05/01/2012 South East Today

Welcome to South East Today. By Rob Smith. And I'm Polly Evans.

He cannot believe he survived, an exclusive interview with the man

who escaped unhurt after a falling tree killed his friend who was

sitting next to him. I was watching my cigarette, went to like it,

dropped my lighter, bent down to pick it up. As there was a big bang.

The six year-old who sat on a hypodermic needle on her

Southeastern train. Her mother says she is considering legal action. We

are live with the details. After criticism from the Chandlers,

MPs tell government they must review policy on pirates and

consider shooting to kill. The rarest big cats in the world,

and be assured cat -- charity hoping their breeding programme can

save the Amur leopard. -- the Ashford charity.

He is a big hitter in the NFL who grew up playing schoolboy football

Good evening. A man who survived after a tree fell on the van that

he was in, killing his close friend and boss, says he is coming to --

struggling to come to terms with the accident. Barry Martin was

sitting next to Chris Hayes when he died during the storms on Tuesday

in Tunbridge RAS. The ban he was in, flattened by an

enormous tree. When he looks at these pictures, Barry Martin cannot

believe he is alive and only because he dropped his cigarette

lighter. We had gone out to the car, went out for a smoke and it was

raining. We went to sit in the van. We were having a laugh and a joke.

I rolled my cigarette, or went to light it, dropped my lighter, bent

down to pick it up, as there was a big bang. He was sitting just

inches away from his colleague Chris Hayes. A passer-by called

Barry to safety through the window. We tried to pull the door open, but

we could not do that. So I just rang back to the ban, got a crowbar

and smashed the window, got one of them adults because he was all

right. But Chris, a married father of three, could not be saved. And

at this point he knew he had died? Pretty much. He was not only a work

colleague, he was one of my good mates. A very friendly guy, I

laughed. A lovely bloke. It seems that all the tributes that have

been coming in, he is going to be incredibly missed. Yes, without a

doubt. He was one of a kind. Barry is struggling to come to terms with

the fact that he survived while Kress died. Particularly since it

was down to a split second of incredible coincidence. When you

see the pictures, I have got out with a couple of bruises and a

little cut. And Chris has passed. It just does not see all -- seemed

real. You do not expect things like that to happen. Just bending down

has saved my life. Chris and Barry were decorating in the House scene

here behind a hedge when the accident happened. Barry says he

will go back on Monday to finish the job because that is what Chris

would have wanted. Our reporter is in Tunbridge Wells.

An incredibly sad situation, but the official investigation into

what happened is going on? Yes, a post-mortem was carried out on

Chris Hayes' body earlier on. The police say they will be handing in

a report to the coroner to help with the inquest. They say there

will be no formal investigation. They are fairly sure there was no

criminal activity, this was simply a tragic accident. Once those

formalities are complete, Chris Hayes' family can begin to arrange

his funeral. For them and the man who survived this accident, the

shock of the death will take some time to come to terms with. Barry

Martin says he will never forget the day his life to save his life.

A mother from Kent is facing an anxious wait to find out if her

daughter's health has been affected after the six year-old was cut by a

hypodermic needle which had been left on a train. Khia Green was

travelling from their home in Kemsley Miss Sittingbourne to

London when she sat on the needle which was sacked -- tucked in

between two seat. Khia Green shows me where the

needle pierced through her trousers into her skin. She was supposed to

be going with her family to see her grandmother in London from

Sittingbourne. We boarded the train, went and sat down. And Khia sat on

the needle. At first, I did not know it was a needle, I thought it

was a bit of stitching from the material. And then when I look, I

thought it was a normal needle. Picked it up and realise that it

was a hypodermic needle, I threw it on the table. I was livid.

