22/11/2013 South East Today

Welcome to South East Today, I'm Rob Smith. Tonight's top stories.

The Olympic torchbearer jailed for abusing a teenage girl. The innocent

victim of crime has been living with this trauma for more than 30 years

and he has been living with that secret himself.

We'll name and shame you, the warning from Sussex police to people

who drive after drinking or taking drugs.

We're live in Brighton with the story. I am live in Herne Bay, the

town where the legend of Doctor Who was created 50 years ago. Have you

ever thought what it's like to be in the fourth dimensional, have you?

We'll be hearing from some very special guests, including the sixth

Doctor, Colin Baker, who says the reality of time travel could be

rather unglamorous. Gosh, the TARDIS has had a battering over the years.

It was used as a URI zero on the location `` on the Rhino.

Join me here at the Kings Hall later in the programme to celebrate the

50th anniversary of the world's longest`running sci`fi series.

Good evening. A retired butcher from Kent has

today been jailed for three years for sexually abusing a teenage girl

in the 1980s. 69`year`old Graham Cooper was selected to run a leg of

the Olympic torch relay in 2012. But his victim was so angry about it

that she contacted the police. Fiona Irving reports.

The honour of carrying the Olympic flame. Graham Cooper was chosen to

take part in the 2012 torch relay because of his standing in the

community. It was this that court heard the victim was incensed by. It

was a person that was apparently respectable within the community in

which he lived. All the while, he has had a very dark secret. That

secret was that an innocent victim of crime has been living with this

trauma for more than 30 years. And he has been living with that secret

himself. Which is abhorrent. The abuse started in the early 1980s

when the victim was ten years old. In sentencing, the judge told Cooper

that he had perverted and distorted views. She said one victim gave

evidence, it was apparent to everyone that I everyone th

everyone that your sexual abuse of how had a profound and long`lasting

effect. She told him it has damaged her life. The consequences of these

crimes lives in the memory of the victim often for many decades, often

for the rest of their lives. It is absolutely appropriate that these

perpetrators are brought to justice and all I and all

and all credit to pleas for doing that. Victim had gone to Kent Police

about Cooper more than 20 years ago. But no charges were brought.

Clearly, we should have done more. But we are pleased that we are leaps

and bounds beyond 20 years ago. And the effort we put into investigating

child abuse, it is exponentially greater. In terms of the effect we

can have on investigations and bringing them to court. Cooper had

been expecting a knock on the door from the police for 30 years. The

man who received cheers from the crowds when he carried the Olympic

flame was today sentenced to three years in prison.

Drivers who are caught drinking or taking drugs behind the wheel this

Christmas will be named and shamed by Sussex Police. It's the first

time the force has taken this step, which it says is aimed at preventing

avoidable tragedies. Well, our reporter Mark Sanders joins us now

live from Brighton. Sussex police say this is

proactive. Most people will understand it as naming and shaming

motorists caught behind the wheel either drunk or high on drugs.

Sussex police have never tried this before. They have been monitoring ``

they will be monitoring this over Christmas to see if it works. If you

are caught drinking and driving in Sussex, it won't be a matter between

you and the police. Every single motorist charged after

drinking or taking drugs over the Christmas period will have their

name and address published by the force. This year, with the drink and

drugs issue, we want everybody, family members, children, partners,

everybody to know so that they can also consider if somebody is about

to drink and drive that they can say, don't do it. Sussex police

acknowledge this is a controversial tactic. The force wants to kick

start a debate about drunk driving ahead of Christmas and wants naming

and shaming to act as a genuine deterrent. Drink`driving offences

recorded differently in Sussex Kent and Surrey. In Sussex, in December

2012, nearly 4,000 motorists were breathalysed and 128 people were

arrested for drink driving offences. Over the entire year, 58 people were

killed or seriously injured on Sussex's roads, where one or more

drivers were under the influence of alcohol. The police can give to the

media the names and addresses of people charged with an offence but

it is the first time Sussex's proactively disclosing the details

of everyone who will appear before a court accused of being intoxicated

behind the wheel. Is naming and shaming appropriate? Once they have

been convicted, Ther enough. I'm not sure about before conviction. It

will be a real deterrent and we needed. I don't think anything else

works. Justice has already been done via the courts. That should be

enough. And I think it could lead to retribution. Sussex's Police and

Crime Commissioner has backed the move, saying it is right for those

who break the law to be publicly identified. As well as naming and

shaming, those who will be charged, officers will be tweeting about

drink`driving, giving brief details such as when and where someone was

pulled over. In a moment. Remembering JFK. 50

years after his assassination, we hear from people in the South East

who knew and revered the US President.

