23/09/2013 South East Today

Welcome to South East Today, I'm Natalie Graham.

And I'm Rob Smith. Tonight's top stories. The stonemason who let down

a Sussex charity that had fundraised thousands for a memorial to world

war two airmen. What have you done? What have you done other than

rip—off people? I have not read anybody off! Nobody!

Cuadrilla downs tools at Balcombe, for now, and says the drilling for

oil has been 'very encouraging'. Also in tonight's programme...

Errors were made in administering residents' medication an inquest

into 19 unexplained deaths at a Sussex care home hears.

A warning that the tax payer could face a bill for £100 million for

schools which have opted out of local council control.

The original boy band still going strong — we'll be speaking live to

one of the Osmonds as they prepare to play Sussex tonight.

Good evening. A stonemason who let down a Sussex charity that had

fundraised thousands for a memorial to airmen who died in the second

world war is now being investigated by trading standards. Lee Fouracres,

whose company is based at Westham near Pevensey is also accused of

failing to deliver gravestones, and owes thousands of pounds in unpaid

county court fines. Jon Hunt has our exclusive report.

91—year—old Joe Williams still has the wreckage of the Lancaster bomber

that he was flying in when it was shut down in World War II. More than

55,000 are men died during the war. Mr Williams commissioned Mr

Fouracres to build a memorial at Beachy head to remember them. He

paid 7000 p to order the stone, but after five months, Joe was worried

that he had not done so. I was told that as soon as we receive it, we

will get acknowledgement of the order and we will send you a copy.

That is written down, of course. Did you send you any paperwork? No, he

never sent me any paperwork. What do you get for your £7,000? I got

nothing at all. He sent some documents and eventually laid down

the base for them Oriel and was paid for this, but he did not follow the

plans and the committee were unhappy with what he had done. —— the base

for the Oreo. In the end, he refused to do any work. Roger Wilcock is a

former president of the National Association of memorial makers. He

says that Mr Fouracres is letting them all down. I would not put up

with that kind of behaviour for two seconds, and if I had heard that he

had treated anybody else like that, I know where I would be taking my

money. Mr Fouracres agreed to meet as at his workshop to discuss the

complaints against him and he says he has got nothing to hide, so I ask

him why he let down Joe Williams? A 91—year—old war hero, you are shot

down in World War II, a prisoner of war, and he has done that, he has

done that to protect your freedom, what have you done? Other than

rip—off people? I have not ripped anybody off. Nobody. He said the

conditions at Beachy head made it difficult to carry out the work and

he said the committee did not make the plans available on time, and it

was difficult to get information. There were times for those ignoring

some of the communication, they were down here on a daily basis, we did

that at such low margins. You agreed to do that. We did, but we did not

agree for it to inflict on our business become a nightmare. He said

they refuse to do the work because they paid £1800 into the role I can

count, but we have checked with the bank, and they have paid attention

the right account. The war memorial was eventually put in place at

Beachy head. Joe had to use his personal savings so that another

stonemason could finish the job. That was Jon Hunt reporting, and

he's here with me now. Jon, I understand Mr Fouracres has other

unhappy customers too? Yes, we heard from two other grieving families who

say that they paid Mr Fouracres a deposit to install memorials at

Langley Cemetery in Eastbourne. In both cases he failed to deliver the

goods. He blames the customer for this and said that he has done

nothing wrong. Since that, Eastbourne Borough Council has

banned him from operating in Langley Cemetery and in other cemeteries

that they operate in in the Eastbourne area. And he also owes

thousands of pounds in court fines. There are 11 County Court judgements

totalling £36,000 under his name or under the name of companies he has

been involved in and he says he did not know about these claims. He said

he got no letters from the court and Teddy received these notifications,

he would have challenged those cases. —— had he received these

notifications. And you can watch the full length

version on Jon's exclusive investigation on Inside Out, tonight

at half past seven, here on BBC One. Cuadrilla, the company which has

been carrying out exploratory drilling for oil in Balcombe is

expected to clear the site by the weekend. The drilling led to three

months of anti fracking protests which have cost Sussex Police

millions of pounds. Cuadrilla has started removing its equipment from

the site — but also says they are "very encouraged" by the results of

their exploration, and will be applying for permission to return.

