03/01/2017 South East Today

A great dad, uncle and brother - tributes to a Kent man whose died

We'll be live in Sutton Valence with the details.

An inquest hears how a frightened mother asked for an elective

caesarean section hours before she died after giving birth.

And we had a widespread hard frost to strike the day-to-day but it is

much milder into tonight. -- start. A man who died after taking part

in a charity pram race in Kent has tonight been described

as a great brother, dad Francis O'Sullivan, known as Titch,

suffered serious head injuries after crashing during the event

at Sutton Valence on New Years Day. Despite being airlifted

to a London hospital, These were the final moments before

the crash which was to claim The 52-year-old suffering a serious

head injury after the pram Airlifted to hospital,

he died in the early Tonight, the organisers

paid tribute. On behalf of the Queens

Head Odd Fellows Fund, who actually run the pram race,

the members of that wish to offer their sincere condolences

to the family and friends At the moment, the police

are investigating the circumstances and are reporting to the coroner

and we're expecting to be assisting The three men crew,

with Mr O'Sullivan sat in the pram, were just about to start

their second lap of the race Writing on Facebook,

his sister described him as a beautiful brother,

a great dad and uncle. The annual pram race,

which raises thousands of pounds for charity,

is in its 38th year. Residents say it's

a well organised event. Like if there's going to be

somewhere you could bump into. For many here, it's

still sinking in. It's a day for joy and enjoyment

and so it was a shock to everyone and indeed everybody is in mourning

for this poor chap. Our hearts, our prayers,

our minds are with Mr O'Sullivan's family, with his friends,

with his colleagues and also with all the organisers here,

who we know are absolutely Villages in Sutton Valence say

they're trying to come to terms with what's happened here and how

a day of fun came to end in tragedy. Piers Hopkirk is in

Sutton Valence for us now. Piers, have Kent

police said anything? The police say they have carried out

enquiries but as there are no suspicious circumstances they will

no hand over the matter to the coroner. It is highly likely

therefore that an inquest will now follow, that will seek to establish

exactly how and why Francis O'Sullivan came to lose his life. It

may well be as well that on the conclusion of that inquest, the

coroner makes certain recommendations as to how deaths

like this could be prevented in the future. Thank you.

Errors which led to a woman suffering a fatal haemorrhage

after giving birth at a Kent hospital may not have been made

if medical teams had listened to her wishes

for an elective Caesarean section, an inquest heard today.

Frances Cappuccini died at Tunbridge Wells hospital in 2012.

Today her husband told the inquest how his wife pleaded

In hospital, Frances Cappuccini told her husband, "I love you.

If anything happens, just make sure you look

Not long after, she died having lost a large amount of blood.

Tom Cappuccini, her widowed husband - seen here in the red tie -

told the hearing how tests during the pregnancy and experience

of a difficult birth with their first child

the need for an elective Caesarean section.

Frances Cappuccini was admitted to Tunbridge Wells Hospital

in October 2012 during the final stages of labour.

But she died hours after a Caeserean birth.

In April 2015, a doctor was charged with manslaughter, but a year ago,

the trial collapsed and the doctor and the hospital trust were cleared.

Today, Tom Cappuccini told the hearing how on arrival

at Tunbridge Wells Hospital he and his wife explained how

dangerous the birth of their first child was and how this time they had

He said his wife had been terrified for months

because of previous experience and he described her state

The hearing was told how Mrs Cappuccini's Caeserean

section was carried out after a 12 hour labour.

The coroner was also told how a piece of placenta

was left in her uterus, leading to the haemorrhage.

The family's lawyer suggested that these errors may not have been

made had the family's request for an elective Caeseran

Charlie Rose, BBC South East Today, Graves End.

Police are appealing for information about the last movements of a man

and woman whose bodies were found at the foot of cliffs in Dover.

They are thought to have been twins, possibly staying

The body of another man was also found at the bottom

The family of a young man who died at a New Year's Eve

party in St Leonards, after falling four storeys

from a flat, have today described him as a "bubbly" person

who was "just like any normal young lad."

Dan Dawson, who was 25-years-old, died after falling

through the plastic roof of a kitchen annexe.

