A Kent woman who suffered months of domestic abuse at the hands of her boyfriend is urging other victims to speak out.
Josephine Bell from Faversham says her partner cut her off from her family and friends.
The 22-year-old has been speaking to reporter James Pallant.
Also on today's podcast, the Prime Minister's facing a rebellion in the Commons today over proposed changes to winter fuel payments.
Millions of pensioners looks to lose the £300, but Sir Keir Starmer says it's necessary to stabilise the economy. We've been hearing from the Dartford MP.
A Margate mum whose teenage son took his own life is urging us not to avoid difficult conversations about mental health.
15-year-old Stefan Kluibenschadl died in 2022, and his parents have spoken out as we mark World Suicide Prevention Day.
The KentOnline Podcast's been told work to widen a busy stretch of road not far from Kings Hill could start next spring.
It's after years of campaigning to improve safety on the A228 at Kent Street near Mereworth.
Coffee waste from cafes in Canterbury is going to be prevented from going to landfill, and recycled instead.
We consume around 36 billion cups of coffee in the UK every year - generating 250-thousand tonnes of spent coffee grounds.
In sport, the Gillingham boss has been nominated for the league two manager of the month award for August.
Mark Bonner's side were unbeaten in their first four games of the season and top of the table.
10th of September. First up today, we're going to be hearing from our reporter James Palant, who's been speaking to a young mum after her former boyfriend admitted controlling and coercive behaviour. Josephine Bell hopes that by telling her story, she'll encourage more victims to come forward. James, thanks ever so much for being on today's podcast. You've been speaking to 22-year-old Josephine. Firstly, what did she say to you about the start of her relationship? Thank you for having me. Josephine says at first her relationship with Joshua Turner was a happy one. Although she says when they first got together and put it on Facebook, one of Turner's exes messaged her to say he was abusive and had anger issues. And when did things start to change and what did he do? Josephine says things got ugly about six months after they started dating. She told me Turner of Buffs Road Canterbury cut her off from family and friends by hiding her phone in places she couldn't reach and on one occasion dragged her by the wrists from room to room of the flat they shared. She says she wore long sleeves to work the next day to keep co-workers from seeing the marks. Now, Turner has appeared in court. What was said at the hearing, James? Prosecutor Victoria Aikid said the abuse went on for months. She told how the 25-year-old Turner was excessively jealous, didn't like Josephine talking to male friends, and threatened to kill himself if she broke up with him. She also said once when a couple were walking by a lake, she told the young mum, quote, "That's where I'll bury you if I kill you," unquote. Turner pleaded guilty to charges of controlling and coercive behaviour and assault by beating and is due to be sentenced next month. You've also been having a look at some police data on this crime. What does that show? Yes, I've been looking specifically at the data for controlling and coercive behaviour. That's when an abuser uses violence, threats or insults to degrade or control their victim. It can also include financial abuse or keeping them from friends and family. Data shows that in the year ending March 2023, Kent police received on average 40 calls every week about this crime. With Thanet, Swale and Maidstone the worst affected areas of the county. And finally, a charity have also reacted to your story today, haven't they? That's right, Kent Charity support an action to end domestic abuse or sedata, has praised Josephine for the bravery she has shown in speaking out. The charity CEO, Kerry Philpott, says, "Sadly, coercive control and domestic abuse are at endemic levels, and that abuse can take many forms with coercion and economic abuse often more difficult to recognise. She is urging anyone who feels something isn't right in their relationship to trust their instincts and seek support." When proper traders are held to account, she says, "It sends a clear message that abuse will not be tolerated in our society." James, thank you ever so much you can read that story in fall by heading to kentonline.co.uk. Kent Online News. A man died after the motorbike he was riding was involved in a collision with a car in modern. It happened on Maidstone Road on Sunday afternoon and involved a Fiat Panda and Kawasaki, who told the motor cyclist was in his 50s. A teenager's chewing court accused of making threats with a knife in greenheath. Police were called to reports of a disturbance in Key Lane last Friday. A boy was detained and a weapon seized. Two men have been charged following a spate of shot lifting offences in West