Paul Siegert reports. Get your hands off my shoulders! So far, releasing

the protest has cost thousands of pounds, and although Cuadrilla are

pulling out, there is still a large police presence every time a vehicle

arrives or departs from the site. This is the very beginning. This is

the activation site. When ever fracking start in an area, people

need to get involved, people need to get involved in that area. The

protest is to stop them from removing the drill from the site. We

are into submitting further protests when they try to remove it. Today,

Labour said that fracking should only happen if it is seen to be safe

and environmentally sound. People have legitimate concerns, and the

government needs to ensure there is proper robust research to make sure

that this is safe and that there is local consent, and this has two be

done before and exploratory drilling can be done. Cuadrilla has said they

have safely completed the exploratory drilling and will now

apply for planning permission to test for flow rates. They have now

started moving out the equipment and say it would be gone by the 20th of

September. The protesters say they will stay here until the very last

piece of equipment has been removed. We can speak to our reporter outside

the Labour Party conference in Brighton, and Cuadrilla have put out

a statement this afternoon, what does this mean for bulk? It will not

be music to the ears of those that do not support fracking. They say

that the drilling has been a success, that is their word, they

say the findings have been, I quote, very encouraging and they say, this

is perhaps the nub of it, they having countered oil, which now

needs to be tested. We now know that there is oil, what happens next,

well, Cuadrilla will now do the paperwork in the next few days to

apply for permission to return and to carry out those tests. As the

winter approaches, the question is, were the protesters be coming back?

We heard in the reports that the Presto 's will be coming back. ——

the protesters will be coming back. In a moment — a tabby on the brink

of extinction — the Kent project to help save the endangered wild cats

of Scotland. An inquest into 19 unexplained

deaths at a Sussex care home has heard claims errors were made in

administering residents' medication. Sharon Gilmore, a former senior

staff nurse who started working at Orchid View in 2010, says on one

occasion she spotted 28 errors on patient medical charts. Rebecca

Williams reports. Gene have any suffered a fatal blood

clots to the brain. —— this woman suffered. Today, families have heard

from a senior member of staff who say that on several occasions,

residence medication had not been given correctly. These patients need

their medication, they are elderly and often are lined on medication,

so for us to pick up on 28 medication errors, this is

unacceptable. —— they are often reliant on medication. The care home

closed down in 2011 following an investigation by the Care Quality

Commission. Today, former senior staff nurse Sharon Gilmour

criticised the home saying there was not enough staff and it was awful

and everyone was stressed. The residents were cross because they

were not getting what they wanted when they needed it. We had to

prioritise. Also giving evidence was a manager for Southern Cross who was

sent in to review the home in 2011. She said that the patients reported

risk because of the way the home was managed. She said in one occasion,

she expressed concern about a resident who had a large bruise on

her chest. She said she has been barely recognisable because she had

lost so much weight in a matter of days. The manager went on to say

that Southern Cross's main aim was to fill beds and to sell, sell,

sell. The inquest continues. Two brothers stopped by police at

Dover have appeared in court accused of travelling to a terrorist

training camp in Syria. Mohommod Hassin Nawaz and Hamza Nawaz were

arrested at the port last Monday. Simon Jones is in Dover. What more

was said in court about their alleged offences?

It has been claimed that the two brothers had in their possession

five rounds of ammunition for an a Kate had gone. It has also been

claimed that when the officers tried to search their vehicle in Dover

they found a balaclava, heavy duty clothing, six mobile phones and a

Sim card found inside a copy of the Koran. It is also alleged that they

had travelled from here over to France, and then they had taken a

flight from Lyon over to Turkey and then through there they had gone

into Syria. This was their first court appearance, what happens next?

It was April in military hearing, so they did not enter any pleas yet. ——

a preliminary hearing. They spoke with their name, date of earth and

address. They were remanded in custody and will next appear at the

Old Bailey, and that would be at the end of next month. Thank you.

Immigration officials are appealing for information about the

whereabouts of two brothers alleged to have trafficked women into the

South East for prostitution. Istvan Toth and Peter Toth who are both

from Hungary, failed to attend a hearing at Hove Crown Court on the

13th of September. The pair have connections to Eastbourne but police

believe they may be in Margate or Woolwich in south London.

