21/03/2017 South East Today

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

A loving mother, adored by her husband -

tributes to Debbie Masters, who died after being

I was talking to some other people who actually

know them that live down there and

they were in tears this morning and everybody is going down

40 junior doctors are set to be removed from a Kent hospital

amid concerns that patient safety is being compromised.

We'll be live in Canterbury with the details.

The council leader accused of doing a sweetheart deal

with the Government survives a vote of no confidence.

The first state visit to a state school -

how a secondary in Sussex made history with a delegation

And there were spitfires over the White Cliffs of Dover -

a special fly-past to mark Dame Vera Lynn's centenary.

The mother of three boys who died after being hit by a car

on Battle High Street has been named as Debbie Masters.

Her family said this evening she was "a loving wife and mother,

who was adored by her husband, and will be missed forever."

A special fundraising campaign has been set up to help

Sussex Police are investigating reports that the 34-year-old woman

driving the car may have been under the influence of alcohol

Debbie Masters of battle this right by her family as a loving wife and

mother. She was well known and loved in this small Sussex town which now

was to reach out and help the family she has left behind.

I think it is horrible, knowing that three kids have lost their mum and

let's hope their dad fights wrote all. They need their dad mainly now.

They live a few doors down from us. Her husband, her three children, I

saw them all the time. The shopkeeper says she used to bump

into the family most days. I was talking to some

other people who actually know them that live down

there and they were in tears this morning

and everybody is going down Debbie Masters died after her car

collided with her and her family on Sunday. Her two children were

treated for minor injuries, husband was seriously hurt. -- three

children. They are a better getting reports that the driver may have

been under the influence of alcohol. The primary school will be

supporting pupils in a special assembly tomorrow. While the

children are here, they are children and we feel that connection very

strongly and it is certainly fair to say it is had a big impact on the

staff here who are really coming to terms with such a shock. A special

service of prayer will be held at Saint Mary's church on Sunday and

Nicky Moody support fund is being set up so people can help the

family. -- a community. So they can express in a practical way back and

concern and give something to the family to bring support and their

needs over the weeks and months ahead. -- care. Mrs Masters family

say she was adored by her family and will be missed forever.

Jon, what's the latest on the police investigation?

Earlier today, Sussex Police say the 34-year-old driver of the black

beetle that crashed into the cafe head was still in hospital and they

are awaiting the results of blood analysis. They are appealing for any

witnesses who have any information to come forward. Meanwhile, a

petition has been started here in Battle, some businesses and

residents have big concern, they say, about the speed that some

traffic comes through her and also the state of parking along the

narrow high Street. They say they have been warning for some time that

it was only a matter of time before a serious crash occurred.

Thank you. In a controversial move,

more than 40 junior doctors are being withdrawn from a kent

hospital, amid concerns that patient Health Education England has

requested the removal of more than half of the Kent

and Canterbury's trainee doctors, because of a shortage of permanent

consultants who oversee training. The trust has written

to all its inpatients, to reassure them that there will be

no immediate changes to their care. But campaigners are deeply

concerned that it will mean an end to emergency care -

and will lead to the ultimate Our health correspondent

Mark Norman reports. In the next 12 weeks,

more than half of all the junior doctors in

this hospital in Canterbury

will be removed. Removed by Health Education

in England who say that doctors aren't being trained

properly and are not So, it is a difficult issue

for us to deal with. Of course it is, making changes

to hospital services What is really important

is that we run safe services today, we need to make changes in how we do

it going forward to ensure that we continue

to provide good care to our patients Health Education England

are responsible for overseeing all They told us today that

in Canterbury, there aren't enough consultants

to supervise the role. That 42 out of 76 trainees

at the hospital will be removed and that it will affect

about 50 patients a day But how does a hospital run with 55%

fewer junior doctors? Some inpatient services,

such as heart, move to either Margate or Ashford

but the trust insists patients will It will mean that some services,

a very small percentage of services do move to one

of the other sites. at some point in the future

to continue that excellence but most importantly the education

of those junior doctors. However, for more than a decade,

campaigners locally have fought to keep services

at the Kent and Canterbury and some fear that the trust are planning

to downgrade or possibly even close

the hospital and they are What are we going to have left

there is nothing and we are not going to have

a hospital in Canterbury, This might be pre-consultation,

this might be temporary but if they manage to bring them

back, and they don't know how they are going

to employ consultants when they have

got a hospital with nothing there, So I think the long-term

thing of east Kent hospitals at the moment

all the Kent and Canterbury is nil. And campaigners tell

me they're planning another march through Canterbury

to argue their case. Health Education England say

the temporary changes to services Well, let's cross

live to Mark Norman. After today's announcement,

how reassured will patients The trust has spent all day

insisting that patients will receive the best possible care and that care

will be safe. I have spoken to the Royal College of nurses, they have

some concerns because nurses will have to remove along with the junior

doctors. They are not sure of the details. There was a meeting here at

the hospital this morning, I am told that some people quite upset that

the changes but there with the determination to see this through.

