24/02/2017 South East Today

Welcome to South East Today, I'm Ellie Crisell.

Tonight's top stories: The family of a woman who died

after being refused an emergency brain operation at three hospitals

It's really upsetting to hear that your mum should and could be alive.

They just did not follow the procedures.

Supermarket staff held up at knifepoint in Brighton

in what police describe as an alarming and violent robbery.

Also in tonight's programme: M25 road rage killer Kenneth Noye

could be a step closer to a move to an open prison after

Six Second World War veterans receive the highest possible French

honour in Folkestone today for the part they played

And the literary detectives who've proved that

The family of a woman who died after three hospitals refused

to admit her for life-saving surgery are taking legal action

Mary Muldowney from Crawley went to the East Surrey Hospital

in Redhill in July last year, where a scan revealed

But three hospitals, including the Royal Sussex County Hospital

in Brighton, would not take the 57-year-old because of a lack

She was finally admitted to a London hospital but died just a few days

Last month, a coroner ruled that, had she had the surgery immediately,

Mary's children have been mourning the loss for five months before they

found out the truth of what happened to her. It was only at the inquest

into her death that the delay leading to the surgery was

explained. It is really upsetting to hear that your mum should and could

be alive. But they just did not follow the procedures. Mary

collapsed and was taken to East Surrey Hospital in July. A scan

revealed a bleed on the brain. She needed surgery but the three closest

hospitals all said they had no intensive care beds. Eventually the

Royal London agreed to take but by then it was too late. At the

inquest, the coroner said Mary had required immediate transfer to a

special neurosurgical unit. At that happened, she would probably have

survived an action should be taken to prevent further deaths. But her

children are not convinced that action is being taken. As per the

coroner's report, our mum's life could have been saved. It has not

been saved so somebody needs to take responsibility for that and unless

someone admits there may have been a mistake, you will not fix that

error, it will re-occur. Two of the hospital say Mary was not deemed to

require life-saving surgery so the protocol which means they have to

take a transfer patient was not triggered. That is the reason why

they want to pursue legal action, so they can get action and prevent this

happening to another patient and another family. She had a lot to

live for. She is missing out on so much and so are we. Because they say

they were a shortage of beds when she did not need a bed but emergency

surgery. The coroner agreed, saying the hospital should have

concentrated on operating first and finding a better recover in later.

