19/04/2017 South East Today

Today's main headlines in the South East.

Kent Police warn against vigilantism after confrontations

between self-styled paedophile hunters and suspected sex offenders.

We are live at Kent Police headquarters, with the latest.

A grieving mother warns about the dangers of illegal highs,

after her son dies from taking prescription drugs.

And after a bright spring day, a lot more dry weather in the forecast.

Kent Police are warning against vigilantism,

after a series of confrontations between self-styled

paedophile hunters and suspected sex offenders.

The group, The Hunted One, has recently streamed live footage

of themselves confronting an alleged sexual predator,

Now, Kent Police say they have significant concerns about people

taking the law into their own hands. Peter Whittlesea reports.

Filmed to capture the moment the group known as The Hunted One

confronted a suspected paedophile, who thought he was meeting a child

for sex, this footage was streamed live to thousands on social media.

It allegedly turned violent after viewers were said to have

offered cash to anyone who would beat the suspect up.

The Hunted One now say they will no longer stream their events live.

We thought we would go live, to show people just how

To show people how we do the process a little bit better.

But it has not worked out and we do not want to put

anyone's life at risk, whoever it is and what they

Following the alleged incident at Bluewater,

Kent Police are urging people not to get involved in sting operations,

telling self-styled peadophile hunters that they could be acting

outside the law and jeopardising ongoing police operations.

They could often effectively do more harm than good,

because they may gather a great deal of evidence that

can then not be used. It is inadmissable.

Obviously, when the police have their undercover

operations and stings, they follow certain

techniques and they have training, they have legal oversight.

Children's charities who have campaigned to tighten laws

involving online grooming and abuse say the police are best placed

Investigating child sexual abuse is a complex task that

requires specially trained and dedicated police officers.

There is that problem and also the problem that it can also drive

known or alleged offenders underground.

But The Hunted One say they will continue.

Do you know what it actually does to a child of that age?

Citing cases like that, of paedophile Mark McKenna,

who was jailed for five years following their sting operation.

They also claim to have gathered evidence in more

Chrissie Reidy is at Kent Police headquarters and has been

Chrissie, what are the latest developments?

The police have confirmed that two men have been charged with affray in

connection with the incident at the soup shopping centre. They are also

concerned that filming people in this week could identify wrong

people. The Hunted One CV do not want to criticise the police, but

they are not so confident the police have enough resources to tackle the

problem online. Fire has broken out over the Perry Street in Faversham.

The main road is closed. It is not yet known how the fire started.

Three years ahead of schedule, we will be

after MPs voted in favour today of holding a general

But which constituencies will be the ones to watch

South Thanet will once again be a focus.

It currently has a Conservative MP in Craig Mackinlay,

but has the only Ukip-run council in the country.

And former Ukip leader Nigel Farage may choose to stand here again.

The fight for Brighton Kemptown could also be fierce,

as Conservative MP Simon Kirby has the smallest majority

in the South East - just 690 votes.

And Caroline Ansell in Eastbourne and Maria Caulfield in Lewes

both only won their seats from the Liberal Democrats two

They will be among the Lib Dems' targets to retake.

As for the small majority, I would say to the good

people of Eastbourne, I have a very big message

and that mesaage is, Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn?

If you look at the polling currently, it would take someone

with a huge amount of ambition to imagine that the Labour Party

is going to form the next government, with the best

will in the world. But because of our electoral system,

What can happen is that Theresa May can massively

increase her majority at the election.

I do not think that is in the best interests of the country.

The grieving mother of a teenager from Deal, who died after taking

a lethal dose of a powerful prescription drug, is warning others

not to risk their lives looking for an illegal high.

Robert Fraser died after taking fentanyl,

a synthetic opiate that is 100 times more potent than heroin.

In her first television interview since his death,

Michelle Fraser says he was a bubbly teenager with his

whole life ahead of him, who did not understand

the risks he was taking. Leanne Rinne reports.

Robert Fraser enjoying his 18th birthday with his brother and

sister, but just a few weeks later, his family found him

Our generation could not access drugs as easily as they can now.

They can get it on the internet, they have got mobile phones,

We were not as aware, but we need to be more aware,

for our children's sake, because this drug, it was just given

to my son as a buy one, have it, try it and see what it does.

A toxicology report confirmed Robert died from taking too much fentanyl,

a prescription drug similar to morphine and heroin, but up to

100 times more powerful. Taking the wrong dose can be fatal.

It is a much stronger opiate than heroin.

It does not come from the opiate plant, like heroin does.

It is much more intense and fast acting and, therefore,

Robert had just finished studying motor mechanics

His friends say they were concerned he was dabbling

Everybody was getting worried and saying,

"You need to stop" and then, the last I heard of it,

He was good at anything he tried, really, like skateboarding, bikes.

Robert's family hope that, by speaking out,

they will stop others experiencing the same tragedy.

An East Sussex school for pupils with special needs, which was put

into special measures in 2014, has today got the royal seal

of approval, when the Countess of Wessex opened an innovative

new project that gives teenagers the chance to get work experience

Our Education Correspondent Bryony Mackenzie has more.

A warm welcome for their toyal patron and then came the questions.

Well, we have one downstairs and one upstairs.

The first of its kind in the country, this

A shopping mall at a school, with a hairdressers, bank,

car wash and cafe, where students can experience real-life

situations, to help them in their careers and interactions.

Lewis is 18 and learning about hospitality.

When I first started working in the cafe, I was nervous.

From a parent's point of view there is not

No, there isn't. This is inspirational and

forward thinking and it has to be the way for the future.

In 2014, the school was in special measures.

Now "requiring improvement", it is making positive progress.

It is changing the school's fortunes, but more importantly,

it is changing the children's benefits and outcomes.

The next step when they leave is that they can take

The aim is to empower all age ranges, to take on life's challenges

That is it from me. The national weather forecast coming

in a moment, but first, let's get the picture

here in the South East, with Rachel Mackley.

Good evening. It was easy prey cast unknown, if rather cool.

Temperatures on the rise, despite more cloud. Innate, clear skies mean

temperature stumbling, hovering around freezing in the countryside.

A bright start to the day tomorrow. High pressure still firmly in

control. Into the afternoon, more in the way of cloud cover. During the

afternoon, the wind south westerly. Temperatures Whately in double

figures tomorrow. The best about 14 Celsius. A similar picture first in

Friday. Temperatures again 13-14 C. Friday. Temperatures again 13-14 C.

Cruel era as we head towards the weekend. Here is the outlook.

going into the weekend as well. A similar story across the UK. Thomas

matter has that story. Good evening, before we get to the

forecast, I want to show you a map which depicts how dry it has been

during the course of April. Brown is below average rainfall, blue is

above average. You can see how Brown the map is. Some areas in the south,

some counties have only seen a few percent so far in April. Not

necessarily a good thing at all. The rest of the week, not an awful lot

of change, a fair bit of