24/12/2015 BBC News

A woman in her 70s has died after a car ploughed into a coffee

A number of people are said to have been injured at the Costa Coffee,

and roads in the centre of the town have been closed to traffic.

The car remains embedded in the front of the building.

Our news correspondent Andy Moore is in Westerham.

The operation to remove the car is just getting under way behind me.

One shopkeeper he said the noise of the impact was so loud, she thought

it was a bomb. She couldn't see the car because it was lodged inside the

shop. She went to give first aid and she could see the injured lying

among smashed tables and chairs. An image taken soon after the car

crashed into the coffee shop. It's on the high street

and a popular meeting place I actually heard that

big bang outside and it One of the Costa staff asked me

to see a woman behind the counter. She didn't reply back,

but I could see clearly she is dead. Hours later the car remained

lodged in the coffee shop. Two people on board were cut free

by the Fire Service. A woman in her 70s was

declared dead at the scene. The car first lost control

up the street there. These fluorescent markers

show its path across the pavement. It was 10:30am, it was full

of people kicking off A total of five people

were taken to hospital. Two men and two women

were seriously injured. The police investigation is ongoing,

but it appears to be We have a coordinated approach

to deal with the casualties first, that was our main priority,

to save life and make sure Once all that had been done,

people accounted of and helped the people out, we then slowed

the scene down so we can carry on with the investigations and get

the root causes of what happened. A few of its residents who popped

into a coffee shop on Christmas Eve will be spending Christmas

day in hospital. The government's crisis response

Cobra committee will meet on Christmas Day to discuss

the situation in flood-hit Cumbria. More heavy rain is forecast

to hit the county - and the army has already been put

on stand-by to help. River levels have been up and down

for weeks now in Cumbria, but more wet weather means

they are set to rise sharply again over the next couple of days -

and cause more flooding. So they're putting

out sandbags again. I would rather be chastised

for getting things in place and it not happening, than somebody

who says, "It's not going They've only just finished

stripping out these flats People living here say they've never

known a month like it. We're watching the river going up

and down like a yo-yo. People are getting back

on their feet a little bit and it The latest forecast of heavy rain

means the government is preparing I think we need to be

seriously worried. Although this river seems quite low

now if you had another 60, 80, 100 millimetres of rain,

it could come right up over these banks and it's not just

going to be true here, it's going to be true in Keswick,

Cockermouth, Appleby and Carlisle. And for so many people

hit by flooding so far, the festivities are the least

of their concerns. The reality of Christmas is they're

just bearing through it and probably looking forward to

Christmas being over. Their focus is getting long-term

accommodation and getting back So from tomorrow, once again,

attention will be focused on river It seems for people living

here there's just no letup. More rain is the last thing Cumbria

needs at the moment. The misery of flooding

is set to continue. People there must be looking

at the next few days with a great Just underline how bad it is, the

Met office have confirmed today that this December, this month in

Cumbria, has been the worry -- the wettest on record and those records

have been going for 105 years and there is still six days of the month

left and there is more rain in the forecast. As for that outlook over

the next couple of days, well, my understanding is that its places in

the south of the county which are particularly vulnerable. Appleby am

a may flood yet again. Kendall may be affected. But the hope is that

the moment, looking at the current models, say the experts, is that the

flood defences in Carlisle should hold, so they should not be any

flooding there as things stand. That could of course changed. But looking

at what people are saying here and those who are affected living near

rivers, the feeling is this. If they do get flooded again it just causes

a bit more damage and causes another problem, but it doesn't make things

too much worse because things have already been destroyed. But it

resets the clock. It causes things to go back to square one and having

to start all over again. Plans are being made to try to get Cumbria

back to normal, or some normality, in the New Year. But that's still a

few days away yet. There will be a lot more to get through, more

flooding potentially in the next few days, and for people living here,

people living close to rivers in this part of north-west England, to

keep watching those forecasts and warnings because it could come up

with a 12 hours' potential warning time. That could be the problem.

Danny Savage, thank you. At least thirteen people have been

injured after a bus crashed into a building in Peterborough city

centre.The single-decker bus hit the front of a building used

as the regional offices of Guide Dogs for the Blind,

after a collision with a car. Firefighters cut two people

from the damaged car and several passengers on the bus have received

treatment for minor injuries. The UK and US governments have

issued a warning about possible threats to Westerners in the Chinese

captial Beijing on or around British and US officials say

they have received information of possible threats in Sanlitun,

a busy bar and shopping district. It's not clear what the threat is,

but armed police are being deployed and there will be increased security

checks in the city. Afghan officials say Taliban

militants have been forced out of part of the town of Sangin,

in Helmand province, in a military operation

backed by US air strikes. There's been no response

from the Taliban. The group had earlier said

it was in control of Sangin. More than 100 British soldiers

were killed there before Nato Two Burmese men have been convicted

- and sentenced to death - for murdering two UK

tourists in Thailand. The bodies of backpackers

Hannah Witheridge and David Miller were found on an island beach

in September last year. From Thailand,

Jonathan Head reports. Arriving at court to hear their fate

- two young Burmese men charged with a horrific crime

on a holiday island. David Miller and Hannah Witheridge

had been doing what so many young Britons do at their age -

backpacking through Thailand. Their battered bodies were found

last year on this beach From the start, the police

investigation was marred When they detained the two

suspects, they were put They both also retracted

their earlier confessions, saying they'd been

threatened and beaten. There were many doubts expressed

about the prosecution case, not just by the defence lawyers

but also by international forensic experts, in particular

about the central piece of evidence, the police DNA tests,

which they said were unreliable. None of that was sufficient to sway

the judges, who insisted the tests were up to international standards

and enough to justify a guilty The emphatic outcome of this

drawn-out trial gave some satisfaction to the family of David

Miller, who attended the hearing. We believe that the result

today represents justice It is our opinion that the evidence

against Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo They raped to satisfy their selfish

desires and murdered to cover They have shown no

remorse during the trial. It was a very different experience

for the mothers of the two convicted In court, the defence lawyers had

failed to convince the judges of the flaws they said riddled

the prosecution's case. Now, they plan to appeal

against the verdict, David Cameron has released his

annual Christmas message in which he urges Britons

to remember people fleeing persecution, including Christians,

and reaffirms that Britain In the message, released on social

media, the Prime Minister says that it is because of its Christian

values that Britain has been such a successful home to people

of all faiths and none. The England pace bowler

James Anderson has been ruled out of the first Test against

South Africa in Durban on Boxing Day, because of

injury to his right calf. England's leading Test wicket-taker

was rested for the warm-up match against South Africa A this week,

and has bowled just five overs There's more throughout the evening

on the BBC News Channel. We're back with the late

news at 11:30pm. Now on BBC One it's time

for the news where you are.