-- a bed to recover. Dramatic CCTV footage has been

released of supermarket staff being held at knifepoint by two

robbers at a Brighton Co-op store. They were threatened with an 11-inch

knife and forced into a room, where they were ordered

to hold their hands up and get on the floor

while tills were emptied. Sussex Police say it was an alarming

and violent robbery. Our reporter, Piers Hopkirk,

has the details. It's shocking footage

capturing an armed raid One masked raider vaults the tills

as the staff are led out The store-room camera then reveals

the moment one of the raiders The three staff members are then

forced onto their knees in an office as the raiders search the store

for money, helping themselves The offenders are straight

in the door, they are brandishing the weapons, they are being very

aggressive with the staff, they are herding them out

to the back of the shop and then they are straight out

of the front door. The whole incident was very

quick, it was very fast, We showed footage of the raid

to people here in Patcham. And if I was faced by that,

you've got all sorts of ideas But with a knife and

masks and so on... To have been in that situation

would have been shocking. Everyone's rallying

round the staff here and tried For the people working in the store,

they must have been terrified. Let's hope, when they catch them,

and they will, they get a good The robbery happened

on the night of Friday, The men escaped from the store

in Old London Road with more than ?2,500 in cash from a safe

and the tills. Detectives said today

they are linking it to another raid four days later

at the Co-op in Saltdean. Here, a masked man in a Santa hat

pulls a knife on a shop worker as she stacks shelves,

forcing her into the store office. He then grabS another staff member

the and makes him open the safe. During the incident, the member of

staff is assaulted, sustaining several broken ribs. It is unusual

to get a tax of this type in Brighton so when we get two

targeting Co-ops with men of similar description, when you have got

circumstances like that, it is wide to link these up. The raider escaped

with more ?2000. Police are appealing

for witnesses or anyone with any Piers joins us now from outside

the store in Patcham. Piers, why do police believe these

incidents are connected? There are striking similarities

between these two raids, they were both passed with high levels of

threatening violence. The radio took just three minutes from start to

finish and the other one just two minutes and police believe there was

evidence of preplanning to those robberies. The men were similarly

attired, they used knives and Co-op stores within Poole days of each

other. Detectives say these men are dangerous and they want the public's

help in finding them. In a moment: The Sevenoaks mothers

applying to open a new free school The M25 road rage killer

Kenneth Noye is a step closer to being moved to an open prison

this evening after In 2015, the then Justice Secretary,

Michael Gove, blocked the move, concerned at the signal moving Noye

would send out. Noye was jailed for life

for the murder of 21-year-old Today's decision means

that the views of the parole board - that he no longer presents a danger

- must be taken into account. Our political editor,

Helen Catt, has more. Notorious criminal Kenneth Noye has

served nearly 17 years in prison for the murder of Stephen Cameron. He

stabbed the 21-year-old to death during a fight of the slip road of

the M25. When a suggestion of moving him to an open prison was rejected,

Mr Cameron's family told us of the relief. Overjoyed, over the moon, we

are so relieved that finally there is justice for Stephen. Kenneth Noye

was jailed in 2000 and was told he would serve a minimum of 16 years.

In 2015, the parole board recommended he was moved to an open

prison but that was blocked by Michael Gove. Today a judge has

quashed that decision. He has proved a point in his mind. He is a

professional criminal, the crime he committed was appalling, but at the

same time he has looked around to other people who have done similar

crimes and they are all out and about now. It is not often that ?26

million goes missing. Kenneth Noye also served eight years for handling

gold bullion stolen in the 1983 robbery. He also stabbed policeman

to death but pleaded self defence and was cleared of his murder. This

was to establish that he should be treated the same as other prisoners

and that he should not receive detrimental treatment just because

he is high profile. People advising the Secretary of State said to him

there was no rational or defensible reason for rejecting this site was

very difficult to understand why the Secretary of State to that course of

action and it was his actions that led to this coming to court. The

Ministry of Justice says it has noted the core's findings and will

consider. What happens next? It does not mean that Kenneth Noye

automatically gets moved to an open prison, it just means the new

Justice Secretary has to make the decision again. This is also shed

light on why an open prison is being suggested. It quotes a parole board

that said he had made considerable progress during his sentence. At

nearly 70, the risk of him absconding was inherently unlikely.

Most interestingly, it emerged that Kenneth Noye has had concerns about

the move, worrying other prisoners may sell stories on him or blaming

him. Brighton's newest tourist suspension was suspended this

afternoon after it broke down. It left people stuck in it for over an

hour. Its main sponsor British airways has apologised to customers

and comes after similar breakdowns in September shortly after it

opened. Plans to criminalise people who wear

military medals they haven't earned have been blocked

in the Commons today. Under the proposals put forward

by Dartford MP Gareth Johnson, those trying to dupe others

into thinking they're war heroes could face prison

or a fine of up to ?5,000. But today, another MP

talked the bill out, concerned the rule shouldn't apply

to people in pubs, and describing Any individual can parade in front

of Windows, veterans, families, loved ones, wearing medals they have

not won themselves, intending to deceive and curry favour when they

have not served themselves and the reason why they would be able to do

that is because the honourable gentleman has put forward this bill.

Two mothers from Sevenoaks who are special needs teachers

are bidding to open a free school that would specialise in helping

It's thought as many as one in ten children in the UK have some

form of dyslexia but, while nine out of ten parents

think all teachers should have a compulsory basic level

of training in teaching children with dyslexia,

more than three quarters of teachers themselves don't feel

their initial training gave them the skills to do so.

