21/03/2017 South East Today

Today's main headlines in the South East...

A loving mother, adored by her husband -

tributes to Debbie Masters, who died after being hit

We'll be live in Battle with the latest.

And 40 junior doctors are to be removed from a Kent hospital

amid fears their training isn't good enough and patient safety

And after today's sunshine the rain is back again for tomorrow.

The mother of three young boys who died after being hit by a car

on Battle High Street has been named as Debbie Masters.

Her family said this evening she "will be missed forever."

A special fundraising campaign has been set up to help

Sussex Police are investigating reports that the female driver

of the car may have been under the influence of alcohol

A loving wife and mother adored by her husband.

Today Debbie Masters's grieving family released a tribute saying

She was well known and loved in this small Sussex town,

which is still reeling from what happened on Sunday.

Knowing that three kids have lost their mum.

They lived about eight doors down from us and they were always

Her husband, her and her three children all the time.

It has been a shock for the whole town.

I was talking to some other people who actually know them who live down

there and they were in tears this morning and everybody's going down

Mrs Masters died after being hit by a car while out walking

Her husband was seriously hurt as her three children,

including a baby in a pram, were treated for minor injuries.

A 34-year-old driver involved was taken to hospital.

Police are investigating reports she may have been under

Two of Mrs Masters's children are pupils at Battle

and Langton Primary school, where special assembly's

While the children are here between 8.45am and 3.15pm

they are ours and we feel that connection very, very strongly.

It's certainly fair to say that it's had a big impact on the staff

here who are really coming to terms with such a shock.

A special service is also being held at Saint Mary's church on Sunday

and a community support fund set up to help the family.

Just so that people can express in a practical way their care

and concern and can give something to the family to just bring

support in their needs over the weeks and months ahead.

A candle burns tonight among the many tributes laid

Messages of love and sadness from those who knew Mrs Masters

and the wider community touched by this tragedy.

Amanda is in Battle now - Amanda, what's the latest

Well, this evening the police have told us that the 34-year-old driver

is still in hospital. She will be interviewed once she has been

released from hospital and they are also still waiting for the results

of the blood sample analysis which will help the investigation to

establish whether or not alcohol may have been a factor in the crash.

Police have told us they are still keen to hear from anyone who may

have seen that black car in the moments leading up to the crash and

meanwhile this evening a group of local residents and businesses have

started a petition. They say they have been warning for some time that

some drivers do travel along this road far too quickly along the

narrow streets and they are concerned about this ability with

traffic along either side of the road.

More than 40 junior doctors are being withdrawn from a Kent

hospital, amid concerns that patient safety is being compromised.

Health Education England has requested the removal of more

than half of the Kent and Canterbury's trainee doctors,

because of a shortage of permanent consultants who oversee training.

Our Health Correspondent Mark Norman reports.

In the next 12 weeks, more than half of all the junior

doctors in this hospital in Canterbury will be removed.

Removed by Health Education in England, who say that doctors

aren't being trained properly and are not being

Making changes to hospital services is not

What's really important is that we run safe services today,

we need to make changes in how we do it going forward to ensure

we continue to provide good care to our patients and good

Health Education England are responsible for overseeing

They told us today that in Canterbury, there aren't enough

That 42 out of 76 trainees at the hospital will be removed.

And that it will affect about 50 patients a day for those

But how does a hospital run with 55% fewer junior doctors?

Some in-patient services, such as heart, stroke and elderly care,

will move to either Margate or Ashford, but the trust insists

So it will mean that some services, a very small percentage of services,

Not immediately but at some point in the future.

However, for more than a decade, campaigners locally have fought

to keep services at the Kent and Canterbury, and some fear

that the trust are planning to downgrade or possibly even close

the hospital and they are furious at today's news.

What are we going to have left there is nothing and we are not

going to have a hospital in Canterbury, come

And campaigners tell me they're planning another

march through Canterbury to argue their case.

And the hospital and Health Education England say the temporary

changes to services will begin in the next few weeks.

Mark Norman, BBC South East Today, Canterbury.

Leanne Rinne has also been following this story.