Kent. Stores, including Ryman's, space in Kay, Hooper's and Tesco in Tumbridge Wells, are all said to have been targeted last month. A 59 and 31-year-old are due in court. The prime minister is facing a bit of a rebellion in the comments today over proposed changes to the winter fuel payments. Millions of pensioners looked to lose £300 but secure starma says it's necessary to stabilise the economy. A number of backbenchers are expected to rebel in a vote today. Well, Jim Dixon is the Labour MP for Darford. He'll be voting with his party and has been speaking to Oliver Leaded a sax from our colleagues at KMTV. I'm a big champion for Darford and I will remain so, but I was elected as a Labour MP and I am a member of the Parliamentary Labour Party. I will be voting with the government. It is a difficult decision. I don't doubt it is going to affect some pensioners this winter. However, there are big rises in the pension happening. The record of Labour governments, for instance, the last Labour government is that the end of our period in office pensioners are taken out of poverty, children are taken out of poverty, money is redistributed from the best off to the least well off and I'm very confident that will happen over the four-year term. But I don't underate some of the difficulties that might come with the decision that's been taken on the winter fuel payment. But the government has my support because I believe it's got the right values and the direction of travel is right. Is it part of your kind of field? It wasn't a voter conscience as opposed to a wicked vote. Would you have referred this to be down to individual MPs? Or is it just such a big issue that had to be enforced by government in this occasion? Governments have programs and they need to get those programs through the House of Commons and the only way you can do that is by the party sticking together and that's always been my philosophy and always will be. As long as the values are right and the direction of travel is right and I believe that is the case, the government will always have my support and in this instance it does have my support. Research by AGK has estimated that two million pensioners will struggle to pay their energy bills if the cut does go ahead. But the vote was due to happen after today's podcast had been recorded. You can read further reaction to the result of that vote on the national pages of Kent Online. Kent Online reports next today and a Margate mum whose teenage son took his own life is urging us not to avoid difficult conversations about mental health. 15-year-old Stefan Klubenschadel died in 2022 and his parents have spoken out as we mark World Suicide Prevention Day. Mum Emma says things have to change. My son Stefan, he died by suicide in March 2022. He was being bullied and he was autistic and some people found that he was autistic and then he started to be bullied in his weekend job. I suppose why it's really important is not only because of Steph but loads of young people are dying. I mean suicide is the biggest killer of people under 35 years old and actually the rates in England and Wales this year are higher than they've been in 20 years and especially one of the sort of groups with high rates of suicide are neurodivergent people. So in the government suicide strategy they bought out last year they named autistic people in the sort of top five categories. So things need to change. We need to do something. Our young people are dying. It's the biggest killer, bigger than cancer. More of our young people die of suicide than they do of knife crime, if they do car accidents and yet we seem to not be spending enough money or support on mental health. So you know it's really important to me that no other parent experiences this depth of pain is still such a taboo around suicide. Even when we speak about suicide people kind of whisper that and when Steph and died his school were advised and they took this advice not to tell the other pupils that Steph and had died by suicide and to tell them that he'd got ill and died and that wasn't our wishes. We wanted young people to know because what we wanted young people to know is you need to talk about this and then it just become a taboo subject again. If you're not talking about the fact that Steph died by suicide you're saying he'd become unwell and died. You're almost covering it up again. So if those young people were feeling suicidal they had no kind of ability to start that conversation. Whereas if they've known that's how Steph and the died they might have gone to know what I feel really know. I feel really suicidal. We've got to have these uncomfortable conversations since Steph and died. You know I've really noticed lost a lot of family and friends because people are really uncomfortable with death, with difficult conversations they want to avoid it. It's too painful. You want to live it every day. That's pain. So let's talk about this. Let's have these conversations