It’s been revealed a driver who’d taken cocaine hours before getting behind the wheel lost control of his vehicle before a fatal crash.
Tommy Dunn also wasn't wearing his seatbelt and was using his phone moments before swerving into oncoming traffic.
Also in today’s podcast, a Kent MP is calling on the Mayor of London to extend his plans to offer concessions for the Silvertown Tunnel to include people living in Kent
There are a proposal to offer a discount for people in the London boroughs near the tunnel while ignoring those who live south of the River Thames.
Work has started on the infilling of part of a docklands area to prepare for new EU border rules.
The Port of Dover is aiming to create more space for checks when new Entry/Exit System starts in November 10 amid fears of traffic chaos.
It's 12 months since retail giant Wilko started closing its stores - just a month after declaring bankruptcy.
12,500 people lost their jobs nationwide including those who worked in Kent's 15 branches.
And a community group aiming to purchase and save a 500-year-old pub made famous on TV has won the backing of Piers Morgan.
The TV personality paid a visit to the Swan on the Green near Tonbridge last week while out dining with friends.
We'll hear from the man in charge of transport in Kent over concerns about plans to bring bus services under more local control. We'll also hear from the man who led the investigation into the murder of a Kent PCSO as he retires. First taking a look at our top story, it's been revealed, a maidstone man who was killed in a crash had taken cocaine before the collision. Nicola has been following this story for the Kent Online podcast. She joins me now. Nicola, thank you for your time. First of all, what do we know about the crash? Well, after months of investigation, we now know 32-year-old Tommy Dunn was driving along Waterhambury Road, heading towards East Malling, at around 7.45 in the morning on October the 27th last year. His Astra hit a curb before losing control, veering across the road and heading into oncoming traffic. His car collided with a Land Rover and he died at the scene from injuries to his head, chest and pelvis. The other driver survived. Police were initially looking for another person involved. As Tommy, it was actually found in the passenger seat, but they've now concluded he was the driver and was thrown to that side of the car during the crash. Police have now revealed he'd taken cocaine just hours before the collision. That's right. According to his partner at the time, Tommy had taken eight lines of cocaine and left the property at about 6.30 in the morning without getting much sleep. A forensic collision investigator later said the toxicology report for Mr Dunn showed the highest level of cocaine he's ever seen in a driver. Data taken from his phone also showed he'd been using it in the minutes or seconds before the crash. The coroner concluded the death was a drug-related road traffic collision. I believe some members of his family attended the hearing and have been paying tribute. Yes, Tommy has been described as a loving uncle, brother and son. He was a king boxer and was loved by everyone at TKO Maidstone, where he trained. He was known for helping others at the gym and for always having a smile on his face. Thanks, Nick. Kent Online News A convicted sex offender from Ramsgate who shared child abuse images on social media has avoided prison. John Daly admitted several offences after police raided his home on Manston Road in May last year. The 58-year-old has been given a suspended sentence. He'll also have to do 150 hours of unpaid work and take part in a rehab program. A motorcyclist is in a serious condition after a crash in Gillingham. Police and paramedics were called to the collision just after midnight. It happened on Gillingham Road near the junction with Duncan Road. The biker has been taken to a London hospital for treatment. A man's been fined after his dog, Bitter neighbour in Rochester. The victim was left with a bruise and teeth marks following the attack by a staffy type in April. The dog also bit the trouser leg of police officer who was sent to investigate. The owner has been ordered to pay more than 300 pounds. Three fire engines have been called to tackle a blaze at a house in Tunbridge Wells. It broke out in Redleaf Close yesterday. Supports been offered to residents who were affected. No one was hurt and it's unclear how it started. Now the man who led the investigation into the murder of a Kent PCSO has praised his whole team as he retires. Detective Superintendent Gavin Moss has served with the force in the county for more than 30 years. He was in charge of finding the killer of Julia James, who was murdered while out walking her dog in April 2021. For seven days, I'd never clog who was responsible for Julia's murder and that again, you know, I wasn't getting pressure from the chief officer team. I was making that pressure myself because I wanted so desperately to find who was responsible as were my team and, you know, it really was a case that making sure we did everything we put everything in place. But the breakthrough was getting that photograph. We'd also had an e-fit that Paul did about sighting he and Julia had of this male and then when you put two together, straight away I said he's done it, you know, and then it was a case of finding who we