Leanne, after today's announcement how reassured should

The trust involved has been trying to reassure patients today. The

trust has been saying today that the patients will always receive the

best possible care that I have been speaking to the Royal College of

Nursing and they say they have concerns because some of the nurses

will be moving along with the junior doctors and they don't yet have the

details of that. Earlier on today we understand that a staff meeting was

held at the hospital. We understand many people were upset about the

changes taking place but that also there was a determination to see

things through. I think the main question the night from campaigners

is why is there not enough consultants at the Kent and

Canterbury Hospital? They want answers and they want people to be

held to account. Thank you. An innocent man who panicked -

or a lying manipulative killer? The question jurors have been told

they now have to answer in the trial of a man accused of murdering Sussex

teenager Shana Grice. The 19-year-old's throat

was cut at her home Her former boyfriend Michael Lane

denies stalking, then killing her Michael Lane doesn't deny being

at Shana Grice's flat on the morning she was murdered but he says she was

already dead when he arrived. He admits lying to

police on his arrest but his defence counsel

told the jury today that was because he was panicked

and terrified by the conclusion that police

would and did jump to. There was, said his counsel,

no direct evidence of his involvement, it was

all circumstantial. But the prosecution asked

the jury to decide if this really was an innocent man

who was panicked or a lying, He told a friend Shana

would pay for leaving him. She did, it was said,

with her life at his hands. She was found dead, her throat cut

at the flat she had shared with Michael Lane had stolen

a key to her home and put Several times she had

reported him to police for stalking but on one occasion had

been given a penalty notice herself The judge told the jury

this case had given rise to a great deal of emotion

and that they would need cool heads. They weren't there,

he said, to like or dislike Michael Lane or take

a personal view about Shana Grice's

behaviour, but to take an objective Sara Smith, BBC South East Today,

Lewes Crown Court. The RMT Union has announced it

will push back it's latest strike action to allow for fresh talks

with Southern Rail in the ongoing dispute over the safety

of driver-only operated trains. RMT members were due to go on strike

for 24 hours on the 4th April but will now strike instead

on Saturday 8th April - An RMT spokesman said the issue

of safety is "fundamental" and must be "addressed

at the negotiating table". The RNLI is to provide

lifeguards on Hastings beaches Following an agreement

with Hastings Borough Council, the charity will introduce three

lifeguard stations at Pelham beach Lifeguards have previously operated

on beaches in the area, but the service was run by the local

council and supported They had to wait an extra day

for blue skies, but today two spitfires flew over the white cliffs

of Dover to mark the one hundredth The fly-past was cancelled yesterday

because of bad weather. But the pilots said

they were determined to take to the skies this morning to honour

the forces' sweetheart, who's lived Now, let's take a look

at the weather in the South East Rachel, a great day for flying today

but all change again tomorrow. Yes, not good flying weather

tomorrow. The rain is back again and we will be holding onto that much

cooler air that we have had today. Today, temperatures did well to get

out of single figures. Clear blue skies for the most part and as we

had through the night it is going to be staying dry and clear. As a

result, quite chilly. Overnight lows of two of three Celsius in rural

spots but it stays breezy so we should be staying frost free. You

are up early we are going to be seeing sunshine first thing for

Wednesday. Very quickly as we had through the morning, though, we will

see outbreaks of rainbows of the reason for this area of low

pressure. There is even snow, not pass in the South. We'll see rain.

Heavy for a time, particularly in the middle of the day. Because of

the winds, it passes through and behind it we start to see some

breaks in that cloud cover. Just the cut these temperatures, chilly, only

reaching highs of seven or eight Celsius, re-blustery southerly

winds, 25 mph. In Thursday, further outbreaks of rain and again on

Friday. The outlook in gradually improve through Friday and

the weekend isn't looking bad. Heavy rain, snow and ice are all in

the forecast once again. It was quite a wintry scene today,

especially in Scotland. Some very cold looking winter skies here, and

we had some snow falling at times in West Lothian. For a while earlier

today, there were quite a few showers running through central

Scotland, all in that cold air. Right now, we have two areas of

cloud, one in northern Scotland and this deepening area bringing heavy

rain into south-west England and Wales overnight, with snow