30/10/2017 Inside Out South East

What happens when the perfect

match you meet online

turns out to be a fraud?

I ended up, very foolishly,

sending two lots of money

totalling just over £8,500.

Shoulde vaping be

legal for teenagers?

All around the world,

you see headline sayings

vaping is bad as smoking.

You look at the study

committee should actually,

in the study, smoking was way,

way more dangerous.

And the brave World War I Seaplane

pilots at New Haven.

The pilot would be guided

by the observer so he'd put his hand

on his head and then twisted either

right or left

depending where he wanted to go.

I'm Natalie Graham with untold

stories closer to home

from all around the South East,

this is Inside Out.

Hello and welcome to the programme

which, this week, comes

to you from the South Downs Way.

Near Lewes.

There are many people out

there looking for love and,

if they're busy, using online dating

sites to try and meet

their perfect match.

But the course of true love

never did run smooth.

As Emma Thomas reports.

This is Val McKie.

Having lived alone for some years

after her husband s death,

she decided to give

love another try.

And, after venturing online,

she thought she d found it

with a man called Peter.

We would chat for four hours

a night on messenger.

It felt like it was that thing

of feeling really, really connected.

It was like I d found love again.

Her new-found love said

he was a major in the British army

stationed in Baghdad.

Then one day he went out on patrol

and I didn t hear from him

the following morning, and I always

had, so I was really distressed

and I didn t hear from him for 48

hours which felt like a lifetime

because it triggered

all the memories of my husband s

death and everything.

Then he came back online to say it

been very harrowing,

he d lost a couple of men in battle

and wanted to get out of the army.

Peter said he wanted to start

a new life with Val but needed money

to buy himself out of the military.

So he told me where

to send some money to,

so I sent it, and of course

naturally that wasn t going to be

enough money and I ended up very

foolishly sent him two more lots

of money totalling just over £8,500.

The number of people defrauded

in the UK by online dating scams has

reached a record high.

And the consequences for victims

can be life-changing.

Tara McDonnell runs a dating

agency in Brighton called

South Downs Introductions.

She doesn t run an online service

but introduces people face to face.

Tara also happens to be

a former Sussex detective.

There are some victims that have

lost up to 1.6 million,

others that have lost £800,000,

they are life-changing amounts

of money to lose.

To some people, £1,000

is a lot to lose,

some people are bankrupt

because of the money that they ve

given to some of these fraudsters

and the sad reality is they are not

likely to ever get it back.

The victims in these cases

are unlikely to get justice

because, largely, the criminals

operate from abroad and hide

behind email addresses.

And websites that can't be traced.

Nearly 4,000 cases of romance

fraud were reported

to the authorities last year.

This type of crime is now

so widespread, you can get fraud

kits online that come complete

with template emails to persuade

people to part with their money.

Dave Hazel has also

been looking for love.

He enjoys dancing and has always

found it a great way to meet people.

MUSIC: Out of Reach by Gabrielle.

But after a spell as a singleton,

Dave thought he d found his special

someone online in Canada.

The pair exchanged countless

emails and phonecalls.

So these are some of the emails

she sent you aren t they?

Yeah and I could read you some bits

out of it if you like.

Right.

It says, "I miss you so much

Dave Hazel, you ve become something

necessary for my soul and my heart

and I want to turn back the time."

"I dream about the children

we will have in the future.

I love you."

So it s quite emotive

language isn t it, how did

you feel when you read that?

I felt really excited and happy.

And, you know, I thought my life

was going to change for the good.

Dave sent his online lover £15,000

to help with medical

expenses she said she had,

and to pay for flights to the UK.

I felt over the moon,

happy and I felt that I d got

the right person in my life.

Neal Masters is familiar with their

tactics.

What you often see in relation

to romance fraud is the victim

will be told by the fraudsperson

that they are coming to the country

to meet with them and that they are

going to give them a better life

and that they are going to sweep

them off their feet and of course

this is what the victim is looking

to see, they are looking for love,

they are looking for commitment

and they think they ve got that

through the fraudsperson.