Two people who were involved in horrific car crashes which killed

their fellow passengers have been speaking at a special event in Kent

today to highlight the perils of dangerous driving. Alaina Cowell and

Spencer Aston were seriously injured in separate incidents in Kent a few

years ago. It comes as new statistics show that almost a third

of all people killed or seriously hurt in cars on the county's roads

are aged between 16 and 24. This report by Charlie Rose contains

images you may find disturbing. These images give you an idea of

what happened to Alaina Cowell when the car she was travelling in

collided with a lorry. She wasn't wearing a seat belt. I fractured my

leg in three places, shattered my left wrist, and broke my forearm.

And I broke almost every bone in my face. It had to be reconstructed.

Two other passengers lost their lives. The driver was jailed for

dangerous driving. Spencer's story is just as horrific. The driver of

the car he was in had only passed his test a week earlier. A guy in

the front seat, who was unfortunately killed, and my friend

in the back`seat, he got an injury in his face, and he's got slight

behavioural difficulties. And I was left in a very deep coma. In recent

years, almost a third of all people killed or seriously hurt in cars on

Kent's roads have been aged between 16 and 24. In response, the County

Council launched this hard`hitting campaign, encouraging young people

to speak up they think the car they're in is being driven

irresponsibly. Now the authority says the number of deaths and

injuries are falling. The figures that the council have produced have

shown it has cut accidents, injuries and so on amongst young people by a

little over 30%. That is a tremendous start. And today the

council was presented with a road safety award. The aim now is to keep

casualty numbers falling. A sixth person has been charged in

connection with the murder of a man found dead on a beach on the Isle of

Sheppey. 34`year`old Gary Pocock's body was found at Warden Bay in

Leysdown in August. He died from significant head injuries. Five men

have already been charged with his murder.

A proposal to encourage off`licences to stop selling high`strength beers

has been unanimously passed by Brighton and Hove's Licensing

Committee. As part of the Sensible on Strength campaign, any shop

owners who choose to sign up won't sell beer, lager or cider above 6%

strength. Over 60 off`licences have already volunteered. ?? new line I

can remember exactly where I was. That's the phrase famously linked to

the assassination of President John F Kennedy 50 years ago today, 22nd

November 1963. He was seen across the world as the new hope of

America, inspirational, attractive, in touch. Robin Gibson has been

speaking to two south east figures who knew and revered JFK, to find

out what his death meant to them. Some of the pictures in the report

are disturbing. It was glamorous, colourful, exciting.

It was actually the President and first Lady just coming to Dallas for

lunch. But it had the whole place is buzzing, everyone wanted to be

there. The death of the President that day has set the whole world

buzzing, still questioning 50 years later. Why? What possesses people?

Sir Robert Worcester, founder of the Mori poll, seasoned political

commentator and analyst is still haunted by it. You talk to me about

the day he met JFK. It was 1957, and he had been sent to bring the

senator and his wife to a press reception. I answered the door, he

was in his shorts. And his shirt. He was dressing for the lunch. And he

said, "come in! " That is how I met the future president. That

irresistible charm worked its magic on the people of Sussex the year

before when Kennedy came here to meet the Prime Minister. It was the

same year he sat next to a young English model invited to dinner at

the White House. He was flirting, chatting, answering the telephone

every few minutes is, but he picked up the conversation exactly where he

had left it off. When you think what was going on! It was the Cuban

missile crisis, the subject of the phonecalls. 50 years later, now the

wife of the former Conservative leader Michael Howard, she remembers

where she was the day the president was shot. I was working for a

wonderful photographer in New York. She was very moved when she heard it

coming through on her radio. She said, "we can't carry on." A man who

touched millions who never knew him, a man who inspired those who did.

Flawed in some ways, but basically a very decent man. All our Football

League sides are in action tomorrow following the international break.

Charlton athletic face QPR have lost only once in the league this season.

Brighton and Hove Albion travel to Wigan, a team above them in the

table. Gillian, who knocked out of the FA Cup, take on old, and Crawley

are at home to Walsall. Now, tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of

the broadcast of the first`ever episode of Doctor Who and we are

celebrating with a very special event tonight. We are screaming that

very first episode at the Kings Hall in Herne Bay, and Rob Smith's there

for us. The Doctor was born right there in Herne Bay.