Campaigners have said to me this evening they had one big question,

why are there not enough consultants at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital?

They say no one is being called to account that they want answers to of

those questions. Thank you.

?10 million and rising - Southern Rail passengers start

to benefit from a new compensation scheme for disruption.

An attempt to oust the leader of Surrey County Council over

an alleged "sweetheart" funding deal with the government has failed.

A motion of no confidence in David Hodge was called

after he backtracked on a proposal to raise council tax by 15%.

This programme exclusively revealed a secret recording of the council

leader telling colleagues he'd obtained a "gentleman's agreement"

Shortly afterwards the authority set the tax rise at 4.99% rise instead,

Our political editor Helen Catt reports.

It was the backroom row that became embarrassingly public for the

Could the Prime Minister explain the difference

between a sweetheart deal and a gentleman's agreement?

In the substance of what he's asking is,

has there been a particular deal with Surrey County Council that is

Today, the man who caused his leader to squirm

The Chancellor has just announced billions of extra

funding for social care, only weeks after the local

government financial settlement was made final.

Would that have been achieved if we hadn't had

set out such a strong case for investment or if we hadn't made

sure social care stayed in the headlines?

In Surrey, he faced down a vote of no-confidence in his leadership.

Liberal Democrat opponents pointed to miss sent text messages which

sparked rumours of a sweetheart deal and to a secret recording leaked to

I think it has been very damaging to Surrey's

reputation, there have been numerous damaging headlines about Surrey

County Council in the media and I think talk of secret deals and

gentleman's agreements, that doesn't put Surrey in a good light.

In the end, his fellow councillors backed

His future, it seems, secured, though he didn't

want to speak to us this evening after the meeting.

This was Surrey's last full meeting before elections

As several councillors observed this morning, that is when

we will get the final verdict on this episode from the voters.

Helen Catt, BBC South East Today, Kingston.

There's more in-depth coverage and analysis of today's meeting

The RNLI is to provide lifeguards on Hastings beaches

Following an agreement with Hastings Borough Council,

the charity will introduce three lifeguard stations at Pelham beach

Lifeguards have previously operated on beaches in the area,

but the service was run by the local council and supported

The RMT Union has announced it will push back it's latest strike

action to allow for fresh talks with Southern Rail in the ongoing

dispute over the safety of driver-only operated trains.

RMT members were due to go on strike for 24 hours on the 4th of April

but will now strike instead on Saturday 8th April -

An RMT spokesman said the issue of safety is "fundamental"

and must be "addressed at the negotiating table".

Twins, whose bodies were found at the White Cliffs of Dover

on New Year's Day, had rucksacks containing the ashes

of their dead parents, an inquest has heard.

A coroner said Muriel and Bernard Burgess,

who were 59 years old, had been struggling to come to terms

with their parents' deaths, particularly their mother's in 2014.

The siblings fell more than 200ft in an area known

An innocent man who panicked or a lying manipulative killer.

The question jurors have been told they now have to answer in the trial

of a man accused of murdering Sussex teenager Shana Grice.

The 19-year-old's throat was cut at her home

Her former boyfriend Michael Lane is accused of stalking, then killing

Today the jury has been hearing closing speeches from both

the prosecution and defence - as Sara Smith reports.

Michael Lane doesn't deny being at Shana Grice's flat on the morning

she was murdered but he says she was already dead when he arrived.

He admits lying to police on his arrest

but his defence counsel told the jury today

that was because he was panicked and terrified by the

conclusion that police would and did jump to.

There was, said his counsel, no direct evidence of his

involvement, it was all circumstantial.

But the prosecution asked the jury to decide if this

really was an innocent man who was panicked or a lying,

He told a friend Shana would pay for leaving him.

She did, it was said, with her life at his hands.

She was found dead, her throat cut at the flat she had shared with

Michael Lane had stolen a key to her home and put

Several times she had reported him to police for

stalking but on one occasion had been given a penalty notice herself

The judge told the jury this case had given

rise to a great deal of emotion and that they would need cool heads.