now know was Callan Wheeler, how we were going to go about that but fortunately we got that breakthrough from an identification and then as a result of that he was arrested, then charged and convicted and Julia's family got justice and I did say to Julia's family and the first visit I ever had with them was that, and I say this to all families because I genuinely believe it, I can never guarantee a conviction because I just simply cannot but what I can guarantee is a very thorough and a very professional investigation because I know what my staff are capable of doing. I know if they've got that structure that I spoke about earlier then they will themselves see and be committed and they've got that to work to and that's why I'd like to think, you know, it wasn't Gavin Moss who detected the murder of Julia Jones, it really wasn't it, it was everybody, everybody involved. We had in total 1,100 men's staff, police officers and staff and that included mutual aid people, everybody was so committed and I'm incredibly proud of everybody who worked on their investigation. You can read more about some of the cases he's been involved with in the story on our website. Kent Online News. The MP for East Danada's question, the new government and how they plan to restore faith in the criminal justice system, Polly Billington says knife crime and anti-social behaviour in her constituency continue because victims are too scared to give evidence, she's addressed the comments and solicitor general Sarah Sackman as given a reply. Polly Billington. Thank you very much Mr Speaker, I'm grateful to my honourable friends reply. What we notice particularly in town centres like Ramsgate and Margate is that anti-social behaviour, drug dealing and street crime, particularly knife crime and so forth continues because the people's anxieties about giving evidence against the criminals. What will my right honourable friend and the government do to be able to give people confidence that the criminal justice system and the prosecutions will flow once they're given their evidence? Just this week we know the Prime Minister met with police, victims, families and media companies to discuss the specific issue of knife crime which plagues her community and many communities across the country. He has promised to double down on these crimes and to halve them in the next decade and I'm part of a cross departmental team who will work to deliver this. The government is committed to taking back our streets, whether in terms of increasing the numbers of neighbourhood policing, recruiting more prosecutors to deal swiftly with these crimes and bringing forward laws to ban zombie knives and machetes. Kent Online News. The man in charge of transport in Kent has raised concerns about plans to bring bus services under more local control. A government bill is aiming to give councils the power to set routes, fairs and schedules as well as creating franchises but bosses are worried it won't come with any extra funding to resolve issues, conservative Neil Baker is the cabinet member for transport at KCC. Clearly the devil is going to be in the detail, I mean at the moment a lot of people think I am the fact controlled or a bus is in Kent because well we've had a deregulated bus system for decades now, that's not always clear. My fear is that the public expectation may be raised about what councils could do but there's been no indication that central government will transfer any funds to allow us to do that. And I think that would be the worst of both worlds where we have the theoretical ability to do something which is improved buses which we'd all like to do but no extra funds to do it and with our current financial position I cannot see how we could deliver that in any reasonable way. Vince Maple is the Labour leader of Medway Council. We know there are examples longer term examples before the law changed under the Conservatives where councils have run bus services and the profits that come from that go back into council services, that's a positive approach to public transport and we'll certainly be playing our part in the consultation because longer term we've got to have a system which works for people. For too long the bus services have not worked for the residents of Medway and indeed across the county. Work started on filling in a part of the Western Docks in Dover to make space for when new checks come in for passengers. The entry exit system is set to launch in November for anyone from outside the EU travelling to Europe. More land is being made available at the port to try and ease congestion on the roads after fees it could lead to lengthy tailbacks. The Darford MP is calling for residents living near the new Silvertown Tunnel to get a discount when finished. It will run under the Thames from the Greenwich Peninsula to near London City Airport. Jim Dixon says people in his constituency should get money off for using it rather than just those living in London boroughs. Events are being held over the next few weeks to give people in graves and in Darford more information about the lower Thames crossing. Plans for a new road tunnel between Canton Essex have been in the works for 15 years and a decision on the application is due to be considered by the government next month. National Highways will be holding community consultations in shopping centres and leisure centres