Fraudsters will often claim to have

lots in common with their victims.

Mirroring is one tactic

which they find quite effective

because, if you say you have been

divorced, they will say

they have been divorced.

It s about looking for that

attachment, for what they can use

to reel the victim in.

His profile was that he was widowed

and that he joined the army

because of the grief and so it felt

like we had an instant bond

bond because we d been

through a similar grief experience.

Detective-turned-matchmaker Tara

McDonnell says more should be done

to protect those of us looking

for love online.

I do think it needs to be regulated

by one overarching body

there are a number of different

bodies out there that

are independent but there is no one

overarching regulatory body

and I think there should be.

Having parted with more than £8,000,

Val heard nothing more

from her online love.

Increasingly suspicious,

she did some online digging.

So I did a search on the internet.

I found a story of a lady

in the States who had been scammed

by a person using the same

picture, same everything.

It s like part of your world

disappears and I also felt really

quite ashamed that I could have been

so silly, so that s what I felt.

And I couldn t tell anyone,

I didn t tell anyone about the money

and I haven t told anyone

about the money before because I

felt ashamed of doing that.

Dave was awaiting the arrival

of his online love.

But then, he got an email saying

she was visiting relatives in Ghana

and she was stuck in Immigration.

She needed yet more money.

Dave showed the letter

to his bank manager, who

immediately smelt a rat.

It was only through

the bank who said

that that isn t genuine.

How did you fell when

you heard those words?

I was devastated.

I couldn t believe

that it had happened.

The fraudster had sent Dave these

photos to encourage him

to hand over the cash.

But police confirmed it was a con.

The photos could have been stolen

from a genuine dating profile.

They told Dave not to

send any more money.

What was the impact

on you as a victim?

My thoughts were what's

the point of living?

It made me feel really low,

cheap stupid, I couldn t trust

anybody, even my close friends.

Former detective Tara McDonnell says

there are things people can do

to keep the online sharks at bay.

The main one is to stay

on the dating site -

never move to private emails

or private messaging.

There are checks and balances

in place in certain online dating

sites where certain emails

if they are worded in a certain way

then they will be pulled to one side

and it will be checked

and they may well remove that

person if they believe

them to be a scammer.

Be wary of somebody that

keeps asking you lots

and lots of questions

about you and your background

and you suddenly find you are not

getting any information about them

but you re giving lots

if information about yourself.

Never consider giving money out

to someone that A - you haven t met

and B - you don t know.

His enduring love of dancing

is helping Dave get over

his online experience.

I go dancing, which helps me

to relax and focus on different

things, so my mind is not on it

all the time.

Val s says she s learned

from what happened and is no longer

ashamed about telling her story.

If it does help someone else

who is just wondering if this a scam

if this a scam or not,

to take a step back

because if someone genuinely loves

you they are not going to put

pressure on you to do something that

doesn't feel right for you.

# There's a life out there for me.

#

Emma Thomas reporting.

Coming up on Inside Out -

What was life like at the Newhaven

seaplane base during

the First World War?

Local people were advised, please

don't feed the pigeons for your tea.

They are actually

on military service.

Now, it's the end of October.

That means it's the end

of Stoptober, the public campaign

which runs every year to try

and encourage people

to give up smoking.

This year, for the first time,

they are recommending e-cigarette

as a healthier alternative.

But if they're that effective, why

are they banned for the under-18s?

Rachel Royce reports.

It s Saturday night in Rochester

and this is a vaping party.

Vaping is the use of electronic

cigarettes to produce vapour

which mimicks the action

of smoking a cigarette.

It ususally, but not

always, contains nicotine.

Most here are in their twenties

and thirties ? thre's a strict no

under eighteens policy -

but there are a couple

of older teenagers here.

I'm 18 years old.

And how long have you been vaping?

About a year.

I started vaping as a way to be kept

out of smoking and that.

So I vape all the time now.

Chloe Kennet is 19 and has been

vaping since she was 17.

A couple of my family

members passed away of lung

cancer and the diagnosis

was they smoked too much.

