A young woman has spoken of her heartbreak after her brother stabbed their grandmother and her dog to death - before turning the knife on himself.
The mum-of-three, who lives in Tunbridge Wells, says she “can never forgive” her brother but is adamant she will give her nan the send-off she deserves.
Also in today’s podcast, investigations are ongoing after an explosion at a home near Ashford.
The bungalow in Charing has been completely destroyed and one woman has been taken to hospital – it’s not yet known what caused it.
One of Bluewater’s three original anchor stores is set to close before Christmas with a high street giant reportedly poised to take over the site.
House of Fraser, which has sat in one of the three corners of the Shopping centre since it opened 25 years ago, is understood to be shutting for good on November 27.
There’s a bit of mystery unravelling at an ancient Kent woodland after the discovery or porcelain dolls left scattered among the trees.
The dolls, fitted with little hats and tiny shoes, have been spotted by people using the walking tracks but no-one knows how they got there.
And in sport it’s clash between the top two teams of the league 2 table this weekend when Gillingham travel to take on Notts County.
The hosts hold the top spot, but Gills boss Mark Bonner is confident they can build on last week’s win.
We'll hear from a Kent prison officer who has helped us set up a park run for inmates, while also here from the Jills Manager ahead of their match with top of the table not counting this weekend. But first, taking a look at our top story, a Tundridge Wells mom says she'll never be able to forgive her brother after a knife attack that killed her nan. Sandra Squires was found at her self-bruh home last month, the day before her 83rd birthday. Her granddaughter, Kaya, has been speaking to our reporter, Ellie Hodgson. She joins me now. Ellie, first of all, what do we know about the night Sandra was killed? So what Kaya told me is that on the day of August the 31st, which is when the incident took place, she had actually seen her nan and her brother in the morning when she visited her nan's house. And that was quite a regular occurrence for her. And on the morning of the incident, she'd seen her brother and he had appeared angry. And she tried to calm him down privately outside in the garden because Kaya has three young children. And she said that she managed to calm him down. He was angry about something. And anyway, before she left, she said to her brother, you know, look after Nan. And he said that he would. And then she went on her way to a birthday party. And then the next contact she would have with her nan and brother was about five past nine in the evening when she had spoken to her nan. And her nan had said that her brother had arrived home after being out. And her nan had said that she, you know, her brother had come home and it's believed that an argument had been had. And at this point, Kaya advised her nan that if she felt unsafe in any way that she should contact the police. And apparently this is a quite common conversation they would have because John could be unpredictable. But she still had no anticipation of what was to come. Then about 10 o'clock that evening, she heard from John, John was sending her messages saying that he was sorry, sorry for being a bad brother. But again, this was an out of the ordinary for John. She says that frequently he would message her this when he was in a bad way, apologizing about being a bad brother. This was the last time that she heard from both her nan and brother until in the morning at 4.30am when she received a knock on the door from the police informing her of the incident. And he's what Kaya herself had to say about that night. I woke up for some reason. I couldn't get back to sleep, went to go get back to sleep and then obviously that's when the officers called me, well, from the buzzer and then procedures to tell me that obviously my nan was no longer here. Kaya has also told us what it was like to have to break the news to her children. We sat down and we told him the truth. My son didn't show any emotion. My daughter, Blessa, was heartbroken because obviously she woke up the next day and was like, "Mommy, can you take my hair out ready for Nanny's birthday?" And we didn't have to tell her that we're not going to be able to see Nanny no more. Not only has he taken the kids great grandma, but he's also taken my nan and adds my partner to say he's nan. My nan was more of a nan to him than anything. I mean, yeah, okay. I could have got over my nan in years to come, but it's not just me anymore. It's my children as well. So I don't think I could ever forgive him and I can't condone what he has done. Now, Ellie, if I could ask you, what have we learned from the inquest? What we now understand about the incident from the inquest opening is that a little after 11pm, police officers were called to the property in Southborough. And the inquest revealed that the nan, Sandra Squires, had been stabbed in the neck by her grandson, John Squires. As part of the incident, the dog Buster, who was 12 years old and had been part of the family, had also suffered injuries. Although he did survive the initial attack about a week after the incident, he was put down based off the decision that his injuries had altered his character, and he was appearing very depressed. Ellie, you also spoke to Kaya for a long time about Sandra and the type of woman she was. What can you tell us? Kaya