They weren't there, he said, to like or dislike

Michael Lane or take a personal view

about Shana Grice's behaviour, but to take an objective

Sara Smith, BBC South East Today, Lewes Crown Court.

It's coming up to quarter to seven, this is our top story tonight:

Debbie Masters was "a loving wife and mother, who was

adored by her husband, and will be missed forever."

Tributes paid to the 37-year-old who died after being hit by a car

Police are investigating why the car mounted the pavement.

A day later than planned there were blue skies and Spitfires

over the white cliffs of Dover for Dame Vera Lynn's centenary.

It was a bright, breezy and chilly day today. Bring back again for

tomorrow. I will have the details for you in the forecast a little

later in the programme. If you have a story you think

we should be covering on South East Today,

we'd like to hear from you. You can call us on 0345 300 37 47,

or send us an e-mail to We are also on Facebook or you can

tweet us, @bbcsoutheast. Thousands of Southern Rail season

ticket holders have been paid a total of more than ?10 million

in compensation over the past three months

for delays to their services. The Government blames

the disruption on poor performance by the operator -

and industrial action More than 40,000

passengers have applied for refunds as part

of the new one-off But tonight many commuters said it's

all too little too late. I have had the letters

saying that I am due a compensation amount

on my annual season ticket and I followed

the instructions but nothing has It's not easy, that

is why I never claim. Because I think the process

takes longer and I would rather have an

operator that runs the trains as they should be run,

you know, it's very frustrating Well our reporter Amanda Akass

is outside Lewes station for us now. Amanda, the government

could still end up paying out a lot Yes, that is right. This is a

one-off government funded scheme designed to payback commuters a cost

of two among's worth of travel, in recognition of what is described as

unprecedented disruption on the services. Destruction that led to

the cancellation of up to 60,000 services due to a combination of

poor performance by Southern, problems on the track and that

industrial action. The government estimated 84,000 commuters could be

eligible for this was not so far, 40,000 have claimed. They had paid

back ?10 million at the moment. That could grow a lot further and people

have until the end of April to put those claims in. That is all about

the disruption from 2016 but as the 2017, the transport select committee

have been asking the wrong minister if there is any chance the scheme

will be extended for this year as well. -- rail minister.

At the moment, given the absence of industrial action which is making

it impossible to run an adequate service, I'm not aware of any

proposals to continue this beyond the 30th of April

but obviously we can't see into the future.

It really is the future of disruption which is the question in

the minds of all the commuters here this evening. The are empty and

Southern holding fresh talks but we do know they are still planning to

have strike action on the 8th of April. -- are empty. It is not clear

yet if there is an end to all that destruction we are seeing. Amanda,

thank you very much. -- disruption. St Catherine's College in Eastbourne

has become the first state school in East Sussex to teach its pupils

Mandarin - and today they enjoyed a special visit from Chinese

officials to inspire the students. Mandarin is the official

language of China - spoken by around a billion people,

making it the most although most people

only use 3,000-4,000. That compares with 26 characters

in the English alphabet. And researchers have

found that people who speak Mandarin use both sides

of their brain to understand it. So as Lauren Moss reports -

it should equip the Eastbourne pupils with some useful skills

for the future. Learning about Chinese culture and

traditions. The new School programme being rolled out at St Catherine's

College. Annie is one of those leading the programme. Our children

might not go to China but the Chinese are definitely coming in

here, there is a massive tourist industry. I think there will be

properly more and more industries that liaise with China so it is a

massively brilliant opportunity. By becoming a completion of cotton,

learning Chinese philosophy, Mandarin will be on the school

curriculum from September. People can understand China deeper with

language learning. I believe this is very important long term. Some

campaigners say that deeper understanding must also include

China's current political situation. Lastly, a group of lawyers and human

rights activists were detained by state police. Children in the UK

learning Mandarin, it is important in which an also children learning

Chinese history and culture, what we do not want is any institutions that

are using resources from China to be compromised in how they teach

children these things. For our children, as educators, we need to

look at all aspects of human rights and we do a lot here on global

citizens and and children are challenged think about issues, the

impact on lives. Alex, you performed a recital earlier. What did you say?

What does that mean? In English, it means sorry, my Chinese is not good.

They hope that will not be the case in St Catherine's College. A group

of children will did them a visit China next week in a hope to make

them stand out in the future. Good luck to them.

They had to wait an extra day for blue skies

but today two Spitfires flew over the White Cliffs of Dover

to mark the 100th birthday of Dame Very Lynn.

The fly-past was cancelled yesterday because of bad weather.