An unexploded bomb's been found at Ramsgate railway station. The device

was uncovered by workmen at 2:15 this afternoon and is thought to be

from the second world war. The army bomb disposal team's at the scene

and the device is to be taken elsewhere to be made safe. The

station had to closed for sometime but has since reopened. —— had

close. Schools in Kent which become

academies could end up costing the taxpayer as much as £100 million

over the next 20 years — even though they are no longer under local

authority control. The Ebbsfleet Academy is already costing Kent

County Council a million pounds a year — and they've been told they

must continue the payments, because the Private Finance Initiative

agreement was signed by Kent County Council — not the school. With

another six PFI schools potentially following suit, there is a warning

it could have a major impact on the finances of the schools that are

left. What we have in Kent is another ten schools that are able to

become academies, and that will shoot up the payments on the schools

to Kent, to a high estimate, £150 million in the next number of

years. That is an enormous sum that comes directed from the school

budget, so schoolchildren in Kent that are not at academies will see

their budgets offer as the finance drops.

In total 11 schools in Kent have been built via private finance

initiatives, where private companies invest money into state services to

maintain and run them, with the County Council paying the money back

over 25 years. But when a school becomes an academy, it opts out of

local authority control — which then gets less money from the Government.

However — the authority still has to pay for the PFI — money which could

otherwise be used for its own schools. The big impact is on the

Kent schools that are maintained schools. This is where there is a

big unfairness, because what we have seen in the last few years is many

of our schools, 100 or more, have converted to academies. The same

burden, or slightly increasing burden falls on a number of schools.

Well our Political Reporter Ellie Price is in Tunbridge Wells now —

Ellie, Kent County Council say they're concerned and that situation

isn't fair — what does the government say? The government says

that the council has to continue paying these PFI costs because they

signed original contract. It is like being named on a mortgage. They say

that no council should be able to pocket because a school opts for

academy status, and it gives extra money to cover these PFI costs. But

Kent County Council says that is a massive shortfall and they have to

subsidise it out of the schools art. So if more of these schools decide

to opt for academy status, there is a problem that could be magnified.

Well, Kent County Council say they 'haven't given up' on the issue and

say they will continue talks with the Department of Education as well

as the schools and academies themselves.

This is our top story tonight — A stonemason who let down a Sussex

charity which raised thousands of pounds for a memorial to second

world war airmen is being investigated by trading standards.

Lee Fouracres, whose company is based at Westham near Pevensey is

also accused of failing to deliver gravestones, and owes thousands of

pounds in unpaid court fines. Also in tonight's programme band of

brothers — the Osmonds — one of the biggest groups in the world, talk to

us as they prepare to play in Sussex tonight.

And actress addled, warm, bright today, tomorrow, another decent

state coming up. —— and after a settled, warm, bright today.

The Scottish wildcat is one of the rarest animals in the world — but

conservationists in Kent have come up with a radical plan to try and

boot their numbers. The mammals have lived in Britain for two million

years. But now there are no more than 35 left in the wild meaning

they are around fifty times more endangered than the giant panda. Now

the Aspinall Foundation are creating a special breeding centre for

wildcats on a remote scottish island. Chrissy Reidy reports.

You would be forgiven for thinking that this was a domestic cat. It is

actually a Scottish wildcat, but keepers at the wildlife park unsure

whether these cats or pure, so that is the problem. —— are pure. They

are the most endangered species in the world. This is their biggest

threat in the wild. There are thousands of feral cats in the

Highlands, and they are interacting with other cats which is leading to

disease which brings them close to extinction. That is the reason the

Aspinall foundation has decided to create a breeding programme, not

here in Kent, but on a remote island off the west coast of Scotland. Less

than a handful of people live on this island, and instead it is home

to thousands of feral cats. We have a diagnostic, genetic test that can

discriminate between a pure wildcat and a domestic cat. Importantly, it

tells the percentage of hybridisation in that cat. We are

interested in meeting species and in exotics. We have tended to rely on

the exotics for these projects. This is an animal that is even rarer than

the giant panda, possibly as little as 35 of them left. This is the last

chance we have to save something wild, the Highlands Tiger. These

cats have lived on the British Isles from more than 2 million years. With

extinction staring them in their face, this could be their only

chance for survival. This weekend, Brighton came one

point from behind at the annex, Charlton lost again, and chilling,

they hunted for their next elusive victory.

Brighton opened the scoring, but unfortunately, they chose the wrong

goal. 1—0 to Bolton. In the second half, the seagulls were flying.

Bolton returned the earlier favour and scored an own goal of their

own. The second goal was then scored. Later, Will Buckley used the

Bolton players like slalom gates to make it three goals in four minutes

for the home side. They moved from bottom of the bottom of the table.