Our education correspondent, Bryony Mackenzie, has

I can't believe we are actually at summer camp. Seven-year-old Benjamin

finds reading easy but for children with dyslexia, literacy can be

challenging and frustrating. That Abbey Lloyd and Fiona believe

building a new school with experienced dyslexia teachers and

curriculum using more ICT equipment could improve the many children. I

thought, this is crazy, there is no school specialising in catering in

particular that this group of children. Within our staff, people

have the experience to compare notes and discuss children and work out

what could be going wrong and what we could look at. We would talk to

order like that before. Our primary focus is ensuring that children have

life skills and develop a passion for learning, they develop critical

thinking and all the skills that will take them on in life. Sam's

three children are all dyslexic. With Matilda and Edward, I knew from

day one. Educated at specialist independent and state schools. I

want them to be the same as everybody else but they will have to

do 12 support lessons of week in order to achieve that. If you have a

creative, different environment, the one the brain is wired up to, of

course they can do it. Assistive technology for dyslexics is

fantastic, you can have a facility that the part of your learning you

are struggling with, so maybe taking the text in your head, taking that

on the page can be a real challenge is that as part of your dyslexic

profile, so having it equipment that can do that bit for you is

fantastic. Students do not have to be dyslexic to study the da Vinci

but demand for more school places means this could be an option for

other families. after three hospitals refused

to admit her for life-saving brain surgery are taking legal action

against the hospital trusts. The coroner said that Mary Muldowney

from Crawley probably would have survived if she had had

the surgery quickly. Also in tonight's programme:

The literary detectives on the case to prove that Shakespeare performed

at the famous Mermaid Inn in Rye. And it has been a quieter day

weather-wise but the weekend is looking a little bit mixed. I will

have a full forecast later in the programme.

As Red Nose Day approaches, Comic Relief says it is overwhelmed

with requests to support domestic abuse charities.

Organisations say demand for crisis assistance is at an all-time high.

Last year, nearly 1.9 million victims across

In Kent, more than 28,000 incidents of domestic abuse were reported

And more than 14,000 incidents were reported to Surrey Police.

A domestic abuse survivor from Redhill has told this programme

that she believes a charity supported by Comic

Do you really think any other guy will look at you how I do?

A government campaign for victims of domestic abuse.

Today, charities say that demand for those suffering

One survivor was abused by her husband for 41 years.

he would throw me on the ground and kicked me.

Every day, really, I would wake up and wonder

She finally left her husband with the help of the East Surrey

domestic abuse service, the charity received 16,500 calls

A lot of people call us to help understand

what is happening to them, they need someone to

listen, they'd been told that they are going mad

and that they are not experiencing abuse.

By speaking to us they can recognise it.

We fund a lot of projects across the Southeast region.

These charities are doing amazing, creative and innovative ways

of reaching women and sometimes men, who need the support.

Hello, everyone, welcome to Red Nose Day...

Leslie said that Comic Relief and the East Surrey domestic abuse

service not only saved her life but changed it to.

People who knew me before cannot believe who I am now. I think they

thought I was miserable, always crying with no confidence. My

children see that I am a different person, and I am a different person,

and I like it. Seven veterans of the Second World

War, now all in their 90s, have today been awarded the highest

honour possible from the French government for their part

in liberating the country The veterans, who include

a Lancaster Bomber navigator and a nursing sister

with the Imperial Military Nursing Service, have received the Legion

d'Honneur award at the Battle of Britain Memorial overlooking

the Channel near Folkestone. Peter Whittlesea

was at the ceremony. Remembered nearly 73 years on for

their part in the liberation of France, the day, seven Normandy

veterans received the highest honour the French state can bestow.

Becoming nights of the Legion d'Honneur. Gerwyn Price was a sister

following the crossing to France she tended to the injured troops in a

field hospital after D-Day. He had to go quickly. There was a large

medical unit and, to begin with, certainly those merits were given to

this injured soldiers or airmen. As a navigator, it was Kenneth's jobs

to eliminate keen at the time it's in Normandy. We had to identify the

target, dropped the Marcus and the main force would come in and drop

bombers on targets. Our job was to locate it. Did you understand how

important that job was? Oh, yes. But today's seminary also brought back

the memories of the horrors of war witnessed but never forgotten. You

carried troops back and forth. You got all the dying, the dead. I got

sick and fed up with it. All those lads did not get anything with the

life cut short so what it means to me today, I am getting the award but

it is not just for me, it is for those others. So for these veterans,

today's honour was shared with their comrades who never made it home.

Olympic skeleton champion Lizzy Yarnold is currently in fourth

position in the World Championships in Germany after the weather

The 28-year-old from West Kingsdown in Kent had a poor second run

after heavy snow started falling at the track, slowing

Organisers then decided to cancel all the competitors' second runs.

The final two runs take place tomorrow starting at 7:30am.

Football, and all our league clubs are in action tomorrow.

