05/05/2014 South East Today

There is more throughout the evening on the BBC News Channel. We are back

Good evening. As thousands of people with the

Good evening. As thousands of people have been enjoying the Bank Holiday

sunshine, there are fresh warnings about the dangers of cliff falls in

Sussex. Heavy rainfall in the winter led to the National Trust saying

there had been seven years of erosion in two months. Experts today

said the cliffs are now more dangerous than ever but people still

seem to be ignoring the warnings. Juliette Parkin reports.

Posing on the edge. Just feet away from a crack and on a clifftop that

is eroding at a faster rate than ever. Despite the warm weather,

those who have studied this coastline for years say there are

still many dangers. Don't sit under the cliffs. So many people sit right

under the base of the cliff and that is very dangerous. Look at the

cliffs, see if there are any obvious opening fractures and don't go

anywhere near them because they can come down at any time.

Heavy rainfall over winter led to an unprecedented rate of erosion at

Birling Gap. Cliffs along the coast also surrendered to the elements.

Fractures drying out and expanding mean that warnings are still in

place. Just the other side of this are a number of large cracks on the

cliff edge, but that hasn't stopped hundreds of people coming up today

to take a look. If you look over the edge, you can

see some great big cracks. Don't get too close. I don't think we will go

close to the edge. It is a bit of a concern. It was slightly weird

sitting underneath the cliff where it was overhanging so I've moved

away. Apart from that, I'm sure it's OK.

Elsewhere, some welcome bank holiday sunshine for the businesses still

licking their wounds from the Christmas floods. The Anchor Inn at

Barcombe near Lewes was cut off at critical time for trade.

Christmas Eve we came downstairs and found the pub knee deep in water

which was a bit of a shock. It totally killed us for that period.

Christmas bookings, we had to cancel them all.

A good day for the tourist trade, but a plea also to respect winter's

aftermath. BBC South East Today has learnt this

evening that the latest offer to buy Manston Airport has been rejected by

the owners. The present owners said this afternoon that the consortium

who tried to broker a deal failed to substantiate their proposals. There

are concerns the airport will close. Another bid to buy it was withdrawn

last month. Manston's owners say they will still consider credible

and viable offers. A review has been ordered into an

armed robber dubbed the Skull Cracker who has gone missing after

he was temporarily allowed out of an open prison in Kent. Michael

Wheatley, who's 55, was given 13 life sentences at the Old Bailey for

a string of raids on banks and building societies. He's failed to

return to Standford Hill open prison on the Isle of Sheppey. Piers

Hopkirk reports. Michael Wheatley earned the nickname

skull cracker for pistol whipping his victims. The prolific armed

raider is serving 13 life sentences for a string of violent robberies.

But two days ago, he was allowed to walk out of Standford Hill Prison on

the Isle Sheppey and did not return. Why on earth was he put in an open

prison if he was meant to be in jail for 13 life sentences for armed

robbery? I think if we are going to get control of sentencing, we need

Parliament to control the sentencing guidelines Council and actually make

the decisions of what's an appropriate sentence for what type

of crime. Standford Hill is a category D

prison, an open prison, supposedly for offenders at a low risk of

escape. On Saturday, Michael Wheatley was granted a temporary

licence, in effect a short`term pass from prison. But he never came back.

What do you think of the system? Rubbish. If he's that dangerous, he

should be under lock and key. I don't think he should be in open

prison. There's no way they should be out into the community. How

worrying is that someone with such a prolific criminal record is now at

large? It is very worrying. A prison service spokesperson said

tonight we are toughening up the release on temporary licence scheme

so that prisoners will be subject to stricter risk assessments and

tagged. Tonight, Wheatley remains on the run. Police have warned the

public not to approach him. Stars from the world of tennis will

assemble in Eastbourne next month to pay tribute to Elena Baltacha who's

died from liver cancer at the age of 30. Martina Navratilova, Heather

Watson and Andy Murray will take part in the Rally for Bally on June

the 15th. Elena was a regular player at the Eastbourne Aegon

International and competed at last year's event.

Brighton and Hove Albion say it's been inundated with calls since

tickets went on sale this morning for the play`offs. The Seagulls face

Derby County at the Amex in the first semi final on Thursday. And if

the Albion do go up, it's being advised to be ready with the cheque

book. When you go up into the higher

leagues, you need to go out and buy quality. I think if Brighton do get

into the Premier League, they will need to go out and buy some

recognised names that fans would have heard of. It might cost a few

quid, but would help to secure premiership football.

And you can find out more on the preparations for the play`offs in

Late Kick off tonight which, true to its name, is on at 11.35 on BBC One.

Now it's been a glorious bank holiday. Kaddy, what's the rest of

the week got in store for us? the week got in store

We have been lucky this weekend. But there is change afoot. The cloud is

increasing and rain is on the way. It will not be here for a few years.

If you are still out enjoying bank holiday Monday, you should stay

dry. The brain will not arrive until one or two o'clock in the morning

and it should clear before five in the morning. Temperatures will stay

mild. A cloudy but mild start of the day tomorrow. A slight chance of a

shower tomorrow, but most of us will have another lovely day with great

sunny spells. But that frees will start to pick up and that is what

legal notice later in the week. More rain from Thursday onwards and

strong winds. That's all from the news team here.

I'm back with your late news at 10.25. Have a very good evening.

The sunshine today for the bank holiday produced the highest

temperature of the long weekend in eastern England today, at 20

Celsius. But to the west, the cloud