As soon as a heard they died

from smoking, I wanted to find

an alrernative version.

It s illegal to sell vapes

or e-cigarettes to under 18s.

It's also illegal for an adult

to buy them on their behalf.

But new evidencd shows that

vaping contains just 1%

of the cancer-causing chemicals

found in tobaocco smoke so it

time to relax the rules?

Or should the ban stay

in place to avoid leading

teenagers into smoking?

I found this group of

teenagers in Rochester.

Most of them didn t smoke or vape

but a few of them do.

Billy Smith, who is 16, does both.

I prefer vaping because it is

has different flavours

but smoking is just addictive.

So would you try using vaping

to give up smoking?

Yeah.

Because I m only 16

and its obviously going to do me

damage and I could die younger.

I went to Billy's home and met his

stepfather who vapes himself.

I wanted to know what he thought

of Billy vaping and smoking.

I d rather he vapes than smoked

because it's less harmful for him.

I think he got his

first vape pen at 15.

And how did he get it

because shops aren t supposed

to sell to them are they?

I got it for him for it

because he kept persistently

asking me to go the shop

and buy him one.

Vaping has become increasingly

popular in the UK in the last five

years and vaping shops are popping

up all over the south east.

Shops like this one in Eastbourne,

part of the UK's biggest chain

of vape shops.

It strictly follows the no sales

to under eighteens rule.

But, to adults who come in,

they are happy to explain

the benefits of switching

from smoking to vaping.

The heating coil heats up, turns

the liquid into vapour and then

you inhale through the top there.

With cigarettes, you actually set

fire to it so you are

inhaling burning matter.

When that happens, it

releases carcinogens

which causes the heart problems,

lung problems, problems with blood

pressure and everything else.

The government's health advice

is that vaping is 95% safer

safer than smoking and,

for the first time,

it is recommending that adutls

could use it as a way

to stop smoking.

This is the TV advert that

ran this month as part

of the Stopttober campaign.

Plus you can use gum,

patches and now e-cigarettes.

Martin Dockerall is the man behind

the Stoptober campaign

at Public Health England.

You can see here that back in 2013

when we started asking the question,

just 7% of people thought

e-cigarettes were equally harmful

harmful as smoking.

Now it's gone up to 26%.

One in four people now believe

vaping is as bad as smoking.

He is frustrated by what he sees

as scare stories around vaping.

All around the world,

you see headlines saying

vaping is bad as smoking.

You look at the study and actually,

in the study, smoking was way,

way more dangerous.

If vaping is pretty safe,

why is it still a resricted

product to under 18s?

If you re too young to smoke then

why would we sell you e-cigarettes?

If we get evidence that s

the wrong thing to do,

if research begins to suggest that,

for some reason, it would be better

to permit the sale of e-cigarettes,

then I guess that s something

we would look at again.

MPs are to carry out

an inquiry into e-cigarettes

because they are worried

that we don t know

enough about them.

The Chair of the Science

and Technology Committee

acknowledges that they show great

potential to stop people smoking,

but says it would be wrong

to sell them to under 18s.

I don t want to see

teenagers taking a substance

that we know is addcitive.

Vaping contains nicotine

which is highly addictive.

That in itself is not

good for our health.

We are clear that all the evidence

points to vaping being safer

than smoking but we sholdnt be

encouraging people to take up vaping

in the first place.

Twice as many children have tried

smoking compard with vaping.

So there's some discussion

in the vaping industry over

whether it would be right to lift

the under 18s restriction.

At least for teenagers

who already smoke.

I think it will happen.

I think some under 18s that

are smoking should have access

to them, but I think that will go

down the doctor route rather

than us selling it to them.

I think they will look at the NRT

that they give to under 18 now

and I think e-cigarettes will be

included.

NRT is Nicotine Replacement Therapy.

There are currently no plans

for e-cigarette NRT on the NHS.

Dr Lawrence is an academic and GP

in Chatham and doesnt think

it should ever be used

for under eighteens.

