05/06/2014 South East Today

Welcome to South East Today. So

Not standing down ` Ann Barnes vows to continue as police and crime

commissioner as she faces a public grilling over a series of PR gaffes.

The couple left traumatised by a night of terror on the

Costa Concordia seek a million euros compensation.

You feel on your own. You feel cut off from the rest of society.

How a migraine left a Kent woman with a foreign accent.

A soldier, a sailor and an airman recount their experiences of D`Day

as commemorations mark the 70th anniversary.

And a warm welcome in Kent for the Queen's Baton relay as it heads for

Kent Police Crime Commissioner Ann Barnes has

insisted she will not resign despite being accused of presiding

Facing a grilling by the Kent Crime Panel she apologised for taking part

in a fly on the wall documentary that critics said made the force

But she's insisted today she isn't a 'Lame Duck'

and remains the best person for the job, Simon Jones has this report.

Accused of PR disasters, misjudgements, fiascoes.

I would like to offer an apology, especially to

the hard`working men and women of Kent police, who I know some of them

This was the infamous documentary that today prompted a barrage

of criticism from the panel that holds the Commissioner to account.

I think some people have said that you have treated senior members

We have had three train crashes coming through.

Yesterday, it was revealed that her youth Commissioner, Carrie Boyd,

had been removed from public duties as her relationship with a former

That after the first youth Commissioner, Paris Brown,

Today, and Barnes told me she is delivering.

I certainly don't hold people treating me with contempt.

So I certainly would not do that either.

Doesn't that make your position untenable?

I have thought about what people have said to me today.

I will think about what people say to me today.

But some on the crime panel remain concerned.

I felt as if I was back in college being lectured at.

I think that is a matter for her, but I don't think I heard anything

this morning which convinces me that we will won't face further problems

But the chair of the panel says that it is time to move forward.

I was impressed at the way she apologised.

And all sides say that bridges must now be built.

Simon, Ann Barnes is not going to quit but what is going to change?

The panel concluded that she should not have got involved in this

documentary. Haddad damaged her? Yes. Had hit damaged Kent police,

maybe by association. One member of the panel wanted a vote of no

confidence, but he was told that they did not have the power to do

that. In the future, we may seek and Barnes withdrawing from the media

spotlight, and getting on with the job away from the cameras.

Interestingly tonight, the police Federation, who had been hugely

critical of the documentary, took a more conciliatory tone. She welcomed

the fact that she was trying to improve relations.

A Kent survivor of the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster

says he's angry that he and has wife have received little support

from the ship's operator, and just an insulting compensation offer.

The vessel, carrying more than 4,000 passengers,

capsized after hitting a reef in January 2012, killing 32 people.

John and Mandy Rodford from Wainscott

near Rochester have just returned from Italy where they testified

in the trial against the ship's captain ` they're also seeking

In an extremely emotional interview, he told me that only now,

two years since the tragedy, he is beginning to realise how close

At the time, I didn't ever think of not getting

I suppose now, when you come back, years on, using look at what could

The Costa Concordia hit rocks less than three hours after the couple

Having not received a safety briefing,

The first lifeboat they audit failed to launch.

They found another one by sliding on their backsides down through

32 people died in the tragedy, with many more suffering ongoing

The passengers who we represent thought that they were going to do

die. Too many were in some cases not able to get onto the lifeboats.

It was the middle of winter in Italy.

They had to swim to shore in cold and dark water.

It was a very traumatic experience, as I am sure you can appreciate.

The Costa Concordia's captain, who gave the order to abandon ship

after steering the vessel to wards shallower waters, is

Mr and Mrs Rodford testified against him in Italy last week.

They are upset that they are only being offered 11,000 euros

People lost lives, people were not sleeping.

And the company have still been trading

So, yes, it does make you angry that it is still going on.

Mr Rochford is now writing a book about his experiences, and claiming

Princess Anne gives royal approval to the South Of England show,

as farmers look forward to a better year.

Three babies suffering from blood poisoning in a Brighton

hospital are said to be responding well to treatment.

18 infants in nine different hospitals

around the country have fallen ill from a suspected contaminated drip

The three infants in Brighton are being treated at the

Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital from where our reporter Mark Sanders

joins us now ` Mark, what's the latest on the babies' condition?

The the good news is that it is expected all three babies will make

a full recovery. They are receiving specialist care at the Trevor Mann

baby unit. All three babies are responding well to the treatment.