Absolutely livid. I mean, I was shaking. I was that angry that I

wanted to cry, but, you know, who is going to leave and needle like

that on a train? Khia was taken to the accident and emergency

department at St Thomas's Hospital in London and given a hepatitis B

vaccination to prevent the virus. She also had blood taken, but her

mother said it will take up to six months for confirmation that she

did not pick up any viruses. She has been assured that the risk of

hepatitis B, hepatitis C four HIV is extremely low. If the needle was

used in a person who was affected with HIV, and then used immediately

in another person, the risk is high. But if the needle is left out for a

long period of time, over time, the risk goes down. Khia has recovered

from what happened, but her mother faces a worrying wait for the all-

clear over the next few months. Linda joined us from Sittingbourne

railway station, where the family boarded the train. What is the

latest of the investigation? Khia and her family were travelling from

here to London on the Southeastern Train, and they say that as soon as

the train guard was informed of the incident, an investigation was

started and that is compelling. They say they are sorry for the

distress that is caused to the family. Speaking to experts, such

legal prick incidents are common in A&E, Khia's mother has been

reassured that the transmission risk is small.

A lorry driver has died after a van smashed into cars and houses and

caught a gas leak in Brighton. Following criticism from Paul and

Rachel Chandler, the couple from Kent who were held captive by

Somali pirates, and a committee of MPs says the government must review

its procedures when Britons are kidnapped abroad. A report by the

Foreign Affairs Select Committee is also calling for clarification of

when it is legal for British vessels to shoot and kill Somali

pirates. The retired couple, Paul and Rachel

Chandler, who sold their home in Tunbridge Wells to sail around the

world have made headlines Brodie when they were released by its

Somali pirates in 20th November 10. Their case was not isolated.

Today's report says piracy is on the increase and the average

Branson has risen to $4.7 million per vessel. Ransoms paid in 2011

have totalled an alarming $135 million. It recommends owner should

be allowed to protect their ships and crewed by employing private

armed security guards. I think it will help in the short term for

ships that are up -- prepared and can afford armed guards. It is a

step back towards the 17th century, an admission by government that it

cannot control the high seas. was in October in 2009 when this --

when the Chandlers were captured by pirates. 388 days later, they were

freed. In October, 2011, they gave evidence to the foreign affairs

Select Committee and criticised help from the government. A couple

says the Indian Ocean has become lawless in part. It does not make

sense that there are these armed men in boats, out there, with

ladders, rocket launchers, all of the pirate paraphernalia. They are

not fishermen, they are out in the open sea on their own, looking for

prey. The chair of the committee says the Chandlers' plight raised

awareness of the problems of piracy. It has drawn to government

attention the weaknesses in the present situation. Much as you want

to be able to help them, there is a limit to what you can actually do.

You want to provide support for the families, and maybe more support

for the families at home could be provided. It really falls into the

category of lessons learned. report comes ahead of a conference

in London next month which aims to co-ordinate an international

response to tackle piracy put up a. A man has been charged with

grievous bodily harm and dangerous driving following a hit and run

incident in South but which left a police officer unconscious. 30

year-old Stephen Fahri was remanded in custody.

The QEII bridge at the Dartford crossing has open this evening

after being closed for 24 hours because of strong winds. There were

delays of up to two hours on a clockwise M25 during the day. The

Highways Agency says the queues are now starting to shrink.

A lorry driver from Kent has died of his vehicle crashed into a row

of parked cars, demolishing a wall and damaging a gas main in Brighton.

A number of homes in Queens Park Road had to be evacuated because of

a leak this morning and the road was closed. A 62 year-old Ashford

man was taken to the Royal Sussex Hospital but died of his injuries.

It was a pretty devastating scene this morning? Absolutely, this is

where the lorry crashed into this House. It broke the wall and wedged

itself on these steps. This was the gas supply to this House. When this

supply was ruptured, the police decided they had to cordon of

Queens Park Road. It is a busy thoroughfare. They evacuated some

homes. The man had only just walked through his front door here. This

other house had children in it. Police said they were pleased none

were standing on the pavement at the time. We were just coming back

from town, and all of a sudden, the bus jolted really severely. And

this lorry over here smashed into a white camper van which then smashed

into two other cars. And then the ambulance turned up. We were all

shocked, my daughter was really shocked and she has had to go to

college. Really quite shocking. There is a busy. Just behind me.

People I have spoken to deceive in -- this evening were upset when

they have the lorry driver had died of his injuries. The Coroners Court

have been informed and well hold an inquest in due course.