has extremely fond memories of her nan, but particularly fond memories of her nan being a great grandmother to her three children. She told me that nothing was going to stop that woman and that although she wasn't sturdy on her feet, she still got about. She told me she was the best nan and that she couldn't fault her and that she always had boxes of chocolate and toys for the children. She went on to say that everybody loved her and the way that she carried on after losing her husband. And here's what Kaya had to say. The highlight of my nan's life was the grandchildren, the great-grandchildren. When I went up there to lay flowers, everyone said that, you know, they were her world. That's what got her rough every day. Ellie, Kaya also opened up to you about some of the other tragedies that she's had to live through, even though she's only 25. Can you tell us a little bit about what it's been like for her? So rather tragically, Kaya told me that her life has more or less just been death. So back in 2008, Kaya lost her mother and then at the beginning of this year, Kaya also lost her dad due to COVID, pneumonia and problems with alcohol addiction. And while that loss was tragic, she obviously had to carry on for her three children and now to suddenly lose her nan and also her brother in such terrible circumstances and leaving her now with the cost of free funerals to pay for as she's the next of kin. As you can imagine, for a 25-year-old, that's extremely an extreme amount of responsibility to have on your shoulders. And finally, Ellie, I know Kaya has started a fundraiser to help pay for the funeral of her nan. Can you give us some details? In order to give her nan a fitting send-off that she deserves with the additional extras that Kaya might not otherwise be able to afford, Kaya's now started a GoFundMe and that's with the hope of being able to get real flowers for the funeral. She says that her nan loved real flowers, particularly or kids, and she wants to be able to give her nan the funeral that she deserves. So going to be giving her a send-off from her home because although she died there in such tragic circumstances, that was where she had lived for the past 50 years. So at the moment, the GoFundMe is online. At the moment, around £500 have been raised, but they're looking towards a target of £3,500. And that is just to make sure that she can give her nan the funeral she deserved. Kaya said that the GoFundMe will be paid to Kempster and Sons funeral directors in Tumbridge Wells. And she said, "If it wasn't for my friends, my children and my partner, then I probably wouldn't be here myself." Thanks, Ellie. If you want to donate to Kaya's GoFundMe, you can find the details in the story at Kent Online. An investigation is underway after an explosion destroyed a bungalow near Ashford. A woman was flown to hospital after it happened on Canterbury Road in Charing. Yesterday morning, the area was cordoned off for several hours, where told a dog that walked from the rubble was taken into care by vets. A manhunt is underway following an alleged armed robbery at a post office in Witzdable. It's reported a man with a knife, assaulted staff at Swale Cliff post office in Hearne Bay Road yesterday morning. He then fled with cash and postage stamps. You can read a full description of the suspect at Kent Online. A sixth person has now been charged by police investigating drug and gun offences in Kent. The 59-year-old was detained in London and is accused of several offences, including possessing an offensive weapon and intending to supply amphetamine. An investigation started after a car without a number plate was stopped in Greenheith in July, and later searches uncovered cocaine, cannabis and a handgun. A Margate man who kicked down the door of his ex-girlfriend's home in a row over text messages has been fined. A court heard Jamie Harding forced his way into the property to confront her earlier this month. The 23-year-old from Trinity Square in the town admitted offences, including criminal damage. A former Gillingham footballer has been charged after drugs were seized at Stanstead Airport. J. Emmanuel Thomas was arrested after 60 kilos of cannabis arrived on a flight from Bangkok. The 33-year-old who lives in Scotland is accused of orchestrating it and is due in court later. Kent Dad is calling on the government to urgently review free school meals as a charity calls for even more children to get them. Child poverty action groups, say 150,000 youngsters in the South East, would be eligible if criteria was updated to match the current cost of living. Nicola has been speaking to Dominic Watters from Canterbury, who says work needs to be done before it's expanded. I think that this report unfortunately focuses on the children that aren't currently on free school meals. While the most disadvantaged children like my daughter and other kids across the country who are in receipt of free school meals, there needs to be a lot of work done because the amount hasn't gone up in over a decade while the prices of food has gone up and free school meals aren't free because my daughter will often text me, "Dad, can you top up my phone?" because she hasn't got enough via free school meal mechanism to pay for a healthy lunch. I think there needs to move forward even though there are children that are outside that maybe should be qualified for free school meals. I think the focus needs to be moving forward on the most disadvantaged kids who are currently on free