The three infants contracted a form of blood poisoning. The trust did

not want to appear on camera, but in a statement, they said that the

cause was feeding product that was contaminated during its

manufacturing process the hospital. Across the country, some 18 babies

have been affected in this way. Sadly, of course one baby died at a

hospital in London. An investigation by the health authorities into this

case is well underway. The Independent Police Complaints

Commission are investigating Kent Police after

a Medway man was left in a coma. Officers were called to a house

in Gillingham last December and arrested 38`year`old Denby

Collins as a suspected burglar. He was then taken to hospital for

treatment and remains in a coma. The IPCC say they've decided to

investigate A Brighton man's been rescued

from a fire in his flat after being The blaze broke out at Robert Lodge

in Whitehawk in the early hours Several residents had to be

evacuated after the fire spread to flats

on both the ground and first floor. Plans that will see the loss

of around 50 jobs at East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service

have been approved today. A fire engine is to be removed

from Hove while Roedean station in Brighton and the Ridge

in Hastings will now only be The service needs to save ?7

million over the next four years. A woman from Gillingham says her

life has been ruined after a severe migraine attack left

her with a strange accent. Julie Matthias says she suffered

the attack three years ago. It?s left her with

the very rare Foreign Accent Syndrome, and is now often mistaken

for being South African, French or Italian ` and has even

suffered racist abuse as a result. It has just turned

my life upside down. You feel cut off from the rest

of society. I have had

a lady who was racist to me. It was Julie's dream to run

a busy hair salon. She used to work seven days

a week and relish it. Here, she is comparing

a hair show four years ago. If I was to do this,

I would end up in tears. Now, on her worst days,

Julie sounds like this. She's

depending on her family The accent, for me, and only me,

is the least of my problems. A regular migraine sufferer,

Julie had an unusually severe one three years

ago. And her symptoms developed

after this. And yet, the condition is so rare,

she has been accused of making it all up, and was even

sent for psychiatric help. Foreign accent syndrome has

not been reported very often. There are a handful of cases

over the last 50 or 60 years. It is being reported more commonly

now, but I think that is because we simply know more

about it, and people recognise what it is when people come

into their clinic and they have On Julie's bad days,

her daughters get her out of bed, I have shopped like symptoms

at least once a week. Julie is now being referred

to new specialist. She wants to see if she has

a mutant gene which might have led You can see more of that interview

on our website. The time is now 18 minutes to seven. And Barnes says

that she will not resign, despite a series of PR disasters. Facing a

grilling by Kent crime panel, she faced a grilling...

Also into night's programme, thousands turn out in Kent as the

Queen's Batson travel to the county. After yesterday's rain, we have had

clear blue skies today. It is going to last?

Commemorations have been taking place today to mark the seventieth

anniversary of the invasion of Normandy on D`Day in 1944.

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall were at Pegasus Bridge

in Northern France, the scene of the first fighting on June 6th 1944.

And in Portsmouth both British and Dutch marines re`enacted

the biggest amphibious assault in military history.

Even the youngest surviving veterans are in their late eighties now ` a

living link with one of the largest military operations in history.

So what was it like to be in the thick of it?

Robin Gibson has been across Kent and Sussex talking to a soldier,

a sailor and an airman who were there about their experiences

What do we have left to help future generations understanding

Pictures, stories, ruins and relics, but most importantly,

in our community, there are still living voices.

At 18, Stan Hodge from Ashford had never been in combat.

But in minutes of arriving on the beaches, he had shown bravery

We got halfway up the beach, and that is all where it started.

We got pinned down on the beach, nobody could move, and the sergeant

said we are going to lay here, and we are going to get killed, and

He went one way, and distracted the machine gun people.

Had we not got off the beach, I am sure we would have all been killed.

This is a curious relic of D`Day, marooned off the coast here

It is a piece of that floating mulberry harbour,

but this piece is one that never actually made it to Normandy,

never actually made it to the invasion or the longest Day, which

is forever etched on the memories of the people who were involved.

You did not really expect to survive.

Maurice Macy from Pevensey, at 21`year`old Spitfire pilot,

who flew three sorties, bombing and strafing ahead of the troops.

And not with the poor devils down there on the beach.

Because they did not stand a lot of chance.

Whereas my own security was up to me as much as anything.

Here is a fraction of the great Armada or 4000 ships which carried

I don't want to face those ever again!

Donald Hunter from Ashford was eight signaller in the merchant Navy.

He made 35 trips down the channel exporting troops and equipment.

You saw the flash of the gun and the wine of the shell as it was

When you see them in the water, they stand very little chance

The orders were in an engagement, you didn't stop.

Donald Hunter was to survive when his own ship was eventually hit.

He regards himself as one of the lucky ones, one of those

And you can hear and see more of Stan Hodge's D`Day experiences

It?s less than two months until the opening of the Commonwealth

Games ` and today the Queen's Baton Relay arrived in Kent.

It?s part of a global tour building up to the games in Glasgow in July.

