:00:00. > :00:00.Today's main headlines in the South East.
:00:07. > :00:08.The Conservative MP who switched to Ukip and has now
:00:09. > :00:10.switched back again, Mark Reckless, is described
:00:11. > :00:18.We are live in Rochester tonight, looking back on a day of real anger
:00:19. > :00:21.The burglars who did this to a clothes shop in Oxted
:00:22. > :00:23.and brought its owner to the brink of tears.
:00:24. > :00:25.We have got the CCTV coverage and saw exactly
:00:26. > :00:32.what these hooligans have done to our private little business.
:00:33. > :00:49.By the weekend, temperatures potentially in the lows 20s.
:00:50. > :00:53.There has been an angry response in Medway today to the news
:00:54. > :00:55.that the former MP for Rochester, Mark Reckless, who abandoned
:00:56. > :00:57.the Conservatives for Ukip, is now supporting the
:00:58. > :01:01.Mr Reckless says he is an admirer of Teresa May's performance
:01:02. > :01:03.as Prime Minister and will vote with her party
:01:04. > :01:06.in the seat he has taken up in the Welsh Assembly.
:01:07. > :01:11.Peter Whittlesea has been gauging reaction in the Medway Towns.
:01:12. > :01:13.The report include some flashing images.
:01:14. > :01:15.Today, I am leaving the Conservative Party...
:01:16. > :01:27.He was a self-styled principled politician, who defected from
:01:28. > :01:29.the Conservative Party to join Ukip's "People's Army",
:01:30. > :01:37.But as he quits Ukip in Wales, where he is an Assembly member,
:01:38. > :01:39.his critics in Rochester are challenging him to go to
:01:40. > :01:41.the electorate again and claim they will ensure
:01:42. > :01:43.he is never admitted to the Conservative Party.
:01:44. > :01:45.For me, those are actions of a Judas.
:01:46. > :01:50.I will make very strong representation to the party,
:01:51. > :01:53.if there is any consideration to have him back as a member,
:01:54. > :01:57.to both Number 10 and the party chairman.
:01:58. > :01:59.Three years ago, Reckless announced he was leaving the
:02:00. > :02:01.Conservative Party to join Ukip, forcing a by-election.
:02:02. > :02:04.Two months later, he won that by-election with a 2,900 majority.
:02:05. > :02:09.It cost Medway Council over ?160,000 to stage the election.
:02:10. > :02:11.Today, Ukip colleagues in Medway are asking him
:02:12. > :02:31.He is an honourable man and made the point
:02:32. > :02:34.when he was the MP here that he would let the people choose.
:02:35. > :02:36.Now, I think that the people should choose in Wales.
:02:37. > :02:42.But today, Mark Reckless said the proportional voting
:02:43. > :02:47.system in the Welsh Assembly meant he could not trigger an election.
:02:48. > :02:50.I would love to put my decision before the electorate, as I did
:02:51. > :02:53.before, but with the proportional list system we have in Wales,
:02:54. > :02:56.But I think many of the people who did
:02:57. > :03:00.vote for Ukip in May are coming over to the Conservatives at all levels,
:03:01. > :03:04.With Brexit now on its way, political commentators say
:03:05. > :03:06.the decision by Mark Reckless is not a big surprise.
:03:07. > :03:09.It is not so much a party any more, but a campaign -
:03:10. > :03:15.Now they have done that, they are at a bit of a loose end.
:03:16. > :03:17.Nigel Farage has gone off to Mississippi or California.
:03:18. > :03:20.Mark Reckless is stuck there as a member for South East Wales.
:03:21. > :03:25.Reckless says he will now be voting with the Conservatives in Wales
:03:26. > :03:31.and helping the government delivered Brexit.
:03:32. > :03:33.Sara Smith has been following this story
:03:34. > :03:55.It certainly has not been a good couple of weeks for them. Lastly,
:03:56. > :04:02.the only MP left the party and said they will stand as an independent.
:04:03. > :04:08.When they were fighting the by-election, the party leader was
:04:09. > :04:15.here saying they were going to win 10% of the seats. It did not travel
:04:16. > :04:18.notes. However, they didn't get the referendum and one. The question now
:04:19. > :04:21.seems to be, is there a future for the party over the referendum has
:04:22. > :04:24.been and gone? An inquest into the death of a man
:04:25. > :04:27.from Kent who died while taking part in a charity pram race,
:04:28. > :04:30.has concluded that his death was the result a severe
:04:31. > :04:32.traumatic brain injury. Francis O'Sullivan,
:04:33. > :04:34.who was 52 and known as Titch, fell from the makeshift pram
:04:35. > :04:36.at the event in Sutton Valence He died in hospital
:04:37. > :04:40.the following day. Today, a coroner confirmed his
:04:41. > :04:41.death was accidental. A former boarding school worker
:04:42. > :04:44.from East Sussex who killed himself during a sex abuse trial has
:04:45. > :04:47.had his conviction overturned, because of the fact that he killed
:04:48. > :04:49.himself the day before Darren Turk, who was 54
:04:50. > :04:52.and worked at Frewen College in Northiam as Head of Care,
:04:53. > :04:55.was found guilty of ten offences against boys at the school
:04:56. > :04:57.between 1996 and 2002. Appeal judges today said that,
:04:58. > :05:00.in law, a verdict should at all once it was known
:05:01. > :05:05.the defendent had died. CCTV footage has been released
:05:06. > :05:07.showing the moment robbers smash their way into an independent
:05:08. > :05:10.shop in Oxted, near Sevenoaks, using a sledgehammer