school meals and are struggling to meet their nutritional needs. I would even go further and say that the kids that are currently on free school meals often live in food deserts, environments where it's hard to access healthy food and fresh food like my council estate, which is a food desert in the garden of England. These children come from vulnerable families that are tackling intersecting inequalities around food, access to fuel, access to healthy fresh nutrition. I think that the more work needs to be focused on those children and the current failures of the free school meal system rather than the expansion of it because it's a system that needs to be informed by voices of people that actually have living experience of being on free school meals. That's a really interesting point about the amount that you're getting for this. How much do you get at the moment and how long has it been that level? It's been three pounds a day, but only for weekdays for my daughter for over 10 years. That is not enough with the cost of living increases for schools to provide healthy nutritious food for young kids that are coming from environments drenched in poverty. I know we've spoken before about the quality of food and you've mentioned that as well. You sound like you're really concerned. Your daughter isn't getting good quality food because that money hasn't gone up and she's having to buy what she can afford at school. Definitely and go without sometimes where because as it is the free school meals, often the parents are on state benefits, which has been shown doesn't afford you enough for the daily essentials. So even children that are accessing perhaps lower quality food because the three pounds awarded to the school a day isn't enough for them to provide stuff that isn't of a processed nature or junk food nature. Then the kids are returning to environments of poverty where fresh food isn't accessible, where you don't have enough when you're gas and electric to cook and it makes it, they're facing real intersecting inequalities rather than just, they can't afford enough for their lunch. The government say a task force has been set up to tackle child poverty, including breakfast clubs in every primary school. Residents of a block of flats in Maidstone say they weren't told by emergency services a fire had broken out on one of the balconies. Six fire engines were called to midhurst court in moat road, but the buildings stay put policy meant not everyone was evacuated. Building bosses say the emergency fire safety plan is in place as the walls, floors and doors are designed to give appropriate protection. House of Fraser, a blue water is set to close. It's been one of the three key stores at the shopping center since it opened 25 years ago, but is understood to be shutting at the end of November. It's rumored next are due to take on the site. A county-wide restriction on the movement of farm animals has been brought in after a rise in cases of blue tongue. The viral disease was found in cows in Canterbury in November before spreading to the Sandwich Bay area in December and later to Favisham. A temporary control zone now covers the whole of Kent to reduce the risk of its spreading further. A folks and pub has closed just a year after it was taken over by a new owner. The owner of the master brewer on Broadmade Road is blamed high rent and beer prices for not being able to turn a profit. Shepherd names say they're talking to interested parties about taking it over. Kent Online News The Kent Online podcast has been hearing about a Kent prism that has set up its own park run. The 5K event takes place every week and is a way for inmates to take a break from prison life and enjoy some fresh air and exercise. They run around a special course that's been set up in the grounds of HMP Swailside. I spoke to Danny Pearce who was their physical education instructor. My park run has been amazing. Initially I wasn't too keen on it to be honest. I didn't think there will be a large take up in this prison. Every run wants to crash weights or play football. My initial thinking was, yes, we'll give it a go. We'll try and be our best at anything. But yeah, a park run just wasn't something that I feel we would take off. However, we've done so, we've done some planning and the benefits have been brilliant and I'm a real advocate for it now and trying to assist other prisons and getting it running as well. How does it work? Have you got a circuit that you can run around logistically? How does it all work? We created a one kilometer track basically and it goes a little bit into the grounds of the prison around the football pitch. We run that five times for the five K park run. We have members of staff that obviously facilitate the event, but we have quite a lot of prisoners of volunteers. Exactly the same as in the community. The event probably wouldn't run if it wasn't for the local volunteers. That's exactly the same for us. We have quite a lot of our prisoners come out. They have no intent in running, but if it wasn't for them, we couldn't run it. They'll do things like help the guys count their five laps. It's just starting with the timekeeping. Make sure someone doesn't take the wrong group because it can be a little confusing. It has been amazing, actually. It's been amazing. We've been able to target some of those prisoners that just don't come to the gym. We've got a 70-year-old that comes out. We've got a few 60-year-olds. Sometimes they walk, but it does create that