02/01/2012 South East Today

Good evening. It's been revealed Kent Police has

the second highest number of officers in the country with

criminal records. 49 officers and police community support officers

have convictions for offences including robbery, supplying drugs

and perverting the course of justice. It's the second largest

force in the country behind the Metropolitan Police, which had the

most number of officers with criminal records.

One person is in a life threatening condition, another seriously

injured after a car crash in Lingfield. Surrey Police are

appealing for witnesses after a Peugeot 106 travelling down Ray

Lane collided with a telegraph pole at 8:30pm last night.

With just over 200 days to go before the Olympics, the minister

with overall responsibility for the Games says Kent is one of the most

prepared parts of the country outside of London to take full

advantage of them. Hugh Robertson, who is also the MP for Faversham

and Mid Kent, says the county is leading the way. We were the county

that invented the school games, they are being rolled out

nationally. There are going to be many businesses in Kent that can

benefit from contracts. We are close to the Games geographically,

you can access them from Ebbsfleet into Stratford. Also there are many

Kent athlete in the games themselves.

In this afternoon's football league games, Brighton have shocked

Championship leaders Southampton 3- 0 at the Amex. Teenager Jake

Forster-Caskey opened the scoring and Matt Sparrow grabbed the other

two. Charlton's match against Brentford kicked off late due to

crowd congestion but Michael Morrison won it for the Addicks. In

League Two, Tyrone Barnett rescued a point for leaders Crawley at

Oxford. While Danny Jackman's goal was enough for the Gills who had

Joe Martin sent off against Aldershot.

2012 is the bicentenary of the birth of Kent novelist Charles

Dickens, and to celebrate his work, pupils at a school in Rochester are

hard at work preparing to stage the musical Oliver in the very house

where he spent the last years of Rehearsing a popular classic, and

for the pupils of this school near Rochester, once the House where

school -- Charles Dickens lived and died, their production of Oliver

Twist has added significance. They are due to stage it on the

bicentenary of one of the birth of one of the most famous authors of

all time. We could not do it on any day other than the two hundredth

birthdate of Charles Dickens. As a school, we are very con-trick --

conscious of having a hand of history in our shoulders. We live

and operate in Charles Dickens' house. The title role is played by

a 10 year-old Tyler, and his connection with the author does not

stop there. He recently acted the part of the young Dickens in an

episode of songs of Praise. It was really exciting, because it was

really fun, and I learnt quite a few things as well. Dickens lived

at clouds Hill for more than 14 years and wrote several of his

novels there. As such, the school could be said to be the ultimate

place to study and perform his work. The pupils are very aware of the

connection with Dickens, and they are anxious to do him justice.

than 150 pupils from the school are due to perform Oliver Twist on 7th

February, exactly 200 Bay -- 200 years to the day of Charles

It has been a break, a breezy, raw feeling day, mostly dry but that

will not last. Tomorrow, heavy rain for us all and gale-force winds.

Low-pressure in control today. Isolated showers, but mostly dry in

the south-east. Breezy westerly winds around 20 miles an hour,

temperatures in single figures. Initially, dry as we go through the

first part of tonight, but as the early hours come in, we have a band

of heady -- heavy rain coming East. It will be noticeable winds, Gayle

forced along the south coast. -- gale-force along the south coast.

Temperatures feeling cooler under the unsettled weather. Tomorrow,

the rain stays with us throughout the morning, it will clear up

eventually. The winds are -- the winds are blustery along the coast.

It is feeling significantly cooler under the unsettled weather, and