Promotion-chasing Brighton host Reading in the Championship.

In League 1, Gillingham entertain Southend while Charlton

And in League 2, Crawley travel to Wycombe Wanderers.

The Mermaid Inn in Rye is famously old - with parts of the building

dating all the way back to the 1100s - and famously visited by the famous

- with pictures of actors as renowned as Judy Dench,

Michael Caine and Joanna Lumley gracing its walls.

Now they can add another - that of William Shakespeare.

A local couple have spent years researching details about a visit

of a company of actors coming to Rye in the 16th century and their theory

Shakespeare was among them has been accepted

Robin, Rye already attracts a lot of tourists but is now firmly

I think it is. This was a remarkable discovery. We knew that Shakespeare

performed here in Rye in the late 15 hundredths. But this discovery takes

us to a time, date and place an order scuppered by this couple.

People who describe themselves as ordinary with very few Shakespearian

credentials but a lot of passion for the subject.

It certainly has the mood and atmosphere of the Shakespeare was

here sort of place but more than 30 years, the owner of the mermaid has

never really questioned why the walls have murals, portraits and the

quotation from Shakespeare. The mural here I have walked past the 34

years and never really appreciated what it might mean, we have got

quotes and lines and dates, all sorts of things I just walked past

and never thought of again. So it is as if people connected this place

with Shakespeare but that has been forgotten? I never realised and

suddenly everything makes sense. Because it is now being accepted

that one night in August 15 97, Shakespeare's players performed at

the mermaid. It is based on scholarly evidence, researched and

published by a local couple who just thought it would be fun to find out.

We have gone through the documents, we have found the documents,

including the document that proves the box was open on that day, and

the library in Washington, DC has accepted the proofs and published on

the global websites. Rosie and Paul followed the money. The opening of

the Treasury's box was preserved in the Sussex archives. It reveals that

20 shillings was paid on half of Rye's mayor, possibly the

Shakespeare himself to perform here. And the mayor happened to burn the

mermaid. It became really exciting adventure, it was like dipping back

and being a detective. Each step of the way, I found out something new.

It is a vital fragment added to the world's knowledge of our greatest

playwright and the Bard may have joined the board here. I am already

seen the place an undue light, we have the cobbled streets, the leaded

windows, hot tempered streets, but now I am seeing Shakespearian

characters leaning out of the windows, the perfect place for new

film, not so much Shakespeare in Love as Shakespeare in Rye! You have

taken us back, Robin, thank you so much.

It has been day today compared to yesterday when we saw a strong

dollar is passing through and that has been reflected by the pictures

sent in by our Weather Watchers. They have shown us a tranquil day.

This was the scene in the South Downs in east Sussex, blue skies and

cumulus clouds around. This is an image in Kent sent in by another one

of our Weather Watchers. We still have those clear spells this evening

and overnight. Temperatures dipping down quickly out there. Lowers down

to three or 4 degrees. That cloud increases and we will see drizzly

showers. For most of us, it will be a frost free start to the weekend.

Those early showers should clear through quickly. Early Saturday,

usable weather. We will see that cloud thickening and bringing a few

light showers during the afternoon. Temperatures are best, 89 degrees.

And it will feel blustery out there. Moving through Saturday evening on

into Sunday, cloudy, a few spots of light rain, but with all that cloud

around, it will be frost free as we had two into Sunday morning. Lowers

6-8 . Sunday the better day of the weekend. A few light showers, they

will clear away, glimmers of sunshine around but the cloud

increases during the afternoon. Temperatures that bit more to

compare the Saturday and ten or 11 degrees but it will feel blustery

during Sunday. Looking ahead into the new working week, an unsettled

appeal to the weather, low pressure in charge, weather fronts move the

way west to east across the country. That means that on Monday we will

see a spell of wet weather, particularly during the morning,

windy, it should clear away to lead a mix of sunshine and showers, but

here is the outlook through the next few days. An unsettled, breezy

picture with showers at times. Things turn colder once again.

Spring just around the corner but we're not out of the woods. Frost on

the card for next weeks. At least it is not too cold.

Cake-a-bake? Yeah. What is that?

It's like bake a cake, but we flipped it.

Oh, my God, we love flipping. Cake-a-bake. Cake-a-baking.

I love it. I so love it when this happens.