08/03/2017 South East Today

Today's main headlines in the South East:

Sussex teenager Shana Grice's ex boyfriend goes on trial,

Anger in the Commons, as Theresa May denies ministers

struck a secret deal with Surrey County Council.

After a wet and windy day, the dry weather is back tomorrow.

A Sussex teenager was murdered by a former boyfriend

who stalked her after she ended their relationship,

Michael Lane is accused of killing 19 year-old Shana Grice last August

at her home in Portslade, near Brighton.

Her throat had been cut, and her bedroom set on fire.

After a series of incidents in the months before her death,

Sussex Police had warned Lane to stay away from her.

Shana Grice was found dead in her bed at home last summer.

The alarm raised after she failed to turn up for work.

Today, the prosecution told a packed court room that ex-boyfriend

Phillip Bennett QC said, during their relationship

he stalked her, he put a tracker on her car and followed

That obsession with her translated into killing her.

He would not allow anyone else to be with her.

Shana Grice had been in a long-term relationship with this man,

Ashley Cook, when she first met Michael Lane at her work

at Brighton Fire Alarms and began an affair with him.

Things went wrong and she complained to the police numerous times.

She said her car had been damaged, her hair pulled and on one occasion,

Michael Lane had stolen her back door key and entered

He was cautioned, but their affair continued.

The court also heard from the defence barrister that

Shana Grice was fined for wasting police time.

Here at this farm, a pair of bloody trainers were found.

Michael Lane had admitted the trainers were his,

The prosecution said there is no other candidate.

In his police interviews, Michael Lane changed his mind

about being at Shana Grice's house that day.

He said, you ain't going to believe me in the morning,

I did go to Shana's, he said that he saw her there

but he didn't tell anyone because he panicked.

The trial will continue in the morning.

Claudia Sermbezis, BBC South East Today, Lewes.

A Romanian doctor who pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images

of children and extreme pornography has been jailed for four months

and placed on the sex offenders register for seven years.

Ioan Boila claimed he was travelling to the UK for an NHS job interview

when he was stopped by Border Force officers in Dover.

He was sentenced yesterday at Canterbury Crown Court.

Two men have been arrested on suspicion of murder,

after the discovery of a body in Tunbridge Wells.

The victim, who was in his 40s, was found in the stairwell

of the Torrington car park, close to the railway

A postmortem examination will take place tomorrow.

Theresa May was involved in angry exchanges in the Commons today,

as she denied claims that her Government struck

a secret "sweetheart deal" with Surrey County Council,

to persuade the authority to scrap plans for a 15%

It follows our exclusive story yesterday, revealing a secret

recording of the council leader David Hodge, telling colleagues he'd

obtained a "gentleman's agreement" from a Government minister.

Our political editor Helen Catt reports.

It was a big day for the Chancellor, his first full budget.

But before he could get to the dispatch box,

his boss had some tough questions to answer about the government's

Could the Prime Minister explain the difference between a sweetheart

The substance of what he's asking is, has there been a particular deal

with Surrey County Council that is not available

A firm denial from Theresa May, but Jeremy Corbyn wasn't letting go.

The Prime Minister was forced to deny any deal again.

If he's asking me if there was a special deal for Surrey that

wasn't available to other councils, the answer is no.

He said, I didn't answer the question about a

I think I've answered it now three times, but I'll do it a fourth time.

There was no special deal for Surrey that was not

It was all over this, a secret recording of Surrey's

leader David Hodge leaked to this programme.

David Hodge declined an interview with us today, but in a statement

repeated his claim that Surrey's decision not to proceed with a 15%

council tax increase was theirs alone and there had been

no deal between Surrey County Council and the government.

He added, he was confident the government now understands

the real pressures in adult social care and the need for

When Philip Hammond got up to deliver his budget,

there certainly was some more money for social care.

I am committing additional grant funding of ?2 billion to social

care in England over the next three years.

In the Lords this afternoon, a virtual replay.

