10/01/2017 South East Today

Here in the South East tonight... for the news where you are.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn calls for Southern Rail

to be renationalised, as strikes halt the service again.

We'll be live in Hove with the latest.

Creating more grammars is a distraction, says

the new head of Ofsted, sparking a political row

Although we stayed dry and mild for tomorrow, warnings of snow for

Thursday. -- although we stay. There's still no end in sight

to the latest strike hitting Southern Railway,

which has seen hundreds of thousands of travellers in the South East

experience another The walkout - over the role

of conductors on trains - is being backed by Labour leader

Jeremy Corbyn, but the Labour MP for Hove, Peter Kyle,

says there is "a lot of blame to go round" while passengers

continue to suffer. Day 31 of the Southern strike

and these were the reactions of people returning

to Tunbridge Wells tonight, some of them having travelled

three hours to get home. All I say is the Government,

the unions and the franchise people, Govia, get together, get your heads

together, because it's There's nothing we can do,

they need to sort it out. People losing their jobs,

that's the worst thing. So the unions have got

something to answer for. That certainly wasn't

the view of the Labour leader this morning, though,

telling national BBC radio that the Government was simply

protecting a failing company I would want that franchise brought

back into the public ownership and public sector,

because after all we provide the rails, we provide the trains

and they make the profits Reacting to that on BBC

South East earlier tonight, it was clear Labour are not united

on this issue. What really worries me

about Jeremy's comments today and the Government's comments is it

does seem that both of those groups The Government refuses to criticise

Southern, Jeremy refuses Meanwhile the two sides paid

to provide the service continued The train company relied once again

on the latest findings Last week the Chief Rail

Inspectorate has said that the way that we're operating is perfectly

safe and that DOO The unions stressed once again

that they are not prepared to run trains with only one member of staff

on board to watch the doors. Southern say they will always aim

to have two on board but if one is sick the train

will still depart. It is the big sticking point

but the word compromise We've tried to negotiate

with the company to find a solution to the issue

of driver-only operation. You know, we have been

prepared to compromise, despite what the company

are telling the public. So another day of disruption

on the Southern rail network. And there are still five more strike

days planned this month, including action tomorrow

and on Friday this week. Well, John Young joins us now

from outside Hove station. It is all quiet there this evening,

what can we expect tomorrow? More of the same. Extraordinary scenes

tonight, all locked up and everybody has gone home. This time yesterday

viewers who were watching may remember I was reporting on

Southern's plans to lay on buses to take passengers to the South Eastern

trains. Some people said, please don't use them too much because it

could be very crowded. It seems that people heeded the warnings. What

happens next? The buses will be laid on tomorrow and Friday but Southern

told me they would review the situation and decide whether they

will offer the bus service again for the strikes at the end of this

month. A woman whose partner was killed

in the Shoreham Airshow disaster has Giovanna Chirico, from Worthing,

was due to marry Mark Trussler, who was one of 11 men killed

when a Hawker Hunter jet crashed She's due to appear before

magistrates next month, charged with possession

of the Class B drug amphetamine, A plane made an emergency landing

this morning at Gatwick Airport after a bird strike damaged

an engine as it took Passengers described a loud thud

from the left engine They were transferred

into an alternative flight 12 acres of Thanet parkland will be

restored to its Victorian heyday, thanks to a ?1.7 million grant

from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Ellington Park in Ramsgate

was created in the 1890s, but has suffered decades

of damage and neglect. The money will help reinstate

original Victorian features, improve play facilities and provide

a cafe. A jury has been told a woman

from Sussex who was killed by her ex-husband had her body

hidden under rubble for 12 years Natalia Wilkanowska,

from Eastbourne, disappeared after travelling to Luton to meet

Gerald Doherty in 2003. Her body was finally found in 2015

in a garden in the town. Sara Smith has been following

the story and joins us now. Sara, it's her two former

brothers-in-law who are Yes, her ex-husband killed himself

in 20th -- in 2003, just before she went missing. In court it was said

that his elder brother many years that his elder brother many years

later told the family that he, the -- he and the ex-husband had killed

her. Her body was found in a garden in Luton owned by another brother,

buried under piles of rubble. Both brothers, Joseph Doherty and Daniel

Doherty, are on trail for both hiding the fact of her death and

hiding her body. What more to the court say about her death? The

pathologist told the jury she had been killed by a blow to the head

caused by a third party. The cause of death could not be established.

The couple had been married for 23 years, separating just a couple of

years before this happened, and the two brothers who are in court now

denying all of the charges against them.

The new Chief Inspector of Schools for England has sparked

a political row tonight, after describing government

proposals to create more grammar schools as "a distraction".

Amanda Spielman, who's just taken over at Ofsted,

says Theresa May's plans won't help to make

But Kent MPs who've campaigned to create new grammar places

are saying she was wrong to "step out of line" and speak out

Building new grammar schools is currently illegal

but here in Sevenoaks work is well under way on the first new

This, however, is classed as an annexe to an existing

Critics say that's a way of bypassing the law but Theresa May

wants to allow new grammars in their own right.

In an interview with The Guardian, though, Ofsted chief inspector

Amanda Spielman says, "For me, it's a distraction

I don't see it as something that has much to do with making

the most of every school, of Ofsted making the most

of its work and contributing to system improvement."

Her comments have angered supporters of Theresa May's plans.

A new flagship agenda for this government is widely supported,

particularly by people in Kent, and civil servants should not step

out of line and start talking against the Government's agenda.

Now it is time for civil servants to do what they should be doing -

supporting the Government and advising the Government

in private but not going public with their concerns.

But opponents of grammars say Amanda Spielman is quite

It is only her first few days as Chief Inspector

and she is plainly determined to base her policy judgments

In Sevenoaks, set to benefit from new grammar places,

there is no shying away from the debate.

It is very hard for them at ten to take the test.

We should look at other ways of the children

I'm a real fan of aspiration and allowing children to be given

the best education that we can through the state system.

I think there are certain pupils that are at that level,

that have got that sort of knowledge already inside them, that should be

The Government didn't want to comment today on the criticisms

from the new Ofsted chief other than to say expanding and creating

new grammar-school places would create more good school places.

As regards this site, when it opens later this year those

behind it say it will be a major milestone in the

Now let's see what's in store with the weather for the next couple

Rachel, not looking too bad tomorrow, but...

But then as we get to Thursday the risk of some snow. For tomorrow we

will be staying mild, temperatures in the morning nine or 10 degrees,

but this bitterly cold north-westerly wind. By the time we

get to Thursday the risk of some snow, with weather warnings in

place. Earlier this afternoon clearer skies, which we hold onto

overnight tonight initially but there will be a bit more cloud cover

towards the hours of tomorrow morning. Very mild overnight lows of

around six or 7 degrees, very mild. Initially dry but then we have this

cold front, behind it much colder air and breezy as well. Some patchy

drizzle around and temperatures reaching nine or 10 degrees. Once

the front clears through, behind it temperatures fall away, more like

six or seven by the end of the day. Wednesday into Thursday we hold onto

that bitterly cold north-westerly wind. Overnight temperatures around

two or three degrees, feeling a lot cooler. Initially dry but we will be

seeing rain and the risk of some scattered snow showers, particularly

at the tail end of the of the week, and to start the

weekend as well. For more on that snow situation, over to Jay Wynne