with our young people. Let's say do you feel suicidal? That was sort of my biggest regret with Steph and that I never turned around to him and said, you know, have you had suicidal thoughts? Do you feel suicidal? He might have said no and he might not have told us but I would have had a clear conscience to know that I'd actually asked him and if he'd said yes I might have been able to change what had happened. So yes, we need to speak about it. We need to have these uncomfortable conversations because actually I might see someone's look. We're incredibly grateful to Emma for speaking to the Kent Online podcast. The family have been holding an event in Margate today to raise awareness. Kent Online reports. It's been a big rise in unemployment in Kent according to figures out today. It's gone up by nearly 3000 with just over 42,000 people claiming out of work benefits in the county in July. This is one of our most read stories on the website is Shopping Center in Dover has gone up for sale after speculation. It could be turned into housing. The Charlton Center and Car Park has an auction guide price of around two million pounds. The site in the town center is earmarked for 100 homes in the council's local plans. Thieves have stolen 30,000 pounds of metal from a Kent landmark that's been turned into a holiday let work to convert the Martello Tower in dim church is underway but bundles have also damaged part of the roof. Police are investigating and we're told it's delayed the renovation. An investigation meantime is underway after a group of teenagers were caught attacking a baby hedgehog in Gravesend. Footage was captured on a video doorbell in Cedar Avenue. It shows one of the gang also filming the attack on a mobile. The RSPCA want to hear from anyone with information. The police have also been told about it. Now the Kent Online podcast's been told work to widen a busy stretch of road not far from King's Hill could start next spring. It's after years of campaigning to improve safety on the A228 at Kent Street near Maryworth. Traffic lights would be installed to help residents join the road too. Sarah Hudson is the local councilor in the area. She's been speaking to Gabriel Morris from the local democracy reporting service. Kent Street is a road that runs either side of the A228. Residents live on both sides and trying to get out from their side road onto the A228. They take their life in their hands every single time. Traffic, the A228 is a really busy road going up to the motorway. People are going up to King's Hill and it's really important that we can try and make their lives just that much safer. So the idea of what we're trying to do is to install traffic lights on all four arms which would be the stop sign would be generated by the senses underneath in Kent Street on either side. And then they'll be able to exit the road safely because all the other traffic has stopped. Additionally, because of that, we're able to put in a puffing crossing. So there'll be a very, very safe place for school children to cross the road to be able to access the east side of Kent Street. And in addition, you can walk along Kent Street and actually take you to into King's Hill now because I've had all of that roadway opened up. Why is it you're calling for this? I mean, how have there been a number of incidents in recent months? There have been multiple accidents over the course of time. This is something that was identified probably 15, 20 years ago as something that needed doing. Section 106 funding was granted as part of the King's Hill development. And since I was elected in 2021, I've been pushing forward on this because it's time that we got this done. All the residents are very eager to for it to happen. So a young girl was knocked over three years ago now, literally just after I was elected, and she was trying to cross the road to get home. Unfortunately, her injuries weren't severe, but that's not to say that someone else, it could have been a fatal accident. So, you know, we need to prevent any fatalities and to ensure that this gets action as quickly as possible. There was a public consultation last May. Residents were in favour of it and I just want to get on with it. Council bosses have told us they're in talks with a local landowner to try and ensure this project goes ahead. As you heard there, it would be funded by cash from local housing developers. Ken's online news. There's anger that potholes on a road in Ashford weren't fixed while it was shut for seven weeks for new power cables to be laid. Newtown Road was closed back in July and reopened last week. The county council say it will be resurfaced in the future and alterations will be made to the junctions too. Elsewhere, work has started on trying to secure the land on a road in Kent following a series of landslides. The road of remembrance in Folkston has been close in January and it's been confirmed it won't reopen this year. Specialist contractors have