Let me restate and indeed I think this was confirmed

by Councillor Hodge yesterday, there is no deal.

There was never any request for special arrangements for Surrey.

They are subject to the same rules as every other local authority.

It looks like this parliamentary game of Deal or no Deal

In the last few hours Surrey County Council has

released e-mails and letters between the leader and

They show increasingly communications in the weeks leading

up to the referendum. David Hodge writing to the Prime Minister, to

the Chancellor, the Communities Secretary, asking him to prevent

inflicting what he says were damaging cuts in Surrey and prevent

the referendum. He said there was a risk of the county's largest

Conservative group being pitted against the Conservative government.

He said there was muddled thinking in the department and said you

cannot run services on sympathy alone. In January, one of Surrey's

MPs rights to Councillor Hodge and says he is amazed the communities

department doesn't have ?40 million under sofa, as he put it, to help

Surrey out of such a situation. The communication finishes just before

the controversial referendum is called Amber seems it is the

catalyst for the secretary to come up with a deal so Surrey will call

of the referendum. Thank you. Four men were arrested today

in connection with an unsolved murder that's been under

investigation for almost 16 years. Leonard Naylor was shot several

times on the driveway of his home in Istead Rise,

near Gravesend, in 2001. At the time, Kent Police said

he'd been the victim The men arrested were picked up

by police in raids in Essex Leonard Naylor was gunned

down in broad daylight. His murder, 16 years ago,

stunning people in this But today, more than a decade

and a half later, a breakthrough. Four men arrested in connection

with this, one of Kent's most Neighbour, Faye Miller,

was just 14 at the time. I remember going up and running

upstairs and looking out the window and seeing the dead body

on the floor. It's quite a big relief,

just because you don't expect that Obviously you think things have been

forgotten and it hasn't. Leonard Naylor had just returned

home from visiting his father when he was shot on his driveway

here in Istead Rise. The suspects' getaway car,

later found burnt out Ken Tappenden is a former

Kent Police commander. Someone in that little process

would have been hurt or aggrieved. And they bear grudges,

they harbour grudges and eventually of course,

they come out of the woodwork and Equally, as you know,

DNA is taken on much, much different You could have got something out

of that burnt out van you wouldn't It's not yet known what led

to the arrests, police would not But it's understood

three men from Essex A fourth man from East London

has been charged with He was remanded in custody today

to appear at Maidstone Crown Neighbours here told me

they would never forget For them, relief today that at last

the police investigation Piers Hopkirk, BBC South

East Today, Istead Rise. But let me leave you with

Rachel Mackley for the weather. A wet, windy but Malbay. Top

temperatures were reaching highs of 12, 13 degrees. But it wasn't

feeling particularly pleasant. The night, we will be holding onto a

good deal of cloud. Seeing blustery, westerly winds and towards the early

hours of tomorrow morning, further outbreaks of rain. A mild night.

Overnight temperatures of nine or 10 degrees. Mild as we start the day.

Any rain clears and it is a drier and brighter picture. By the

afternoon, temperatures will be in the low teens, reaching highs of

perhaps 13 or 14 degrees. Average for this time of year is around

seven or eight. Once again, very mild as we go from Thursday into

Friday. Overnight temperatures of six or 7 degrees. Very similar day

for Friday. This outlook, staying mild and Nick has

the bigger picture across the UK. Hello. Spring is in the air with

temperatures reaching 14 or 15 in a few spots today as they will again

over the next few days. Very pleasant in the sun. The daffodils

were loving that in York. More places under blue sky tomorrow and

dry. Tonight heavy showers moving across Scotland on strong to gale

force winds, some may clip Northern Ireland. It's a mild night in

southern England and South Wales but damp and drizzly, misty with coastal

and hill fog elsewhere. Temperatures in between and dry: This damp

weather hangs on from parts of the Channel Islands, to Cornwall.

Elsewhere, it's getting brighter in South Wales and southern England. In

England, Wales and Northern Ireland some sunny spells around from the

word go. The further north there is a