The baton started the day in Tonbridge with Kent's double

Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes ` it then moved

This afternoon the baton visited Folkestone, before ending the day

at County Hall in Maidstone ` from where Neil Bell joins us now.

It's been generating a good deal of excitement.

Absolutely. Clearly the organiser is trying to tap into the spirit that

was felt by the Olympic torch relay. It was our Olympic heroes got

carried a bat on. A thousand children were up early to see the

arrival of the Batson in Kent. Helen Grant and local Olympic heroes

Lizzie Yarn old and Kelly Holmes. Her first gold medal was in 1994 in

Canada. There is a friendly atmosphere. They are very

competitive. It is a wonderful time. I am very proud of the welcome that

Kent has given to the Batson. Next up was Dartford ascetic 's

club. I am going to be out there as much as I can. I train up at the

university there. I will be cheering them of the sideline. I cannot wait

for it. Of the, wealth gains have worked hard to get as many people

involved as possible. It involves everybody. Everyone can have a

chance to get a chance at different scales. The reception at Herne Bay

high school could not have been more passionate. This woman is now real

hero. I hope that people are able to take up a sport that they really

care about. The bat baton received a Scottish welcome in Folkestone.

Millions will be watching when the sporting action gets underway. The

momentum built up at London 2012 should guarantee the success of the

games in class goat. It will be a showcase for a lot of Southeast

athletes. It was a bit of hot to be dressed as shark!

Remember February, when we were still in the grip of the wettest

winter on record, and swathes of the countryside were underwater.

Many farmers at the time were fearful that they might lose

Well, what a difference a few months makes ` now the record warm spring

Some farmers are saying it could turn out to be a bumper season.

Our Environment Correspondent Yvette Austin reports from Ardingly

on the first day of the South of England Show.

It is a chance to exchange stories from the past year. The wet winter

giving away to a good spring. The grass is growing back. It is going

to take a couple of years to get over the flooding last winter, but

it is greening up a blast. For the sheep, it has also been a long, wet

winter. Especially when you have hairdo like this. This is a

Wensleydale longwall. The problems with this breed is the mud in the

wall, because it is so wet. They have a very thick fleece. They do

not like the wet terribly much, and they do get that problems. As

always, the birds and animals are proving popular at the show. But

this evening, the main thing is horticulture. It is good for the

insects. So far, it is a bumper year for the bees. This year, because the

weather has been much kinder, all the flowers have come out early. So

the bees have done very well this year. Plenty of insects will achieve

a good harvest. Right now, it is all about the Jolly good show.

A paratrooper who landed in 1944 relived the moment again today.

Jock Hutton was 19 year old when he and his comrades lead the Allied

Today, a few years older but still on every much the soldier, he joined

hundreds of other paratroopers as he descended into the fields

Back home in Larkfield in Kent, his wife proudly watched

It is 70 years since his D`Day landing. Now, aged 89, and as part

of a re`enactment of that fateful day, he is taking to the skies of

Normandy again. One site stepped out, I got heave and I was away!

Professional. That is all he lived for. It is mad! Jock was 19, and a

member of the 13th Battalion the Parachute Regiment. Yellow mac you

train for months and months, and you trained for one purpose in mind. He

descended into the same feel that he did all those years ago, only this

time, there was an admiring audience. Jock is one of the

youngest D`Day veterans. He is approaching 90, but he is not

putting his feet up just yet. What a moment! I would not do that right

now! Let alone at the age of 89! Brilliant, brilliant. The weather

has been lovely today. It is feeling pretty one today. It is going to be

warming up. Not always dry. Tempters on the rise. Mostly, clear blue

skies. We are going to hold onto the clear skies. Temperature is a little

bit cooler than they have been of late. Tempters of eight or 9

degrees. Tomorrow, quite a humid field to day. Sunshine and we should

be staying dry. A gentle south easterly flow, and the temperatures

are climbing up. Just a little bit cooler along the coast. Through

tomorrow night, we are going to be holding onto the humid feeling air.

A low tempter of 16 or 17 Celsius. And muggy night. For Saturday, there

will be some sunshine around, but also some heavy and thundery

showers. As you go into Sunday, it is going to be a calmer story. Still

a chance that you could catch the odd sharp shower. We have humid air.

We have an area of low pressure, and we are expected to seek some high

downpours. Plenty of sunshine around. I'm sure you have noticed

the temperature is higher. 25 degrees. We have actually got some

warnings out from the Met office. The rain is likely to be pretty

heavy. As you go through Sunday, it is going to be a settled story. He

could catch one or two sharp showers, but the temperature is

could be in the top teams, or low 20s. It is going to be increasingly

unsettled. Heavy rain at times. But in the meantime, lots of sunshine of

offer. It will feel warm. That is not bad! Take a brolly, you will be

fine. We will be back later, but from us, goodbye.

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