been brought in to survey the site and roads bosses say it'll stay shut until it's completely safe. Our reporter has been speaking to the lady who lives on a house just above where those landslides have happened. You can read what she had to say about living there by heading to the website. Meantime, a Kent railway line is going to close so work can be done to prevent debris from landslips getting on to the track. Engineers will be building a wall along the line near Tissen between East Farley and Maidstone West stations. It's going to happen between the end of October and November the 3rd when buses will replace trains. Coffee waste from cafes in Canterbury is going to be prevented from going to landfill and recycled instead. Would you believe we consume around 36 billion cups of coffee in the UK every year? That's enough to generate 250 thousand tons of spent grounds. Now some of that is going to be turned into fertilizer pellets and even biofuel. Lucy, it's been speaking to Martin Heathcote, who's the chief exec of country-style recycling. This is starting in Canterbury and Kent really. Kent's our roots of where the business was built from. We're now second generation and it's all about solving problems for the customers and one thing we saw was obviously coffee going into the general waste bin and potentially ended up in landfill. We've come up with a bespoke collection service where we're collecting it in a small caddy effectively. What happens is we process it from start to finish. We're collecting it all the way through to recycling and coffee's got some really good characteristics that are used for like a fertilizer sort of thing. We basically turn it into a pellet and that will be sold in garden centres and used as a sort of plant fertilizer. What are some of the environmental benefits of the scheme? I think the main one that we've got a bit of a stat. If we recycle the coffee, we've had a carbon study done and if we recycle the coffee in this process, I've got a note here. So one ton of coffee is saving 580 kilograms of CO2 and to sort of evaluate the equivalent of that is 1,400 miles driving in a car. That's for one ton and in the UK there's 250,000 tons of coffee waste which will be dealt with in different ways and this is just one of the ways we think it's a good story. We've had a lot of feedback where customers have come into cafes to buy a coffee. They've seen it and they want to buy the granules, buy the pellets at the same time to take home which is quite nice. It wasn't a market that we thought about. Yeah, it's really good. Like I say carbon-wise, you've got that big saving with the road miles etc. So yeah, I think it's pretty good. Because I suppose lots of us will just go into a cafe, buy a coffee and not really think much more of it and where those grounds end up, that's another one of those small things that all add up to our impact on earth. Yeah, I think there's going to be, I think obviously being circular, it's a big part of what we want to do. We've got big coverage across Kent with our collections, whether it's a wheelie being a skip or any method really where it comes to waste. And that's why we thought, well, how can we offer something else to the customers? At the same time, it's sort of like 50% cheaper than putting it in your general waste bin, but also, sustainably, it's a much better route. So it's sort of a win-win really. And finally, a police officer who helped save the life of a passenger at the Channel Tunnel near Folkston has been given an award by the Chief Constable. PC Grant Pollard did CPR and attached a defibrillator to the 90-year-old who'd fallen unconscious in the terminal building. Ken's online sport. For more first up, Anne the Gillingham boss has been nominated for the Leak 2 Manager of the Month Award for August. Mark Bonner's side run beaten in their first four games of the season and top of the table, the winner will be announced on Friday. And two Kent Paralympians have been reflecting on their performances after the games in Paris came to an end. Zach Skinner from Seven Oaks says he was disappointed to have finished just outside the medals in the T-13 long jump and is hoping for more consistency going forward. Meantime, Darkford powerlifter Liam McGarry, who came fifth in his over 107 kilos class, says taking part was everything after a number of recent injuries. That's all from us for today. Thanks ever so much for listening. Don't forget, you can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Threads. You can also get details on the top stories, direct your email each morning via the briefing. To sign up to that, you just need to head to kentonline.co.uk. Whilst you are on the site today, don't forget to check out the 20 dogs looking for their forever homes in Kent Plus. We find out about the strange things that have been left in Kent's holiday inns. We'll be back with the podcast tomorrow. News you can trust. This is the Kent Online Podcast.