in prison. It's away from prison. It's away from the wings. It's in the fresh air. Another example is we've got a guy that could barely even walk up the stairs. He doesn't actually take part in the official park run because he can't quite finish the five K yet, but we still let him out. We've just set short targets. The first month is you just try one lap. He's currently on four laps, and we're aiming for the end of this year. He will complete his first park run. Those small targets that we can set through park run have been amazing for some of our prisoners. It's been a real positive for us. With these links into the community once they're released, park run, even finding a local gym or continuing a running regime, it could help them settle in the community and their chances of reoffending would be lessened because they have a place and a sense of purpose, I suppose. Oh, yes, definitely. To add to the recreational side of it, we hope that the skills that we can give help will do to reoffending. Someone that's used to only lifting weights, we might then play volleyball with. Not only that, we'll teach them the skills, the rules. We hope that, yes, the park runners go out into the local park run, but the people that lift weights, which is generally something you only do in one or two, because it might get those guys going out there into the team sport. They just try new things, really. There's been a mixed response to a traffic-free zone around a Darford school as part of a trial to improve safety. Cars are banned from Chatsworth Road during drop-off and pick-up times at Holy Trinity Sea of the Primary, and there's a consultation to see if it should be made permanent. School streets are also in place in parts of Medway, with the scheme in the towns set to expand to nine other areas. There's another chance to see the very latest plans for a new road link between Kent and Essex. The £9 billion lower temps crossing from Graves enter Tilbury has been in the planning stage for the past 15 years. The government will announce next month if it can definitely go ahead. A consultation event takes place at Chalk Parish Hall from 3 this afternoon. A former Kent MP has revealed he's considering standing in next year's County Council elections. Conservative Adam Holloway lost his seat for Grapesham at July's general election to Labor's Dr. Lauren Sullivan. He's been approached about being a candidate in May 2025, when all 81 seats at the local authority are up for grabs. Kent Online News. Building work is getting underway on one of the first so-called bison bridges in Kent that allow the UK's only wild bison herd to crossroads and access 200 hectares of Westbleen and Thawndon Wood in Canterbury. It's costing a million pounds. The animals have been introduced to boost biodiversity. There's a bit of a mystery over creepy dolls that have appeared in Woodland near Ashford. The porcelain toys wearing dresses and shoes have been spotted by visitors to Kingswood in Cholic. It's not clear who put them there or why. You can see pictures at Kent Online. The University of Kent has been named sixth best in the southeast on a new good university guide. It's been compiled by The Times and puts Oxford Top in the region followed by Southampton. Canterbury Christchurch is 15th. A rare species of Bumblebee has been discovered in South Kent. The shrill carda is one of the rarest in the UK and hasn't been seen in this part of the county for more than a decade. A conservation project has been taking place to improve habitats, which its hoped will boost populations. And the Subutio World Cup is taking place in Tundridge Wells over the next three days. The iconic tabletop game was invented in the town back in the 1940s. The tournaments being held at Royal Victoria Place and the Sports Centre. Kent Online News. And now with a look at what's on across the county this weekend, here's Sam Laurie. If you're in the mood for some decent food and drink this weekend, then you're in luck. Kent has got two huge festivals coming your way over the next couple of days. This year's Canterbury's Cooking Festival returns to the city's Dane John Gardens from today until Sunday with street food stalls, cooking demonstrations and local produce. There's also a new beer and cider tent as part of this year's festival, where you can enjoy Kent's best craft beers, real ails and fruity ciders. And if you're a card-carrying camera member, you can get one pound off your pint. And that's not the only place you can get your hands on some booze this weekend, as the Bavarian weekenders return to Folkston Harbour from this Saturday. The free October Fest inspired event returns to the seaside town for three weekends of German beer, wrap-wear sausages and umpar music. And there's also family activities and DJs playing throughout the day. And if you're looking for a day out that the whole family, even the pets, can enjoy, then you might want to head down to Margate for the Dreamland Dog Day on Sunday. There will be agility courses, dog classes, photography sessions, gift stores, a food court and film screenings on the scenic stage. And of course, there'll be plenty of dog treats on offer too. Now something for the music lovers. This weekend the Thunderdome is taking over a Kent park. The Tribute Festival is bringing Moshpits and guitar riffs to moped park on Saturday, with a pat lineup of tributes to the likes of Metallica, Slayer, Ozzy Osbourne and more, or with stadium sound and lighting effects. There are