to answer residents' questions. Parents and carers in Canton now have access to autism workshops to help them gain access to information and support. The NHS sessions focus on understanding autism, behaviour, anxiety and sleep and help families implement change before receiving a diagnosis. Angela lives in West Kent, she's been attending the sessions. She says the changes they've made have been life-changing for her 12-year-old daughter. I joined the workshops because my child is 12 years old, she was pre-assessed as being autistic and we're waiting for the final assessment and she'd gone through cams for anxiety and OCD and they helped her with cognitive behavioural therapy and nearing the end of that they discussed autism and how it affects every part of her life from the time she wakes up, everything in between going to sleep and staying asleep and the workshops really look at everything from behaviour to sleep and everything in between. So I have learnt so much from it and it can be small things to implement at home like that's made a huge difference and she's now sleeping six hours solid which for us is amazing since she's never slept that long in 12 years. And I imagine for her as well, it must feel sort of liberating now to think that people can understand the things that are happening for her and it just must make home life a bit more comfortable. Yeah, she felt accepted and she felt she could just be herself and validated and that she is this way and that's ok and she feels happy now to wear her ear defenders at school and in the shopping centres and whenever she needs it, even at the dinner table if she doesn't like the sound of chewing or anything else upsetting her, she knows she can do that she doesn't have to mask all the time and it's been so freeing for her and just to be just to know she's not alone and we know parents we're not alone and other parents are going through the same things or similar experiences, it's been a really supportive thing for me to go to these workshops just to hear other parents talking about what they're struggling with and realising although each situation is so unique for everyone, we're all going through similar things and it really helps to hear their questions as well during the workshops as well as being able to ask questions from the professionals. Dr Joshua Nice is a clinical psychologist. We're really keen to improve access to our services and to our team and our clinicians and we've been looking at kind of innovative and creative ways of doing that because there are locally and nationally long waiting lists to access things like autism and neurodiversity assessments and so what we've done is through the last couple of years is to develop a set of workshops and drop-ins where people can access information and that will be helpful to them and their family and drop-ins where they can meet not only NHS staff but also people from the Ken Autistic Trust from iAsk or an Information Support, advice service for education and a representative from the Education from Ken Cancer Council. You mentioned there about long wait lists, would you have any idea of how long people are waiting for access to support services? Sadly, people are waiting many years for assessments and it's not a situation that anybody within the system is happy with and we're all working really hard to try and support parents both whilst they're waiting and to try and increase the number of assessments that we're completing. I imagine if you are a parent or a carer for a child with autism, it can be quite overwhelming, I imagine there's a wealth of information out there, not all of it accurate, some of it may be misleading. The resources and the techniques and things that are covered in the workshop, where have they come from? Are they a researched based? Is that where it comes from? We're really keen to use evidence-based information, what's also really important for us is that we are neuroaffirmative, so the way that we understand the differences between people is changing rapidly and what autism and neurodiversity and neurodivergence mean has changed dramatically over recent decades, so what we want to be is affirming positive and embracing people's differences to sort of accept and to listen and connect with them in a meaningful way and to help support people with evidence-based interventions and the best support that we can offer. The latest figures suggest in Kent alone, there are 9,000 children waiting for an autism assessment. A couple from Fabersham, whose baby daughter passed away, have raised almost 1,000 pounds for a hospital bereavement suite. The Twinkling Stars facility at the William Harvey in Ashford allows bereaved moms and dads to spend time with their baby, Ben Hunt, and Lucy Hook did a 10-mile walk in Evie's memory. Kent Online News More than 200 jobs are going at a manufacturing plant in Kent, the Belgian-based owner of Marley Plumbing and Drainage warned staff back in June that at site in Lenham could be closing, staff will be leaving between now and the end of the year. A protest is being held outside County Hall in Maidstone over changes to disability payments. KCC want people to contribute a lot more to the cost of care and accommodation. Reporter Simon Finley has been speaking to Bernadette John, who's worried about the impacts it'll have on those who are vulnerable. "I'm here because