The South London derby at the Valley was pouring quality but in

professional sport, nobody minds an ugly game as long as you win it. The

spoils went to Millwall who needed a deflection. Both sides started badly

this season. Charlton are just above the bottom three places. In League

one, Crawley went a goal down but fought back. A good linkup play saw

a well worked equaliser from NAO Sinclair. Colchester had the best

chances, but Crawley would have felt happier with the draw. Gillian's

Martin Allen has the look of a manager whose side has yet to win

this season. A goal down to Bradford earlier on, and he will have to wait

longer before he savours the taste of eight League one victory. ——

gelling's. Martin Allen still isn't smiling.

Oh, dear. The Sussex wicketkeeper Matt Prior has been named in the

England Ashes squad to tour Australia this winter. Prior

would've been one of the first names on the 17—man list. He's joined by

his former Sussex team mate, Monty Panesar, who was released by the

county in August after an altercation with bouncers

Brighton nightclub. The Former Brighton manager Gus

Poyet has refused to comment on reports linking him to the vacant

managerial post at Sunderland. Poyet — who was sacked by the Seagulls in

June — is among the bookies favourites to replace Paolo di

Canio. The 45—year—old has always stated his desire to manage in the

Premier League. They are one of the biggest bands in

the world — having sold over a hundred million albums, made 59 gold

and platinum recordings and even a star on the Hollywood walk of fame.

Not the Stones. Not Coldplay. Not U2. The Osmonds. Tonight Jimmy,

Merril and Jay are bringing their American jukebox show to the Hawth

in Crawley — in a moment we'll be speaking to Jimmy but first, here's

a reminder of the siblings in action. The Osmonds!

Well Jimmy Osmond is in Crawley for us now — Jimmy, how's the tour been

going so far? I feel like my life has just flashed

in front of the! Where did you find some of that old footage? ! We keep

it around! You're still doing some of the old songs? Yes, we are I

tried to leave Long—haired Lover Out Of out of that, but we try to sing

everything from stevie wonder to elton john. but the crowd comes and

they are so into the show. they know every word. they sing and join in,

we're having a great time. i interviewed you in brighton a few

years back and i remember that the hotel was full of your fans do take

time to talk to them, because they are dedicated lot.

We have been around for a long time. We would not be performing if it

wasn't for these wonderful people that have stuck with us. We probably

do not deserve it, but it is amazing that we now see in our audiences, we

see blokes. Blokes never used to come to our shows. It is cool, they

are bringing their families, so we have a really broad demographic,

everybody that remembers from the Andy Williams show days, all the way

to a kid learning about our music for the first time. It is cool. It

is wonderful. We would not be doing this if we didn't love it. You

cannot take it for over 50 years. You were the youngest of nine,

Haider said had been somewhat that have come along over the years, does

anybody know how many Osmonds there are now? 4327! That is why we're

still working! A of mouths to feed! A lot of talented nephews and

nieces, but people still want the original is and we are very

grateful. We do over 150 shows a year, and we love performing here,

it is my favourite place to perform. Good luck with the tour, it has been

a pleasure chatting to you. This weekend was very dull on the

weather front. It was lovely today! Warm but still, the sunshine is back

for the working week! The wind went to a dry southeasterly direction.

Cloudy, but by the afternoon, clearing skies. Temperatures feeling

warmer. 20 to 21 degrees. The wind, pretty light. A clear sky, lighter

winds, and as we go through tonight, we will be seeing some dense fog

patches and the mist and fog. Plenty of late evening sunshine around. Her

skies overnight. A light wind. Mist and fog, but because mild. Staying

in double figures. 12 or 13 degrees. Quite a foggy starch to tomorrow,

but another decent day with high pressure in control. Clearer skies

meaning sunshine for money for the word go. Mist and fog burning back

quickly. Very similar temperatures for the afternoon. 20, 20 one

degree. Cooler on the coast. Not much higher than 15 degrees.

Tomorrow night, plenty of late evening sunshine with clearer skies

and a light wind. Mist and fog which damages staying mild and only

dropping to around 13 degrees. Mild to start on Wednesday. At the end of

the week, some rain developing, but staying mild overnight and

temperatures still during the day feeling pretty warm. I pressure

around into Wednesday with highs on Wednesday of 19, 20 degrees and as

we go into Thursday, it will be patchy with rain. Feeling a bit

cooler. Tomorrow, try and bright and warm.

We will make the most of it! We're back later, good night.