Certainly, I have seen that

some children who have

participated in vaping

havegone on to become smokers

and what has been quite interesting

is that comment that some teenagers

have mentioned that vaping

itself is quite a harsh

experience on the throat

and, in comparison, smoking

is milder and easier to tolerate.

So yes, it a concern that we have.

Billy's stepfather

thinks there could be

Billy's stepfather thinks there

could be other factors at play.

Yes, he does.

As far as I know he's been

doing that since just

before 16th birthday.

Do you think the vaping in any way

encouraged him to smoke later?

I would say so but I don t know.

The thing is, his mum and dad both

smoke and I think where they've

smoked he thought it was an in thing

to do and started smoking

himself.

For some people, the activity

of vaping is more than a way

of stopping smoking ? it can

be a hobby.

It comes with its own

own paraphernalia and

sometimes a social scene.

Vaping can produce huge amounts

of vape and now there's a new sport.

It s called cloud chasing.

3, 2, 1 - blow.

Competitons like this one aren t

open to the under eigheens

but they can often view them

on YouTube afterwards,

and some people think that s

encouraing children into vaping.

Unfortunately, for some children,

this is going to be

a strong attraction.

They will see this, it looks cool,

it looks impressive and therefore

they will think why not try it?

The govenement and health

professionals want to see smokers

switching to vaping.

But what no wants to see is under

eighteens taking up the habit

of either smoking or vaping.

Rachel Royce reporting.

Now, a century ago, Britain

was putting everything it had

into fighting the Great War.

Inside Out has come

across an account by one young man

who regularly risked his life

in defence of his

country in Newhaven.

This is his story.

100 years ago, during

the First World War,

a Seaplane Station opened

here at Newhaven.

The Royal Naval Air Service

based 12 Seaplanes here

supported by 194 personnel.

Today, this patch of concrete

is all that s left.

One of the pilots left a written

account of his time at the Station.

He was Sub Lieutenant E.M Ackery.

"Sometimes, after a south west gale,

one could take-off in heavy sea

by running along the crest

of a wave.

This was always great fun."

"There was something tremendously

exciting about scudding

along the crest of a five

or six-foot high wave."

The aircraft that were based

here patrolled the English Channel,

from the Isle of Wight over

in the West to

Dungeness in the East.

The reason for the patrols was this.

Something new to war,

the elusive long range U-Boat.

In February 1917, the Germans

announced all-out submarine warfare.

Newhaven was a major supply port

to the Western Front.

Ships leaving there were a prime

target for U-Boats.

Britain needed to take action.

And that s where Sub

Lieutenant Ackery Stepped in.

"Keeping well clear of Portsmouth

and its trigger happy

anti-aircraft gunners.

Sometimes we would pick up

a convoy of ships and remain

circling around them.

But often there was nothing

to look at but sea."

In the new airbase, the men

lived in huts on stilts

to protect them from the tide.

Many were teenagers,

one of which was Ackery.

Jenny Flood is from Newhaven.

Jenny Flood is from Newhaven Museum.

She has been researching

the Seaplane station.

He decided during the war that he d

join the Royal Naval Air Service.

This was before the RAF,

and when it was incorporated

into the RAF they weren t very

happy about it.

They wanted to be naval officers,

they didn t want to be airmen,

they didn t like the idea

that it was an Air Force,

they thought that sounded

like the police force,

so they were most put out about it

when that first came in.

So he trained and he was posted

to Newhaven shortly

after his 18th birthday.

"The food was good.

I and several other pilots

and observers got extra rations

because we were still thought

of as children."

So extra rations because

he was still growing?

Yeah!

How extraordinary!

So very young.

He sounds like a character though,

even at that young age.

Yes, one of the airmen said

they liked to watch him land just

to see what would happen,

it was quite exciting

to see what was going

to happen when he landed.

He had a few mishaps.

It was 1917, so the Wright Brothers

first powered flight had only taken

place 14 years earlier.

There was no time to train

the pilots properly.

Their entire flying test was to be

able to take off with their examiner

standing on the ground,

describe a figure of 8 and land

safely, that was it!