:05:11. > :05:12.to help them steal ?30,000 Surrey Police are urging
:05:13. > :05:15.anyone who may have seen the getaway vehicle -
:05:16. > :05:18.a white Landrover - to contact them. Dramatic footage shows how
:05:19. > :05:29.the audacious thieves used rope Moments later,
:05:30. > :05:33.they smashed their way Meticulously planned,
:05:34. > :05:37.one stands guard, while the other steals large quantities
:05:38. > :05:45.of designer clothes. Fortunately, we have got the CCTV
:05:46. > :05:48.coverage and saw exactly what these hooligans have done
:05:49. > :05:50.to our private little business. They stole around ?30,000
:05:51. > :05:58.worth of clothes from the Gas Station Jeans store
:05:59. > :06:01.in the early hours of Wednesday. We do not think people
:06:02. > :06:04.have the guts to do that. It is obviously not very nice,
:06:05. > :06:07.because the damage is massive. Most of what was stolen
:06:08. > :06:13.was premium-branded jeans. Locals say this is a quiet
:06:14. > :06:16.and small town and something They obviously do not think
:06:17. > :06:28.about that it is someone's That is way beyond
:06:29. > :06:30.anything I would imagine. The shop owners pay quite a lot
:06:31. > :06:38.in rates and it is quite sad. It will be quite hard
:06:39. > :06:40.to recover from this, because we cannot just go out
:06:41. > :06:43.to our suppliers and say we need more stock, because our suppliers
:06:44. > :06:45.will say, "I'm sorry, we have sold out" and we are left
:06:46. > :06:53.with nothing to sell. Surrey Police told us
:06:54. > :06:55.they are investigating a number Now, the artist JM Turner has long
:06:56. > :07:06.been associated with Margate, but much less known
:07:07. > :07:08.are the connectoins between his rival, John Constable,
:07:09. > :07:10.and the county of Sussex. Constable moved to Brighton
:07:11. > :07:12.in the hope the sea air would cure his ill wife,
:07:13. > :07:14.leaving a treasure-trove of paintings which go on display
:07:15. > :07:17.in the city on Saturday. This is a jaw-dropping collection
:07:18. > :07:33.by one of the godfathers It is the first time
:07:34. > :07:38.these pictures have been brought together, to tell the story
:07:39. > :07:47.of John Constable time in Sussex. It was a time which was personally
:07:48. > :07:49.tragic, because it ended with the death of his wife Maria,
:07:50. > :07:53.but also at a time when his We have been able to amass a large
:07:54. > :07:57.percentage of the work he everything from huge
:07:58. > :08:00.masterpieces to really detailed little sketches that he painted
:08:01. > :08:05.out in the countryside. There is a real wow factor,
:08:06. > :08:08.coming into this room and seeing all these works by one of the real
:08:09. > :08:12.greats of English art. All these great pictures
:08:13. > :08:16.were painted in Brighton You cannot just say "This
:08:17. > :08:25.is John Constable's house." This is where John Constable lodged
:08:26. > :08:31.with his family in Brighton, in the hope that the sea air may cure Maria
:08:32. > :08:37.of her tuberculosis. It is still occupied by an artist,
:08:38. > :08:39.whose fascination with Constable led him to jointly curate this
:08:40. > :08:44.summer's exhibition. I feel it is like a
:08:45. > :08:46.handshake across time. It is like having someone
:08:47. > :08:50.tap on your shoulder Constable was not a fan
:08:51. > :08:54.of the busy centre of the town. But as the exhibition reveals,
:08:55. > :08:57.he painted what he loved in walks into the
:08:58. > :08:59.surrounding countryside - much of which has now
:09:00. > :09:05.disappeared under development. Constable is always thought to have
:09:06. > :09:08.been a Suffolk painter, or a painter So, when he is in Brighton,
:09:09. > :09:12.this is a completely new aspect of him which has
:09:13. > :09:14.been discovered, really, because no-one knew where
:09:15. > :09:19.he was living or what he was doing. 60 jewels from the legacy
:09:20. > :09:21.of one of the most famous The exhibition is open
:09:22. > :09:26.from Saturday until October at the Brighton Museum and Art
:09:27. > :09:35.Gallery. The national weather to come,
:09:36. > :09:58.but first, we can see what the Good evening. A glorious day for
:09:59. > :10:04.much of today. A lot of sunshine. Over the next few days, much the
:10:05. > :10:12.same outlook. Largely dry, with plenty of sunshine. High
:10:13. > :10:18.temperatures over the weekend possibly getting up to about 23
:10:19. > :10:29.Celsius. Some mist and fog overnight. That will burn away
:10:30. > :10:35.quickly. We still have this area of high pressure. For tomorrow,
:10:36. > :10:49.temperatures by the Aston about temperatures by the Aston about
:10:50. > :10:55.15-14 C. Fading into Saturday, more of the scene. Clear skies overnight.
:10:56. > :11:00.Overnight temperatures dropping to 7-8 C. To the weekend, this is the
:11:01. > :11:13.Hello. There was some warm sunshine around today, but it's set to get
:11:14. > :11:16.even warmer this weekend. 18 Celsius in London this afternoon. This was
:11:17. > :11:21.the scene in Chiswick, much quieter than it was on Sunday for the boat
:11:22. > :11:24.race. Under the cloud for example here in Cumbria, temperatures
:11:25. > :11:28.struggled to make double figures. Through the night we're going to
:11:29. > :11:30.hang onto a lot of cloud across north-west England, North Wales,
:11:31. > :11:32.Northern Ireland and western Scotland, where there will be a bit
:11:33. > :11:33.of drizzle