He was. We are at the Kings Hall in Herne Bay. This is like that hard

this. This is the lobby, the hall, and it's magnificent. 500 people

here this evening, they are all here to celebrate the connections we have

with Doctor Who. He was born on to two, he is 900 years old comedy

regenerates from time to time, but the man who wrote the first episode

was called Anthony Cockburn. This is the time where he lived. `` Anthony

Coburn. We will be showing the first ever episode the Unearthly Child

later on. Doctor Who is still running, people are still excited by

it, and it is the world's biggest and longest running science fiction

show. We will be having a chat with two people involved with that first

ever episode, Caroline Ford, and Waris Hussein, who directed it. But

first, Peter Whittlesea looks back at the origins of Dr Who, and its

birth in Herne Bay. I've had many faces, many lives. A global

phenomenon. Tomorrow night's anniversary episode will be

simulcast in 75 countries and shown in 3D in hundreds of cinema 's

worldwide. Susan and I are cut off from our own planet. One day, we

shall get back. It is a long way from humble origins in Kent.

Australian born Anthony Cockburn scripted the first episode in Herne

Bay. He was very important. He understood the possibilities for a

Doctor Who and for the story. It seemed lacking ordinary tale about a

grandfather. So you didn't quite know. Then there was the magical

moment of realising that, wow, this is a science`fiction TV programme,

and a box that can travel through time. He wrote the first two stories

in Herne Bay. The second one never saw the light of day. It was

scrapped at the last minute. It was replaced by an adventure called the

Daleks. The rest, as they say, is history. It was his first script

which introduced the time travelling police box. And a mysterious alien,

the doctor. This first episode is significant because it sets up the

whole basis of the programme and the character of the doctor. The

programme is called Doctor Who. What to this day, he's still a mystery,

we don't know everything about him. Some people think of him as being a

benevolent James Bond, some people in America think he has a religious

dimensional. I used to think of him, really, as Tom Baker. A

would`be clown, but who was kind, and who didn't know anything about

girls. 50 years on, we have the same

character, even if the face has changed 11 times. Let's raise a

glass to Anthony Cockburn, the birth of a legend and the Herne Bay

connection. While many things have changed and

regenerated, some things have been constant. The TARDIS, everybody

knows. The Daleks, they made their appearance in the first series. And

two people intimately connected with that first series, Caroline Ford and

Waris Hussein. You played Susan in the first ever episode. Isn't it

incredible that 50 years on people are excited by it? It is amazing.

Over the year, it has built up and built up, but it is amazing to me.

Any time anybody says to me 50 years ago, oh, my God. What are your

memories of making that programme? Did you know it was going to be

special? Of course we didn't. We thought it was special but we didn't

realise it was going to be so spectacularly successful. But it was

good fun. It was always wonderful to do because we had such a wonderful

team of people and we got on with each other happily with a lot of

laughs. And it was just... A challenge! Waris Hussein, you were

24 at the time. Absolutely. It was your first acting job. It must've

been scary. It was scary. I directed with my heart in my mouth,

thinking, when am I going to make my first mistake? We had no idea, as

Carol Ann Ford has just said. Did you have much idea what you are

doing? I had to go along with what was given to me. You can imagine, I

had a script that dealt with cavemen, dealing with people in

furs, and saying monosyllabic dialogue and I had to make sense of

it. The main thing is that the opening episode needed to be and was

hopefully successful because that is what launched the whole thing.

William Hartwell was key to that, wasn't he? He said, this is going to

go on for ever. He was pretty much right. Thank you for being with us

here this evening. Of course, one of the most striking

elements of Dr Who over the last 50 years has been the hero's ability to

regenerate, which has contributed to the show's enduring appeal. Peter

Capaldi's set to become the 12th Doctor when he takes over from the

current incumbent, Matt Smith. And I've caught up with Doctor number

six, Colin Baker, who took on the role in the 1980s. He told me about

his experiences filming in the South East, including shooting on a Sussex

nudist beach, and the crew's rather disrespectful treatment of the

TARDIS. Whatever else happens, I am the

doctor. Whether you like it or not. It is about legend. It is about that

masked stranger who has saved all our lives and written off into the

setting sun, it is the Lone Ranger, it is all of those heroes of myth

and legend brought into a modern context. You came to Sussex to film

on a couple of occasions. Yes, I did the most conjugated filming there.