still a few tickets left, so make sure you don't miss out on your rock and roll fix. And speaking of tickets, there's still time to book yours for a new musical that's coming to Kent on its first tour next week. Only Falls and Horses, the musical kicks off its nationwide run with six nights at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley from Monday, starring comedian Paul Whitehouse as Grandad. The show has just enjoyed four successful years on the West End, and it's now bringing the trotters and their yellow three-world van to theatres all over the country. Finally, one of the biggest art exhibitions in the UK is opening up this weekend for a special limited run. A claimed artist Ralph Steadman is showcasing six decades of incredible work from his gonzo pieces with journalist Hunter S. Tonson to his illustrations for children's books like Treasure Island and Alice in Wonderland. The display, named Inkling, is Ralph's first UK exhibition in 10 years, and it opens at the historic Dockyard in Chatham from this Saturday until the 17th of November. So that's just about it for this week, and now I'm off to see the new exhibition at the Dockyard, and I can't wait to tell you all about it. Whatever you get up to over the next couple of days, I hope you have a fantastic weekend. Thanks Sam. Ken's online sport. Football now, and it's a battle between first and second place in league two this weekend. Gillingham are away at Knott's County, with the hosts currently sitting in the top spot. The Jules will be hoping to build on last week's three-nil win against Tranmere Rovers. He's manager Mark Bonner. There are two form teams, I think of what they're one for and the bounce, obviously. Home form has been good. I watched them home to Fleetwood a few weeks back before we played Fleetwood on the premise of Sunday. We've seen them live there this season, but what we know about the place is wonderful stadium. Pitch is in immaculate condition. I think the best in the league. I'm expecting they'll probably be 11,000 at the game. It'll be a brilliant atmosphere. We'll be really well-followed. Two good teams. They've got bags of talent in theirs and are confident. We're in a confident place ourselves. So yeah, a really good game. I think a good test for us, good marker for us, good challenge for us away from home, in what's been a tough start in terms of opposition. But it's set up to be a really good game and it's certainly one of them games that you should be looking forward to and excited so early on in the season when there's less consequence now than if it was game 40 potentially. But at the same time, it could be a really good challenging game and one to look forward to. I think 900, possibly a thousand Jules fans will be going to some of the lane. When you guys hear, if you thought about that, how does that kind of make you feel when you know you can be packed? Very, very significant. Yeah, I think we have been in all the games and obviously the distance dictates a little bit how many you get there. But I think that that number's exceptional at a brilliant away day there last year. We've got to try and give them another one this year. But yeah, I'm not surprised that there's really good numbers. We've got good support. I know that that will continue to build, as I've said from the start. And yeah, we're really looking forward to what will be a challenging afternoon, but one that these are games in the season that you have to just be, that they don't require motivating players for. You know what the test is, you know what the challenge is, you know what the opportunity is, and we want to continue the good form. We're on ourselves. Correct me if I'm gone, but Ethan will be missing on Saturday due to suspension. Anybody else miss out? Anybody else coming? Available for the game. I don't think there's any differences. I can't remember what you do and don't know. But what has been good this week is one or two that were touching go from Saturday looking good. Throughout this week, I've seen Aaron Rowan grass, Tim Deen, Jake Turner, Connor Masterson at different times. Obviously, you and Nev, those sorts of boys are back into the rhythm of training, plenty. It feels like the squad's getting there. Some of those are still a little bit of time away from playing. But I think we've got pretty much the same group to pick from other than obviously Ethan because of the suspension. But all being well, he'll be back with us next week. And hopefully we can keep building the numbers that are available to pick from because when we get everybody out there, we know we've got a really strong team to pick from. And right now, we've got a quite confident group going into the game. A very good week. They've been brilliant in training. It only counts if it follows you on the pitch on match day course. But with what we're trying to build and how we're trying to work, we're really pleased with them this week. Kick off tomorrow, is it three? And briefly to cricket, if you missed the result yesterday, Kent have been relegated from division one of the county championship. It's after they lost by 10 wickets to Nottinghamshire within three days at Canterbury. Their final game of the season is at Durham, starting next week. That's all from us today and for the week. 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. And while you're on the website, why not check out the latest review from the secret drinker? News, you can trust. This is the Kent online podcast. [BLANK_AUDIO]