Five people were arrested on suspicion of his murder

BBC South East has discovered websites selling fake degrees

for universities in the South East, despite a major crackdown.

The Government has shut down more than 40 sites in 18 months.

But a number of sites in the Far East are still offering

certificates for institutions including the University of Sussex,

Brighton University and the University of Kent.

Bosses and union leaders came out of talks today and revealed

there are no plans to hold formal meetings ahead of a planned six-day

Now Sussex MPs are calling on the Government to step

in to prevent the Southern rail network being brought

to a standstill, again. Jon Hunt reports.

For Southern passengers, the New Year has begun as the

Buses replacing trains and services delayed.

The only difference is they're now pay more for

The fare increase is not reflective of the service they are offering.

It is a disappointing situation and it's frustrating.

The Government should really put a stop to the fare increases

until they've sorted out what's going on here.

Sussex MPS met with the Prime Minister before Christmas

They're frustrated that the Government

plan to cope with the six-day strike action starting

on Monday and is expected to cripple the network.

We were told plans would be in place if the strikes were not resolved.

I've not heard any details of what those plans are.

And I'm certainly going to be pushing ministers and the secretary

of state for more information for my constituents because if the strikes

aren't going to be resolved and talks fail before Christmas,

what is the plan to help my constituents get

A 72 hour walk out by the RMT union, which ended yesterday.

A six day drivers strike is due to start

Meanwhile, the train drivers union Aslef is continuing

its band on overtime, which is causing daily disruption.

Many commuters, particularly in the south

east, people using Southern and South Eatern, have suffered

a year of really substandard service, delays,

standing on station platforms in the cold

for hour after hour and they are

right to feel quite angry about having to fork out an even

larger wedge of their wages to travel to work.

What Southern passengers now want is a glimmer of hope

A sign that 2017 will bring an end to their misery.

At the moment it looks like this six day strike is going to go ahead -

is there any prospect of help for travellers at all?

Sutherland is simply advising travellers against all but essential

travel during this strike period, no trains will be running. Just before

Christmas we learned that the army was being asked to draw up

contingency plans to help commuters, no word on that yet. We heard today

that more than 50 companies that run coaches and buses from as far afield

as Cornwall and Northumberland were saying that they are available to

help if that is required. We are expecting some kind of announcement

from Sabin tomorrow. Thank you, John.

And, we will be hosting a special Question Time style debate

about the ongoing crisis on Southern rail services this Sunday

If you live or work in the south east and want to be

in the audience, send an email to [email protected]

with your details and how you've been affected.

Now let's take a look at the weather in the south-east

This morning it was a really frosty start. Temperatures dropped as low

as minus five degrees. We are all seeing a hard frost to start the day

but as we go through tonight, what a difference. We'll be seeing

workload, the winds pick up, temperatures stay above freezing for

the most part. Overnight lows ranging between two and 5 degrees.

In much milder start to the date for Wednesday and a good deal more cloud

cover around as well. First thing we have got this cold front around,

workload and patchy drizzle, but it clears through and behind it there

is lots of sunshine and temperatures are quite chilly. First thing is

going to be quite a girl picture. Like patchy rain and drizzle. By the

afternoon, lots of sunshine with light northerly breezes. It is

fuelling chilly, temperatures reaching highs of 67 degrees. A

crisp afternoon and then from Wednesday into Thursday, those

temperatures rarely fall away. Once again dropping below freezing, -2 or

three degrees possible. Lots of sunshine on Thursday, highs of 5

degrees. milder later in the week. That is it

from me but coming up next is the national picture. Good evening. But

frost or not of frost, that is the weather question for tomorrow and

the answer is no, probably not because of this weather front that

is slipping south from Scotland, maybe towards the south-west where

we might have one or two pockets of clearer skies. The real cold air is

in the north, behind that cold front and that will be as significant as

we move into Thursday morning. It means that overnight temperatures

will stay just above freezing with the exception in parts of Scotland.

Around three or 5 degrees in many towns and city centres but the cold

air behind that fund really kicks in on Wednesday night into Thursday

with a widespread hard frost quite possible. Wednesday morning, this is

the front bringing some nuisance cloud and outbreaks of light,

drizzly rain. In the south-west you might see a bit of early-morning

brightness