It was a strange kind of nether world, where odd and unlikely things

happened, followed by the fact I went through a speed trap on my way

out and got three points on my licence. I love Sussex! And you went

to the cliffs. It doubled as the alien plan `` planet. I didn't know

it was a nudist beach until a rather naked man came and sat with his

newspaper and was asked to move because he was being shot. Neither

the cameramen nor the directors give a hoot unless you are about to

drown. We could see the sea coming in around us. We kept making urgent

noises about getting on with it. It has had a battering, the TARDIS. My

memory of it, it was used as a urinal by the crew. You'll probably

cut that. We've come through to the VIP area because we have had two

people intimately involved with Doctor Who. First of all, Kate

O'Mara. It is a pleasure for us to have you here. Thank you for coming.

It is delightful to be here. I've never been to Herne Bay before, I

never expected it. It is a lovely experience for me. I wish I could

see the sea, though. Let's take a quick look so that people can

remember you in your heyday. Leave a girl, it's the man I want.

Take into my laboratory. Back in the day when you are playing the Rani

opposite Colin Baker and saw the stomach or, you are responsible for

the regeneration, weren't you? Colin wasn't pleased, he didn't want to be

regenerated, but I insisted. At that point, you were the first evil

female Time Lord villain. The only one of two female Time Lord s. I

have a little special niche myself. Whether or not I've been

regenerated, I don't know. They can write anything. I was supposed to

have been at university with the doctor, studying science, then it

went somewhere else, and she wanted to govern the whole galaxy. Dan

Starkey is also with us. People might not rigged buys you

immediately. Do your voice. I've declared war on the moon. Let's take

a look at what you look like when you are made up for the series.

If I'm ever in the need of advice from a psychotic potato dwarf,

you'll be the first to know. It's fair to say the doctor is quite

crawled to you. He is impolite. But that is the kind of language she

understands. He is aggressive. Who was the doctor when you were growing

up? The first memory is Tom Baker turning into Peter Davidson. And

then Sylvester McCoy as well. Ira member watching Rani, too. We moved

to the countryside when I was seven so I used an episode of Doctor Who

because we didn't have an antenna. So, you are a fan who has gone into

the programme? There are quite a few of us on the programme. Thank you

both for coming down here this evening. We will be showing the act

sure screening of the episode this evening. The excitement about is

palpable by virtue of the fact that 500 tickets were sold... Or given

away within half an hour of being given away. Now let's catch up with

the weather. She can look a little bit into the future,

the weather. She can look a little bit it's Rachel. It's been another

bitterly cold day, particularly in Herne Bay. We've had very strong

winds and also hefty showers around. We've had temperatures of

six or seven, always feeling rather chilly and although showers have

eased off, they are not done with us yet. Going into tonight, we will see

some showers around and also some gusts of wind particularly across

the East. For the West, temperatures dropped to two or three degrees. We

might see a touch of frost in rural areas. With lighter winds, a bit of

mist and fog. Further east, quite heavy showers. We could see 10`15

millimetres of rainfall. Over the weekend, we've got this area of high

pressure, out to the West. So, for us, still some showers particular in

eastern parts of Kent, and some blustery winds around as well.

Saturday morning, a greater chance of seeing a shower by the afternoon.

It is going to be an improving story by the afternoon. There will be some

sunshine around, particularly the further west. Temperatures reaching

highs of around seven or eight. As we go over into Sunday, temperatures

not quite as Judy Bob as tonight, more cloud cover with the risk of a

shower. `` temperatures not quite as chilly as tonight. For Sunday, in

the increasingly better story. Saturday and Sunday and Monday and

choose they will be settled and dry. On Wednesday, it turns wet and

windy. `` Monday and choose stove. Everybody here is having a good time

and everybody here, it's fair to say, is a fan of Doctor Who. This

young man here, what's your name? Alex. Who are you here as? Dr Smith.

Why is your favourite Doctor? I like his hair. And you're looking very

funky, what's your name? Ted. Who are you here as? The doctor. What

have you got in your hand? A sonic screwdriver. It's not just the

younger ones who get excited about it. Why are you here? We are here

supporting all the things going on, entertaining people, having photos.

You guys got into Doctor Who at an age where it was the modern doctors,

what do you think about the William Hartnell era? My dad was there for

the first episode, so just getting the family into it. Still excited

about it. Now, do you remember the original series? I do. It was just

after my seventh birthday. I watched it as it came out. It will be a very

exciting evening today. 50 years of Doctor Who, thank you for being with

us in Herne Bay.