A toddler from Kent has returned home from hospital just a week

after fracturing his skull after falling from his first-floor

bedroom window. Three year-old Leon Young was airlifted to hospital and

spent three days in intensive care after the accident in his home near

Spending time with Leon Young today it is hard to believe that last

week the three-year-old was airlifted to hospital with a

fractured skull after falling from his bedroom window.

One of the kids opened the window and to be Leon obviously climbed on

to the windowsill and tried to get his toys. -- and Leon. He had a few

cuts and bruises, Black Dyke, bruised nose and several fractures

in his skull. -- black eye. I found him down there, his head was on

there. Leon's uncle was the first to realise what happened and

sprained his ankle after jumping out of the window after him.

His head was resting on the concrete blocks by the drain. He

was face down. Flat on his face. Was he moving? He was crying and

trying to get up. After six days in hospital

including three in intensive care, Leon is back at home. His bedroom

has been moved and a Stacey is getting be safety locks on the

windows replaced with new ones. It is coming up to a quarter to

seven. A man who escaped from an accident

on which a tree fell on to his van, killing his friend and colleague,

says he is struggling to come to terms with the fact that he

survived. Barry Martin was sitting next to Chris Hayes when he died in

the storms on Tuesday in Tunbridge Wells.

An animal of rare breeding - a Kent charity is hoping to secured the

future of the Amur leopard. And he grew up playing football in

Crawley and now he is a star of the NFL.

If you have a story you think we should be covering -- covering,

It is an argument which has split opinion for generations - are

grammar schools a good or bad thing? In Kent it is a battle that

is still being fought, with some wanting the whole system changed

while others insist that more grammar school places are needed.

Tonight a documentary exploring the history of the grammar hears from

some whose lives were changed by securing a place there.

Before the 1940s a scholarship to a grammar school was the only chance

most children had for a decent education. Working-class families

could not pay the fees which all secondary level schools charged

until the 1944 Education Act. But if they passed the exam children

from the poorest families could enter a world which had been cut

off to them. It was while he was an evacuees in Devon that a Londoner

Terence Frisby won a place at Dartford Grammar.

I was put in the letter Bstage of the grammar school and discovered

that there will 90 other boy is as clever as me!

He went on to become a successful playwright and he wrote to one

teacher thanking him for his influence.

Your ideas left a big impression at a time of life when impressions

last. One boy who passed through your hands on whom you left your

beneficial hands. Guardian journalist Roy Greenslade

now lives in Brighton but he was a pupil at Dagenham County High. Even

at grammar schools he was to learn there was a hierarchy.

We understood that we could do useful jobs and it would not be

jobs like our parents, but there was an understanding but we were

not a first rank grammar school which could look to getting many

people to university. By the Sixties grammar schools were

being phased out in favour of comprehensive education. But in

Kent they never went away despite a lot of opposition.

No selection either by examination or by interview under Ray Labour

government. But when they reflected Labour

decided that existing crammers could stay. -- when they were

elected. In Sevenoaks, where there is no grammar school, they have

started an online petition asking the government for a satellite of

an existing school to be built. We are within the selective system

in Kent but we don't have a selective school. The children are

not all getting the places they deserve. Some are being offered

Folkestone when they should be able to go to school nearer home.

Many questions around grammar- school education look likely to

continue. And Grammar School - A Secret

History begins on BBC Four tonight at 9pm.

He is one of only a handful of Amur leopards left in the world and his

keepers at a wildlife conservation centre in Kent are hoping that he

will breed with their female. They are the rarest big cat in the

world, with only 30 in the wild. They get their name from the a more

river in the far east of Russia. A wildlife centre say that breeding

as a -- breeding in captivity is vital for their survival.

This is one of the world's most important Amur leopards, with so

few left of the species being able to mother cubs.

There are only about 25 or 30 in the wild, so that is why cats in

captivity are so important to their survival.

The rarest cat on earth. When the BBC caught a rare sight of

a mother and her cub in the wild, there will 40 in the wild. Now

there are fewer than 30 so the aim is to increase their numbers in

captivity so one day some might be released. At the World Heritage

Foundation, preserving these cats is a main aim.

She is incredibly important as far as the breeding programme goes.

