during the early part of

the afternoon, so particularly for the later rush-hour, the advice is

to check on the latest weather forecast before you travel. Through

tonight, it is a more calm picture, the winds will pick up a little bit

and will be some rain but for the most part a calmer than it will be

tomorrow. Very mild with overnight temperatures of nine or 10 degrees.

Warnings eyed about the winds valid the day tomorrow. It is going to be

a blustery start. We have this cold front around and behind it and it

will be feeling a lot cooler. The first wave of the strong winds

happens in the morning. From about eight o'clock we start to see the

rain, really strong gusts and that will clear through and during the

early part of the afternoon we are expecting the winds to pick up

again. Along the south coast we could see gusts up to 70 miles an

hour. The wind is from a westerly direction, 20 or 30 miles an on

average. To take care in the first part of the day. The top

temperatures of ten or 11 achieved by midday. It will feel cooler as

that's front passes through. Overnight temperatures of around two

or three degrees, in rural spots there maybe a touch of frost. The

winds will start to ease off and a much more calm day is expected as we

go through the day on Friday. Temperatures by the afternoon 910

degrees but the westerly winds will ease off, once again 15 or 20 miles

an hour. Looking towards the weekend, there will be rain around

first thing on Saturday morning but that will clear. After dark some

rain. For something more cloud around will be unsettled into the

new week. But the main uses storm Doris will arrive tomorrow is do

take care if you plan to travel. That visit from us at the moment. I

will be back with the ladies at 10:30 p.m.. I will see you tomorrow.

Have a very good evening. ..as Drive, Five To Five and

Nightfall fight for the win.