And if they did that successfully

they got their pilots' licence.

Taking off and landing

were particularly hazardous.

"My observer was Lieutenant Martin

Press, one of my old school chums.

We began the take-off.

I soon realised that we were not

gaining sufficient height

to clear the shore."

"We hit the water crab-wise

doing about 60 mph.

Not surprisingly,

the undercarriage collapsed."

And he just flipped it over,

his observer Martin Press,

he went kicked him in the head,

flew over him, landed in the water,

Ackery went underwater.

"I was a strong swimmer

and after working myself

free of the cockpit,

I came up alongside the tail

with my lungs bursting for air.

Martin was calmly sitting

on one of the wings,

his legs dangling in the water."

"Their bombs were armed.

The safety pins being

carried by the observer."

"There was a very unpleasant moment

while I detached the safety pins

from my buttonhole and inserted

them back in."

They were fully loaded so they had

three bombs on board,

so they didn t want those to go off,

so they were lucky really.

"The following day my fortune

at having survived the crash

was vividly brought home to me."

The day after he flipped that,

two airmen were killed

at Newhaven on the breakwater,

Kitchen and Cole, they were both

killed, they just couldn t get

the lift and crashed

into the breakwater.

The planes were fitted with Morse

code radios, but they were short

range and unreliable.

So on board were two

extra little passengers.

"We had two pigeons in a box

for sending emergency messages.

There was a special procedure

for releasing them in the air,

we covered the birds' wings

with our hands and flung them hard

downwards and forwards."

Because if he had let it go it

would have been killed instantly

by the tail of the plane

that was coming up behind,

so he had to throw them downwards.

The only problem they had and this

was something that was in the local

newspapers local people

were advised, please

don t shoot the pigeons

for your tea, they are actually

on military service.

So you ve got to let the pigeons go.

Sometimes, the work was boring.

Patrols could last up to 6 hours

and could get tedious.

"It used to be far more interesting

to fly along the coast to Brighton

and we used to exchange waves

with the girls."

They did get into trouble once

and they were told, you know,

there are no submarines

at the Brighton Aquarium,

where they were flying over

and waving at the young ladies

that were there.

In

But remember, the reason

the seaplanes were stationed

at Newhaven was to defend the port

from U-boats and Ackery

did find one submarine.

They were on patrol and they saw

what looked like a wake of a torpedo

heading towards a convoy

so they immediately,

having seen where it came from,

went off in that direction.

"To our utter amazement,

the submarine surfaced obviously

oblivious of our presence."

The pilot who sat in the front

would be guided by the observer,

who sat in the back and he would

would be guided by the observer,

on his head and then twist it either

right or left depending

on where he wanted to go.

"I felt a slight bump as we let

loose the 112 pounder.

It was a near miss.

There was a great force of water

and at the same moment we received

a buffeting from below."

They circled round and they saw oil,

but they couldn t actually see

any other debris in as much

as they could claim a hit.

"Arriving back at the station,

we received a hero's welcome,

it being the first occasion that 242

Squadron had attacked a submarine."

"Unfortunately we were not

credited with a kill."

In spite of all his crashes,

E.M Ackery survived the war

and was later promoted to Wing

Commander.

As to his career after that

very little is known.

What we know for certain is that one

brave pilot stepped forward

and risked his life for his country

in the skies above Newhaven.

For more information

about the region, you can

visit our Facebook page.

And you can watch the programme

again on iPlayer.

Just go to bbc.co.uk.

Coming up next week.

The Eastbourne brothers at

the centre of the upcoming Church of

England sex abuse enquiry.

I really would like people

to be held to account

for what happened.

Because so far nobody has been.

There are definitely

people, whether it's

myself or not, who have been abused

who would not have been had

the Church behaved in the manner

you would expect them to.

And cyclists and

drivers battling for

space on our busy road.

EXPLETIVE

I've been

the victim of hit and run.

Bike was a write-off,

the car was never seen.

That's it for us for tonight.

Thank you for watching.

See you next week.