my disabled son stands to lose 35 pounds a week from his benefits. That represents 1,800 pounds a year, so in a week when there's a huge outcry about pensioners losing 300 pounds on winter fuel allowances and the deaths that will ensue up from that, you can see why 1,800 pounds a year, six times that, is a very severe prospect." A council meeting is being held today as bosses look for ways to balance their books. Bosses in Folkster now have officially backed calls for the town's library to remain in its current building. The county council are consulting on plans to move the facility away from the Grace Hill site, which has been closed since 2022. The local authority covering the town say their preferred option is for the building to be repaired and reopened. A major project to revamp part of Canterbury has now been pushed back. We're told building work on a new public square will be finished between April and November next year. While a renovation of the day John Garnet will be completed the following January, the City Council was awarded almost £20 million of government levelling up cash to pay for it. It's been confirmed a former shop in Canterbury that's been empty for almost five years is set to be taken over by next and Costa. The former mother care on the Winchi retail park has been vacant since the company collapsed in 2020. Plans have been submitted to the council and it's hoped it will open next spring. Kent Online News Thousands of years six children across the county are sitting the Kent test today. It will determine who can apply for a place at a grammar school next year. The results will be out on the 17th of October. Now would you believe it's a year since Wilco stores across Canada started closing. The retail giant had announced the previous month it had gone bust with the loss of 12,500 jobs across the country. Out of the 15 shops in the county seven have been filled but the others remain closed. Piers Morgan is backing a community group who are hoping to save a 500 year old Kent pub. The swan on the green in West Peckham featured in ITV's The Larkens shares in the building and now being made available to try and raise enough money to keep it open. And a piece of art found at a Kent rubbish dump will go up for auction next week. The 500 year old German Renaissance engraving was salvaged by Matt Winter when he was just 11 years old. He kept it in his shed for 13 years before recently having it appraised. I've been speaking to Matt, he says he's always had an eye for antiques. I started at 10 years old down to the local tip. And when I was 11 I felt this in the back of a car and asked the lady for it and she said Jess you can have it. She was more nappy for me to take it. And then I just kept it in my shed for 13 years and then something always told me that it was something worth money. And then I started last year to get it tested and then come back and it was all great. I think in the press release that I was reading they said you've always had an interest in antiques. Yeah, I've always liked it, old antique stuff, you know, I just have a little shed and always pretending when I was a little kid, always pretending that I had a little antique shop. So I just put little price tags on everything pretending that I was selling it. And then I decided because you have them little phases when you get younger, don't you? Is that something that's come from your family or your family particularly interested in antiques or anything like that or is this something that I've just got into? Now what made you keep it? You said that you had a suspicion that it was worth a little bit of money. What was it about it that made you think it was special? I don't know so much about the detail of it, you know, if you look at it, you've got so much detail and then something told me, you know, keep it, something special about it. I was reading that I think they have set a guide price for it for between 10,000 and 20,000 pounds, but it could end up going for a lot more than that. What happens to that money? Do you get that money? Yeah. Have you had to think about what you might do with it, you know, when it comes to me? Obviously I can't really say it in a minute because I don't know what it's going to make, but hopefully I might probably buy a new car or something like that. And have you gone back into your shed and tried to look at any other pieces that you've picked up that you think that they might be worth something? Yeah, I've got to make another arrangement with someone else who, you know, I've just had all this stuff I've got. What sort of things have you got in your shed? I've got a lot more drawings, paintings, cloths, a lot of China where furniture, you know, it's really jammed on it. I mean, when it started out, it was a little, you know, somehow shed. And then it started it and then afterwards I had to buy a bigger shed. And now I've got a 40 foot container. Another piece will be auctioned off next week with a guide price of between 10 and 20,000 pounds. That's all from us today. Thanks ever so much for listening. Don't forget, you can follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok and threads. You can also get the details on the top stories, direct to your email each morning via the briefing to sign up. Just head to kentonline.co.uk news you can trust this is the Kent online podcast. [MUSIC PLAYING]