There are only about 30 in the wild, but only about seven are proven to

be females. She is a proven female and she has risen -- she has raised

two cubs without any help from us. You want to introduce her to a

male? Yes, just next door we have her perspective mate. He is an

incredibly big Leopard, very strong and genetically very important for

the programme. That is why he has been destined to go with her and

that has been worked out by the European programme. Like her two

cubs from 2008, any produced by her will not end up in the wild. The

com -- the programme is complex. We take cubs to establishments

throughout Europe and take them out to the Forest of Russia and breed

them there and widen the Jean Paul still further, ultimately with the

aim of releasing them into the wild. -- the genetic pool.

They are cute little killers! It seems everybody has a story about

not getting the Olympic ticket they wanted but James Wickham is

thanking his lucky stars. He was initially offered tickets for

synchronised swimming. In the event he what -- he got

tickets to the men's 200 and 800 metres finals. It all happened

after a couple of weeks ago he looked in his e-mail inbox.

It was quite interesting. It took me two or three days to get back to

them and they said, yes, I could swap my synchronised swimming

tickets for a sport of my choice. I asked for athletics, not really

believing but I would be able to get them, but there did not seem to

be an issue and I was offered two tickets for the same day and they

were confirmed shortly after Christmas. Brilliant.

For the first 14 years of his life Tom Wort cropping Crawley, where

playing football involved a round ball.

Then he moved to to America, where football means razzmatazz,

cheerleaders and shoulder pads. He is on the brink of becoming one of

the biggest stars of the NFL. He has two weeks off from his

intensive training schedule so Tom Ward has come back to Crawley to

see his granny and he has brought his American girlfriend. -- Tom

Wort. As soon as I moved out there, I had

a natural ability for the sport. Because I see the game as a

privilege, to be able to play, I don't take anything for granted. It

is allowing me to keep going for each level. Despite starting late,

Tom has become one of the top players in college football in the

States and he is tipped for stardom in the NFL, the highest League.

I estimate he will be aiming between $2 million and $3 million

per year for his first contract. If he excels in the first few years,

his second contract may be earning him up to $5 million or $6 million

a year. Tom usually plays in front of

85,000 people but whenever she can his greatest fan flies out to join

the crowd. He knows more or less where we are

in the stands and you see him a cup. I will wear something red or silver,

something that will flash. See him look up. I will scream out, granny

loves you! Everybody I Love Is Here. I am in the States doing what I

have to do but this will always be home for me. Once he has conquered

the NFL, Tom wants to come back to Crawley and encourage other young

people to take up his sport. She is great, isn't she? To wind

has been causing all sorts of problems over the past few days. --

It is a slow process but it is easing down. We are all right at

It looks as if, for tomorrow at least, we will have a much calmer

day. We will have a chilly start but at least it will be dry, with

some sunny intervals. We had some strong winds through the night and

this morning, coming in from the west. Continuing into the evening

and the first thing tomorrow, the winds will turn more towards the

north-west or stop the isobars will open out. Instead of the low

pressure we will have an area of high pressure. It is only

transitory, unfortunately. The odd shower but they are on the way out

now. As the wind continues to ease down, temperatures will take a

tumble. By the end of the night we could see down to three degrees or

so. In rural areas there will be a touch of frost. Watch out in the

morning because you could find that there are some icy patches. A

chilly start for tomorrow but not too bad a day. Still a breeze but

nothing like as strong as it was. It might be strong enough to take

the top of the temperature, which will only be about six or seven. It

should be a dry day, patches of cloud and some sunshine breaking

through in between. Not too bad a tour considering what we have had

recently. -- not too bad at Paul. With the cloud and perhaps rain, it

will hold the temperatures a bit. Lowest temperatures around six

degrees or so. As we head into the weekend the area of high pressure

will be there. It will lose its potency a bit but it will be close

enough to influence our weather. Although we will have frontal

systems coming across, by the time they reach us they should be fairly

weak, bringing just some cloud and some spots of rain. The rather more

unsettled weather is saved for the north of the country. This is how

the weekend is looking, some rain at night, mostly dry and on the

chilly side. The temperatures are not too bad, about average for the