But the pilots said they were determined to take

to the skies this morning to honour the forces' sweetheart,

Simon Jones is in Biggin Hill, from where the Spitfires took off.

Quite a sight and quite a sound, Simon.

Yes, it has been a day of history. These historic aircraft taking to

the skies above the historic white cliffs. All to celebrate the life of

the historic lady he means so much to see many people. -- who means so

much to so many people. # There will be bluebirds over

the White Cliffs of Dover #. The sound of the Spitfires

accompanied by the dulcet tones of Dame Vera, a centenary

celebration to honour the women who would travel to conflict

zones around the world to give morale boosting performances

to British troops. I mean, Dame Vera Lynn,

she is an icon. It is both, it is mixing

icons, the iconic spitfire and the icon

that is Dame Vera Lynn but of course it is tied up with so much more

and all the A very proud moment

and a real privilege. It is just a short flight

from Biggin Hill to Dover but one the organisers

were determined to recreate after yesterday's disappointment

at the weather. Yesterday, people were shivering

in the fog, the wind and Today though, perfect conditions

to enjoy the fly-past. It didn't work out first yesterday,

though we had loads of veterans here which I know she would be

thrilled with and loads of other As far as I am concerned,

Dame Vera Lynn is 100 all year and as far

as I am concerned, that wonderful lady all year,

it's exactly what we will do. Dame Vera talking to her

daughter still fondly We did have a trouble one time

when we just started a concert And the boys had to rush up

and hold the sides on. And as today shows,

if things don't go according to plan the first

time, you can try again. Dame Vera said she is humbled by all

the fuss that is being made. The organisers admitted when they could

not take to the skies in the Spitfires yesterday, they were very

upset. And veteran turned to them and said get a grip and that's why

they decided to do it all again today. Dame Vera says a secret to a

is reading and watching television. We are probably all doing OK.

Thank you. It is not a fuss. It is thoroughly

deserved. We are pleased the weather got a grip.

Rain again tomorrow. Earlier of course, clear blue skies, nothing

like the temperatures we had last week,- 18 or 19 Celsius. It was more

like seven or eight in some places. It was feeling is lovely and

sheltered spots. We have got those cool air mass with us and into

tomorrow, some places across the UK will be seeing some snow. Not ours.

We will be seeing some rain. Tonight, it stays dry and clear.

Again, quite a cool night, temperature dropping to two or three

Celsius. Along the coast, slightly milder at around five or six

Celsius. There will be some sunshine early tomorrow, it will not last all

day. This is the reason why. This area of low pressure. There is the

snow. For us in the south-east, we will seize rain. Heavy at times,

breezy, passes through quite quickly. From about nine o'clock in

the morning for a time, all of us seeing the rain, is statistically in

the early part of the afternoon. Behind it, there are some sunshine.

It stays pretty breezy. Southerly winds around 20 mph will stop below

average temperatures for the time of year. Seven or eight Celsius. It is

feeling chilly and then as we go from Wednesday over into Thursday,

there will be some rain at times. Many of us holding on to clear skies

in the early part of the evening. Another cool night, temperatures of

rural spots, around freezing. One or two Celsius, or five along the

coast. Further outbreaks of rain as we had to the day on Friday.

Critically during the afternoon. Ten or 11 Celsius but many of us staying

around eight or nine. It is a wet, windy end to the day. As we go over

into Friday, the charge that you could see some heavy rain for a

time. Good news, that is going to clear and actually as we look

towards the weekend for Saturday and Sunday, the sunshine will be back

again. It is going to be a bit breezy, temperatures doing quite

well, highs of 11 or 12 Celsius. Chilly overnight. Saturday, perhaps

some frost in places. By the afternoon lots of sunshine around,

make the most of it. Into the new Wii, perhaps turning unsettled

again. The next couple of days, heavy rain during the middle part of

the day for tomorrow, rain at times for Thursday and Friday and just

like that, clear blue skies as we head towards the weekend. A lot of

rain and cold temperatures. It is March I suppose.

Well, let's recap tonight's top national and local new stories:

Political leaders have been describing the legacy

of Northern Ireland's former deputy first minister,

Martin McGuinness, who has died at the age of 66.

The mother of three boys who died after being hit by a car

on Battle High Street has been named as Debbie Masters.

Her family have this evening said she was "a loving wife and mother."

More than 40 junior doctors are being removed from the Kent

and Canterbury Hospital after concerns were raised over

We will have more of stories in our late bulletin at 10:25pm. Also with

the eight o'clock update. I will see you in a couple of days' time.

Goodbye. Goodbye.